Monday, September 05, 2011

Yelvertoft

Believing that Yelvertoft might have been a medieval Jewish settlement, I was surprised to learn that the name is not Yiddish, and the village has a very different history from the one I imagined.  Yelvertoft Marina, less than a mile outside the village, is lovely... but very windy. Seventy-foot "Jasmine" arrived next to us late yesterday, suffering so badly from the strong winds across the pound that she crashed into the back of Kantara in their attempt to moor, and damaged the bicycle rack. Owners Nick and Margaret were most embarrassed and apologetic, and very relieved when I told them I was removing it anyway. Other boats have been finding it hard to get in or out of the narrow opening onto the canal, and we haven't bothered to try to move at all.  Instead, we finished getting our things out of the car and into a suitable place in the boat. We never thought that we would ever say this about a boat, but we actually have plenty of storage space.




Yelvertoft Marina is not the cheapest marina in the vicinity, but we chose it very particularly because of its remote setting - which not only means no road noise, but also greater security - and its open, spacious layout. It has a full complement of services, too, and an excellent moorers' lounge with comfortable seating, free tea and coffee, and an enormous collection of books, CDs, and games for moorers to borrow.  There are photos on the wall of social occasions which they've had here over the year or so they've been open.  It all adds up to something rather more than a place to have your boat.




We'll probably go home tomorrow for a couple of days to pick up a few more things we need here, and then we'll have a few weeks of cruising before going home again for the winter.  Perhaps we'll have Christmas here with the family!





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