Portishead, Penarth or ???

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tonyone01

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Having spent our first two years cruising the River Avon and Severn and loving every minute of it, we are now considering moving our Princess 286 to the coast. What are the thoughts of the forum on our options of either Portishead or Penarth ? We must be within 2 hours traveling of Birmingham due to our preference to visit our boat most weekends.
 
Although I keep my boat in Portishead (10 minutes driving time from home), I think I would opt for Penarth in your circumstances. All the up-channel destinations are within sensible range of Cardiff, but you have more down-channel options there.
 
Cheaper in Cardiff marina (Not Penarth marina). Its in the bay and up the river a little bit.
 
Thanks for the other options that we had either not thought of or never knew about. We are planning to visit Cardiff Marina and CYC this Saturday for a look see. We have until the end of August before our current berthing fees are due so still have a bit of time to make our minds up.

Can I get petrol at the above ? or is it a case of lots of trips with jerry cans ?
 
you can get petrol in penarth marina and portishead, at a premium though, i think i paid 1.57 a litre a couple of weeks ago at penarth.. cardiff is ok for a potter around but i'm sure you'd soon get bored of it? the trouble starts when you start going places, thats when you really and i mean really start burnin the stuff! watchet or swansea don't have petrol facilities so bare that in mind when deciding. and tbh your'e not going to be going any further than that cos of £££££. if it was me i'd be inclined to go p.head, even if it's blowing you can go to brizzle. and they sometimes offer really good deals. all imho of course ;-)

we had a week out at whitsun, and from upton on severn to cardiff and back was just under £500, with a single modern 5.7 volvo gsi!! not havin a moan just pointing out that economy goes out the window when at sea.. that was half/half planing and 10 knots.
 
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I prefer Portishead because then Cardiff is a destination. If you are already at Cardiff, that's one major destination off your list - you're already there!
 
We went for our look see at the weekend and now have a decision to make. The marinas with all the facilities are appealing, but we were made very welcome at the two clubs with the social side and prices also very attractive.

In terms of the heads up from Solitaire on the additional fuel usage, it does make you sit up and think. But I still think it will be worth giving it a go even if we do have to give up eating !

Just need to convince SWIMBO now
 
Portishead is certainly a friendly marina and my preference, But I suppose I would say that.

I agree that Cardiff is a destination together with Watchet, Swansea and Bristol. The later is always an easy trip if the weather is not so good. Plenty of bays to anchor in along the channel you soon pick up on the best places to go.

Mobo's in Cardiff very rarely seem to venture outside of the barrage, with it being so easy just to moor up in the bay. Always seems a real shame to me with so much to see nearby.

Tidal access has not been an issue at Portishead, you just work around it.

Plenty of advise on this forum from Raggies and mobo's.

I am sure you will have fun whatever you decide, especially with a decent boat like yours.
 
Morpheous said:
I prefer Portishead because then Cardiff is a destination. If you are already at Cardiff, that's one major destination off your list - you're already there!
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But if you're based in Cardiff, Portishead is a destination.:eek:

There seem to be lots of people from Cardiff who come up for the weekend. There were at least six boats this weekend, which was hardly the best of weekends for weather.
 
tonyone01 said:
We went for our look see at the weekend and now have a decision to make. The marinas with all the facilities are appealing, but we were made very welcome at the two clubs with the social side and prices also very attractive.

In terms of the heads up from Solitaire on the additional fuel usage, it does make you sit up and think. But I still think it will be worth giving it a go even if we do have to give up eating !

Just need to convince SWIMBO now
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Hmm you better make sure you bolt everything down then as things often go walkies in the Ely , no 24 hour security! If this is important to you the Penarth Marina is the only real secure option.
 
Hope you are joking

wakeup said:
Hmm you better make sure you bolt everything down then as things often go walkies in the Ely , no 24 hour security! If this is important to you the Penarth Marina is the only real secure option.
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I just moved to Cardiff Marina on Monday this week. Are you saying the crime figures are really high all over Cardiff Bay except for Penarth Marina? :eek:
Allan
 
AllanW said:
I just moved to Cardiff Marina on Monday this week. Are you saying the crime figures are really high all over Cardiff Bay except for Penarth Marina? :eek:
Allan
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we are at CM not noticed any crime been there for 4/5 years as such apart from the stolen trailer( borrowed) signs all over the place !
 
AllanW said:
I just moved to Cardiff Marina on Monday this week. Are you saying the crime figures are really high all over Cardiff Bay except for Penarth Marina? :eek:
Allan
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No, just that I regularly hear of stuff going missing in Ely River and not in Penarth Marina. The difference is one has 24hour security the other doesn't. You can go figure the likely trend or inference yourself.

If I was putting my boat in the Ely, and I have considered this even recently, I would only do so if I didn't leave ANY valuables on board e.g. kit or outboards.
 
trapezeartist said:
But if you're based in Cardiff, Portishead is a destination.:eek:

There seem to be lots of people from Cardiff who come up for the weekend. There were at least six boats this weekend, which was hardly the best of weekends for weather.
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Yes but not at any state of the tide and there are more pubs in cardiff!
 
p41

I berth in Penarth,the staff are helpfull very friendly and the marina is clean and secure.All areas around the marina are covered by cctv to stop nasty little crooks pinching your stuff,this I notice has been a problem on the other side of the bay,I refer to a thread on that subject on the forum,but I am sure that the other marinas are on the case.Penarth is a very well sheltered marina and like the others affords easy access to the Cardiff bay.To get your boat out to the Bristol channel you have to go through the marina lock and the the barrage lock system, this offers added security for your boat as would be made more difficult for it to be stolen.As a further bonus there are reductions on boat insurance deals with Tower insurance if you berth there.As the ad says "every little helps".
 
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