If anyone wishes to fare up and down this portion
of the river by boat he must land and pull his craft over land, it may be trespassing in the process. No provision of any sort is made. There are no rollers, as on the Thames. There is not so much as a sign of any smoothing or levelling of the banks, or extraction of snags. It is extremely difficult—experto crede—to drag any considerable boat over the obstacles without breaking the back both of the craft and of the porters. The difficulties are such that in practice boats do not go up and down ; and it is undeniably attractive to have long reaches of one of the loveliest rivers in England (as Drayton knew over four hundred years ago) almost to your- self. You may scull without looking round : a collision would not occur once in a month of Sundays, even in holiday time.
* *
Previous page
