THE VOYAGES OF " DENEYS REITZ "
The map shows the extent of the ramblings of the old boat and its old crew. (Actually the boat is far younger than its owners). The wavy and meandering lines on the map may appear to be aimless, representing the ability of the crew to take the wrong turning at every opportunity, arriving in Kliepeda, Lithuania to cries of: "I thought we were going to Lowestoft, what have you done??!"
But no, this is not the case, as will shortly be demonstrated. Our first intent was to take the boat immediately to the Baltic Sea in 1999, directly after re-launch in its new long-distance cruising guise, but this was thwarted by heart attacks, broken ankles with complications and the like. So the first Voyage was around the British Isles in 2000, excluding the West of Ireland - this horror was to come later in 2007.
The Voyages
- 2000 - circumnavigation of Britain: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales.
- 2001 - to the Baltic Sea: Lowestoft to Ostend, canals in Belgium; Netherlands; Germany - into Baltic at Kiel; then Poland; Lithuania; Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden and back to Uusikaupunki in South West Finland for the winter.
- 2002 - Finland to Sweden via Aaland Islands: leave boat in Nykoping for the winter
- 2003 - Through the Gota Canal to the Swedish West coast and to Norway; Oslo to the West coast and leave the boat in Haugesund for the winter
- 2004 - Cruise Norwegian coast, many fjords, to North of Bergen and then via W. Swedish coast to Aarhus in Denmark for the winter
- 2005 - Aarhus to Rhine and Elburg, Holland; via Mittelland and other German canals; Rhine to Koblenz; Mosel through Luxembourg to Trier and by French canals via Nancy to Strasbourg. Down the Rhine to Elburg for the winter
- 2006 - Elburg to Ardfern near Oban, Scotland: Cross North sea from Dunkirk, English and Scottish East coasts, through Caledonian Canal to the West
- 2007 - Scotland to Ireland; Irish East, South and West coasts to Dingle, where weather and injury caused voyage to be aborted
- 2008 - Scottish Western Isles; mainly round Skye
- 2009 - Scottish Western Isles; Outer Hebrides
- 2010 - Scottish Western Isles; to far north, returning via W. Skye
- 2011 - Scottish West coast to Orkney
- 2014 - Ardfern, Scotland to Elburg, Holland; winter in Elburg
- 2015 - Elburg to Kelmar, Sweden; winter in Kelmar
- 2016 - Kelmar to Oxelösund; winter in Kelmar
Future voyages? The Norwegian authorities have thwarted plans to return the boat to Norway and keep it there until infirmity overtakes the crew.