Shangri La Drydocking 2023

Shangri La at Semington

Shangri La Drydocking 2023. So in August we made the huge trip from Foxhangers down to Semington to give her a much needed drydocking.

5 Swing Bridges and 6 locks. We set out on the Sunday late morning, and arrived there mid afternoon.

Overnighted aboard, and th…

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Into Dry Dock

On the Midland Waterways

Normally my posts are about trips on our own boat, but recently I did a boat moving trip, mostly on the midland waterways, from Eynsham to Tardebigge. Purpose of the trip was repositioning some hire boats – so a bit of a free holiday.

The 2 boats we moved

The route took us down the Thames, v…

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The Three Magpies

Why a trip to The Three Magpies?

Several reason for the trip to The Three Magpies: Since I moved the boat to our mooring here at Foxhangers near Devizes, (Read about that trip here) the boat has hardly moved, other than across to the pump out. Since we bought the boat, Karen has done very little…

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Newbury to Devizes - Part 4 - The Caen Hill Flight

View from the bottom of the Caen Hill Flight!

The title of this post is probably a bit incorrect, as we had already past the actual town of Devizes, but the Foxhangers moorings at the bottom of the Caen Hill Flight is still technically in Devizes.

The team

My friends Wyn and Donna continue…

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Newbury to Devizes - Part 3

This part of the journey from Newbury to Devizes takes us from Pewsey, along about 10 miles of canal with no locks, but many narrow and overgrown sections, till we reach Devizes and start the descent of Caen Hill. We did the first three locks going down and moored up at the Black Horse pub – a brea…

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Newbury to Devizes - Part 2

On the Kennet and Avon

Kintbury to Pewsey

Part 2 of the trip from Newbury to Devizes took us from Kintbury to Pewsey with an overnight stop at Great Bedwyn.

The stats for this bit:

18 miles

27 locks, with a total rise of 196 ft 10 ins

1 swing bridge.

We also negotiated the Bruc…

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“There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” … as the Water Rat said to the Mole in “Wind in the Willows”. And how right he was! I hope I can share the pleasures of boating by recording the trips myself and my wife Karen have taken on the journey to actually buying our boat, and now on our very own Dutch Steel Motor Cruiser, Shangri-La 2.

This blog is an online journal of my various boating activities that have happened over the last few years, from the numerous boating holidays we have taken, some interesting work related events and the journey to buying our own boat

Latest Adventures

Life on the Kennet and Avon Canal

Lock on the Kennet and Avon It’s been 2 months since I last posted, and a lot has happened in my life on the Kennet and Avon Canal – both from a job perspective, and with our boat buying journey. I have settled into the job of supervising the turn around procedure of...

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Another boating chapter begins!

Another boating chapter begins!

I last posted in May 2020 and just before that in March 2020, where I mentioned our plans to relocate to the UK. Well, ‘you know what’ pretty well scuppered all that! But suddenly, things are looking up! We eventually arrived here in the UK in November 2020. My wife...

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More Bridges on the Netherlands Waterways

More Bridges on the Netherlands Waterways

And some more bridges on the Netherlands waterways that we encountered on our cruising - Flood Barrier Well I suppose technically this is not a bridge - but a pretty imposing structure - the flood barrier on the Hollandse Ijssel, near Rotterdam. Spaansebrug...

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Bridges on the Netherlands Waterways

Bridges on the Netherlands Waterways

Even though we no longer have Shangri La, I still love looking back at the photos and reminiscing! We think those few years were the best of our lives. I was reminded of the huge number of bridges on the Netherlands Waterways – which of course is not surprising given...

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London – Regents Canal

Lisson Grove - Regents Canal Regents Canal It has been nearly a year since I last posted. Did not really expect to be posting at all. Thought my canal days were over! (We sold Shangri La in 2018). Well maybe not! Given the situation in SA, Karen and I are relocating...

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More interesting boats (part 3)

More interesting boats (part 3)

And here are the last of these interesting boats we have seen - this time mostly the rather deadbeat and derelict ones in France! Interesting colour scheme Saw this one somewhere in the Netherlands. Would love to know what inspired this colour scheme! Deadbeat-boat on...

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More interesting boats! (part 2)

More interesting boats! (part 2)

Here are a few more pics of funny and/or interesting boats we have seen on our boating travels on the inland waterways through Netherlands, Belgium and France. Antwerp - Willemdok Havenmeester This was a one off - in Antwerp the Harbour Master, complete with white...

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Boats and boats and more boats! (part 1)

Boats and boats and more boats! (part 1)

So here we are, well into May. Normally by now I would have done masses of route planning and have our 3 months cruising all set, as well as wintering possibilities for the end of the year. But Shangri La has a new owner and we are boatless! I am a mixture of...

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2018 Shangri La cruising – Season review

2018 Shangri La cruising – Season review

What a season it was! Great from the point that we sold Shangri La to a good home, and that we achieved a reasonable price. Not so good from the cruising point of view. Map with 2018 cruising route With regards to the first point – when we bought Shangri La at the end...

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Shangri La – The Final Episode – Part 2

Shangri La – The Final Episode – Part 2

Thursday 30th August to Monday 24th September Part 2 – The sale of Shangri La About a week after we left the boat  in July (see South of France and Sojourn in England), I had a message from the H2O broker that we already had an offer on Shangri La, obviously subject...

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Trips by Date

About Me

My love of boats goes back to my early years when I went on holiday with my parents to Knysna in the Cape. We stayed at a hotel on stilts, and I played in rowing boats and little motor boats on the lagoon.

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