I arose quite late after an unusually good sleep and nearly decided to leave travelling to the boat until the morning.
For reasons that will become obvious I almost wish I had!
In the end, I decided to get going and hit the road well after three and with the inevitable coffee stops and Friday afternoon traffic it was gone six by the time I reached Fambridge
I wasn't greatly surprised to find that Erbas was nowhere to be found in the marina so, stopping to grab the outboard out of the lock store, I made my way to the moorings where, sure enough, she was sat on a mooring out on the river
I had the knackering exercise of dragging our rigid tender from the yard across the road and down the pontoon in order to launch the bloody thing into the rather choppy river
Thank God for the outboard add I wouldn't have fancied the row even though we're on a very handy buoy. Even so, it was a bit too exciting for comfort and I was extremely glad to scramble onto the secure decks of Erbas
Happily,despite all the permanent send semi - permanent space hogs on the river pontoon, one spot on the sheltered inside was free and once I'd sorted out strings and fenders and stuff I started up the trusty Beta diesel and motored round the end of the pontoon to make a very satisfactory fist of coming alongside single handed
As I sorted things out before heading for the pub a sudden attack of the shakes hit me. It would have been a lot easier getting on board tomorrow when the trot boat is running! Our tender really isn't the most stable or seaworthy of craft and the woodwork is well past its sell by date too
Hey ho, can't afford a marina berth and can't afford a new tender either so I shan't worry about it!
Beer and curry is curing all ills as I write!
For reasons that will become obvious I almost wish I had!
In the end, I decided to get going and hit the road well after three and with the inevitable coffee stops and Friday afternoon traffic it was gone six by the time I reached Fambridge
I wasn't greatly surprised to find that Erbas was nowhere to be found in the marina so, stopping to grab the outboard out of the lock store, I made my way to the moorings where, sure enough, she was sat on a mooring out on the river
I had the knackering exercise of dragging our rigid tender from the yard across the road and down the pontoon in order to launch the bloody thing into the rather choppy river
Thank God for the outboard add I wouldn't have fancied the row even though we're on a very handy buoy. Even so, it was a bit too exciting for comfort and I was extremely glad to scramble onto the secure decks of Erbas
Happily,despite all the permanent send semi - permanent space hogs on the river pontoon, one spot on the sheltered inside was free and once I'd sorted out strings and fenders and stuff I started up the trusty Beta diesel and motored round the end of the pontoon to make a very satisfactory fist of coming alongside single handed
As I sorted things out before heading for the pub a sudden attack of the shakes hit me. It would have been a lot easier getting on board tomorrow when the trot boat is running! Our tender really isn't the most stable or seaworthy of craft and the woodwork is well past its sell by date too
Hey ho, can't afford a marina berth and can't afford a new tender either so I shan't worry about it!
Beer and curry is curing all ills as I write!
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