biting the hand
June 27th, 2008 | 
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I could not believe this article in the Daily Post. Apparently this guy was paddling down the River Dee in north Wales and went past an outfitters called JJ Canoeing and Rafting. Next thing he knew he was being arrested for “obtaining services dishonestly”. What services you ask? Well, none exactly . . .
According to the Shrewsbury canoe club it seems that JJ’s feels people should pay to paddle past their shop. Sort of like children who play toll bridge on a sidewalk. Sounds like the paddler was a bit miffed. I think I would be too. . after I stopped laughing hysterically. Some things after all are just too silly for words!! Now we all know that river access in the UK is a real battle and it’s going to be awhile before it’s resolved. Some people come up with all sorts of ways to “claim” and profit from rivers. However, when an outfitter of all things, goes after a kayaker they have to understand that paddlers are going to talk. It brings to mind the old addage about biting the hand that feeds you. . I really hope there is more to the story and that the outfitter is not really trying to charge paddlers for going past their shop. Considering they advertise “team building”, one would expect them to to understand that “letter of the law”, much less trying to profit from it, is not always in the best interest of the team. It’s certainly logical for a business to charge someone for using their facilities, or even their parking lot. . but to paddle past? What do you think??
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Yes this is unpleasant and may have to do with the UK still being a Kingdom and therefore short a revolution (looks like they missed the boat in 1789…). Land and river access remain a significant issue there, and rivers may be part of estates and “private”.
But you do not need to travel abroad to find unpleasant barriers to access. One example, and I am sure there are others: Maine allows private ownership of the seashore, beaches and all, which in many areas prevents access to the sea and the beaches. Is it that different?
It does beggar belief. I’m beginning to wonder if this is a bit of reverse psychology. Given that this is an argument requiring settlement, could it be that JJ is setting himself up to deliberately loose, thereby opening up the rivers for everyone throughout the UK. He could become a bit of a star if that is the real objective. ( See here for JJ’s previous position on running rivers http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5167 )
Thanks for that note Eurion.. by the way, those pics on your blog are awesome! Yeah in reading that post it does sort of make you wonder doesn’t it?! The two things seem completely opposed. Maybe he is trying to make a point, but that guy who got arrested can’t be too happy regardless. . . UNLESS he was in on it. Oh man, the conspiracy theory you could make!!
Dominique makes a good point too. Here in the states we face some goofy laws in some states as well. I think being on the water is fine about anywhere, but getting to it and landing can be another issue completely.
We have water rights issues in Kansas that are notorius. The law, from what I’ve been briefed, is that you can paddle through private land on a public river, you just can’t set foot out of the boat without permission.
The story at one location is that a guy would sit on a low bridge waiting for paddlers to come by with bowling ball-sized rocks and concrete chunks and push them off the bridge near the paddlers. Whether it’s true or not, brings up the point that if there’s no one to administer the law for hundreds of miles, the locals basically can do nearly what ever they want. And Kansans are very serious about being independent inspite of the law, and often intentionally against the law.
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“could it be that JJ is setting himself up to deliberately loose”
That is a definite possibilty. In the US there are many patent cases in court over really bad patent polies in the US patent office. The earliest famous one that I remember is the amazon.com case where they succeeded in patenting “single click” on a web sites.