Getting Started

Its early days yet but we have made a start towards planning for next year’s big adventure on Naughty-Cal. We are having an enforced two week holiday next summer as the company that Liam works for is shutting whilst they have a new roof.  Thankfully this is during the summer months so hopefully we will get some decent weather.

The plan is quite simple. We are heading North up the East coast with the intention of reaching the Scottish Borders. This will be the first time we have been north along the coast. Previous attempts have been thwarted by bad weather so hopefully this time we can pull it off.

During these early stages of planning we start to look at the various ports of call along the way and start to assess their suitability as stop off points during the trip. Things to note are fuel availability and price, facilities available, mooring costs, tidal access windows, mooring types, shore based facilities, transport access, etc.

So far the list of ports we would like to visit includes:

• ·         Grimsby
• ·         Whitby
• ·         Royal Quays, Newcastle
• ·         Amble
• ·         Eyemouth
• ·         Blythe
• ·         Hartlepool
• ·         Scarborough
• ·         Hull

There are of course other ports along the route which we will use in an emergency however we have discounted as destinations for various reasons. These include:

• ·         Bridlington – Drying moorings
• ·         Staines – Drying Harbour
• ·         Berwick – Drying moorings

We are still very much in the early stages of preparing for this trip. Being such a big trip it will take lots more planning in the months to come. As well as planning the trip and preparing routes we also have to make sure that Naughty-Cal is ready for the journey. She will be pulled out of the water early next year to service the drive, check her running gear, apply fresh antifoul and generally give her a good scrub so that she is spick and span and ready for action.

Next year’s Easter break and Whitsun break will very much be used as shake down cruises to hopefully highlight any problems we are likely to encounter on our main holiday. Throughout the autumn and winter months we will very much be going through Cal with a fine toothed comb, fixing, replacing and repairing anything and everything that requires any attention.  If we want the boat to look after us then we need to look after her.