WELCOME

AS I write in mid-April, boaters can now spend the night aboard and holiday hire fleets are on the move again – but there are two more mileposts to pass on the roadmap to recovery before we are likely to see any events and gatherings.

It was particularly disappointing to hear that the Braunston Rally had been postponed for a second year – see the report on page 16 – although it now looks as if August could be a busy month with the Crick Boat Show and the IWA Festival of Water on successive weekends.

With the emphasis still on Zoom meetings and webinars, I attended the online media launch of a review into the Great West Way – see feature on page 4 – and am booked in for Canal & River Trust’s National User Forum on which I hope to report next month.

Colin Wareing has been out and about, revisiting Toddbrook Reservoir where permanent repair plans have been unveiled – report on page 8 – and visiting stoppages in Cheshire, including the landslip at Anderton, see page 5.

Our Greener Boating page returns this month on page 18 with reports by Jonathan Mosse and Phil Pickin while Lee Senior takes a walk along the Grantham Canal in Great Outdoors on page 71.

Alison Alderton reports on plans to transform the site at Dunrovin – a former Nissen hut on the banks of Lough Ree where she lived for a while – to a new IWAI clubhouse and RNLI lifeboat station, see page 72.

And talking about waterside homes, Helen Gazeley chats to estate agent Sheridan Parsons who has launched a new specialist agency, see Wet Web on page 76.

On a positive note, some of the work parties have restarted – albeit with social distancing in place – and we look forward to reporting on more activities as the summer unfolds.

Happy cruising