A favour for the boaters

We're definitely on a roll regarding canal maintenance.  Our plot has a superb weeping willow and has lent its name to the house name.  It is right on the edge of the canal and therefore half of it hangs over the water.  Although it can be amusing to see boats try to carve their way through it, it does restrict visibility just before a very narrow section of the canal.

The problem:  A boater's eye view

With Neil & Karen having their boat at our mooring, it was too good an opportunity to miss. Neil generous offered his labour, but also his boat as a mobile work platform. So we left the mooring and positioned the boat in the middle of the canal.  Neil and Lesley were then able to do some pruning whilst I held and moved the boat using ropes.  Only the branches in the middle of the channel were touched, so that the views from our site, and the garden next door are unaffected.

Neil lost in foliage

Lesley working at long range

Neil working at short range

The finished result.  Visibility much improved
(Photo courtesy of Neil Payne)

As a foot note, it seems that the improvement may be too good.  Boaters are now cruising the the narrows too fast, resulting in more collisions.  Oh well, we'll know next year!