Plans for Easter 2011

Each year we make our first holiday of the year during the Easter period. This year in particular it has worked in our favour as we only need to take three days leave from work to gain a twelve day break away on the boat. Excellent news as I am sure a lot of the British workforce have found out.

Naughty-Cal will be relaunched looking fresh, clean and hopefully like a shiny new pin. The whole boat will have been cleaned from top to bottom so it will most definitely be about time to get her out on the river and get some use out of her. The last few months of cleaning, fettling and endless modifications along with the big freeze have resulted in precious little time spent out on the river. Come Easter it will be time to remedy this.

This Easter we are again cruising in company and the plan thus far is to head upstream on the River Trent as far as Nottingham before having a leisurely cruise back downstream towards home. A nice, easy and relaxing run to start the 2011 boating holiday season. This gentle start should highlight any problems we are likely to have for the rest of the holiday season and give us the chance to iron out any issues before the more serious cruising starts in earnest in June.

It should be a pleasant change for us. A lot of our cruising is dictated by tide times and tide heights, however a gentle cruise along the upper non tidal stretches of the Trent will leave us at our leisure to choose as and when we leave our mooring. The first short stretch of the journey will be tidal from Torksey Lock to Cromwell Lock, but from there all the way up river to Nottingham will be a non tidal cruise. A pleasant change indeed.

It has been a while since we last cruised the non tidal Trent and it will be nice to revisit some of our favourite spots along the way and hopefully discover some new places on our travels. It will be a leisurely twelve days with no set agenda, a chance to relax and unwind in tranquil settings. So let us pray for some early season sunshine and a week of blessing from the weather gods to make it a thoroughly enjoyable holiday afloat.