Retirement with No Problem

Stanground Lock to Ferry Meadows, River Nene, 4 miles 1 lock

We were lucky last night, the lock keeper stayed a bit late to lock us through, then as he shut the gates for the night, the electric motor burnt out.. He managed to shut the gates by hand, but this morning when engineers arrived, it was unsure whether the lock would be open today or not.. Luck on our side!

I took the girls, Lucy and Meg for a walk across the wetlands.. well they are dry at the moment!  There a seal around there so I was told, but no sighting today. 

Pulling the pins shortly afterwards, we joined Mo and Vanessa with NB Balmaha on the Peterborough embankment, and set off to HSBC Bank to sort out a small problem with the account that could not be resolved on the phone or at the HSBC bank in March!

With that done and some other bits and bobs sorted, it was off at full speed up the Nene towards Orton Lock.  It’s nice to be back on the Nene, although I do love the River Great Ouse and it’s tributaries the best. 

On through the lock and into Orton Lake to moor at the pontoons at the Nene Park Trust at Ferry Meadows..

I do hope the geese are not too noisy in the morning, there are hundreds of them here, and I remember the last time we moored at this spot a couple of years ago, they woke me early!

I emailed Tom Crossley of Narrowboatworld a couple of weeks ago when I saw a picture on his website of someone else who drilled a hole in the drain lip by the diesel cap to hold a padlock like we did.. remember this?

It was on this blog – linky – Well there was a comment from Mark saying that this may not pass the BSS (British Safety Scheme that all narrowboats have to have).  Well Tom emailed a friend of his who is a BSS examiner and showed him my picture.  Tom said “Just heard from the BSS people and your diesel cap locking device is okay, and will pass the BSS examination”  So that is great news.  And also good news for the two ‘Es’ with NB Bendigedig who have done much the same.

Our BSS is due in November, I am glad we waited before sealing it back up again.  I just hope the Boat Safety Scheme man we get agrees!