Dick Vincent has worked for Canal & River Trust for over a decade, mostly on projects encouraging people be mindful of others when using towpaths. There’s over 2000 miles of towpath in the UK and they’re there for everyone to enjoy. Dick lives on a boat himself and has travelled most of them – not least completing a John O’Groats to Lands’ End trip in 2018 using towpaths for around 50% of the journey.
Towpaths are easily some of the loveliest routes we have in England & Wales, connecting almost every major city via unique, historic green and blue paths – rich in nature and vital to the communities they touch. Mostly built over 200 years ago for horses to pull boats, they now offer relaxed traffic free routes which are especially appealing to those that are less confident or those that just want to get away from busy streets. This is, perhaps, why towpaths are more popular than ever and why we feel it’s even more important that when people visit them, they Slow Down and Stay Kind.
In his talk Dick will lift the lid on how the Trust manages towpaths as Shared Spaces with a Pedestrian Prioirty and wants to know what you think about towpaths and how they can help serve us for the next 200 years.