kadensa

I want to know how they got away with travelling at that speed. Where are the rangers when you need them?

Hi Tim It sounds as though you have had an 'eventful' year. I'm glad that things seem to be improving now, and that, hopefully, you will be back on the water in the not-too-distant future. Welcome to the madhouse that is the NBN

Still 8 weeks to go At least it will be a bit quieter by then!

If we are cruising for a few hours we'll generally have a couple of glasses of whatever we fancy whilst underway - (I find it can make the long slog up the Bure from Yarmouth almost interesting). Last year we were moored up at Perci's island on a lovely sunny day, sittiing in the cockpit with a glass of wine each, just watching the world go by. There was very little wind and we were suddenly accosted by a sailor who had obviously spent quite a while tacking up river and making little headway in the process. I was busy watching the shenanigans going on across the river with boats trying to squeeze into the few remaining moorings on the green and outside the Swan, when a voice beside me said, rather plaintively - 'Mine's a Gin and Tonic'.

By the way, if you don't mind 'roughing it' a little, there is a fabulous campsite a couple of miles outside Widecombe. The facilities are fairly basic, although the loos are very clean and a shower costs 20p with plenty of hot water. There is a lovely walk through the woods and a typical Dartmoor stream rushing by to lull you to sleep. ,

'Incidentally a number of the exterior shots on Poirot Series were shot in the South Hams at Salcombe' Don't mention South Hams - the only place I have come across where you have to pay for disabled parking! Devon, for us, is a weekend getaway or even a day trip. One of the best things to do is visit 'Greenway', Agatha Christie's house overlooking the River Dart. Park at Dartmouth 'Park and Ride', and once in the town take the Ferry. It's a steep walk up the hill but well worth it - the gardens are wonderful and the house which is now fully open is interesting (to say the least!) Another of my favourite places is 'Coleton Fishacre' in Kingswear, which was home to the D'Oyly Carte family - an Arts and Crafts house, but furnished in Art Deco style. Again, fabulous gardens with a lovely walk down to the beach. And finally, Buckland Abbey in Yelverton, former home of Sir Richard Grenville (of 'Revenge' fame) and Sir Francis Drake - superb location on the edge of Dartmoor and home to 'Drake's drum'. The latter is a MUST for anyone interested in naval history. (All the above are National Trust properties ). ,

Gracie, you can have Brad Pitt and welcome. Johnny Depp, however, is a completely different matter!

Here in Bristol we have - 1) a black wheelie bin (about 1/3 the size of the usual ones); this is for non-recyclable waste and gets collected every two weeks. All the following get collected every week 2) a green box for cartons, plastic bottles and food trays, cardboard, aerosols and food and drink cans 3) a black box for glass, paper, batteries (car and domestic), engine oil, and fabric 4) a brown food bin (we also have a small brown food bin which is kept in the kitchen and emptied when necessary into the larger one outside.) You can have a garden waste collection, in which case you have a blue bin and have to pay extra but most don't bother and put it in the black bin.. Bristol was one of the first places in the country to introduce the multi-bin system, so we were in a sense 'guinea pigs' and at first there were quite a few 'teething troubles', especially since the council kept changing the rules about what went where. However, things seem to have settled down now.

Sorry, JawsOrca I was reading posts further up the thread and in the meantime you had posted your update. I hope it didn't appear that I was being rude and ignoring you. I'm glad you appear to be getting some way towards solving your problem at last and hope that you'll soon be back on the water again.

Yes, a strange place the Yare. On the surface, it is a place I should really dislike as the decor can be described, at best, as 'tired' and the landlord does nothing to enliven the atmosphere. However, for some unfathomable reason, I really like it.

Some more photos to whet your appetite, Grace - The calm after the storm; Loch Oich Ben Nevis from the moorings at Banavie Hurrying home - Loch Ness

But to quote Bob Dylan - 'I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now!

It is indeed.

Sorry, the link doesn't seem to be working but it's the Isle of Skye class

Loch Ness looks much calmer than when we were there. However, I've just remembered that we took video shots so I will look those out too. We had a small boat, but easily powerful enough. They no longer have that one but this looks much the same - http://www.caleycruisers.com/boat-class/isle-of-skye-class/ (strangely enough I have 'Alibi ' on the TV at the moment and being shown now is an episode of Murdoch Mysteries in which people see a monster in Lake Ontario. There are many references to the Loch Ness monster; strange coincidence!

Italy, on the canals and the Venetian lagoon. We hired twice through Leboat. Probably our best ever holidays

Of course if you're feeling adventurous you could always go here instead - The weather would probably be better!

We went on the Caledonian a few years ago with Caley cruisers. It is definitely worth doing but unlike the Broads, there are no wild moorings. Having said that, there are so few hire cruisers that it is easy to get away from everybody. The locks are good fun, especially the flight at Fort Augustus! (You have to pull the boat up the flight of 6 ) Loch Ness can be a bit 'choppy' (think of Breydon on a bad day and triple it - having said that, our outward journey wasn't so bad, it was the return leg which got a bit hairy at times) and we had to wait at the entrance to Loch Lochy for a day as the boatyard had phoned the lock keeper to say the wind was too strong. However, we managed to get through the following day and the mooring at the end of the canal, which is opposite Ben Nevis was well worth the wait. There are far fewer facilities than on the Broads, and, of course, there is only one way to go, so that you retrace your steps on the way back. We went for 10 days and really enjoyed it, but if you like a bit of 'life' on holiday, then it probably isn't for you. For a relaxing, get away from it all holiday it takes some beating. Kytra lock just past Fort Augustus is an absolutely wonderful place to moor.as is Loch Oich. The locks are all worked by keepers so are easy compared with the English canals, excepting the flight mentioned above. I will look out the photos and attempt to upload some for you. It is expensive, and Caley cruisers compared unfavourably, in my opinion, with say, Richardsons but it is well worth doing.

I think Supermore looks like it was put together from bits of other boats they just happened to have lying around. For instance, check the 'portholes' with the square windows in them!

1) Buy several flats in Cannaregio, Venice. Use one for family holidays, let the others out cheaply to young Venetians who have been priced out of their own city. 2) Buy a 2/3 bedroomed flat overlooking the river in Bristol. 3) Buy an Aquafibre 38 (e.g. Major Gem) and give it a makeover so the interior is like Broadlander 's, 4) Set up trusts for my children to give them an income equivalent to the average in the part of the country in which they live. Fund any education/training which will enable them to obtain their 'dream job'. 5) Fund research into auto-immune diseases especially rheumatoid arthritis and multiple schlerosis. In the same spirit buy two or three Broadlanders and have them adapted to be easily accessible for disabled users and give them to Richardsons to hire out. 6) and most important - ENJOY IT!

http://www.barnesbrinkcraft.co.uk/our-boats/detail/6/

I do take your point about the view of the surrounding countryside being better from Broadsman. However, as I think has been said before, there is rather too much 'plastic' moulding about it for my taste ( I can't get past the idea that it has been squeezed out of a gigantic toothpaste tube).

Had Major Gem last year - a lovely boat, but would be improved by having a winch to open the roof! Maybe it was because we had her early in the season, but I found it quite difficult at first. Luckily, I was on a low-fat diet at the time and had some one-cal oil with me. A couple of sprays on the runners worked like magic!

Sorry, but I don't agree. Lovely as this is, Broadlander still gets my vote