The Late (very) Concluding Remarks
Trip Start
Apr 29, 2011
1
109
Trip End
Sep 03, 2011
Burgstaaken, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Sunday, November 20, 2011
In my last entry, way back in another life it seems like, on 28th August, I said that I would end the blog with an anlaysis 'in about a week's time’. Well I got that wrong, it’s fully 12 weeks!! My sincere apologies for any of you that have visited the blog occasionally and unsuccessfully for the closing remarks. I will do better next year.....
Before I sat down to write these remarks, I read last year’s and in truth, there is not much that I can add so I have decided to plagiarise my own efforts and copy last year’s comments verbatim here :-
Well, we’ve been back home now for over a week and speaking for myself, I am already champing at the bit to get back to the Baltic and I’m sure that Julie is of a similar mind. It’s not that our life at home is so dreadful, far from it in fact – it just isn’t as exciting as life on board Celtic Warrior. I guess the principal differentiator is that virtually every day in the summer, we do something completely new ie we are always exploring new places and meeting new people. This can become somewhat addictive and I think that it is this facet of life aboard a cruising yacht that appeals the most. Be that as it may, the practical reality is that it is only during the summer months that life on board a small boat is comfortable and perhaps that is a good thing, bad weather has a way of making being at home seem very attractive! Also, it must be said, that we do miss the companionship of our friends and relatives and it is probably this single factor that ensures that we will never become true water gypsies, away for years on end. It just isn’t us.
So, having cheated a little with regard to my opening remarks, on with the analysis.
During this summer’s cruise, if you include the trip into Russia, we visited 9 different countries ( Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Russia, Sweden and Denmark) and covered 1970 miles in Celtic Warrior. We spent 108 nights on board CW, in 55 anchorages and harbours, of which 52 were new to us this year. The remainder of the nights of the total 124 days we were away were spent either in the apartment in Burgstaaken, the hotels in Berlin and St Petersburg and the two nights on the ferry. This year the weather was by and large very dry and sunny and indeed, warm, at least throughout the whole of July and the first half of August. We had rain on 36 separate days but in fairness, the number of days which I would call ‘wet days’ amounted to a handful, if that. In short, our recollection of this summer’s cruise was that of dry, breezy days – great sailing weather in fact!
In terms of expenditure, again my thanks go to Julie for her diligent book-keeping. For interest’s sake, I am including last year’s figures for comparison:-
2010 2011
Marinas £1975 £1709
Food & Drink £1870 £1718
Fuel £1040 £776
Washing (clothes) £200 £136
Public Transport £330 £776
Boat £3550 £873
Meals out £1090 £1478
Miscellaneous £790 £672
Hotels & Apartment £130 £725
Total £10975 £8863
So, in conclusion, we had another year’s sailing, packed with adventure and unforgettable experiences, for much the same monthly expenditure as we would have if we were at home – and I know where I’d rather be!!
