Y is for Yacht#

Sat May 31 19:50:15 2025

Y is for Yacht. This is Heybridge Basin, which is where the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation (a canal) meets the Blackwater estuary. The three photos all show boats of one kind or another: I am 90% sure that the kind is "yacht" in the first one, but the second is a confusion of moored vessels and a tangle of masts - I think some of those boats are cruisers - and I don't know for certain but I think the third one might be a Thames sailing barge

Getting there took a lot longer than I'd have liked, because (1) my helmet headset stopped working, so no voice navigation prompts[*]; (2) the sun was too bright to be able to see the screen clearly; (3) when I'd missed enough turnings due to (1) and (2) that I was nowhere near the planned route, Kurviger was unable to replan it as I'd ridden into a place with no mobile coverage. So, there was more than one occasion of pulling over and taking gloves off to poke at the screen.

Arrived at Heybridge at ~ 4:15, found the pub carpark which turned out to be gravelled, parked my bike carefully with a palm-sized flat rock under the kickstand, downed a pint of coke, took photos and set straight off back home by means of following road signs for (a) Chelmsford; (b) London until I reached the A12. Back home just in time to light the barbecue and cook dinner.

Plus points: didn't drop the bike, no airbag inflations. Properly setup suspension ... the novelty has still not worn off. Remembered the sidestand every time I put the bike into gear (on the foundation of such small victories are great habits built). Performed a couple of pleasingly revvy 1st gear overtakes on drivers who were doing 25 on 60mph roads. The rattling noise from last time has gone away after I replaced a missing fairing bolt. (Admittedly I did swap it from the place of a different fairing bolt but the other one seems less critical. I need to order replacements for that and a couple of other fasteners)

I only have Z left now before I have to think of a different theme for picking Saturday afternoon destinations.

[*] Apparently the volume had muted itself, is all. The hardware volume controls on this phone are blocked by the case, so I guess I need some other way to change that conveniently