TravelStream™ news feed for member derek_roberts10 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/derek_roberts10 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 31 May 2009 15:24:03 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1243796205/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1243796205/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1243796205/tpod.html Sun, 31 May 2009 15:24:03 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Alderley Edge, England, United Kingdom

For those of you that have been wondering what is happening this year, then the answer is I'm afraid, very little! Sadly all our plans to be sailing to the Baltic and then to explore Denmark have been put on hold due to my mum's failing health. She is due to have her mitral and possibly her aortic valve replaced in an open heart operation in Liverpool. She has been extremely breathless of late and really not capable of fending for herself and as a consequence, we have decided to move her in with us pending the operation so that hopefully, she will be fully recovered and independent in time for us to continue with our cruising plans next year.I will therefore close this year's only entry by wishing you all the best for 2009 and look forward, boy I really look forward, to regularly updating the blog next year!DerekAlderley EdgeCheshire
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1221240660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1221240660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1221240660/tpod.html Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:32:49 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Maldon, United Kingdom

This is the last entry for this year and it will end as we started all those event-filled days ago, in getting the boat ready, but this time, adventuring done, its' preparing her for her winter's rest. Dear thing, she deserves a break.  The yard team were up and ready to take us to the hoist at around high water. Rather than using my engine with its nice new oil, they towed us round to the lifting point, just by the entrance sill. The hoist they have in Tollesbury is manual, not hydraulic, and the team of 5 people worked hard to get us safely out of the water, supervised by yours truly. Actually, in fairness to me, one is a little bit 'spare' on these occasions and all you can do is look and watch the well practised routine of the staff as they got us securely cradled in the hoist and thence out of the water.All that remained for us to do was to empty the boat of as much 'stuff' that a car could carry and await the arrival of Rosemary and her daughter Andrea, who had kindly volunteered her Audi A4 estate for the purposes of ferrying us back to Rosemary's for one last night. Tomorrow we pick up a hire car and remove our goods and chattels from long-suffering Rosemary's sight! In this, the last paragraph, I will try to encapsulate the summer's cruise. It has probably been the worst summer that we have lived through in terms of weather and yet all that I have right now are wonderful memories. Memories of sights we have seen, people we have met, friends we have spent time with, experiences we have had and the fun, just the sheer fun of being together, doing what we love, on a cracking boat in some of the most breathtakingly beautiful parts of the world. We are so lucky to have found, albeit relatively late in life, this way of life and are even more lucky that we have the financial means and the health, to enjoy it. Long may it last. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1221154140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1221154140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1221154140/tpod.html Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:30:31 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Maldon, United Kingdom

We were up, showered and taking the main down by 07:30. Fortunately, the wind was no more than a F3 so it wasn't too much of a struggle. As soon as the sail was down, the racket from the freed furling foil started and it was with thankful relief that we had remembered this problem and resisted the temptation to take all the sails down the evening before. Then all we had to do was to have breakfast  and wait till 09:00 when we could make our way to the marina, to arrive at 09:40 at high water. It was a long wait, or at least it seemed interminable with the fearsome racket from the mast, but the time did pass and we slipped the mooring and were on our way as planned.  Approaching the marina, we passed two exiting yachts and enquired as to the depth of water and both of them answered 'five feet over the sill'. Now we need 5' 6'' and according to the marina's tide tables, we should have 5' 9'' or maybe even 6' (you have to interpolate between fixed heights on the tables). Not having too many options, we decided to continue and were somewhat concerned to see that the tide gauge at the entrance to Woodrolfe Creek showed just over 5', certainly not 6'. Now the winds were blowing the water out which could make some difference but again, we decided to proceed, on the basis that you can't hit the ground two days in a row! Once we got to the sill, we advanced very slowly and kept our fingers crossed and we were in, no scraping or banging. Two of the yard staff were there to take our warps, explaining that they had been standing by to help us in had we got stuck on the sill, as they knew it was going to be tight. Nice chaps.  The plan for the remainder of the day was for me to change the oil, together with the fuel and oil filters, Julie to carry on sorting and tidying and the marina staff to take our mast down. I want some work done on the wiring and other bits and pieces during the winter so we'd decided to have it taken down. All tasks were achieved with relatively little angst and that evening, we celebrated a successful end of trip by having a meal in Tollesbury cruising club, together with an excellent Chablis.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1221067320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1221067320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1221067320/tpod.html Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:25:26 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Maldon, England, United Kingdom

Thankfully, the rain had passed by morning and whilst everything was wet, at least the weather looked set for a pleasant day. Martin, the lock keeper, wanted us in our boats (two of us were leaving) and ready to go by 08:45. He had already put another, traditional boat (see photo) into the lock the previous evening and at 08:45, we tried squeezing our two plastic boats in as well. This didn't work, so the first boat came out, the two plastic boats went in and the old boat came in behind. We then waited for the tide to attain its highest point. These were very small neap tides and there was some concern that there wouldn't be enough water for us to get out. Indeed, the traditional boat, drawing about 2 metres, stayed in the lock, deciding that there was insufficient water. The photograph shows the narrow exit channel at low tide, there is not much room for error.The first boat, a Westerly Fulmar, got out safely, then it was our turn. All was well initially as we followed the withies marking the channel, but soon after the last one and before the starboard entry buoy, we ground into the mud. Bear in mind that there was no more water to be had, we couldn't wait to float off with the rising tide, in fact every minute that passed would mean less water, not more. My new found fondness for the east coast was suddenly being questioned and tested as I struggled with trying to come unstuck. Fortunately, with full reverse and the bow thruster pushing us to starboard, we slowly, very slowly, came off and were soon on our way, fondness for the east coast restored. Within a few minutes we were able to switch the engine off and sail downwind with the genoa only. We followed another Thames barge, I really do think they are the most attractive of vessels.The Westerly, with all his sails set, flew past us as if he had somewhere important to get to. We on the other hand, wanted to enjoy our last sail as much as possible so were quite happy to be sailing at a reasonable 5 knots over the ground. By the way, the answer to the question posed above as to the boat's age is - 9 years old! Made from scratch by an enthusiast, took 2 men 46 months, with help from apprentices as and when. This idyll could not last however, as once again the forecast was for strong winds and rain, thanks to Hurricane Hanna. I started thinking that going down wind to Pyefleet Creek was all very well and good but we would have to come back up wind tomorrow morning to ensure that we were at Tollesbury marina exactly at high water, as once again with the small neaps we would have a depth issue crossing the sill that retains water in the marina. A better option would be to forego the pleasure of a downwind sail and place ourselves as close as possible to Tollesbury and West Mersea sailing club, less than 2 miles from Tollesbury, seemed the best bet. A quick phone call secured us a mooring for the night and when we arrived, the young boatman, James, pointed out an available mooring for us and told us he would come back in 15 minutes or so to give us a ride to the shore - all for no charge. What a great sailing club, I wish there were more like it! Sure enough, James came back and we were able to explore West Mersea island a little. At least, enough to get Julie the 'Times' ( she really is an addict) and we bought two home made steak pasties to have back on board (they were truly dire, if we'd have made them we'd have thrown them away as failures), James running us back as soon as we arrived. We slipped him a few ££'s as a thank you and he was quite surprised, the free service didn't even normally require tips, apparently.  Once the disappointing lunch was over, we started the long, painful process of readying ourselves for departure from our summer home. It is amazing what one collects in 4 months and just how much 'stuff' we have to take off the boat. The other thing we had to do was to take the sails down. This can't be done in the marina as the boat may not be pointing into the wind and if not, it is very hard, if not impossible to get the sails down. On a mooring, provided that there aren't strong currents, the boat will lie head to wind naturally, so taking the sails down is relatively easy. At least it is if the wind is less that Force 5, which is what we were experiencing during the afternoon. We hoped that the winds would abate during the evening and indeed they did, so we were able to get the two headsails down and stowed away safely. We left the main for the morning because if we hadn't, the long metal furling foil around which the sail is stowed in the mast, would rattle unbearably without its cushion of sail material, rendering sleep impossible. As we settled down to sleep with the gentle rocking of the boat , we were able to look up through the hatch and see the plough above us. We tried desperately hard not to be down about the fact that this was our last night on board (marinas don't count) but neither of us were entirely successful.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220892420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220892420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220892420/tpod.html Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:24:12 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Maldon, England, United Kingdom

Rosemary very kindly ferried us back to Heybridge Basin and having dropped us off by 09:30, headed off to work. She will be coming to Tollesbury on Friday to pick us up, together with as much of the boat's contents that we can fit in her car. The plan is to pick up a hire car on Saturday to take us and our boaty goods and chattels back to Alderley Edge, marking the absolute end for this year's travels on Celtic Warrior. The few days we had spent at Rosemary's had been relaxing and fun - especially so as the weather had been so miserable and we'd had enough of being marooned on the boat for this year, so a big thank you, Rosemary. Back to the present and the first thing we noticed was that there must have been in the flight path of a flock of incontinent starlings who liked blackberries or elderberries. The boat was covered in blue-black splattery splodges, splodges that left a stain when washed off. Fortunately, I keep a veritable cornucopia of cleaning chemicals on board (not very green but boat comes first!) and I discovered that rust remover worked brilliantly, turning the stains bright pink initially then within a couple of seconds, they disappeared. That kept me amused for a while and once done, and after lunch, we did a Swallows & Amazons thing and inflated the dinghy and headed off up the canal for an adventure. The journey took us as far as Tesco, about 2 miles up the canal and very pretty it was, until we reached Maldon's environs, with factories and Tesco looming large on the horizon. Adventure over, we happily spent the rest of the day reading and watching another of the American Pie series in the evening - thank you Simon for providing them!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220979000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220979000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220979000/tpod.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:51:42 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Maldon, United Kingdom

When we came back to the boat yesterday, I paid for an additional two nights, as the forecast for Tuesday was for torrential rain, so we were reconciled to staying put. Not that it's onerous or unpleasant, far from it, it's a lovely spot. Be that as it may, in fact it wasn't raining when we got up and indeed, the weather looked set to improve so Julie and I walked along the sea wall into Maldon. It was a lovely walk, sunny and mild and Maldon looked enchanting across the bay and indeed it proved to be so, as it's the home for Thames Barges, with at least half a dozen lying against the town's wharf. We also briefly examined the pretty church (on the outside, a bit austere inside) and I even had a haircut, thereby removing any anxieties Julie might have been feeling as my level of hirsuteness approached breaking point and I demand that she use the shears again.Then it was back to the boat for a late lunch and soon after, the skies started delivering the promised rain and at the time of typing, it still is. Tomorrow we leave for a final day's sailing, we intend returning to Pyefleet  Creek for a last night under anchor. I hope the weather improves...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220805900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220805900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220805900/tpod.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:46:23 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Ingatestone, United Kingdom

An end to a chapter - we dropped Elaine off in Billericay station soon after 10.00. She is great company, always cheerful and chatty and we'll all miss her. We heard later that she'd got home safely and that the physiotherapist she visited has put her on a regime of gentle exercise to help her damaged shoulder to recover, which I'm sure it will. Having dropped Elaine off, I was the unwilling participant in a shopping trip to Blue Water, a huge shopping complex just over the river from the Dartford Bridge & Tunnel. I was left in the car (with the windows open an inch or so!) and off the women trotted, with strict instructions to be back by one o'clock. To my utter amazement, they were back by 12:30, citing the reason that they just couldn't see anything they liked. Hard to credit, but I swear it's true. One consolation of this time of the year is that the blackberries have ripened and I can have blackberry crumble. This seems to be an incredible year for them, every bush is black with ripe berries, so it didn't take us long to pick a few pounds for Rosemary's freezer and a crumble with the left-overs, which we had that evening, following a pork stroganoff and of course, too much alcohol again. The good news for our livers is that this was to be the last night, a tomato juice regime kicks in tomorrow when we're back on the boat.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220719200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220719200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220719200/tpod.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:42:17 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Ingatestone, United Kingdom

Another pleasant day with Rosemary, spent shopping (bought a dehumidifier for the boat for the winter lay-up) and again eating and drinking too excess (hope my doctor doesn't get to read this!).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220545980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220545980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220545980/tpod.html Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:35:16 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Maldon, United Kingdom

At 5 a.m. it was windy and rain was threatening, so I announced to all and sundry that it was plan 'b'. By 7 a.m., the wind had slackened and I was starting to question my decision. By 10:00, the wind was back and we now had a new plan. Rather than leaving the boat in Bradwell's marina, we would travel about 7 miles up-river to Heybridge Lock. This is where the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation terminates (strange name, but basically it's a 17 mile canal, with the other end in Chelmsford) http://www.waterways.org.uk/EssexWaterwaysLtd/VisitorInformation/HeybridgeBasinThe lock opens once a day and the opening time for us was 15:00. That meant leaving Bradwell marina at around 12:00 to give us time to get up to the lock and if we arrived early, we could anchor outside and wait. Getting out of the marina was exciting, there was little room to turn and the minute that Julie had cast off the last retaining bow warp, we shot off backwards in the high wind - hitting 2.5 knots by the time the boat was clear of the pontoon! With the wheel hard over and the engine revving hard in forward, we avoided collision at the stern and were soon leaving the marina. Once out in the Blackwater proper, we had sharp 5' waves hitting us hard and with enough force to come over the bows and over the top of the sprayhood and onto us in the cockpit. The wind was blowing strongly, consistently at 35 knots but with the stay'sl out, we made good speed over the ground and in time, further up the river, the waves got smaller and the trip more comfortable. We arrived adjacent to the dock by about 14:00 and dropped anchor in the 3m of water and waited. The wind was really howling, it was quite fierce. As we were waiting, a lovely Thames barge came past and maneuvered itself against the quay wall, with minimum fuss, it was an impressive piece of boat handling. At 15:00 sharp, the lock gates opened and we were helped with our warps to secure the boat as the waters of the river equalized the levels in the lock and within 10 minutes, we were secured and safe in fresh water, immediately inside the lock gates. All that was left for us to do now was to pack for the weekend (in our case) and pack all Elaine's belongings and wait for Rosemary. We had a pleasant walk a way down the canal in the warm sun ( the wind had abated somewhat by this time) and then we kept all our fingers crossed as the huge, black clouds gathered, threatening to start what had been promised - a deluge. Fortunately, we were able to get all our belongings into the car before we had any rain and indeed, it was never that torrential, unlike the western part of the UK. Then it was back to Rosemary's via Morrisons where we bought ready cooked curries (very good too) and settled in for the weekend.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220632800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220632800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/derek_roberts10/1/1220632800/tpod.html Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:41:13 -0400 Celtic Warrior's Travels

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Ingatestone, England, United Kingdom

A foul day, with torrential rain. We spent it amicably and comfortably at Rosemary's. Ate and drank too much and probably laughed too much too!!
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