G
Guest
Guest
So you may remember me being full of of doom approaching our two weeks holiday anticipating the worst, and being full of sulks and lager. Well we're back now and I have to say it was quite succesful.
It didn't start too well though as we sat in the Broads Saturday to Wednesday with the wind dead East, (we did stick our nose out twice but each time we beat a hasty retreat), you can only imagine where my bottom lip was, I could barely say I told you so.
Thursday was a different story, and what wind there was had turned to the West, so we set out of Lowestoft into a mill pond and made for Shotley, using the crab pot markers off Sizewell as a slalom course at 24 knots.
Cracking meal at Shotley (found a blokes wallet full of money and credit cards - of course handed it in - but the tight bugger didn't even buy me a drink).
Friday - Shotley to Calais where it was packed with boats, mostly English, and so hot everybody was jumping overboard to cool down, (not me though cos that's why lager and fridges were invented.
Saturday - Filled the boat up with as much beer and wine as we dare (there's a little bloke in Calais town centre who delivers to the boat) and set off for Ramsgate, I think we got the last two moorings in the place due to some Yottie thingy.
Sunday - Ramsgate to Shotley where we stayed for the day and cos we where back in Blighty it p***ed it down all day.
Monday - Shotley to Lowestoft, up into Oulton Broad for cheap diesel (28p/ltr) and to watch the powerboat racing and firework display.
Tuesday - Lowestoft to Wells (anyone been there?) for more cheap diesel (27p/ltr) and fish and chips.
Wednesday - Wells to Hull but the sea got lumpy and we bottled it into Boston.
The rest of it was a boring toddle back to our Winter base in Newark.
The good news was that we did over 400 miles and the boat didn't break. Only had two minor problems,1. a leaking fuel filter and 2. a squealing drive belt. Both were quickly fixed.
The bad news is that my trusty Garmin 128 GPS threw a number of wobblies, telling me to follow the wrong track or poor GPS coverage, this happened every day. Interestingly my mate who was cruising in company has the same unit and experienced the same problems but at totally different times. If anyone can cast any light on this I would be very grateful.
Suffice to say that I am not sulking any more, am stocked up with lager, and have a boat that I am absolutely chuffed with, and am preparing her for a well deserved
scrubb and polish.
Oh and the wife did OK too.
Neil
It didn't start too well though as we sat in the Broads Saturday to Wednesday with the wind dead East, (we did stick our nose out twice but each time we beat a hasty retreat), you can only imagine where my bottom lip was, I could barely say I told you so.
Thursday was a different story, and what wind there was had turned to the West, so we set out of Lowestoft into a mill pond and made for Shotley, using the crab pot markers off Sizewell as a slalom course at 24 knots.
Cracking meal at Shotley (found a blokes wallet full of money and credit cards - of course handed it in - but the tight bugger didn't even buy me a drink).
Friday - Shotley to Calais where it was packed with boats, mostly English, and so hot everybody was jumping overboard to cool down, (not me though cos that's why lager and fridges were invented.
Saturday - Filled the boat up with as much beer and wine as we dare (there's a little bloke in Calais town centre who delivers to the boat) and set off for Ramsgate, I think we got the last two moorings in the place due to some Yottie thingy.
Sunday - Ramsgate to Shotley where we stayed for the day and cos we where back in Blighty it p***ed it down all day.
Monday - Shotley to Lowestoft, up into Oulton Broad for cheap diesel (28p/ltr) and to watch the powerboat racing and firework display.
Tuesday - Lowestoft to Wells (anyone been there?) for more cheap diesel (27p/ltr) and fish and chips.
Wednesday - Wells to Hull but the sea got lumpy and we bottled it into Boston.
The rest of it was a boring toddle back to our Winter base in Newark.
The good news was that we did over 400 miles and the boat didn't break. Only had two minor problems,1. a leaking fuel filter and 2. a squealing drive belt. Both were quickly fixed.
The bad news is that my trusty Garmin 128 GPS threw a number of wobblies, telling me to follow the wrong track or poor GPS coverage, this happened every day. Interestingly my mate who was cruising in company has the same unit and experienced the same problems but at totally different times. If anyone can cast any light on this I would be very grateful.
Suffice to say that I am not sulking any more, am stocked up with lager, and have a boat that I am absolutely chuffed with, and am preparing her for a well deserved
scrubb and polish.
Oh and the wife did OK too.
Neil
