Not exactly the ideal time of year for one of these type of deliveries, but, the customer needed it delivered down south as they needed to live somewhere, and although Thorne is a nice place near Doncaster commuting from there is a long slog, and with all the furniture down south, needs must. Running the Aak down the canal to Keadby lock on the river trent we had to pass a number of road bridges most of which are handraulic, we noticed that the nav lights were a bit wrong,,,,,No Steaming light, so we had to stop overnight to buy a new light the following morning. As you can see it is not the largest of barges and the temperature on night one was minus 5c. even the tiller was covered with frost.
Joining the river trent and running down the Humber to the North sea was totally uneventful but we were one hour late inleaving so it was 1.5 knots slog to finally clear the river. Brian and I once at sea managed a 15 minutes on and fifteen minutes off, that was about as long as one could stand the cold. Fingernails turning blue and very painful when warming up. We managed a run south down to Lowestoft where we were meeting the owners other half who joined us for the rest of the voyage. Running south again a decision was made to make a short detour to Paglesham our home base for a quick break rather than sit on a mooring at Gravesend for over 12 hours, so Paglesham it was, and your scribe was so pleased to grab a few hours in their own pit.
36 hours later and we were back underway round the Maplin sand and into the Thames proper with Southend Pier nearing but for some reason still freezing. On arriving outside Gravesend basin we had a two hour wait out in the river, and finally passing through the lock into the basin where this old Aak will have its new home. We hope Tim and Sarah will enjoy life afloat and we all wish them well in the new venture
Not exactly the ideal time of year for one of these type of deliveries, but, the customer needed it delivered down south as they needed to live somewhere, and although Thorne is a nice place near Doncaster commuting from there is a long slog, and with all the furniture down south, needs must. Running the Aak down the canal to Keadby lock on the river trent we had to pass a number of road bridges most of which are handraulic, we noticed that the nav lights were a bit wrong,,,,,No Steaming light, so we had to stop overnight to buy a new light the following morning. As you can see it is not the largest of barges and the temperature on night one was minus 5c. even the tiller was covered with frost.
Joining the river trent and running down the Humber to the North sea was totally uneventful but we were one hour late inleaving so it was 1.5 knots slog to finally clear the river. Brian and I once at sea managed a 15 minutes on and fifteen minutes off, that was about as long as one could stand the cold. Fingernails turning blue and very painful when warming up. We managed a run south down to Lowestoft where we were meeting the owners other half who joined us for the rest of the voyage. Running south again a decision was made to make a short detour to Paglesham our home base for a quick break rather than sit on a mooring at Gravesend for over 12 hours, so Paglesham it was, and your scribe was so pleased to grab a few hours in their own pit.
36 hours later and we were back underway round the Maplin sand and into the Thames proper with Southend Pier nearing but for some reason still freezing. On arriving outside Gravesend basin we had a two hour wait out in the river, and finally passing through the lock into the basin where this old Aak will have its new home. We hope Tim and Sarah will enjoy life afloat and we all wish them well in the new venture
We were wearing thermals but we still only managed 15 minutes about. And yes that is what we do. Our web address is www.mvirma.com but we only undertake insured deliveries where we work in conjunction with the insurers to give the owners the best experience. Most new owners seem to start looking in the summer months and by the time the survey, repair work, and final sale has gone through it usually ends up a winter delivery. Back to Nevereverland in a couple of weeks to collect and deliver yet another. Look at the earlier posts where we have posted the start of one of the books I am writing. Might open your eyes to some of the pitfalls. Us watergypsies are a strange bunch, but with global warming, the value of our homes rises with the water level. Humour is a large part of what we do so please expect a few funnies along the page. I do not think you could do what we do with a straight face, minus five degrees open steering and a 250 mile delivery at 5 knots, blue fingernails eventhough wearing thermal gloves, Brrrrrrr
ReplyDeleteAs VallP and others will attest to, being able to cruise one's home through the waterways of Europe is a treasure which others covert. It is also becoming very trendy as we are now returning barges back to Europe with new owners, who incedentally have deeper pockets than us. We stay intouch with most and we get regular updates. Look for a good 24mtr Luxemotor as they can move quite quickly for given fuel consumption and are very stable
ReplyDeleteHi Keith, I'm back...not with a vengeance but with a bit more time than I've been having these past months. This was a great post, and what a lovely 'aakje' as we say over here! I can well imagine how cold that was though. My barge also has outside steering (horizontal wheel, not a tiller) and I confess to being a very fair weather boater. Beautiful pics by the way. You had lovely weather for it despite the frostbiting conditions!
ReplyDeleteSo glad the pics came out ok, now if only I can master the video switch on the new toy
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