Shepperton Marina Link

Unfortunately, most of the Albany members who moor at Shepperton were unable to attend the Shepperton Marina Moorers' Summer Party as the event clashed with the club's Summer Cruise to the French and Belgium Ports.

Friday 3 August 2007 saw the Albany fleet assemble at Teddington in the late afternoon and evening in readiness to lock through Teddington with the tide at 7am on Saturday to cruise down to Queenborough and moor on trots overnight in order to move on to Ramsgate on the Sunday.

Click on the photos to enlarge

Overnight at Ramsgate and another early start with the tide to Dunkirk. A smooth crossing but plenty of traffic and safely into Dunkirk for a few nights.  Plenty of time to visit museums, go shopping, cycle along the beautiful seafront, and of course enjoy some French cuisine.

Our start to Nieuwport was delayed until midday due to an early morning storm, but we got underway at noon, albeit in a very confused sea which made for an exciting cruise.

Safely into a very crowded Nieuwport as a lot of yachts had put in to avoid the weather.  Lots of time in Nieuwport to visit the town, Ostend, Bruges and de Panne.

Leaving Belgium we made for Calais, only to find our lady with the seaweed forecasting some dire weather in the next few days.  This left us with just one night in Calais, so time for a good meal, a little shopping and a mid-morning start for Ramsgate.

Again, another good crossing and overnight in Ramsgate with an early start for Chatham so as to miss the weather front that was coming in.

We spent several days in Chatham which gave us the opportunity to explore and take in the Maritime Museum and Rochester and the ladies found the factory outlet shops much to their liking.

Friday we left in good weather for Limehouse Marina and again stayed overnight and left in the late morning for Teddington where we were met by other Albany boats for a final dinner together and off to our home moorings on the Sunday.

A really good summer cruise, in company, with just the odd fuel filter blockage and a water cooling pump failure which were soon fixed without any problems.

Our 2009 programme will be available in the marina office and via this website in the New Year.

So please have a look to see if you would like to join us - new members always welcome.

Don White

Harmony Row 

Shepperton Marina Moorer