Author Topic: Houseboats on Grasmere  (Read 11186 times)

Percy

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #75 on: 17:32:50, 12/02/20 »
Houseboats aside, I’m staggered you can’t find a single suitable cottage in the entire Lake District. Just how stringent are your criteria?

pdstsp

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #76 on: 17:39:06, 12/02/20 »
Showing my ignorance? Quite possibly, but why should it be otherwise?

I've read the relevant topics here, watched the BBC report on iPlayer, read several newspaper articles, used Google Street View on the A591 adjacent to the lake, but no... I haven't studied the planning proposals. I'm simply saying that staying in a (probably luxury) boat for a week or two in the Lake District sounded pretty appealing to me.

This isn't just a random whim - we love holidays on the water. We've done about 30 cruises, including 4 river cruises, and stayed in log houses by a lake in the Cotswolds (only a little smaller than Grasmere) on 6 occasions. For our last walking holiday we stayed in a converted boathouse on the Mon & Brec canal and watched narrowboats passing and thought about hiring one as a base for a walking holiday. Nice as narrowboats are, they are too compact for our liking - and the boats suggested for Grasmere sounded bigger.

I think it's important to accept that walkers come in many varieties and that we may well see some things differently...


But surely you can recognise that putting these things on Grasmere would not exactly enhance the environment. And, assuming you agree, then is it not a bit selfish to want to have a lovely time at the expense of that environment?


ninthace

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #77 on: 17:42:12, 12/02/20 »
I don’t think a boat would have met your criteria either. The plan had all the disadvantages and none  of the advantages.  Moored offshore with no services so no electric other than battery. No mains sanitation so everything would have to pumped or dumped.  Gash likewise.  Major faff just to go shopping as no shoreside mooring. Nowhere to sail to, once round the lake, wouldn’t take an hour.  Nothing like a boat in the rain either, just like a caravan but with more condensation.
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WhitstableDave

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #78 on: 18:29:50, 12/02/20 »
Houseboats aside, I’m staggered you can’t find a single suitable cottage in the entire Lake District. Just how stringent are your criteria?

How can I answer that? I know... these are the cottages we rented in 2019. Top: boathouse on Mon & Brec canal. Middle-left: Big cottage in Peak District (took kids and grandkids). Middle-right: Broch of Coigach (Highlands). Bottom-left: Blacksheep Cottage (Harris). Bottom-right: Hywel Sele Lodge (Snowdonia).



We like accommodation that's a bit different.  :)
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April

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #79 on: 18:33:22, 12/02/20 »
We haven't had a walking holiday in the Lake District

Have you ever been to the Lake District? Or walked along the shore at Grasmere? 10 forty foot "gentleman's yachts" were proposed to be moored on there. There wouldn't have been much water left to see!

I am staggered by the rest of your post WD. How selfish that you think your 2 week holiday is more important than the people who live in Grasmere who want to keep their lake the way it is.

As for holiday cottages, there are thousands available  :-\
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WhitstableDave

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #80 on: 18:35:18, 12/02/20 »

But surely you can recognise that putting these things on Grasmere would not exactly enhance the environment. And, assuming you agree, then is it not a bit selfish to want to have a lovely time at the expense of that environment?

This photo was used by the BBC. I've also included the caption.


In its application Lowther Estates said the 'gentleman yachts' would be similar to this vessel.

I see boats like this on rivers, lakes and the sea and it's never occurred to me that they have either a positive or negative impact on the environment or that the people on them are being selfish.
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WhitstableDave

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #81 on: 18:43:25, 12/02/20 »
I don’t think a boat would have met your criteria either. The plan had all the disadvantages and none  of the advantages.  Moored offshore with no services so no electric other than battery. No mains sanitation so everything would have to pumped or dumped.  Gash likewise.  Major faff just to go shopping as no shoreside mooring. Nowhere to sail to, once round the lake, wouldn’t take an hour.  Nothing like a boat in the rain either, just like a caravan but with more condensation.

Some years ago we spent a week on the Norfolk Broads on a boat far, far smaller than the one shown by the BBC (the photo was apparently provided by Lowther Estates).
(It occurs to me that one minute we're admiring intrepid wild campers and the next we're bemoaning the impracticality of a 'luxury' boat...)
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ninthace

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #82 on: 18:45:35, 12/02/20 »
Yes but take a dozen, moor them to rows of buoys all in one corner of the lake, so all they do is swing in the wind while the sides grow weed and turn green and the occupants ditch their gash over side (oh yes they will).  Grasmere is not a river or maritime setting where a trot of moorings is expected.  Even in the big lakes, you won's see many trots - as far as I know, there are none in any lake other than Windermere.


In the Broads there is a boating tradition and you can explore in your boat so there was a point to it to make up for the discomfort.


Edited to add:  Grasmere is less than a mile long and about 400 yds at its widest.  Where are you going to go?
« Last Edit: 19:02:08, 12/02/20 by ninthace »
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Ridge

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #83 on: 19:16:53, 12/02/20 »
As for holiday cottages, there are thousands available  :-\
Look on the bright side April, no desirable cottages and no houseboats means that some people wont go to the Lake District and, deep down, those of us who love it know that actually what it needs is less visitors.

pdstsp

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #84 on: 23:07:09, 12/02/20 »

(It occurs to me that one minute we're admiring intrepid wild campers and the next we're bemoaning the impracticality of a 'luxury' boat...)


Never seen a wild camper in a 40 foot tent in the middle of a small lake.









April

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #85 on: 20:51:05, 13/02/20 »
It occurs to me that one minute we're admiring intrepid wild campers and the next we're bemoaning the impracticality of a 'luxury' boat...

I am struggling to see how wild camping and staying on a luxury boat is in any way comparable?  :-\

Look on the bright side April, no desirable cottages and no houseboats means that some people wont go to the Lake District and, deep down, those of us who love it know that actually what it needs is less visitors.

 :) It certainly doesn't need any more. Pity the LDNPA wants to turn the Lake District into Lake Disney Land and encourage more people to come, for all the wrong reasons - artificial entertainment rather than natural beauty of the place.
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April

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #86 on: 20:53:54, 13/02/20 »
Never seen a wild camper in a 40 foot tent in the middle of a small lake.

 :) That would be a very heavy tent  ;)
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WhitstableDave

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #87 on: 21:59:57, 13/02/20 »
I am struggling to see how wild camping and staying on a luxury boat is in any way comparable?  :-\
...

I don't doubt that; they're not - and that's the point. I attempted to highlight the irony of a member criticising the 'gentleman yachts' in question for their lack of facilities while (on this same forum) no one seems to criticise wild camping for involving a far more basic type of accommodation.

I think that recent posts about the Lake District needing fewer visitors is perhaps what this debate has been about all along.
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pdstsp

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #88 on: 23:44:37, 13/02/20 »
I'm actually a little disappointed that the plan doesn't appear to be going ahead.  :(

My wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed our summer walking holidays in the highlands and islands of Scotland for the last few years, but it's a long drive from Kent and we decided to go somewhere a bit closer next summer. We haven't had a walking holiday in the Lake District yet, so that was our intention.

We always book self-catering accommodation almost a year in advance so I began searching as soon as we got home last August. It was very frustrating because we couldn't find a single desirable cottage in the Lake District as a base to go walking from with minimal or no driving. This came as a surprise, because we've never had a problem with Scotland, the Peak District, Snowdonia, the Brecon Beacons and other 'walking areas'. We still haven't booked anywhere yet, but the North York Moors look promising.

Houseboats might have suited us well, although I suspect these weren't really going to be houseboats in the normal sense of the word - more likely a term preferred by campaigners who might doubt the effectiveness of a slogan like "No boats on the lake!".

Oh well, never mind.


Where exactly did you highlight this irony?

beefy

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Re: Houseboats on Grasmere
« Reply #89 on: 05:27:36, 14/02/20 »
:) That would be a very heavy tent  ;)
Yes and guess who would have to carry it  :o


no one seems to criticise wild camping for involving a far more basic type of accommodation
Why would they?
Wild camping is wild camping
Those of us that like it know what's involved that's why we do it,
(In a leave no trace mindset)
Those that don't like it don't do it end of story
But to criticise one or the other?
Would you like to elaborate
Leave only footprints, take only photographs, kill only time ...

 

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