f.y.h river welland.

[moonraker 36]

as anyone had any dealing's with fosdyke yacht heaven on the river welland.(wash area)
good/bad point's.
what's their tariff's like.?(40ft boat).
whats the river like for cruising.?
i'm looking to move my boat to somewhere were it as good sea and inlandwater way's access.

 

[macnorton]

I don't know about FYH but the river is quite short so inland cruising is limited, I think if you want inland rivers and access to the Wash I would recomend Wisbech or Boston.
There are private clubs in the area which are cheaper if that's your thing.

 

[moonraker 36]

hav'nt been to boston for along time.are their facility's still very limited.?
i would be limited on the witham aswell as i can'nt get under the glory hole.
whats wisbech like.?any good.?

 

[macnorton]

Wisbech has good potoon moorings with most facility's, you could possibly get up-stream to Peterborough embankment but if can't do Lincon I doubt you will be able to get far inland on the Nene.
You may be able to use the lower Great Ouse, have a look at the EA website.
Have you thought about the broads, your boat would be ok there?

 

[moonraker 36]

Wisbech has good potoon moorings with most facility's, you could possibly get up-stream to Peterborough embankment but if can't do Lincon I doubt you will be able to get far inland on the Nene.
You may be able to use the lower Great Ouse, have a look at the EA website.
Have you thought about the broads, your boat would be ok there?

yep looked at eastwood marina at brundal.
but it's a 3 1/2 to 4hr drive from doncaster.
just putting petrol in the car alone is going to make it an expensive move..
but i would still love to move it to the broads.
will check out the ea website.
thanks macnorton.

 

[CX54WEK]

I would personally recommend Boston. There is still plenty of river to explore below Lincoln for when you fancy heading inland plus very easy access to the sea. Boston marina is now open all year round (periously boats had to vacate for the winter). There is electric and water on the BW pontoons (you need long leads and hoses though) plus the BW facilites are locate to the lock. A short walk into town where there are all the pubs and shops one would expect.

There are a few mooring options, you can rent spaces on the BW moorings, Boston marina has moorings plus there is the boat club on the opposite bank. There are also basic moorings salty side in the haven but im not sure who they belong too.

We had considered moving our boat to Boston but for us we also enjoy the more varied cruising grounds we can access easily from Lincoln end of the river. We still access the sea through Boston but have to accept that it is a days cruising away.

 

[moonraker 36]

I would personally recommend Boston. There is still plenty of river to explore below Lincoln for when you fancy heading inland plus very easy access to the sea. Boston marina is now open all year round (periously boats had to vacate for the winter). There is electric and water on the BW pontoons (you need long leads and hoses though) plus the BW facilites are locate to the lock. A short walk into town where there are all the pubs and shops one would expect.

There are a few mooring options, you can rent spaces on the BW moorings, Boston marina has moorings plus there is the boat club on the opposite bank. There are also basic moorings salty side in the haven but im not sure who they belong too.

We had considered moving our boat to Boston but for us we also enjoy the more varied cruising grounds we can access easily from Lincoln end of the river. We still access the sea through Boston but have to accept that it is a days cruising away.

i do like boston,but would the bw mooring be secure.?i'm guessing anyone with a bwb key would have access.when you can get the key's off ebay even fisherman are using the toilets/shower's now,any tom dick or harry could gain access.what's the weed situation like at bardney? herd its pritty bad.but it would give me good access to the wash.......hmm...
as i would'nt be able to get under the glory hole.is their anywhere else to lift the boat out for the annual scrub up..?

 

[CX54WEK]

i do like boston,but would the bw mooring be secure.?i'm guessing anyone with a bwb key would have access.when you can get the key's off ebay even fisherman are using the toilets/shower's now,any tom dick or harry could gain access.what's the weed situation like at bardney? herd its pritty bad.but it would give me good access to the wash.......hmm...
as i would'nt be able to get under the glory hole.is their anywhere else to lift the boat out for the annual scrub up..?

The moorings there are fairly busy so there are always boaters around to keep an eye on your boat. We have never had any issues leaving ours there but it has only ever been a few days at a time.

The weed at Bardney isnt great at the moment. There is loads of duck weed which in itself isnt too much of a problem but it is sitting on top of the stringy stuff that grabs our props. On top of that there are massive reed islands floating around just for some added entertainment. We went through it in the dark last Friday night and didnt realise how bad it was until we came back on Sunday evening.

Still we had a great weekend with our friends (even the narrowboatist ones )

And then this happened on the way back:

For your annual scrub up as you cant get through Lincoln your best bet would probably be to nip down to Fossdyke and use the facilities there. There is a small marina at Dogdyke but i dont believe they have lifting facilities.

 

[macnorton]

You could always use the boat lift at Wisbech, as for the Boston moorings use the link below.are these the one's you are thinking of?

http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/brian-holmes/3379-trip-of-a-lifetime

"When enquiries were made to British Waterways regarding mooring at Boston, we were informed that the moorings were for residential boats and the one visitor mooring had a wide beam moored up for two weeks. What were visitor moorings last time I went to Boston have been stripped of the top decking and left to rot with 'Not in use' signs strung between. Not a visitor mooring any more, just navigational hazard but where are we supposed to moor?"

 

[CX54WEK]

You could always use the boat lift at Wisbech, as for the Boston moorings use the link below.are these the one's you are thinking of?

http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/brian-holmes/3379-trip-of-a-lifetime

"When enquiries were made to British Waterways regarding mooring at Boston, we were informed that the moorings were for residential boats and the one visitor mooring had a wide beam moored up for two weeks. What were visitor moorings last time I went to Boston have been stripped of the top decking and left to rot with 'Not in use' signs strung between. Not a visitor mooring any more, just navigational hazard but where are we supposed to moor?"

On the brand new floating pontoon moorings. They are really good and much more boat friendly than the previous ones (which were obviously designed by someone who had never been near a boat). You do require a long electric cable and a super long water hose though on the new moorings as the services are still located on the bankside a long way from the boats now.

Here we are on the pontoons earler this year:

There are a couple of long term boats on there that had moorings there before BW installed the new pontoon. Although the new pontoon gets busy we have not struggled to moor there yet. If you cant moor there, then the boat club opposite or Boston Marina both offer visitor moorings at cheap rates.

 

[moonraker 36]

boston def changed since i was their..they use to have finger jettys when i was their last.

that weed dont look good doses it..the trouble is it get's sucked up into the filter's.the next thing you know is youve got over heating engines.
it's the same between keadby and thorne but without the clumps of island reeds.

 

[WoodyP]

Back to your original question. Fosdyke Yacht Haven is run by a David Parkinson who is a pleasure to deal with. They have good facilities at reasonable prices. Several boats of around your size on floating pontoons. NB the river comes in and goes out like a dose of salts.
Only one way to go and that is down stream into the Wash, then take your pick of Witham, Nene or Great Ouse, all of which will give miles of cruising, with access into the canals as well.
You can always go around the corner to Gt Yarmouth or Lowestoft to enter the broads, which is about 80 to 90 n. miles.
Give him a ring and find out for your self.

 

[hlb]

On UK Waterways.com, there is a page for boaters to write about their journeys on the water. The majority of them being narrowboat voyages.

Is there a similar site for non-narrowboat owners?


But Norman, theres loads of tales of harrowing voyages on here, as you well know. Heres one we did earlier.

Just then, as Mole sat down to admire his handiwork, a large motorboat rumbled by, close to the edge of the bank, smashing everything, and a big bloke leaned over and harpooned him with a spear gun.

The end



Post Extras:

hlb
(regular)
Thu Nov 29 07:39:50 2001
Re: Tales from the riverbank [re: matts] Edit Post Reply




Mole looked up with a sly grin. The harpoon had parted his hair and stuck in the lock gate behind him. The rope snaking and rapping round the big blokes leg. This would have been fine had he not just hailed tut-th-wife. " Ey luve, back thi sen up a tuch". Now th-wife who was a hod carrier in the treacle mine at Sabden, was having the weekend off.
She glared back at her husband with a toothy smile. ( Except her teeth had fallen out when he smacked her, and were now lying all over the floor. )
She put one big mit on tut throttles. and then with a mighty roar. Th engines spluttered and farted and th-prop shafts start wizzing round backerds. Causing the boat to go awfull slow. Then the boat starts goin backerds and its picking up quite of a lick and the ropes goin tighter and tighter, round th-big blokes knobley knee's.--------Please carry on?


Haydn

Post Extras:

matts
(regular)
Thu Nov 29 09:39:35 2001
Re: Tales from the riverbank [re: hlb] Post Reply




The big bloke with knobbly knees began flailing around try to catch hold of something. But unfortunately the strongest of the deck fittings (the flower pot nailed to the table) was out of reach. Just atthat moment the kettle started boling, so Tut was forced to go downstairs to make a pot of tea.

The situation was getting desperate. It seemed that the teabags were in the wrong cupboard. Or had they run out of teabags? Surely not. Tut checked all the cupboards, and briefly considered re-using an old teabag, but dismissed the idea from her mind. At last she found the teabags, and with a huge sigh of relief put two of them in the pot having first swilled it round with hot water in regulation fashion.

Back on deck, things were getting worse. The big bloke with knobbly knees and the rope leg wrapped round his leg an into the lock was beginning to realise that he hadn't had a cup of tea for almost a quarter of an hour. Or even a biscuit. At last, Tut brought the freshly-made tea back up on deck. The boat was still trying to move back, but all the time the rop round his leg was get tangled up in things like ropes do, or even one of the knot things that make you wonder why anyone loops ropes up into neat coils. As the lock got closer, Tut turned the radar on: the power drawn from the massive radar immediately drained the entire electrical system, so the engine stalled. Even so, the lock was drawing closer with all the tangling. The lock gates began to close around them. Tut and her husband looked at each other in horror as the realised that they had picked up the wrong cups, as his had only 4 spoonfuls of sugar in and hers had the 6 spoonfuls.



Post Extras:

 

[hlb]

Now Colin.
The big fat bloke with Knobbly Knees.
Spat the tea out angrily,
he'd got quite a temper on.
The rope that had rapped round his leg, had cut them off. Just above the knee.
So he's groveling around on the floor,
trying to catch th-wife for his tea.
The force ont lock gates were tremendus and so with a great big creek.
The lock gate fell off, in the water.
And the mole had a great big freet!
Well. Then alt water, came gushing, and spilling all over the place.
And th mole were swimin like buggery, just to get outa the place.
Mean while poor Colin -----------------

 

[hlb]

Mean while the mole is still angry.
Cos its lost its home and its greenhouse.
All gone down river and smashed up, with the terrible flood.
He calls on his mates in the river.
And the frog did all of he could.
So the Pike ( Thats Colins pike from up the thread. Thats now caught up with them) and the toad. (Who had been sat having a beer in the pub all the time.) and the water rat.
All got ganged up all together.
They were a reyt gruesum sight.
And they all paddled off together,
Like Ottila the Hun and his mates.------------------

 

[hlb]

They soon caught up with Colins floating lockgate and lightly-smashed boat combo, and joined the lockkeeper on deck. It was easily time for another cup of tea.

At first mole was angry about his broken conservatory, but Colin suggested that the riverside house first pointed out by NormanWyatt furthe up the thread could be a useful alternative. Mole got angry again, and said that the house that Norman was considering was his own, and it had been on the market for some time. Now, just as Norm had got interested, the boat/lock fiasco had rather taken away some of the appeal viz it being a house by the river, now no house and no river, and all colins fault.

Colin realised he was in a pickle. The lockkeeper and all the animals were somewhat upset at him, although at least he had got clean away with everything as far as looking like a dork in front of bystanders, which of course was the main thing. At leasr the rat seemed happy, gnawing away at one of colin's old bits of leg.

There was only one thing to do. Colin had a word with Tut, who went pale. But there was no other option. She went downstairs again and came back with the Special Shortbread, tears in her eyes. The lockkeper and the animals eyed the tin with their beady eyes. This would be a day that they would all remember for years to come. Tut took out not one but TWO pieces of 15-year olde cambridgeshire genuine muddy-flavoured shortbread for them all to share. None of them had ever seen such extravagence.

The lockkepper became bolder. He offered to perhaps reconsider the idea of Colin upgrading his boat to have the floating lock gate instead. Colin was delighted. No more cramming things into little lockers, much better deck accomodation, and top speed almost the same if he paddled it from the back with a stick from time to time. Although the trade-in price seemed a little steep at the Mirage, £10grand and another piece of shortbread, it would still leave colin with most of a packet of shortbread, plus the other packet of Luxury Balvenie 40%-sawdust shortbread that nobody knew about, not even Tut.

And so it was that colin moved all his gunk out of the mirage on to the much roomier old floating lock gate, helped by Tut, the wife. The animals all helped too, and although they hadn't realised that the boat was only the two-cabin version with the smaller diesels, the pike reported that the antifoul looked ok underneath and only needed a bit of touching up. They stopped at the chandlery for some tape and a tin of International all-in-one two-pack leg-repairing resin adhesive bonding fluid varnish mastic, rinsed the soggy ends of colins legs and put them back on the stumps, and although they got them the wrong way round, colin said it didn't matter and he'd sort it out at the end of the season if necessary.

The animals were quite pleased with the mirage, although the toad felt that the wc was quite badly designed and not really enough leg room. Was this the end of the story? ....

 

[hlb]

Re: No. Thats Not The End"" [re: matts] Edit Post Reply




And they all lived, happy ever after. Amen

Now thats the end.

Haydn

Post Extras:

matts
(regular)
Thu Nov 29 15:35:57 2001
Re: Cut!!! all rights reserved. [re: hlb] Post Reply




Any resemblance to any persons living or dead is intentional, especially that colin and the mole, tho not his nice wife (colin's wife, not the mole's wife, obviously) . The events in this story are totally true! Mostly.

 

[hlb]

Some Musing's through the lock [re: hlb] Post Reply




Gently easing the huge boat into the the lock he manoevred her until she gently and softly carressed the locksides as he brought her to a careful stop. Pefectly positioned for Tut to step off. "No we don't do jumping on our boat do we darling", he reminded her. "I'll get the boat in the perfect postion for you, then you can can carefully step off without any danger of falling in". His massive boat, one of the largest on the river was almost 30 feet long. He idly thought the captain of the Titanic couldn't have moored up better, then thought better of it. "That bloody pillock couldn't miss an iceberg at 200 paces" he smiled thoughtfully to himself.

Stepping off the stern he took the stern rope with him and made fast to the perfectly positoned bollard.

"Sorry about that little mix up back there sweetheart, didn't see the mole and had to take avoiding action before hitting him. Hope we haven't upset the flower arrangement" he said.

"We?", shouted Tut, "what's this 'we' business? You were the one driving, wouldn't let me have a go"

He thought he detected a note of slight note of disapproval or even sarcasm in Tut's voice, but no it couldn't be. Then he reflected on the events of the day. "Hmm" he mused, "this is going to take some serious thinking about".

He carefully closed both lock gates and retrieved the lock key from the cockpit and wandered down to the work the paddles at the downstream end. As the water started to empty from the lock he considered things. "Something's bothering Tut" he decided, "she's definitely not right".

As the water continued to drain out of the lock, he idly watched a couple of Crested Grebes scrabbling around in the mud on the river bank. "I wonder what they're thinkng" he mused to himself "and do they ever have bad days too" he pondered.

Just then a movement off to his left made him turn and look closer at the far bank. "What was that? There's something going on over there", he thought quizzically. Before the thought could completely form in his mind he was wakened by Tut.

"Oi ****head" she shouted, "the bloody locks empty now. Are we staying here all night or are you going to get your arse in gear and shift this bloody boat or what?".

"Yes dear" he replied as he started to open the gates and thought to himself, "ah she's alright now, whatever it was that was bothering her is obviously OK now or perhaps I just imagined it after all. She's back to her normal loving old self" Another perfect afternoon lay ahead



Post Extras:

matts
(regular)
Tue Dec 4 08:47:39 2001
Re: much better. (nm) [re: colin_maslen] Post Reply




.



Post Extras:

normanwyatt
(regular)
Tue Dec 4 19:55:26 2001
Re: River Wissey [re: colin_maslen] Post Reply




Didn't think my simple request would result in so many replies. Though it did seem to lose the thread after the first few. Plan to have a look at Stoke Ferry in a few weeks.





Post Extras:

matts
(regular)
Tue Dec 4 21:25:17 2001
Re: The Rushes Look Good [re: normanwyatt] Post Reply




Sorry bout that NormanWyatt. Yours was the first post I have seen regarding the rivers of that area, so Haydn (hlb) and I could not resist concocting some half-baked action packed thriller. Well, actually a fully baked and burned thriller. Later, Colin came in and added some boring Last of the Summer Wine type garbage, totally useless for a film, probably wild and mad by rivery standards, which won't even make the final script.

Seriously, I do hope you find a good spot.