East Farleigh Lock - Medway...

[Murv]

Is on schedule to be opened 21st July as planned, according to the latest notice from the EA.

 

[oldgit]

H,mm spoke to Jim with the Broom Crown at Yalding, he was not over optimistic .......

 

[Murv]

The last set of gates were transported up river yesterday so it looks as if all should be well! (barring flooding, more nesting birds, theft of equipment etc etc!)

 

[oldgit]

The last set of gates were transported up river yesterday so it looks as if all should be well! (barring flooding, more nesting birds, theft of equipment etc etc!)

Mayor of Maidstone Cruise,beating of the bounds has been rescheduled to September, so somebody is hopeful it will be open by then.
Will you be going on the Admiral of the River cruise next week or are you still ashore fondling your shaft ?
...........and how is your crash course in " Dutch Marine Law for beginners" going ?

 

[Murv]

Mayor of Maidstone Cruise,beating of the bounds has been rescheduled to September, so somebody is hopeful it will be open by then.
Will you be going on the Admiral of the River cruise next week or are you still ashore fondling your shaft ?
...........and how is your crash course in " Dutch Marine Law for beginners" going ?

Still ashore currently, big push this weekend to get everything painted/polished etc and still leave some fondling time.
I still feel a bit lost to be honest... There's no heart stopping moment of unscrewing a drain plug to see the extent of emulsification in the oil, discovering how badly chewed up the prop is after hitting a tiny patch of seaweed or finding out which tiny crustacean is preventing the leg from lifting/dropping this time around.
I've looked and looked and just can't see anything wrong anywhere? and I've got it wet and everything...
Provided all goes smoothly, it will just be down to when we can be relaunched as to whether we can attend next weekend or not.

Paperwork is mostly ready for the holiday Only fly in the ointment is this recent prosecution for red diesel and the conflicting reports.
Third party claims the chap couldn't prove vat paid, the consensus on here seems very different but with fines mentioned of nearly 5 Euros per litre of tank volume a firm decision will have to be made!
Personally, I'd be quite happy staying in the NL for the fortnight anyway, but would have been nice to have seen some of Belgium.

 

[Newbroom]

Murv, Went to Belgium with red diesel in the tanks and like you was worried by the different reports. In fact filled up at RCC before leaving after the sweeps festival We did have the maritime police inspect papers but not the diesel I asked him about the reports and he assured us that so long as we had VAT receipts for the diesel it was not a problem. I had also topped up with fuel in Belgium. It will not worry me again so long as I have the records to prove duty has been paid.

Dave

 

[Murv]

Thanks for that Dave, nice to have a first hand report
Did you claim 60:40 on the fuel, or was that 100% propulsion?

 

[Newbroom]

The receipts were for 60/40 split.

 

[Murv]

Perfect, thanks Dave