Re: Freeman Forum - Thames meet

[sneddie]

Looking forward to meeting you,  should see you Friday.

[Prof Pat Pending]

The weather looks like it's picking up in time for the weekend 
(if you can believe the met office) 

The drinks cabinet, wine cellar and beer store are all well stocked   BBQ at the ready and meat in the fridge...looking forward to a great weekend

[ken cattell]

This will be the final landbased update for the meet as Wednesday morning I shall be setting out with Fridays Child for the meet a 20 lock solo blast down the Thames over 3 days. I will keep in touch with this site via smarter than me phone.

The moorings recieved their final strim Monday I made another space just in case so there are 6 in total.
Counting from upstream 3 are next to each other (for the all night party ravers?) also a place for a tent on the bank side of the towpath 1 mooring is between 2 trees (quite secluded may suit romanticly inclined attendess, a reserve/late commers spot and finally upstream of that a quiet mooring should anyone have young children they need to get to bed!

I have placed white poles in the bank to denote each end of "our patch" and put up reserved mooring placards they may of got ripped off in the wind however.

On the field side of the towpath I have cleared an area for a tarp shelter to go up so we can have a gathering/bar-b-que area.
The ground is a bit lumpy but it will do. The bit I have carved out for camping is also not as flat as I would of liked so an airbed/karimat would be useful, if its still no good I can offer crash out space on my boat for one or two.

Confirmed attending we have:-
Pat +2 on "Anne" F23
Sneddie +1 + dog on "White Orchid" F24
Tony +? on ? (a tugboat??)
Ken +dog on "Fridays Child" F22 Mk2
John + 2/3 on "Gladys May" Norman Conquest (my invite lovely family).
Dermot by car and camping
Chris by car Saturday or Sunday

I shall be at the meet site from Friday afternoon until Monday morning and it offically runs Saturday and Sunday. If the weather is good lunch time Sunday I think it would be nice if we take a trip down stream to Goring for a swift half in the Swan between 12 and 2. 

Road signage will be put out on the South Stoke side of the river Friday evening please scroll through the post to find details regarding parking either on the meet side of the river or the Moulsford side and please dont park in the Sheriden Marine car park as its very small and Andrew needs it for his customers.

I am hopeful Andrew will join us somtime during the weekend and maybe Peter and Claire Wilson (the land owners) if only to check we havnt got webbed feet and our eyes arent to close together!

Thats it, all we have to do is hope the weather gods smile upon us and we all have a good time.

If you havnt made your mind up to attend yet it doesnt matter everyone is welcome we will do our best to fit you in, pm me with any questions and leave a mobile number in your pm so I can ring you with an answer.

Travel safely and see you at the meet.

[Prof Pat Pending]

Nice Job Ken, thanks for all your hard work on this one

Ken has just left his mooring a few miles upstream of the first lock of the Thames at Lechlade, and has around 60 miles to cover. It looks like the weather is going to hold off, so should be a very pleasant cruise, even with all those locks (half of which are not powered) to deal with single handed. Knowing Ken, there will be a pub involved for the overnight stops [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

PS I think Tony Tugboats 22NB is called Mable Rose

[Prof Pat Pending]

Fridays Child, Anne and White Orchid are all moored opposite Sheridan. We had a nice social evening with a few beers

[Chris Meyer]

Probably too late for anyone to pick this up, I shall be attending this afternoon, (all got a bit complicated as my wife has had to change her weekend in charge at the hospital) So now looking after our daughter Lily, and having to juggle ballet classes and other commitments.  What time was BBQ lighting envisaged?  If its an evening lightup, I'll take the burgers out and just bring beer and sandwiches.  My mobile is 07770 748903.  Attendees will be myself, Lily (11) and Mick one of my co-owners.  Hope this weather holds
 

[Prof Pat Pending]

Had another good day today....woke up with a bit of a hangover, but some faces to usernames, nice BBQ and more beer

[Simritdave]

Pictures please

[Chris Meyer]

Whats a hangover?  Great to meet you all yesterday, talking on the way back we will definitely be there next year (assuming there is one) afloat not afoot.  Seeing Dave's post it occurred to me that no pics were taken at all. Respect to Tony for his epic effort to get there, thanks to all for their generosity with beer and burgers.  Will hopefully see most if not all in August.  Btw, did Dermot get there in the end.

[Chris Meyer]

Also, humble grovelling and abject apologies, I've trawled the site and have no idea where I got the notion that Pat might have been at Dunkerque first time around

[Prof Pat Pending]

ROFL sometimes I just feel like 85 

Ken did a fantastic job of organising the weekend. We had some nice moorings overlooking Sheridan, some entertainment from the hire boaters coming down from Benson, and a few curses at the local rowing club who liked to make sure that we didn't oversleep

Dermot arrived around 8 as he said he would. I tried and failed to keep a BBQ running long enough for him, so his sausages were cooked aboard White Orchid.

I know Sneddie took a few pics on the moorings, Tony Tugboats has some, and I have a few final day snaps on my phone I'll post in a bit

[Prof Pat Pending]

Fridays Child, Anne & White Orchid in the background
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


I almost got Mabel Rose in the frame 
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


White Orchid, Fridays Child and Mabel Rose take over the Thames on their way to the pub
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Moored in Wallingford
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I'm sure that there will be more pics to follow, but all in all a very enjoyable weekend

[Dermot]

Yes, it was.  Well done Ken for organising a very nice mooring.  Thanks to Kevin for helping me pack my 2 second tent (not!).  Very nice to meet everyone and put faces to the names.  Must do this every year.

Best wishes,
Dermot

[Chris Meyer]

Do tell, what was the crack about sneddys tent packing skills

[Prof Pat Pending]

Kevin had a tough weekend, I think he enjoyed himself though

A few extra pics, thanks to Tonytugboats


Fridays Child puts a spurt on, the beer's getting warm
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


White Orchid heads back downstream 
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Anne posing in front of the pub
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


Oh, and for the boat owners that attended, I recieved  an apology from the director of rowing at Oxford Brookes Rowing Club for the high levels of wash from the safety boats that were running solo, he has promised to address the matter with his coaches.

[Prof Pat Pending]

I was saddened to hear of the death of a hire boat crew member a couple of miles downstream of the meet location.

Details are vague, but it appears that she fell in exiting the lock, the lockie was also injured attempting a rescue...our thoughts are with the family

[Chris Meyer]

How sad, its sometimes easy to forget that whilst it is a very enjoyable pastime it can also be dangerous.

[Prof Pat Pending]

Lots more of Tony's photo's on the 2 facebook groups.
(I won't copy them all over)

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/36807066957/

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/147808975378391/

[Dermot]

Do tell, what was the crack about sneddys tent packing skills

I was trying to re-pack this tent for about 30 minutes and couldn't - http://tente.quechua.com/en/tent/r-17,a-114,2-seconds-easy-i-tent.html  

Kevin came to the rescue and it was done in a minute or so.

[Chris Meyer]

 Hi Dermot  isn't it lovely the way freeman owners go out of their way to help one another. Hopefully next year you will be sleeping on your boat, not a tent. Are you hoping to get over to the broads meet?

[sneddie]

Hi everyone, a belated thanks to everyone who helped make last weekend such a success.  Barbara and I throughly enjoyed the meet especially meeting new friends with a common interest. We had an interesting time having left our lump hammer on the bank at our previous mooring,  snapping the mast on a low branch leaving Days Lock moorings and then to cap it all trying to sink our own boat whilst filling the water tank! The hose came out of the filler and found its way into the cabin whilst we talked for ages with Jackie at Sheridan Marine. Carpets and partitions below floor boards soaked up the water before too much damage was done. All very embarrassing but soon forgotten and we can laugh about it now. A big thanks to Ken for helping me temporarily repair the mast. Currently at Cookham watching the sailing and listening to the cup final.

[Chris Meyer]

Hi Sneddie, at Cookham last night?  Did the Bounty get a visit?  3 of my kids are working there today, James on the bar, Sarah and Sophie in the kitchen. If you are going back up and go past Wottens you will see our Cleopatra on the end of the midstream moorings and right at the back of his hardstanding the tent which contains our 26 (now definitely called Stravaigin).

Chris

[sneddie]

Bounty was excellent, great beer and cider and the food was wholesome and plentiful. Spent longer than intended, refreshed memory of bar billiards and spent ages reading the postcards and the jokes on the walls. Good time must return soon.

[Stephen]

Delete this if in the wrong place, in anyone's opinion, but referring to the nice photo captioned "Anne posing in front of the pub", (the Boat House at Wallingford), does anyone moor outside? Visually a nice mooring but has ancient No Mooring painted on the wall. 

I've been tempted, but not anxious for a row if really not allowed by the owners. Seems strange to turn away business as empty parking outside a pub or restaurant gives the impression to passing trade that it's a place best avoided. Boaters, in my experience, enjoy a drink and in a welcoming place may eat as well.

.

[Admin]

We were discussing this with Ken the other night, sat in there having a pint.

I've only seen one boat moored there in the last few years, and that was a miserable wet evening so there were no punters sat outside. A couple of large cruisers would pretty much spoil the view for everyone inside or out, unless you like looking at boats

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