Handover complete

I drove down to Hanbury Wharf today again to do the final handover. Barry the Boat Briefer took me through the bits and pieces and we took a trip up to the winding hole and back without incident or collision. Apparently I am now fully trained and can go anywhere on the system the length of the boat allows. Isn't Britain great in that respect. In any other country in Europe you would need all manner of helmsman's certificates, boat handling courses and instruction on how to become Captain Canal, all for the very reasonable price of a small family car. Here you just turn up and after a couple of minutes you are the captain of your own 70 foot 20 ton ship. I could have dispensed with the instruction all together. A quick signature and you're off.

The chandlery and fuel point were closed today so I couldn't get any diesel but there was two inches in the tank for the test run. I will have to have another trip down for that later in the week where I can incorporate fuel with picking up other other bits and pieces for the trip.

I am at home with all the technical booklets, two keys, warranties for gearbox and engine, handbooks and pamphlets. Easy reading for the enthused. Whilst browsing through the bits and pieces I had forgotten that you have to get a Isuzu engine dealer to service the thing in order to to keep the warranty valid. Never having owned a new car, and never likely to, we had not come across this before. Normally it is me that has to do the servicing of anything mechanical around here.

Ramming speed