I
think it's a good idea for you to know what
makes us tick. Your hosts are Doug and Anita.
Doug has been fortunate in retiring at an
early age . Anita was a teacher in Special
Needs, she retired after the summer term 2007,
a few years before she should have !.
We both want to enjoy our lives, get out of
the rat-race and see some beautiful places.
The best way of doing that is by boat !!
Doug
has been a keen sailor for a good few years
and always saw life on the water as the way
to live once retirement came. Anita has been
sailing and boating and enjoyed flotilla holidays
but didn't fancy sailing oceans and being
offshore for weeks on end. A compromise had
to be reached. At first we thought of buying
a converted Dutch barge for the inland waterways
of Europe but saw that as being somewhat restrictive.
We considered it necessary to be able to cross
open water if the need ever arose.
That's
when we bought 'Tom Jones',
she's big enough for the open water but also
able to move along the inland waterways. OK,
she can't go the full length of the French
canal system (too big) but she can handle
the big Rivers with ease.
We
are taking the boat on the 'Big Rivers and
Waterways' of Europe. For 2008 we will be
cruising the River Seine again and in future
years we will be cruising the Dutch Waterways,
the Rivers Rhine, Moselle and Danube and any
other that takes our fancy.
When
we bought 'Tom Jones' we knew
that we would need to have her 'pay her way'.
This is why we are offering Skippered Charters.
We have refitted the boat and the self-contained
rear of the boat offers superb accommodation
for a couple. We are offering the Charter
at a very reasonable rate and have based this
as being much lower than the charges for a
self-drive canal boat on the European waterways,
and we don't then load you with extras such
as fuel used.
Doug and Anita are 'ordinary' people and consider
themselves to be reasonably good communicators
and able to get along with just about anyone.
We know that this will be your holiday and
you will need your own time and space. We
won't be offended if you want to be on your
own and not have any involvement with the
running of the boat but equally we would be
pleased if you want to assist on the boat.
'Tom
Jones' will be able to go to places
that commercial self-hire boats just can't
go. Resulting either from the nature of the
boat or the skill level of those hiring.
We
will be travelling to a new location each
season. The cruising area is researched in
depth but it is still an adventure for us
as we haven't been there before and sampled
the delights. Those guests joining us at the
beginning of the season have the added benefit
of finding new places for the first time.
Those joining later in the season then have
the advantage of the experiences gained.
We
would point out to you, our potential guest,
that being on a boat on a major Waterway allows
you to see the area from a completely different
perspective with the time to take it all in.
You do need to be flexible as the waterway
is the home of commercial and private vessels
alike. We all need to stop somewhere and there
are limited places to do this. We may find
that our preferred stopping point is not available
to us and need to look somewhere else ! We
may find that we have to lie alongside another
vessel with the need to cross vessels to get
ashore. We may need to use the boat's tender
to get ashore. This is one of the major appeals
of a cruising holiday of this nature. If it's
not for you we understand and wish you well
in your chosen holiday.
