We set off for Suffolk early on Saturday morning
The boat jumble was a crock - I could swear the advert said Saturday but it turned out it was on Sunday! Oh well, we'd probably just have spent money on junk we didn't really need and it wasn't the main purpose of the exercise anyway.
Around the corner we went to Suffolk Yacht Harbour at Levington for a surprisingly enjoyable few hours looking at bigger boats that we either can't afford right now or probably can't afford ever! This was prompted by a debate as to whether we should spend quite a lot of money on Brigantia bringing her up to the standard of repair and maintenance we'd like or whether we should sell her this winter and buy something bigger and/or better.
Not surprisingly, anything we could afford was extremely tatty and anything we might have wanted was far too expensive! The conclusions we came to are that we've got somewhat differing ideas of what our next boat might be - I want something very traditional and not too big, Jane wants something big and comfy :eek: - and we can't afford anything sufficiently better than Brigantia for several years so we'll stick with what we've got and do her up.
Then it was off down to Fambridge for the night. Arriving at the moorings, we were somewhat surprised to find the pontoon very nearly full, as busy as we've seen it all year. There was, however, a Brigantia sized hole on the inside of the pontoon so we jumped onto the ferry down to our mooring, fired up the engine and set up the lines to come in port side to.
As luck would have it, just as we cast off a boat came upstream and headed for the very gap we planned to moor in. Oh well, we toddled up the outside of the pontoon to see if there was space there only to be hailed from Full Circle, a fellow YBW forumite, who suggested we come alongside. Nice one, but I suddenly realised I'd rigged the bow line down the port side and with a very strong ebb tide running I needed it to starboard. Not wanting to ask Jane to do anything strenuous given her current health problems (she's off work with back pains which are under investigation) I turned downstream to make steering easy for her and sorted out the lines before turning back upstream.
With hindsight, and as Jim on Full Circle later commented, I'd have been better off stemming the tide as we ended up several hundred years downstream of the pontoon and had to forge our way back up against one of the biggest tides of the year! Oh well, it all worked out in the end although once again the engine died at idle but fortunately not before we'd got lines across.
We then joined Jim and Lynn aboard Full Circle for drinks and an excellent curry Lynn knocked up in the galley followed by more drinks before repairing to the pub for beers ... or in my case one and a half beers before I hit the wall and had to give up!
Back on board, we were pleased we'd brought the fan heater down. Although we'd have survived without any heating, it made life aboard a lot more pleasant. Not the best nights sleep we've had aboard as it was very windy and thus choppy on the river. We were both up and down during the night and a bit jaded next morning.
A lazy start to Sunday with breakfast from tins, a bit of a sort out and then I dropped Brigantia back on her buoy and caught the ferry back to the pontoon for the last time this season - we're on our own from now on so there'll be a lot more tender rowing to be done!
After saying our goodbyes to the Full Circles, it was off to Burnham Yacht Harbour to visit the crew aboard Laurin, more "virtual" friends from the world of YBW who are now definitely real friends. I'd offered to have a look at the electrics on the boat for them and they'd offered us lunch in return.
Arriving at BYS, we found Laurin and met up with Karen, Pat, AJ and Esme. Jane went all broody :rolleyes: whilst I got on with the business at hand. Most impressive electrical switch panel I've ever seen on a boat but I spotted a problem straight away with the main positive feed wire to the panel being loose in its screw terminal. A quick twiddle of the screwdriver sorted that out for the time being but it's something I think needs improving. No great problems generally, just some tidying up and sorting out needed.
That done, for now, it was off to the Swallowtail Bar for lunch. There was me expecting a sarnie and a pint and what we got was a full two course (we passed on starters!) Sunday dinner carvery! Even Jane got stuck in. More good food and good company. Esme, as babies often do, had fun pulling my beard - dunno why babies find beards so fascinating!
By now it was mid-afternoon and much as she was enjoying herself I could see that Jane was tiring so we bade our hosts farewell and set off back on the road to home.
Even though we only moved a couple of hundred yards and did little more than sleep aboard, it was a most enjoyable weekend. I was particularly pleased that Jane enjoyed the break as she's been going stir crazy stuck at home with nothing to do! It was also encouraging that she enjoyed the company on both days as she doesn't always find it easy to mix with new friends.
I'm investigating getting the necessary insurance, particularly professional indemnity cover, so I can take on odd bits of work on boat electrics. Not that I'm planning on making a go of it full time but it seems a shame to pass up the chance to make a bit on the side to put towards the costs of running Brigantia
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