Come Fly With Me

Come Fly With Me!

The Golden Cloud 03/02/2014

Flying down the motorways of Denmark we started to realise that time was running out. We had about the same amount of driving to do as time before our flight and we hadnt slept properly for 24hrs. Enroute we decided to try our luck in the town of Arhus for a ferry to cut the corner to the island with Copenhagen. On arrival we found the ferry not too dear, and one leaving that evening, added to that as a cargo ferry you got a Free Cup of Coffee, and so into Alun’s primordial soup of a thermos flask went 2 free coffee’s!

With a few hours before the ferry Alun and I made our way into the town centre, and via chatting up the receptionist, we both had 15minutes in the most gorgeous Hotel toilets I’ve ever seen, in the Gold, Brass and Marble encrusted Royal Hotel. 

 After this we walked the gorgeous streets between stunning old buildings, and then downgraded slightly and went to McDonalds for dinner and free wifi!

Back to the van and we waited till our mid night ferry by cleaning the van and swapping gear from bag to bag to even everyone out to 20kg for the Flight to Greenland.

I was amazed to find how little alun took with him, but little was I to know how much he stored in a container in Uummannaq, another in Kangerlussuaq, on Gambo and at Uummannaq Polar Institute, and his reputation for travelling over-light, for example once camping on an ice sheet with a childs sleeping bag!

Cleaning out and packing the van on the dock of the bay

We boarded the ferry to find ourselves the only non-commercial people onboard, I went upstairs to stretch my legs while Alun went to sleep in the van. Upstairs I found only one member of staff who seemed incredibly amazed to see anyone walking upstairs on the ferry, I think I startled her quite badly! For a while she even followed me, I think checking I wasn’t a ghost!

I then found a lovely sofa and slept till we arrived on the otherside. After allowing the boystrous lorrys to get off the ferry first, we drove on through the darkness, to make a final assault on Copenhagen!

We were definitely parked on the front right corner beneath those lorrys

I soon returned to my slumber only waking as Alun parked the van in a random suburb of Copenhagen (I eventually found out it was the street on of Aber Uni’s Doctors had once lived in, and thus he felt he could trust the neighbourhood). Soon we were back asleep for the 2hours before we had to get the train to the airport.

And so we jogged from the van left in this sneaky suburb... the bikes were unlocked so we presumed we could trust it.... and jumped onto the first train. 

About 5 minutes later we arrived at Copenhagen Central, this big bussling central station gave us little clue of where to go but we soon found a platform. Here we were told by a couple of people that the train was running very late and we should get the metro. Having no idea where to get the metro from we waited for the late train.

Alun Confused by Copenhagen Central's dissy lights!

And then we were there at the airport. We sat down sadly the cafe's weren't open in time for breakfast, and I had a coke while Alun raided the Duty Free for the Winter's supply of alcohol! As we approached our departure gate we met up with Tom Clarke of ITN News and his film crew. They were joining us in Greenland for the first week to make a special report for C4 News. We said our hello's and then boarded the plane....

To be continued!

Economy Pretentious-ness

Economy Pretentious-ness
The Golden Cloud 28/3/12


Long time no blog!


Over the last month I've been very busy, and the boat has drifted into a back seat (sadly). For some strange reason this master student, has put the masters in the driving seat over the yacht!... Weird... Something was definitely up! 

Oh yeah, its cos I get to do fieldwork with my mates in the most beautiful scenery in the world. Thats why I don't have time for a yacht :P


As stated in the last update, the hotel gave me the oportunity to escape the yacht, have a warm bed, shower etc. and in all honesty it seemed the simple option.


However, a month of being in the hotel made me realise that i'd lulled myself into thinking this was the best option when in all honesty it was a good go between. It has many issues


a) I was kinda taking the piss of my boss. 


b) one of the main ideas of the hotel was that I was in town for seeing people, but with having to be at the hotel at 11 every night for work (sober) I'd only been out once in a month....Uni students just can't give you 10 days notice of a night out.


c) I'm in this to save money, and what with leaving the boat unattended (leading to it damaging itself) and ending up getting takeaway or ready meal most nights, I was spending more and getting worse food.


What turned everything was a trip by chance back to the boat the other week.
I'd left it too long and in the end by the time I had returned, the mast spreader had snapped, the tarpaulin had ripped, the chimney had leaked, and as a combination of the above the boat was damp and mouldy.


The trip was superseded by subsequent days of fantastic weather. Thus it was inevitable that I'd find myself back aboard... It's days like this one owns a yacht for!


So I've been back and forth recently to improve her ready to move back on-board. And today was the day, the move back really began.


In glorious Welsh sunshine I've scrubbed the boat fore to aft, re-rigged the tarpaulin, and cleaned every inch inside to clear the mould.


That will teach me a lesson for leaving my mistress the best part of alone for a month.

To round off the evening though I went for a spot of class. I'd picked up some Oysters, and had them Killarney Style with Gin & Tonics, followed by a french chicken casserole with a glass (mug) of red, all eaten in the cabin of my yacht as the sun went down.




Oysters, G&T on my yacht.... ok that sounds pretentious. But listen, its not a expensive exercise. Oysters cost 60p each, the gin and tonic were both from lidl, and the yacht well you all know how cheap that was (if you don't read previous blogs!)


Plus on today's work to earn it...


So yeah... Economy Pretentious.


:D


Long may the sun continue.

So you thought it was cold!

The Golden Cloud - 09/02/12


I thought it was cold the other week, how wrong I was!


As per usual many things have changed since the last blog.


A minor alteration of 2 bus routes has meant my future at Ynyslas is in severe jeopardy. Something that for them wasn't a big change and for anyone else probably didn't make much difference has meant a total change of life plan.


A week ago the last bus to Ynyslas was 10.30pm leaving Aber. This meant I had ample time if I wanted it in the evening to go out for a drink with mates, go to seminars at uni, work abit late, have dinner at a friends, have a social life. This week the last bus is 5.40pm. Now if I want to work late, or have a social life, I have option a) sleep on the street, b) beg friends to stay over, or c) leave the bike at Borth station and cycle the final 3 miles in the dark and perhaps pissed. I really can't be planning a life around any of those options.


A further thing that it reduces massively is my opportunities to start a relationship with anyone, as you can't go on a date and be done by half 5! It also means that friends can't come over to see the boat and have dinner, or give me a hand doing it up!

Car

Harbour

So the conclusion was drawn that I had to either 1) get a car, 2) move to aber marina, or 3) move to aber harbour.

Marina

Now each has its positives. A car I can use to transport bulky items and gives me freedom. The marina I can walk onto the boat from nearby pub. The harbour is cheap and close to everything I need.


However, each also has negatives. A car even being relatively conservative would cost £3000 a year, and burns fossil fuels. The marina costs £2500. For the harbour I'd either have to walk across mud, or row to the boat!


Obviously the harbour is the best option, but it's got a major issue, the harbour master is never there! 


Anyway I came to the conclusion that ideally the harbour or marina are the best options. On discussing with my employers I found there is a possibility of sharing a mooring in the marina, while I have a large amount of work in the pipeline. As such, moving to the marina seems to be the way its going.


So to move to the marina I need to complete the following jobs.... 1) Paint the Hull of the Ship, 2) Get the Engine Running, 3) Get a Windturbine Rigged up, 4) Get the Mast up, 5) Get in the Water, 6) Sail to Aber.


The first job (and the only job I can complete myself) is the painting. So this morning after getting back to the boat last night, I set about this task.... Unfortunately once again this didn't go to plan.


First job, scrub down the hull... issue 1 hull covered in frost, issue 2 washing up liquid frozen, issue 3 sponge frozen, issue 4 when i've defrosted all the above with water that took an hour to boil on the stove, and start washing, the foam from the sponge freezes, then sponge refreezes.... Something tells me that preparing the boat for sea is going to take longer than I'd hoped!


Will update soon!

Self Preservation Society

The Golden Cloud - 04/02/12

The Self Preservation Society

You may all be wondering why I have not updated for a while, you'd think  the coldest week of the year would be a big talking point! Well it would be if I were cold!

The other night I had an indepth boat conversation with another Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences boat person who lives on a 47ft Ketch in Aberystwyth Harbour. He's a lecturer, and researches in Greenland based from said ketch!

His main comments during the conversation were that "I should be careful on the boat, as every man (or woman) has installed inside themselves a certian amount of passion for thier boat. If I were to spend too much time on her, or didn't get back enough good experiences, this passion will waste away and I'll soon be trying to sell a half converted boat!"

With these comments in mind I came into work last weekend, during my shift myself and the boss saw the weather forecast.... minus temperatures, east winds, and snow for the week....

And so just to give the night porter a week off you understand, I offered my services for working nights in exchange for a bed and a round of toast a day! Thankfully the boss accepted!

Thus the last few day's I've taken a welcome holiday from the boat as a Night Porter at the hotel, warm sleeps, hot showers, wifi... this is the life!  See how i'm living it up at ... http://www.richmondhotel.uk.com/index.php

With the wifi, I've made steps to insure I don't need the hotel. On Thursday I ordered the insulation for the boat, once installed I should be as snug as a bug in a rug.... mainly as it will probably be summer by the time I'm finished!

Another bonus of the hotel is I've been in easy access of Uni, and as a result I have obviously spent the week not at uni but in the field!

Fieldwork has been slow but beautiful. Days out with friends in stunning (frozen) scenery, by a river, on a van-road-trip, with hot spiced apple and/or cake breaks, and lots of playing with Icicles makes for an awesome week!

Sadly all good things come to an end and so as "the warm air wins" and Aber is drowned in a bath of cold rain, fieldwork is put on hold. But further good news is on the horizon as I see good friends from the not so distant past are headed towards Aber.

A week of frolicking, catching up, and hopefully insulation installation parties are on the way!

Chin up! Worse things happen at Sea!