It’s three hours away

One of, if not the biggest bugbear in my life these days is the amount of time it takes to travel to Deganwy. Although I’ve done the journey in 2-1/2 hours, that was an exceptional trip and one that was taken very, very early in the morning. It’s actually a three-hour journey each way and there’s no arguing about it. Not if one wants to retain a clean driving licence anyway. Three hours is a long time. A six hour round trip is horribly long.

So I’ve been mulling alternatives. The first and most obvious alternative is to move the boat somewhere closer.

Hull Marina is a lot closer. At 1-3/4 hours each way the round trip would be almost half of one journey to Deganwy. That’s a big plus. But on the other side of the coin Hull means having to travel 22nm down the Humber to get out into the sea. And the Humber… have you seen what colour the water is? It’s brown. It’s a deeply unattractive shade of brown. And then there’s the shipping that you have to dodge. Tankers, ferries, freighters… No, although Hull Marina is a lovely place, it’s not an attractive venue in which to be based.

Wells-next-the-Sea (Norfolk) is an attractive proposition. Much better access to the sea, and the water is a considerably more inviting colour. But the route is awful. It’s a 2-1/2 hour slog and not a mile of motorway and scant miles of dual carriageway to be had.

Whitby is supposed to be a very nice place to keep a yacht. Good and easy access to the sea, a decent tidal range, and clear water. But Whitby is a good 2-3/4 hour slog and, looking at the roads, it would be an actual slog. An unattractive slog, obviously.

Those are the obvious alternatives, and they’re all pretty much ruled out.

That leaves the not terribly obvious alternative. Move house. Dogs, cats, wife, girls, and me – all up sticks and ship off to somewhere closer to Deganwy. Yesterday I was browsing on Rightmove (as you do) and came across this brilliant possibility. There’s just one small problem. Despite being in Ceredigion, it is still, somehow, three hours away from Deganwy.

I give up.