YnysMon

As I mentioned on Kate's 'Springer's Retreat' thread, Graham I thought we'd secured an extra week and a bit in November on Moonlight Shadow. However, that's come to nothing as the swap that resulted in the spare days got cancelled. All is not lost though. Our most recently joined owners can't use their week in October as they used up all their holiday before buying the share, so Graham and I (and Seren and Pozzick naturally) will be on MS from 6th to 13th October and then again from 10th November to 17th. It will be nice to have some time on the boat before the clocks change and when there's still a decent amount of daylight for long cruises. The tides look good for the October week too, so we expect to spend most of that week 'down south'. All being well, I be posting on the 'Carried Away - Live' thread from 6th October. By the way, I posted in the 'Broads Chat' room that we have another share on Moonlight Shadow come up for sale. Have a look over there if you are interested.

A share in the Moonlight Shadow Syndicate has come up for sale. If you are interested please contact the syndicate admin mailbox: admin@moonlightshadow.net. Moonlight Shadow is a self-managed syndicate, the boat being based at Horning Pleasurecraft. The current membership is committed to upgrading the boat in a financially sustainable way (i.e. since becoming self-managed, upgrades have been achieved within our contingency budget without having to ask members to make additional contributions over the monthly fee). We had a new carpets fitted in 2020, a new engine in January 2022, the saloon upholstery was replaced in February this year and we've recently replaced our gas cooker. A new prop was fitted a few weeks ago and members on board since then have reported that the boat is a lot more responsive. Priorities on upgrades get reviewed annually at our autumn AGM, and we have plans! Further information about the boat and how the syndicate works can be found on our website: https://moonlightshadow.net Our turnaround day is Friday, the boat being vacated by 2pm at the latest and available to the next owner from 5pm onward.

Glad you’ve discovered Geldeston Dyke. The bank is a bit rough, and you need to take great care stepping off your boat as some bits that look like grass are just overhanging the Dyke (water), but we prefer it to the moorings at The Locks.

Us!

Good news. I checked with our choir admin person. The Ely trip is off! So that’s us sorted for an extended stay on MS.

You’ll be fine. There have been a few times when I’ve wondered whether the Breydon crossing would be a bit rough but have realised that, even if it’s windy, when you have a ‘following sea’ (wind and tide in the same direction) it’s a doddle. Just avoid foggy conditions (as in ‘Coot Club’) Err, well, maybe. It feels good to get back to what feels like pre-Covid life though. Last week the conductor of the band I’ve returned to asked if Alec would be interested in returning. After some persuasion and trepidation Alec came long this evening, and he really enjoyed it. He’s on bass trombone, I’m on second trombone. Feels like old times.

I didn't realise the Lido was still open. I must check it out some time.

Err...I forgot to check my diary. I've realised that I'm supposed to be singing in Ely Cathedral on the weekend of 5th and 6th November - DOH! At least we'll have a few extra days, 12 instead of 17, so that's still good.

You don't know what you're missing Jean. It always feels a bit of a let down if we can't do 'the crossing' on any of our trips. I have good news about November. Moonlight Shadow has spare days before our next trip, and no one else in the Syndicate wanted them, so we are going to have an extra long stay for our next trip - 17 days!!!!! How good is that! If the weather allows, we'll hopefully make it down south.

There are ‘no mooring’ signs along the whole stretch of the Whitlingham moorings. That’s a real shame, we used to like mooring there as it was so handy for taking the dogs for a good walk. Some boaters (possibly liveaboards) are clearly ignoring the no mooring signs, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of us should ignore such signs. Just because someone else ignores ‘the rules’ doesn’t mean that it’s okay.

What a wonderful introduction to the history of Loddon.

Having done the Chester to Bangor more times than I can count I would say don't bother, unless you like views of rows and rows of caravans. Bangor to Holyhead is more scenic, especially when the line bends to the south and you get views of the mountains.

At some point Graham and I need to rediscover North Wales as nice place to visit. Currently all our visits feel like chores, focussed on helping out his Dad out. In between our visits his home invariably ends up looking like a hoarder’s nightmare. This is the result of his memory loss. Important pieces of Mail used to end up in a pile of junk mail…now his mail gets redirected to Graham. The house still ends up looking like a tip between visits though. He gets an idea in his head to do a little diy job, gets tools out etc. then his mind passes on to something’s else, so he ends up with random piles of ‘stuff’ strewn about all over the place. He doesn’t throw things out either. In our first big sort out visit we took 18 broken/ worn out mops to the recycling centre. Sorry, this is thread drift on steroids!

Hmm, Tryfan is another one I avoid. If you’ve lived any time in North Wales you’ll be familiar with the reported accidents/fatalities. Yr Wyddfa is the worst, with Tryfan coming up close second. This isn’t based on statistics, just my impression from following North Wales news.

Actually, next week is using up the last of my annual leave. First ‘official’ day of freedom 1st October. and

Glad it’s not just me that keeps moaning about cruisers mooring on the demasting area. If they had to quant a sailey under the bridge and then carry on quanting because there wasn’t a space I’m sure they’d understand why it’s so annoying. Quanting (a more complicated version of punting) isn’t easy. Its even worse south of the bridge as there isn’t even a designated demasting area.

There are other peaks. I’ve given up on Yr wyddfa, just too touristy. My favourite is Cnicht, not as high and far less risky, but has wonderful views along the coast south and west, and you have a reasonable chance of having the peak all to yourself.

My final few days of work are whizzing past, with this coming Friday being my last day. It's very sociable too, as I've been meeting up with various colleagues and ex-colleagues several lunchtimes last week and will do this week. Actually, it's the most that I've been on the OU campus since Covid struck. One of the colleagues I met today gave me a most thoughtful and welcome gift. It's a little book of poetry in the Norfolk dialect. This one...

Agree with the lighten up sentiment...but Gracie, really! Less of the Christmas...it's still September!

I think some of the other notices on the helm are quite amusing too. Like the one that says to pull the stop key, only there ain’t one. And what’s that about a solar panel?

Just about the best trip we did up Yr Wyddfa was with the boys when thy were teenagers, and it involved a very early start. It was early August and we were staying as usual with grandparents in Holyhead. We got them up about 3.30am. They fell asleep again in the car as we drove across Anglesey and made our way to Llanberis. The first half hour or so of our walk up ‘Snowdon’ was by moonlight. It soon got light and we got to the peak before 8, so had the peak almost to ourselves. The views as we made our way up the mountain shortly after dawn were spectacular. Rather than walk back down to Llanberis, we did the Pyg track down to Pen-y-pass, where we had a hearty breakfast before catching the bus back to Llanberis. One of those perfect mornings. I’m pretty sure we all went for an afternoon snooze though.

Definitely not when frosty! It can, and often is, lethal.

Full marks for using the ‘proper’ name! Having grown up in sight of it, I always thought ‘Snowdon’ was a bit daft. It’s not that often it has snow on it, even in winter.

I think you've hit the nail on the head here Kate. It wouldn't take much effort and money to make a lot of the popular mooring locations more attractive. Another thing that has stuck me has been the number of queries from hirers with young children about accessibility to playgrounds. Quite often, these are within a reasonable distance from moorings (thinking of Horning and Stokesby), but too often out of sight and not signposted. Families shouldn't have to rely on visits to a pub to find a play area for kids.

Trouble is, by the time we get to the busier season, late July, areas that offered a wild mooring in previous years are so overgrown with nettles etc. that it would take a very determined boater to moor there. I'm thinking of a wild mooring we used just past Acle Bridge moorings and Fleet Dyke at Rockland St Mary.