An Incident on the Avon

I have just received this report from a local paddler:-

"A group of 4 paddled this today, as we approached Longford Castle we were first approched be a female, who said she worked for the estate and we were not allowed to canoe the river, I informed her I didn't believe she had the right to prohibit kayaking, she informed us she was on the phone & we would be stopped further on. Sure enough a little further on some chap in a fluorescent jacket stopped us. He stated he was a police officer (showed a card that did indeed look like a warrant card) told us we were trespassing and ordered us off the river. I happily offered to discus matters with him at a police station, but as I believed we were not trespassing we would carry on.

A little further on said police officer and another chap were waiting on the river bank, this time the chap with him walked to the river bank and said words to the effect "Next time you come me and my friends with our dogs will be waiting for you, and we'll sort you out." At that point I switched on my camera to movie mode (I know hindsight is wonderful). The supposed policeman assured us his colleagues would be waiting for us at Downton (I assume he meant Police Officers) .

We finished without incident or the boys in blue. I'll pop into my local nick tomorrow and report the threat. Anyone paddling the Avon between Salisbury and Christchurch should be aware the Lord of the manor isn't keen on us kayakers.

He added:-
I've just returned from the local nick.

1. Seemingly the chap who stopped us was indeed a police officer, he took our names but will take no further action.
2. The chap who threatened me was a bailiff I think, after a few words from his boss & the police, will probably think twice before repeating that offence.
3. The police were advised by the EA who suggested that canoeing through the Longford estate was controlled by the Estate, however nothing written was seen, I nudged a copy of Doug Caffyn’s research under his nose.
4. We came to the conclusion that until something is legally defined both sides will continue as they are. However the police are unlikely to respond to alleged trespass

It's been a year or so since the BBC featured the issue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG61qItTO8Q