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Is Hull The Armpit Of The Uk? If Not Where Would You Say Is The Worst Part And Why?
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Stoke? Did anyone mention Stoke? Two years back, I and my partner spent 14 nights doing the Four Counties Ring, a well known canal itinerary. All was hunky-dory with serene countryside and what you'd expect on a picteresque canal trip until we hit Etruria on the outskirts of Stoke. I have never seen so much desolation, condemned buildings and hoodies/drug-users walking along a canal towpath. The entire area for miles leading to the area was covered in desolate, partly demolished, looted canal side buildings with graffitti everywhere. Rubbish was strewn as far as the eye could see and more than one of our fellow canallers took over at 2100 rather than moor up in the area. The canalside towpath was strewn with needles, a teenage girl was assaulted about 50 metres from where we were moored in full view and I sat up in vigil all night as I was terrified of the potential harm that could happen to our hire-boat let alone ourselves. For those of you that think we had a choice as to where to moor, all hire boat contracts stipulate that canal boats are not to be driven when it becomes dark for insurance reasons. We had no choice but to comply.
Never Again.
Never Again.
Incidentally, I recounted our experience to a number of canal "old-timers" during our return to the hire boat HQ at Norbury Wharf. Everyone of them told us without exception that they avoided the area like the plague during the hours of darkness. For them, mooring in the area consisted of a few hours during daylight hours and nothing else.
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