On Tue, 04 May 2010 10:10:53 +0100, I wrote: >Maybe next weekend we'll have sunshine while we're under way and rain >only at night. And by June we hope to have some heating.
And so indeed it almost proved to be. The forecast was for light to moderate north-easterly winds, so we decided to head northwards to the harbour at Kilgarvan, a former grain-shipping station. There is only one public berth here that will take a 60' boat, and it's on the end of a pier, very exposed to the prevailing south-westerlies. However, it's sheltered in a north-easterly, so we seized the opportunity to make our annual visit to the harbour where we started our boating careers over thirty years ago. The wind was as advertised, but so cold that (despite the sunshine) I had to put gloves on. At 1700 rpm we reached Kilgarvan in about an hour and twenty minutes and found the berth empty, so we tied up facing into the wind. There were very few people about, and none that we knew. A large cruiser pulled in late in the day, and tied off us; we chatted over a bottle of Clotworthy Dobbin before he headed back to Terryglass. The night wasn't as cold as the previous weekend, and running the overn for a while warmed up the boat. The following morning, I ran the generator so that my Dearly Beloved could power-wash the boat; I did indoor jobs, including removing some old plumbing. I also investigated the stern gland leak and found that the bolt on one side is not gripping anything. It may have sheared internally: I didn't dare investigate further. At the moment only a large amount of grease is keeping out the water, but happily the yard is due to do some work for us and can add that to the list. We had another visitor on Sunday morning: another single-handed boater, an affable chap with a small dog. Again, after about an hour or two, he pushed off back to his base. We baked potatoes and pork chops on the barbie, then headed for base at 4.00pm. Again, there was sunshine, but there were very few other boats moving. No more boating for a few weeks as we have other commitments, but we'll be back on the water in June --- perhaps with a heater. bjg
