Hockham Admiral

A new Avatar, Alan? :naughty:

As an aside, I've already mentioned that the Dutch will go on the water in or on nearly anything that floats! Here's a couple of pics to show that; whatever will they dream up next?

We finally arrived in Joure about 11.40 and tied up as far up the river as you can get into town. I've taken Robin's idea and lo and behold you can see where we're moored right on Groene Dijk. If you go back towards the bridge and look across the tiver you can also see " 't Syl " where I'm having a beer in real time now! In fact (in the third and fourth pics) the owner of the house to the left of Sabine has just come up, chatted and bought me a beer... great peeps! [

Next I've listed some pics of boats we saw yesterday, one of a fisherman cleaning his nets. We were also in a narrow marked channel when the wafi brigade came straight at us also in the channel! I hope Dan can tell me a few things about the Alpha-type! Perhaps an old 'Buccaneer Boats' one? :

Monday,27th August We had changed our minds later last night and Joure was to be our next destination. Terherne would come later. Along the Princess Margaret canal for about 8 miles and then turn right after the Woudsend turnoff and just before the Heeg one. I know some of you have expressed an interest in commercial traffic; so here’s a selection of pics of just that. What impresses us is the sheer size and carrying capacity of these ships. From small tankers to gravel and rock carriers, they use them all. When I worked at Schipol Airport, in the 90’s, I walked the perimeter of the airfield one day and came across a bargee in a watering hole I frequented. He told me that he and his family made their barge their home, the only one they had. He was permanently transporting Jet A1 fuel from Rotterdam to Schipol and said that he made a good living out of it! Frequently you see one, or two, cars onboard (usually Mercedes or BMW's) and they are far from old bangers! In the pics of REZOVAR I have taken you can see their two cars on the stern end. The rock-carrying barge was discharging one lot onto the land and another onto a smaller barge; the man you can see above the numbers is either very brave or foolhardy (he certainly must trust the crane operator!).They use these rocks to line the river/canal banks in places (see pics).

Det is geel goed, Lori! :clap

You should try retirement, Fred! :naughty:

Doh, Mark! In my link above: Wherry Stone A total of seven stones were erected around this area of Norfolk as a millennium project. This one is called the Wherry Stone and stands at the moorings near Aldeby Hall on the River Waveney. For more information about these stones goto: Link To see the other stones click the link > Traveller’s Stone > Link > Stone of Redemption > Link > Stone of Regeneration > Link > Stone of Dawn > Link > Stone of Wisdom > Link > Stone of Destiny > Link

Hi, Diane and Roy... Yes, they certainly can and usually do but if it's in the middle of nowhere they can't just make them offload onto the bank, can they? But that's an idea! Offload them onto Ranworth Island! :

I've just spent an interesting half hour looking around a small boat-yard here. They build their own wooden 'tenders' not far away but too far for me to walk. The old crane is from another time I guess and the slipway into the workshop has its own railway system! Whatever, the quality and workmanship are outstanding, which is probably reflected in the prices! I wonder just how long it would take to hand-craft these beauties? So here's a selection of pics.

Clive, Hi from Holland where I've just spent an interesting half hour in a small Dutch boat-yard. I've put a set of pics together you might like to see in "Dutch Holiday on Sabine".

Thank you, Robin. What a great idea, following us on Google Earth. Does that have the little man you can put where you want to look at? (As does Google Maps). This part of Holland is made for you, Robin. You can guarantee to find an island somewhere were you can moor up alone and watch the bird life or cast your line. It is indeed magical.

Lori, Hi. When Mary-Jane read your post, last night, she laughed and said "But we've only had one each!". So we have been good in that sense! Every town or hamlet seems to have at least one cake shop, many have several. With the exception of one chain they are nearly all independent bakers, turning out the most marvellous varieties of cakes. I'll take a pic for you when we go walkabout later today. No, it doesn't for us (feel strange) as we've grown to love this little boat. . She's 34ft loa, and she feels just like one of the family! Now, when we pack on Saturday morning that will be a different matter!

They do have other cheeses, Alan and Gouda is the most popular, it seems, about half of the market. We have this page bookmarked on the laptop for reference: http://dutchfood.about.com/od/aboutdutchcooking/a/SayCheese.htm But then, our Cheddars are so varied too, aren't they? The difference, say for example, between Cathedral City and Pilgrims' Choice and the myriad others you can buy. But over here, although Gouda, (the 'G' pronounced with that choking sound), is most prevalent, all the little cheese shops offer a large range of locally produced cheeses. It's truly a cheeses lover's Nirvana!

Great news, June. Just relax, chill and enjoy yourselves! x

You van also stop at Pye's Mill (the public moorings on the left hand side of the river) just before the 3mph sign in Loddon. It's a nice walk across the fields for the dogs!

Dennis, Hi and welcome aboard from us. She certainly was (open) about a month ago when we were there on a Sunday morning! When are you coming down?

Oh to be on a waterway holiday at bank Holiday weekends! :naughty:

When I'd just finished this (the first time) the Wi-Fi cut out for a few seconds and although it auto-saved the text it didn't the pics ??? Hence as soon as I finished re-uploading the pics I hit "Post"!

Sunday, 25 August 2013 This morning it was pouring with rain at 05.00, to the extent that it woke me up! Where we were moored was a wifi hotspot and so I checked the local weather forecast: “Sunny & warm by 10.00” … it was! As I was up and about I downloaded another 50 or so pics from yesterday onto the laptop and then edited/enhanced them. Then I wrote the blog up and inserted the pics. It doesn’t sound much but a couple of hours soon go by; I can’t begin to imagine how long Robin spends editing those marvellous movies he makes for us! The Haven Meister had told us that a ‘cruise ship’ (somewhat like those at Oulton, Wroxham and Horning) would be arriving this morning between 10.00 and 11.00. So when a slot opposite us was vacated at 09.30 we asked Sebastian and Marianne to let us out so that we could fill it before another boat arrived, which they did. 10.30 and the ‘cruise ship’ arrived and stayed until 14.00. For 10 Euros you could take the round trip up towards Sneek and back, with beer, music and food served as you went along; we declined but a heck of a lot of punters did get onboard! Another lazy day spent in more hot sunshine; we wandered around some more for an hour or so in the early afternoon and spent the obligatory time first drinking a beer and then licking an ice-cream cornet (one each!) … we do know how to live… Then it was back to the boat for a quiet afternoon and our tea for today; ham pasta with sautéed mushrooms, bell peppers, peas, carrots, garlic and onions in a cheese sauce. I haven’t mentioned food before in any great detail but with the hot weather we’ve been having it’s been mainly salads and rice/pasta dishes. Sabine has a four-burner gas hob but neither oven nor grill; so pizzas and the like are out! Probably the grill (and occasionally the microwave) we have on Friday Girl are what we’ve missed most. If you’re a toast addict then one of those small stainless steel contraptions you sit on top of a gas burner would be useful! (Come on, someone will know what I mean!). For us it’s been packet Melba toasts! For shopping we’ve had a good selection of small supermarkets everywhere we’ve been. Aldi and Lidl are usually somewhere around together with Albert Heijn, Spar, Jumbo and Polesz. These give a good variety of wines, beers and food. Wines and beer are cheaper than at home while food tends to be more expensive; not a problem for us as we don’t tend to eat that much. Possibly a sandwich and cuppa for elevenses and a salad for tea would be our daily intake. There are also lots of small wine, nuts and cheese shops together with innumerable cake and bread shops; you could get seriously porky over here! Somehow we’ve tried to be good and only had the occasional exotic cake creation. Later on, after tea, we searched the map for places to visit in the next five days; tomorrow it’s off to Terherne on the Sneeker Meer (Sneek Lake) for the night. We shall report back! (The thumbnail of Mary-Jane writing up her diary shows the posy of roses that Marianne and Sebastian bought us; what a lovely thoughtful gesture!).

Fred, Hi. In answer to your first question the main canals are at least as wide as the widest part of the Yare and although there are bends there are none such as you have on a meandering old river like the Yare. Thus they don't swing about so much as you might have seen them do at home. That's probably why there are still signs on bends on the Yare warning of Coaters). They do seem to generally observe the 10kph limits (although the pleasure boats don't) except when they're overtaking. The problem comes when you get one on a narrower river or canal but it doesn't seem to faze them over here; they're just used to it! As for competence then most seem pretty up to scratch, with the exceptions, I must say, of some few visitors from an adjacent country. (How's that for diplomacy? :naughty: ).

Thank you, Maurice. Carpe Diem, which if I remember means "Seize the Day", was absolutely full to the gunwales and we did wonder where she was going to dump it all!

That's a really useful idea, many thanks! :clap

Unfortunately we'll miss you too, Brian, as we're out of Brundall from the 8th until later that week. But have a great time!

Saturday, 24th August We wanted to be in Lemmer before 11.00 because we’d been told that the moorings would fill up rapidly after then…. they did! So we left Woudsend at 08.50 on a windy and somewhat chilly morning; too cold for the upper deck! They do like wherries over here! In fact they seem to like just about anything that floats! And the barges just get bigger and bigger as we get nearer to the Ijsselmeer. Some of the boats make even our bigggest Brooms look tiny! Lemmer is far the busiest place we’ve been to as a tourist attraction. We found a space but it wasn’t too long before we were surrounded by boats. We were fortunate that our immediate neighbours were a very nice young couple form Cologne who we helped raft up alongside Sabine. They rewarded us with bottles of Heineken and were soon onboard sharing holiday tales and some more Heinekens! We spent the afternoon wandering around the quayside, browsing the many small shops and just watching the world go by. It was by now hot at 28C and needed lots of chilling refreshments to keep cool! Our fridge was up to the task