Sunday 6 July 2014

Coniston Rally

Although it rained hard on Friday and we all got very wet walking to the pub, the rest of the weekend was perfect, with blues skies and some good wind, even if it was a bit gusty on Saturday. There were 15 boats, with a good mixture of  different  Drascombe models. A BBQ was held on the Saturday evening and many visitors were not pulling their boats out until past 5 PM on Sunday.


 
 
On the Sunday we took the chance to visit Bank Ground farm, which has a tea room and jetty for visiting boats. Inside there are a series of old photos of Arthur Ransome, who used the farm as a backdrop in his stories of Swallows and Amazons. The farm was used in the 1974 film, which featured Virginia McKenna and Ronald Fraser. The farm also offers accommodation and meals. http://www.bankground.com/index.html
 
 
 
I'd recently treated the boat to a new mizzen sail, from R&J sails. The difference is considerable in the condition of the fabric, which makes the new one seem to "crack", while the old one defiantly flapped!