The Ashmount Rally

[nickcred]

Hi All

How are the heads this morning

It was great to meet you all on Saturday. I only wish I could have stayed longer, the house of birthday partying 10 year olds was waiting (no, no not you lot) at my house. So unfortunately an early exit for me. Apologies to those I missed, especially my Birchwood 25 brothers lol. Hope you made it ok.

I hope you all ate and drank well into the night and had a great time. Thank you Byron and Eileen for your hospitality.

So glad the weather has stayed. I am geting ready to go up to the boat now, so have a great day and lets do another meet very soon.

Cheers all

Nick

 

[Ramage]

Hi all,

Sorry we missed you Nick, the kids were doing a boat handling competition at Bray Marina, so we did'nt get to Ashmount until 7 ish.

John and Claire (Upper Thames branch of the Birchwood Owners Association) were there with "No Regrets". Simba their dog was having a great time trying to outwit the big dogs and win the best tit bits.

It was great meeting all the forum characters and a privilege to deliver the booze sent by our sponsor!


Huge thanks to Eileen and Byron for their hospitality and for making the whole event possible. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif



Sunset at Ashmount.

Byron and friends

The Marquee

 

[No Regrets]

The Third Musketeer has returned! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Shame we missed you /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I left work at St Albans at 1pm, got to T&K an hour and a half later, and finally set sail at 2:50pm

The trip was fine to Mapledurham, but a half an hour wait due to a tripped switch at the lock, and the relief Locky's inability to fix it held us up a bit, so we didn't arrive for Four hours.

The scenery along the way really was something else. Upstream from Caversham (Sounds more affluent the Reading doesn't it?) things change to a more open rolling countryside with fewer houses and more grazing creatures such as the Alpacas near Mapledurham.

We soon got the BBQ going, and a bit of team work soon saw no less than three 'Chefs' working hard on the first shift, while the ladies laid out the plates and Salads, and we all had a heart feast in some style thanks to Byrons mini marquee under the forum Burgee!
Like a Medievel feast, the Dogs snuffled around collecting any unwanted scraps, very handy!

Impressed as I was by Bray C.C. hospitality, I handed my application to Shirley for consideration, along with a sizable bung (See me on my knees grovelling in Ramages third piccy!) so unless I get blackballed, you have a new member! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

The Morning after saw a very pleasant day indeed, kicked off with a hearty chat with some forumites, and we eventually left for home at 11am

Look and weep Robo's, nothing to moan about here: /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Back at Mapledurham, all working this time with a far happier looking Locky, we met another Birchwood 25, and mentioned the BOA to the lovely lady concerned:

And decided to have a race to the Swan! See the sporting head start we gave her, as she was Diesel powered, while No Regrets boasts the mighty 60bhp Sea Tiger /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

We found a mooring too!

And 'Captain Claire even had a go at the Helm, while I relaxed down on the Bows, surely the finest place on any River?

The little Birchwood performed perfectly, and an added bonus was the extremely low fuel consumption, with around eight hours cruising hardly moving the fuel gauge on it's modest 24 gallon tank!

We need a cockpit fan however, as the infamous 'Imaginary Flybridge' became more of a reality by the time it was 76 degrees in the shade...the roof is NOT comfy, but it's so cool up there!

Both Claire and I would like to take a final opportunity to thank Byron for his hospitality (It was a pleasure meeting and chatting with Eileen and Byron too; What a hoot!) The BCC for their usual fine welcome, and a great Barbeque team, and to the Thames forum for making it all happen.

Thanks, and see you next time. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Brayman]

Thanks Byron

Many many thanks to Byron and Eileen for hosting the Forum Rally. what a great opportunity to put faces to all those names, surprising how many of them don't fit!

Thanks also to Richard Shead for helping with the refreshments.

Great time, great bunch of people, look forward to meeting up again on our travels.

 

[nickcred]

Hi All

Glad it went to plan and sorry I miised No Regrets and Ramage. Although we waved at Paul on our way back from Bray yesterday evening. We had a great day yesterday, even though we did not set off until 11 am due to grumpy eldest son . Weather was just the best, but you are right you definately need a cockpit fan, best £16 I ever spent. One thing is that sitting behind all that glass makes a trip to the bows even more pleasurable lol. We spent a fun 10 mins dodging the suicide boats at Windsor and got a good look at the MTB as it waited outside Bovney lock to go upstream. We got lucky with the locks both up and down, big long line waiting to come downstream as we went up and the reverse on our way downstream. Never seen so many boats stood off at Bovney when we came through around 6 ish I think.

Any of you guys are welcome to stop off for a cooling beer if you see us on the mooring at any point, we do have a mooring BBQ in the summer so will shout you the date and if you want to pop along that would be great.

Boat one, thanks for the offer of the drive rudder, definately take you up on the offer, let me know when you are passing and we can do the deal.

Regards All