Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure
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Yeah, it's easy. Take a couple of days from here to the Mouth of the Thames, and a day or 2 to get up to London. St Katherines dock is the obvious place to moor. I suspect it is super pricey, evidenced by no published fees
We are going half way thet later in the year to go to a party in Ramsgate, I have no desire to go further.
Just planning the Paris trip in June. It's been quite difficult to get info. But I had a chat with someone who has done it, and he has helped me a lot. I think we will go from here to Honfleur in one hit, that's about 100nm, most of which will be offshore. But once we are in Honfleur, the rest of the trip is up the Seine (so just point into the current
) Eight lock systems to pass, but apart from that should be easy. I'm thinking 3-4 days each way Honfleur/ParisHonfleur though we may amble back slower and enjoy rural France.But of course, navigational aids on an inland waterway are totally different to those at sea. So we need to learn those, and take an online course
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@Giles 5-6 days of cider sampling each way?
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Unless we decide to stay in Paris, or go all the way down to the Med, which is possible (though I would need to check whether SAKURA could do it - I spoke to a guy who had done it in a 47' boat, so I think it can be done.)
The speed limit on the Seine is 10knots. So say, we average 8.5knots, dicking around with locks and getting caught behind slower boats. It's about 160nm from Honfleur to Paris. So about 20 hours of motoring each way. 3 is easily doable, even 2. But part of the adventure will be taking our time and enjoying the ride, booze, food and part of France I have never seen, certainly not from a river. Taking let's say 3 or 4 to get there, then 5 or 6 or 7 to get back.
In both cases how slow or fast we have to do it depends to a great extent upon our channel crossing. For 100nm across open water, we need the weather to be kind....And we have a had have-to-be-in-Paris date, my sisters birthday party.....
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said in Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure:
About a year ago, Paula and started to discuss life after SAKURA. Unless we buy second hand, anything that we would want, would be a 1-3 year delivery. We think that by then, we'll want something a little smaller, with just 2 cabins (we have 3 on SAKURA) and possible an outside helm as well as an inside one.
In September, I happened across a tiny little boat builder on Wales, who make the most sublime boats I have ever seen, functional, fast, seaworthiness off the scale etc etc. We went to see them and do a sea trial.
This the one we trialled (not me at the helm
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It was gobsmackingly accomplished in seas that I thought the trial would have to be called off for. We got very excited, started speccing one for delivery in late 2027 (they make just one or two in total across all models) per year. The following morning we woke up and reality had kicked in, we simply could not afford one. Bugger.
On Tuesday, I was contacted by Dale. The very one we had trialled was coming onto the market (owner moving to Australia), and Paula and I were the first people to be approached. It was launched in February and has 90 hours on the engines. It's basically new. It is massively specced, and we were offered it for 40% off list.
Initiate cat-amongst-the pigeons mode. I met with the Sasga rep on SAKURA this morning, and he believes we can net ($'s) what we need, to buy the Dale.
So basically it's a stonkingly good deal, we think we can afford it, but we may run out of time waiting to get an offer on SAKURA.
Initiate what-will-happen-will-happen mode.
It's a wait and see.
For those of you who would like to see more, click below....
Selling SAKURA has been a struggle. What I did not realise until we decided we wanted the Dale and needed to sell SAKURA, is that it is rather like buying and selling a house. You get caught in a chain, unless you have cash and/or find a cash buyer. The Dale sold to another buyer this week. He took her out for a sea trial and said yes there and then, and he is a cash buyer, so Paula and I are shit out of luck. Well, we love SAKURA, so we aren't really.
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And we have moved SAKURA to her new berth. 3 mins walk from our house. and 4 mins from the office......
Suitable protection in the background....
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