Comments - Stockings and Weed

Comment from Adrian – link

Re your fan belt problems - in the good old days we used to use a stocking (in those days) as a temporary fan belt. But these days we use River Canal Rescue - a wonderful organisation and very reasonable priced. Have a look at their web site www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk

Well I did think about doing something like that Adrian, but living on a narrowboat means that one has to be very economical with everything, and that includes clothes… I only have one pair of tights to go with my party frocks!  I am a trouser gal really you see … no stockings either…. well if I had stockings then I would have to make room for a suspender belt…

I have heard of the river rescue in your link, but we use Marine Emergency Support, which was offered to us by our Insurance Company, Nautical Insurance Services.  It costs just �25 a year, and for that they will find somebody to attend a stranded narrowboat if you cannot find a local person.  I used them the other day after phoning Bridge Boats to see if they had a fan belt.  Marine Emergency were quite happy with that and gave me a reference number.  All I had to to was pay for the work, and send them the bill.  They will refund all monies including the call out and the final repair at Ely less the cost of the fan belt.

An excellent company.. the maximum they will pay out is �125 for labour costs for a repair, and there is no restriction of the number of times we use them over a year.  Last year we got stuck twice, once with a broken water hose on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and a second time at Hillmorton with a broken gear cable… there was no quibble whatsoever with those, and I received a cheque from them within a week of submitting the bills.  They also do all the rest of the stuff that river canal rescue do, getting you home, finding accommodation etc etc etc if required.

Comment from Mike Cunningham – link

What did the Environment bloke do besides post notices of the weed? Did they arrange someone to come out and clear it, or don't they do that as part of their expensive existence? As i have only been on a narrowboat once, and a broads cruiser, little bit uncertain of what to expect from them at t'top, as it were!

Mike commented on our plight down Burwell Lode when we had to be dragged out of there by a 4x4!

Well the Environment Agency don’t have a weed cutter that can deal with this kind of weed… their weed cutter gets stuck in it!   So they have to use a special one owned by the Cams Conservators who look after part of the River Cam nearer Cambridge.  The big problem this year was that the weed had grown much faster than in previous years, plus they can’t really cut it until July when the birds in the reeds have stopped breeding.. well that’s what I was told.  The weed cutter  left Waterbeach last Tuesday, and the towpath telegraph tells me that Burwell Lode has now be de-weeded and is navigable again.