Calliope out of the water

We have had Calliope out of the water 3 times over the last year (simply for inspection and cleaning purposes) and thought that others might be interested in seeing where we did this.

ON THE THAMES

 

1. The Grid, Strand on the Green, Chiswick – booked through Port of London Authority; arrive at high tide, moor up, and wait to be ‘beached’.

It was all much easier than we expected, and gave us a good 8 hours to look at the bow thruster, rudder, propellor etc, play in the mud, and go for a pint!

You will need to have a ladder on board in order to climb down. We bought the cheapest loft extension ladder from Homebase and it has come in handy a number of times since (grandchildren and I climbing out of the river after swimming).

 

2. The wall at Isleworth, by The London Apprentice pub – booked and moored as above.

Again far easier than we expected. Make sure you avoid the most downstream mooring pole (think Vinny may have had something to do with its strange angle??)

We needed the ladder again, this time to climb across to the wall.

The anchor is only down because we were practising with it – no need to deploy an anchor for mooring purposes.

Once more, we had a good 8 hours, with plenty of wild bird life for those who enjoy such things, and a good pint in The London Apprentice, a few steps away.

IN PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR

 

We have been moored on the next hammerhead for the past 5 months, and watched many a yacht get washed off, so we headed towards them for our Jet Wash with confidence.

 

 

 

For any who, like us, are relatively new to boating, all three were much easier than we anticipated!

More photos and info available from us if wanted – l_carr@btinternet.com