Snow on the coast

We were travelling to Belgium at the weekend to visit some friends in Ghent. Leaving early Saturday morning, the met office was issuing weather warnings of snow right along the coast of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire.

In the event the only snow we encountered was as we approached Dover, where a couple of inches had settled making an unusual sight of the famous white cliffs with matching white beach.


Across the English Channel, only 22 miles or so away, there was bright sunshine when we arrived in Calais and so it continued. Apart from a small area of snowfall around Bruges, it was a clear, bright, if bitterly cold weekend in the parts of France and Belgium we travelled through.

Returning to Calais on Sunday evening, the town was covered with a thick layer of newly fallen snow, which made for a rather spectacular beach scene.




Fortunately, back across the channel in Dover there was no sign of snow.

Lymington Scows

Constantly on the lookout for information to help me with the restoration of the Scow we walked down past the Royal Lymington YC recently. As you can see most of the fleet of Scows were laid up and covered for the winter.

But one hardy sailor was taking advantage of the bright morning which gave me the opportunity to have a look at the Lymington version, most are made locally to the town by John Claridge Boats and have moulded stern seats with built in bouyancy.


There were some other details which are differnt, the main one being the keel, which on the Lymington boats is part of the hull moulding except for the stem with is laminated teak, more decorative than any other reason I guess, as it would have been easy to continue the moulding.

Jolly Sailor Christmas Fair

The Jolly Sailor Christmas Fair is being held from 6.00 pm on Friday 10th December, Lands End Road, Bursledon.

There will be stalls with local businesses selling food and many other Christmas essentials.

When you're exhaused with Christmas shopping, then you can always pop inside for a pint of Thirsty Ferret, Pickled Partridge or a bottle of Blandford Fly.



And as you contemplate the forthcoming seasonal over indulgence, have a talk with members of the Hamble River Rowing, the local, traditional rowing club, based at the Jolly Sailor, who will be at the fair.

Come along and join up, rowing is a great way to work off those extra pounds you know you’re going to put on over the holiday.

1001 Boats?

I was browsing in bookseller Waterstone’s recently and spotted a series of books all extolling 1001 things I needed to do before I die.

On the basis of some simple arithmetic and the assumption that I have another 25 years left (fingers crossed) that means I would need to maintain and average of one thing per week which is going some. But what’s actually much worse is the range of subject matter.

The first volume, the one that caught my eye, was “1001 Buildings to See before You Die”, but according to the publishers while I get my weekly dose of architectural magnificence I also need to be eating “1001 Foods to Eat before You Die.”

For a creature of habit like myself who goes to various favorite restaurants, café’s and bars, each for a specific and favorite dish; that could be a challenge.

And of course not only do I need to eat and look at buildings, but there’s 1001 Gardens to see, Historic Sites to visit, Paintings, Albums, Inventions, Natural Wonders, it’s exhausting.

Mind you, a couple that I wouldn’t mind giving a go, was “1001 Beers to Before You Die” and 1001 Wines, perhaps as the ideal accompaniment to the 1001 foods!

Then I noticed that the one thing these publishers of morbid, serial nonsense had missed was “1001 Boats You Should See Before You Die”, which begs the obvious question are there really 1001 boats worth seeing, or even 101 for that matter?

There are certainly more than a few boats that I like, which is all getting to sound very much like one of Tillerman’s challenges – what are your “ not to be missed boats”.

Let me know.

Headlands, Points and Coves

Steve's "Log of Spartina" post about Rattlesnake Bay got me thinking about names along our coast. While we don't have quite such evocative names the south coast of England is both ancient and dangerous.

One of may favourite places is Misery Point in the River Yealm in Devon, interestingly visited by another John Welsford designed boat in the summer, a Navigator - "Arwens Meanderings".

Both Erica and I all too well remember being holed up in the Yealm while a gale howled all around and the wooded hills shook, the harbour master came over to collect his dues with the greeting "Blow'n a hooley up at Misery!"

The west country with its rocks and cliffs provided some more interesting coastal names from our old log books. Starting at Fowey with Gribbon Head, seen above and marked by the red and white tower (top right of the picture).

Sailing eastwards - Blackbottle Rock, then into Lantic Bay via Pencarrow Head, Watch House Cove, Palace Cove, Parson's Cove and Broard Cove, all hove into view before you reach Shag Rock and Blackybale Point.

Winter Haul Out

While I may have had slight regrets about not having a yacht during the past summer, now that winter is almost upon us, I'm not missing it at all; I'm enjoying the freedom to do other things.

Walking down by the slipway at Lymington on Saturday we spotted these yachtsmen, they had been up early to catch the tide and scrub off.

We watched them for a while and then went off to have a leisurely breakfast, wandered around, bought some food in the market and then went home, where there are plenty of interesting jobs waiting to be done in the warm and comfortable garage!

Lady Beryl

This old cabin cruiser is a long way from home, moored down at Bursledon pool, she was built for the sheltered waters of the Norfolk Broads and area of flooded wetland in the east of England.

I've passed her many times thinking she was just a displaced riverboat, until I spotted the name "Lady Beryl". I remembered a boat of that name on the Thames during the 1980's, I think she was kept near Old Windsor and was reputed to have been owned by Gorge Formby the actor and entertainer and named after his wife.

Some research suggests she is in fact the same boat, built in 1950 in Wroxham, custom-built by Windboats, designed by Graham Bunn and one of the largest Broads cruisers ever built.

George Formby and Beryl cruised the Norfolk Broads during the 1950s. The boat was sold around 1960/61, since when she has had a number of owners and more recently was used as a houseboat.

For those interested there is some recent discussion on the Broads Forum