Although we winded in the mouth of City Road Basin at the weekend, I'd not been into the basin itself until Saturday evening. It was Tarporley's temporary home during the Kings Place development, but that was just before my involvement began. On Sunday, we trooped over there to visit the farmers' market and find some lunch.
I don't know what the place used to look like, but it has clearly been the subject of some redevelopment and smartening up. The basin is managed by Islington Boat Club, who run activities like canoeing for young people, which is obviously a good thing to do, and they need, and are fortunate to have, a safe place to do it.
But all the same, what a shame that the basin looks so dead, so stagnant and sterile, bereft of boats and the life that they bring to the water. That the end of the basin, at least, looks as abandoned as any derelict waterway. Not at all what I was expecting, this modern desolation doesn't even have the consolation of historical interest.
4 comments:
Yuk! The detritus doesn't even float, it just sits on top. People will be calling for it to be filled in if it's always going to look like that. What a shame. I wonder what would happen if the surrounding buildings' rainwater downpipes emptied into the basin. Would that generate enough flow to keep the algae at bay?
By the looks of it, there's no mooring rings for boats to tie up to- so there's no reason to take your boat in.
Maybe, with the ampitheatre-type seating, you should arrange tugs-of-war- Tarporley against allcomers....
There are a few rings, but I don't think mooring is allowed except by special arrangement - and to get to them you have to negotiate the canoe slalom course.
Sarah, did you catch the report on NB Chiswick on the Today prog this morning? Listen again here if you didn't (1:43:10 in)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mfffv/Today_09_09_2009
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