YnysMon

My day? More like my month to come…July looks to be fairly busy. First week of July on Moonlight Shadow should be nice and relaxing. 2nd week, Ive decided to take an extra week’s leave to try to get our chaotic house into some sort of order for visitors for the following weekend, when it’s our 40th anniversary. (The Victoria Meldrew in me can’t help thinking ‘I don’t believe it!’…can’t have been that long.) We have special plans for the weekend, which says something, as Graham and are normally beyond useless at celebrating normal anniversaries and birthdays. I also have a commitment for the final July weekend. I’m part of a choir that is singing the weekend services at St Alban’s Cathedral. I’ve only recently rejoined the choir, after a gap of 10 years or so. Very much looking forward to the weekend. After that, I only have to work August and September before I retire. Coo!

Good idea, I’m sure you’d enjoy it.

Somehow I don’t think we’ll be overtaking anything! Not on a motorway anyway.

Graham has pointed out that we didn’t used to have any problems with this, and he last used the Wolsey on a daily commute down the M1 to Hemel and back. Harry has also commented that the ‘seals’ might not be as good as they used to be, so he might consider such a solution if he finds there’s a problem.

I asked Harry if he's going to sell it once he gets it going. No way, he replied...he's going to enjoy it. Mind you, he does need to learn to drive first. At least he now has a motivation for learning to drive. He's also told his brother that he can use it too if he learns to drive. It's about time the two of them stopped relying on Dad's taxi service!

Yes, I’ve seen their earlier videos, they seem to have mostly stayed up north previously. Good for them for exploring a bit farther.

Graham used to drive it, and Harry is the same height as his Dad. It’s going back in the garage whilst we are in Norfolk!

They managed to get it out! I wonder why we had an old fender at the back of the garage? We've never had a boat.

Lovely to see your shower room finished off. I thought it looked very smart when we stayed on board, but it's even better now you have your shower curtain in place. Those ducks near Horning are a cheeky lot!

I'm pretty sure that the Skipper's Manual remains unopened on many a vessel!

I’ve been watching their vid for several years now. They clearly love the Broads and are a delight.

It has definitely not been messed about with! My Mum’s cousin bought it from new (it has an Anglesey number plate…that’s the EY bit) and he sold it to us shortly after we got married in 1983. So two owners to date. We moved to MK a couple of months after getting married and soon realised that we needed a car to get about. We weren’t that well off as I’d only been working for a few months and Graham had only graduated a few weeks before we got married. A couple of years into ownership we had some work done, floor was a bit rusty, so that was seen to, re-spray to the original paint colours, plus other work. I think we spent about £3k on her, which was a whopping sum in those days. When Harry came along we swapped the front passenger seat belt to accommodate his car seat. Once Alec came along we already had another car, and the old Wolsey got consigned to the garage, though Graham always intended getting her doing again. Life just gets in the way of those projects. Glad that Harry is very enthusiastic about getting her going again. There are positives. The wheels turn! The radiator is intact and the dipstick shows there is oil present…even if it smells naff! Just need to get her out of the garage now. AND reclaim the garage!

My son Harry has plans. This Wolsey Hornet has sat in the garage since he was about 2 years old, so the poor ol' thing has sat there for over 30 years. Get me...posting on the car talk thread. LOL.

Me to.

I hadn’t realised the owner of the two ‘Arms’’ also owns Loddon Marina. The area behind that is in a similar state.

This is slightly off topic, but is story related to utilities that my Mam told me. Her grandfather worked for the (private) waterboard that installed and maintained the first proper infrastructure in Holyhead. After he retired, probably in the 1930s, they realised that they hadn’t bothered to map it out, but had been relying on his knowledge, as he knew exactly where to dig whenever there was a leak. They brought him out of retirement for a while to help map it out.

My Condolences Carole.

I don’t know how you do it Ian!

Always have a puncture kit!

Also on the lower reaches of the rivers. Tide is rising…flow still going out. Even though I've observed it so many times, still blows my mind.

Take them on a sailing taster. Hunters Yard and Eastwood Whelpton offer them. https://huntersyard.co.uk/our-skippered-sails/ https://www.eastwood-whelpton.co.uk/experiences/sailing-days-out/

Alec has decided to accompany his APs (Aged Parents) on our next trip (1st week of July) and, as Harry has offered him the use of his paddleboard, I've just phoned the BA to book a short toll for the said board. £9.50 for the week. I may even try out the paddleboarding lark out myself...depending on the weather. If it turns cold, perhaps not!

What a brilliant video!

It looks an idyllic spot. I notice though that it’s been designated as a ‘silver propeller’ destination, so as to encourage people to visit. That’s rather ironic as it’s not on the main navigation. I’ve been following the YouTube channel ‘Minimal List’ for the past few years, and believe they were the first boaters to actually win a Silver Propeller prize (you don’t have to visit every location, as that would be impossible for most boats). They’ve now completed their self-imposed challenge of cruising all the linked English and Welsh waterways. I wonder if they’ll ever manage to visit the Broads?

I've also posted this in the Syndicate Owners Area thread. Just in case people don't bother reading that, it's repeated here: 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 engine in January 2022 and the saloon upholstery was replaced earlier this year. A new prop is on order and should be delivered and fitted sometime this summer. Priorities on upgrades get reviewed annually at our autumn AGM. Our turnaround day is Friday, the boat being vacated by 2pm at the latest and available to the next owner from 5pm onward.