Dear Dodgy Geezer,
Unfortunately it is true, and I would be one of the first to jump up and down if it wasn't.
When I was up there I came to know the local Environment Officer quite well. He used to call by from time to time, but just say hello after he came to know how I operated. He had set one or two guidelines (perfectly acceptable and right), when I first met him, and I never missused his trust after that, so we all got on well. However, when people start very seriously digging into banksides and making a real mess and damaging trees, and doing their work during low water and thoroughly clouding water for a great distance, people notice. I believe complaints went in over quite a period, so the authorities got fed up. Unfortunately the gentleman who was the Enviro. Off. is not about as before (he gone anyway), so, you end up with 'someone' who, instead of making serious warnings (if you don't stop we will come fall on you like a ton of bricks), a total ban was applied - but serious warnings would I am sure have worked when these 'teams' of people were seen. What annoys me most, is that I, who respect the rivers (and there are a quite a few others), get penalised as a result. The last time I was there was during the Summer of 09 (not been back since), with a friend who had come over from the States... nice lovely quiet day playing amongst the water, no heavy digging, just looking at cracks in the rock and sucking them out with a hand gravel pump (I invented my own 'non-return' type, and it is marvelous for cleaning out leaves and rubbish from down pipe receivers!).
So, at the end of the day, unfortunately I must agree with the principal, but not necessarily the final decision to do what the authorities did. I think they might consider day licenses in the end, and I can live with that.
Regards, Bernard
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Topic: Something rather special. (Read 3995 times)