Brummage

Give 'em a call and ask them. You have nothing to lose eh?

A good tip is to hang about at the first lock till another boat comes along. They are much less daunting and a darn sight quicker to negotiate when you are paired up and you'll find that the vast majority of boaters are a friendly bunch.

Very nicely put Starman. I agree wholeheartedly.

I too am interested in this as last year I took what was obviously the wrong turning and got stuck in the mud. It took an almighty poling effort to get the boat back onto the river. The only other entrance I could see appears to have a footbridge over it with not enough headroom to get under it. I was obviously missing something.

I get the distinct impression that some people aren't taking this topic very seriously!

He has spelt out quite clearly what his opinions were and I'm sure that if you read his posts you will see that there is no need for me to repeat them on his behalf.

You are absolutely right Carl. As always.

The fact is that Dave has made it very clear where he stands, and like it or not, he is entitled to his opinion. Many people chose to remain silent and that is their prerogative. I would hazard that there are a lot of people who have not signed the petition for similar reasons to those Dave has quoted but they had no desire to face the third degree from those with an opposing view.

Dave did not say he doesn't like CCers. His issue is with those that claim to CC but don't.

We don't have to. But some of us do simply out of courtesy or because we might get a stream of abuse if we didn't.

I'm not telling ya.

Hi Tillergirl IMO The Five Bells is about average. The food is okay and the atmosphere okay. Acceptable (remember this is only my opinion). The Cutter is a very nice place to eat. it has a restaurant which it is best to book for, or you can have bar meals (which you don't need to book for). The food quality is very good IMO. For the restaurant, if you are going between Thursday and Sunday, it is very advisable to book as it is very popular. The pub is in a lovely position right by the waters edge. There is another restaurant just a few yards along from it which serves good food too, although I've forgotten the name of it. In Ely, there are several other restaurants (including Indian and Chinese) within a short walk of the riverside. One small thing, I would recommend if possible, getting to Ely by early afternoon if possible as the moorings are v. popular, particularly at weekends. Have a lovely holiday.

I think you probably know what will happen. The marina will say that it's not their fault as they were only selling the boat 'as seen' on behalf of the owner, and the surveyor will say that the gearbox was fine when he checked it. Sod's law has it that no-one will admit liability. It's the sorry state of the world we live in i'm afraid.

Click the 'Search' button above and type in 'Webasto'. This subject has been done to death in recent times. You will find some answers but beware, there are more questions..............

It is my understanding that they do react similarly to cars. That is, the boat is in effect a 'Faraday Cage' and is earthed through the hull into the water of course. This applies to steel narrowboats, but i'm not so sure about GRP's. Also, I wouldn't recommend standing at the tiller with an metal spiked umbrella 'cos it would be you that would have to channel the lighnting through to the hull! Ouch.

I bought a Wolfcraft B2206 Super Pump With Collar 3000 1/H from Amazon for £16.07 and it is brilliant. It lifts up to a metre and a half easily and pumped out six inches of bilge water in around three or four minutes. Really works well.

"A good idea I keep one in the car. When you have to fill in a claims form it make life a lot easier." You make it sound like it's a regular occurence for you.

I blame Noah. He had the perfect opportunity to rid the world of all wasps for ever, when there were only two of the buggers, but he blew it!

I reckon you should change that to 'always'

I'm glad you noticed that RWLP. I thought I was crackin' up for a minute!!