The Places We Will Go - Part 4 2012

With another successful season under our belts and the onset of the winter months it is the ideal time to start planning our 2012 cruising season. It promises to be yet another cracker of a year with plenty of cruises in company to new and varied cruising grounds.

Our first holiday as always will be during Easter week, a great time to wake the boats up from their winter semi hibernation. Next year the plan is to head into unknown territory and cruise to Leeds on the Aire and Calder navigation. The trip will take in a plethora of different waterways from canals to tidal rivers and should prove to be an excellent shake down run for the year ahead. We will enter the canal at its terminus at Goole Docks, a first for us as we have yet to enter the huge commercial Ocean Lock. Then it should be a straight forward run along the commercial navigation towards Leeds, on waterways we have only partially explored on our route from Selby to Keadby. On the home bound leg we will take a slightly different route down the South Yorkshire Navigation leaving the system at Keadby and heading for home on the Trent. This trip should hopefully highlight any potential problems for the year ahead and will also give us a chance to drop the hook in a new location for us as we wait for the tide at Trent Falls.

Our second holiday of the year will be in quick succession to the first with a Whitsun week trip in company to Whitby and Scarborough. Another set of firsts for us as the furthest we have been on the Humber is Hull and we have yet to turn left and travel up the Yorkshire coastline. Given the right weather this should be a great first coastal trip for 2012, introducing us to new and exciting cruising grounds on the Yorkshire coast. This trip will take in the harbour at Grimsby as an overnight pit stop before heading to Whitby for a couple of days, exploring the town then heading back down the coast to Scarborough for another couple of days by the coast. Then we shall have a leisurely trip back up the Humber calling in at Hull on the way past to refuel and, if time allows, spend an evening moored in the heart of the city.

Our main holiday for 2012 will involve both coastal and inland cruising, with a trip across the Wash and up the Ouse to Ely. This was our back up plan for 2011 but this year we think it deserves the chance to explore these pretty waterways as part of our main holiday. We aim to have a relaxing week exploring the Ouse, Wissey, Little Ouse and Lark, before heading back out to sea and calling in at the ports of Wisbech on the Nene and Fossdyke on the Welland during the return journey to Boston. This will also give us a chance to drop anchor and explore the waters of the Wash as we wait for the tides, something we have not had the pleasure to do as yet.

So another busy cruising season ahead, with lots of planning to do over the quieter winter months as well as a whole list of jobs to complete we should be kept very busy. There will of course be plenty of local cruising in store, to compliment the trips further afield. Naughty-Cal will as usual, be kept busy and will hopefully prove to be as reliable and trustworthy as ever. So here’s to 2012 and another great cruising year.