My family and I have just completed a visit to the UK and had the privilege of meeting several of our fellow steam-boaters at the SBA Coniston Cruise rally. The rally which was held on Coniston Water on Monday, June 10 and Tuesday, June 12 was organized by Greg Simpson and attended by seven steamboats. Senta, Morning Star, Vesuvius, Aurora, Greyling and Bethanny's Rival, Gondola. Also in attendance was the sailboat Swallow from the Swallows and Amazons movie as well as two sailboats by a local wooden boatbuilder.
On Monday, the fleet steamed from the boathouse at Bank Ground Farm (the basis for Holly Howe Farm in Swallows and Amazons) down the length of Coniston Water to a picnic lunch at Brown Howe Wood. My family and I were invited on board Senta by Rodger Calvert and his spouse Marguerite who graciously let us spend the day with them. After returning to Bank Ground Farm the group retired for excellent food and conversation at the Ship Inn pub in Coniston.
On Tuesday we decided to squeeze in some sight seeing in the Lake District so we didn't join in the activities during the morning and afternoon. We did meet up with the group in the evening for a cruise on the Victorian Steam Yacht Gondola. My son was particularly enthralled as the captain invited him to the wheelhouse for an opportunity to steer and blow the whistle.
While the photos are from the Coniston Rally, our travels also took us down to the Oxford area where we met with John Winn and his wife, Brenda. John not only had invited us to cruise with him in his boat Chimera but had also arranged for several other boats to meet up with us as well. Sadly, we had to cancel the boating as due to the heavy rain that the we had been experiencing during our visit, the Thames was at near flood and was closed to small boats. All was not lost as John and Brenda treated us to a wonderful day by showing us around the Oxford and Abingdon area.
I can't begin to say how much we are grateful to all of the SBA members who shared their time and hospitality with us during our visit. Thank you.
Ken Vogel
Lafayette, CO
Now on to the photos....
- Coniston01.jpg (43.09 KiB) Viewed 9523 times
- Coniston02.jpg (75.2 KiB) Viewed 9523 times
- Coniston03.jpg (85.79 KiB) Viewed 9523 times