ChrisB

Seriously, does Scotland still have the old August Bank Holiday at the beginning of the month?

That is because you take an extra for Hogs May Day, and Robert the Burnt, and Ivenhoe etc.

Not forgetting that on leaving The Ferry quite a few will have a couple of pints or more onboard that would see them off the roads for a year if they were at the helm of a motor car!

Still misty and very dull, but the forecast is now for it not to rain. Suppose I will have to water then!

Very foggy and dark on coast now , must have dropped 10c from this afternoon.

There are brave men, there are old men but very few brave old men. I hope you are one of the latter.

There is a guy in red hi-vis controling the lights just past the OAP home on the Coltishall to Norwich stretch. Went that way yesterday to the NNUH on the Coltishall to N. Walsham stretch there were three cars stuffed into banks, ditches and trees. Sun must cook their brains.

I had two boats at Ridge Wharf for many years. Dorset really can feel quite continental when the weather is kind. That's ok then, but Cape Everett Park does not quite have the ring of Cap Jean Ferrat or Juan les Pins.

Funny you say that Richard, it had the look of a polarising filter to me, but I would not like to upset a Drascombe man.

In the last hour we have been enveloped in a cool northerly North Sea mist a right Haar . That is Norfolk and the North Sea for you.

Living in North Norfolk we are lucky not to have light polution when looking out to sea. We also get some of the best views of Aurora Borealis this far south in the country. We subscribe to Aurora Watch that is run by Lancaster University, so we were quite excited to receive an e mail yesterday afternoon that was a "Red Alert". Red alert is pretty much a dead certainty. We made plans for after dark so as not to miss the show. A couple of hours later I checked my mails and it was all a false alarm with many appologies extended. Someone had been using a motor mower with little or no suppression near their equipment!

I have just been round the garden and it is uncomfortably hot. Too hot to do any work. Hopefully the sea breeze should start about 11.00. Weather like this can be very hazardous for people new to North Norfolk who are perhapd more used to the south coast. Here you sit on the beach looking north out to sea whith the sun on your back! Very easy to get badly burned.

Nordhavns are beautiful boats. They are built like trawlers, full displacement, single engine (normally) and about 1000 gallon fuel capacity. If you are happy at 6 or 7 knots then your range will not be far off 3000 miles. I was made very welcome on one at Excel about 10 years ago. These are boats for serious ocean cruising not like some of the flashy jobs from Poole, Oundle and here in Norfolk the range of which means hopping from port to port to bunker.

Paella & Sangria for less than a pint in the Wherry?

Plus at times a very busy marina and boat yard immediately after if proceeding eastwards.

If that is the case then the BA may be reluctant. God knows what their legal fees have been this year with the business at Thorpe and Catfield.

There are normally four criteria for a licence objection, one is the safety of the public. The BA have the means at their disposal to stop this mooring if they so wanted. Likewise they are the planning authority. Objections to sell alcohol are normally taken very seriously especially if brought by a body such as the BA. So why not say " there is an easy way and a hard way let us come to a binding agreement" At the end of the day you need a licence to operate a pub, it is not good business sense to place that in jeopody.

What about Friesland! Much Broadland history! Loynes had base there beore WW1. Pleasure wherries were towed there. It is like The Broads on performance enhancing drugs! A really good summer high over the South North Sea and I think you could make it in 12 to 14 hours. I bet plenty of TSDY owners would be willing to shadow you.

Not for us unfortunately, we shall be in the air conditioned comfort of the NNUH with my very poorly wife. Acute Oncology is almost a second home to us these days.

Must say that I tend to go along with the Griff BA type of outlook. I do not take to scruffy boats. Unfortunately due to circumstance my own is well below our normal standard. I like to see a boat well turned out, fenders stowed and looking it's best.

Dear Vaughan, I would hate to think that I upset you in any way. I was merely trying to say that you were in the South of France and that quite reasonably you would not expect force 8 to severe 9 along the English Channel and the tail to lash the East Coast. In other words you would have expected normal August conditions on the Upper Thurne. And yes in calm conditions you could row a long warp out to a casualty as I have seen Richardsons do many times when one of their punters miss the entrance to the Ant and find the putty in Turkey Broad.

Just a question, I have not heard of wrap being used on wood. Was your finish impervious? Could in direct sun the wood sweat even through epoxy and bubble a wrap. Or are you having a laugh?

I would give almost anything to be down there again. Totally impossible though for us now, I am afraid.

Parts of that area have become much more weed infested over the last three years or so. I fouled our outboard to the point of hardly making headway. We do however have platforms so once the engine was tilted it was easy to cut off. All along the arm of Barton leading to Gays and Lime Kiln it has got worse year on year. I think it might be because the broad has not frozen over for about four years and it keeps growing. Last year on the North Norfolk Coast I only got January off mowing. You used to winterise the mower Oct and not touch it till April, not now!

Yes very like some of that area, Hoveton little is not much better in the NW corner.