grendel

i think the steering is a problem most can relate to, the trick is toproceed in a series of shallow arcs, no boat will steer straight if you leave the steering alone for more than a few seconds, the trick is finding where the steering bites on each side of centre, then moving perhaps an inch past when you want to go in a straight line, recentre, and now its probably time for an inch the other way. what I tend to do is have as fixed point at the screen and the tip of the bow, and watch where they are pointed on the bank, you will see the boat turning one way or the other, the back moves a lot further than the front, especially on a forward steer, on Jayne i have about 3 foot from window to bow.

through wroxham bridge, i went downstream just a short way and managed to nab the small mooring on the river side of wroxham broad, just where i had hoped to end up, i will now spend today boat watching, quiet it wont be (through the day as there will be boats passing, but i will be able to wave at all of them.

to be fair MM that statement covers most of what can be found on the internet.

steady 3mph all the way, currently moored up at hoveton viaduct for a comfort break and a coffee, i have a few options in mind for today, lets see if any are available, setting up a couple of extra cameras for wroxham bridge, not sure what the clearance is like yet, but it will be enough (enough for the cameras too, i dont know as i have one sticking up 6" off the side of the cabin roof

Tim, as a wooden boat owner, you know its that stuff that dissapears into pieces of timber and work on the boat

breakfast done, now do i make an early start and putter down river in the morning sun, at least as far as wroxham, or do i hang on for a more civilised hour- easy choice, the rivers early morning are beautiful.

loving it, sometimes its nice to get my nose into those parts of a boat you dont normally see, just to see how it works.

actually thinking on it, it may be a tractor steering box

i arrived here at 9.30 this morning and there was still hot water for a shower just now, and thats after doing the washing up.

S

i have found one unusual feature on jayne, she has a 20 foot drive shaft operating the rudder, it is chain driven from the steering wheel, then runs off to one side all the way down the boat to a steering box, probably out of a car i guess

its a long walk around to the other bank, besides i think an early start in the morning....

usually on my cheese and ham sandwiches

so to update you on this quiet end of coltishall locks moorings, about 4pm a boat turned up, enquired of the fishermen lining the moorings where they should moor and were pointed toward the opposite bank, just down from me. bloomin cheeky of the fisherman to start with. but since mooring up, at 5pm just as i started cooking my steak they fired the engines up, this carried on for about 45 minutes, now, 6.30pm, yes they have fired them up again, what on earth for, they cant have flattened the battery that quick, they surely have enough hot water for all of them to have a quick shower (or shower under way) still the last of the fishermen gave up 30 minutes ago and packed up and went, now i have a choice, do i use the shower or just open the roof hatch and use the rain.

thats because all the boatyards insist on the hirers wearing masks for the trial runs, once they are left to their own devices, thats how long the masks stay on.

And a very nice steak it was, so nice I nearly forgot to get a picture before I finished it. Just simply cooked with mash.

this is exactly the situation i forsaw when I started seeing all the facebook posts about masks, and how because this one fit and healthy doctor didnt have his oxygen level affected, its now gospel that anyone not wearing a mask is an antisocial idiot. I have been fighting against this perception on facebook too, held by some supposedly highly intelligent people - ie it was on facebook so it must be true. I have managed to convince some that there really are people who cannot breathe wearing a mask. to my mind it is medical discrimination, discrimination every bit as bad as sexual, racial or any other kind, and its something i will fight against with every breath (or lack thereof).

nothing that posh, it will be a plain steak with some (instant) mash, the steak itself is huge, its a rump steak and i was given a choice of half or 1/3 of the entire rump, 1" thick, i went for 1/3 as that was plenty big enough, much bigger wouldnt have fitted in the frying pan (the biggest cooking pot onboard)

while meanwhile chuckling at the wet and bedraggled paddle boarders returning to base

there is another good side about the rain, and that means i have no excuse to put the book down and exert myself

well thats cleared all but the hardiest of the fishermen, its started raining

when it comes to quiet, I have to say that despite being past the path that leads across to the mill, everyone and his neighbour seems to walk to the end of the mooring, find it leads nowhere, and then turn and go back, I have even had for a short while father and son set up to fish from the remaining 10' of bank before the little stream goes to join the other part of the river. there are now about 5 fishermen set up along the bank. but I have settled down with a good book and am enjoying a day of pure relaxation.

surely then the medically exempt have a case for discrimenation in this instance. its down to the government not making clear rules again, if you are exempt the government should provide proof of exemption. in this litigous world, whatever policy the shops take, they will be liable if they get it wrong, and the government have set things up in such a way as whatever they do they will be in the wrong.

I am here at the moment, a lot of places can take cards and prefer that, a lot of the moorings take cash with the advice to wash your hands after taking change, so expect to need some cash at some point, salhouse seems to be cash, and the moorings at horsey and boat trip were both cash.

i ended up asking a local and crossing over the mill race and up the road.