We need to be thinking about where we want to moor next year. Our berth at Cropredy is lovely, the marina is great and not too dear, the Oxford canal is one of the prettiest, and we can get to and from home easily. But you can have too much of a good thing and the idea of a change in surroundings is tempting. The problem is where to go if we moved? Here are our limitations.
We don’t want to retrace our steps and go back to the lower Grand Union or to Crick. Been there, done that.
We don’t want a long car journey from home (near Reading).
We’d like a good centre with a choice of new routes, but with some good local short cruises to a place worth visiting (like we have Banbury now)
We’d like access to public transport for one of us to get home sometimes.
We’d like a friendly, safe, and not too expensive (e.g.not BWML prices) marina, or maybe a good private on line mooring.
Ideas so far have included:
On the Nene (hoping for no floods)
Fazeley Mill marina (a bit of a drive but do-able)
Somewhere on the K&A – handy for home and transport
One of the marinas up the Ashby
I got quite keen on the K&A for the practical benefits, but I have yet to meet many boaters prepared to extol its virtues. It all looks like quite hard work and offers little choice of routes except back and forth.
I think the favourite at the moment is Fazeley Mill, but if anyone out there has any suggestions I’m all ears.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the gruelling slog of proof reading and prepping my new book is in full swing. Kath is finding dozens of places where I have extra spaces lurking in the text, sometimes causing the quote marks to reverse themselves (no idea why) and the odd missing or extraneous word. My story readers have mostly reported back that the plot has no fundamental errors. (phew) Perhaps the biggest headache is trying to format the text for the paperback version. The Amazon KDP system is very fussy about layout. I’ll be glad when I can push the ‘publish’ button. If the total income from book sales amounts to more than 10p per hour of our work, I’ll be surprised.
7 comments:
Fazeley Mill are very friendly at least for temp moorers. We have spent time at Springwood Haven - nice marina but the access road is unmade and very pot-holey and no use if your car has lowered suspension! OK in a Golf estate though. We refuelled at Trinity - very friendly but we have never moored there.
Debby
Thanks Debby
Me?
I'd choose somewhere between Stoke Bruerne Bottom and Cosgrove, it's the GU but it's stunning.
Well that would be Yardley Gobion or Thrupp Wharf Giles. Good access to MK which I like but no thanks, we've trodden that path too often. Need fresh scenery.
If you've got as far as thinking about the Nene, why not consider the Middle Level and go for our beloved Bill Fen? It's certainly friendly safe and cheap. Short trips available to March for the bright lights (?) or Woodwalton nature reserve for a mooring away from it all. Whilst you're there you could do all the Ely Ouse and the Nene. Car trip from Reading is long-ish, but not too bad. Public transport from Ramsey is patchy, but if one is staying and can provide local lifts, then trains from Huntingdon or Peterborough are good, and the misguided bus from St Ives gets you to Cambridge.
Simon
Well it's an interesting thought.
N
To echo Simon - certainly if you're looking for a change of scene, and only plan to stay a year or two, then the Middle Level is certainly worth considering.
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