grendel

I think the problem here is how do we know if the private signs are genuine signs from the landowner, or just something that some regular who wants his usual spot has erected without the land owners permission, unfortunately at present there is no way of distinguishing one from another.

I will be attempting to wear a face covering, its quite porus, but I have been informed it still can assist, but if I have to stop wearing it (like i did with a test of a tube scarf last weekend when shopping- after just 4 aisles) I will have to rely on explaining to staff, and hope that my home made badge helps in that regard.

sadly there has been a concerted social media campaign to vilify those who dont wear masks, which will do nothing to affect those who can wear them, but choose not to, but which will create an awful lot of bad feeling towards those who for some medical reason cannot wear a mask, and those are the ones that want to comply but cannot, for whatever reason, be it psychological, or medical. they are the ones that will be called out on not wearing a mask, because if you try calling out those that dont wear them because they cant be bothered, those are the ones that will get antagonistic and swear back, those with a medical reason will be the ones that try and explain why they arent wearing one, and it is my great fear that they will be the ones picked upon , purely because they are not being antagonistic. to my mind the medical professions refusal to issue letters or badges to those unable to wear masks, is going to force those vulnerable people into trying to wear them, with any medical consequences that accompany that.

from what i could see Clive has taken them all on in some private venture, ie they are not out of work. ( I may of course be wrong, but Clive has stated they all have work)

i like the thought of the rope fendering all round, but for most of the broads that would be too high for the quays and higher than the majority of other boats decks.

on a side note, yesterday I did find the wild mooring at Womack island that Robin had posted about in his latest video, It is now sporting a sign that states Private

it was nice to meet you too.

albion is currently in womak water. well she was this morning.

all of our cats have been rescues, we even had 3 burmese, who had been rescued from a breeder, that was because they wanted to keep them together, and because they were indoor cats, and we were willing to take them on.

its the same up north, i have just got to dilham, and i must have passed about 30 canoes or paddle boards en route.

well I have arrived at my destination for the day, I had a lovely cruise up from Paddys lane, slowing down for the myriads of canoes and paddle boarders, arriving at dilham to find the staithe empty apart from 3 canoes, plus 1 canoe and a day boat that followed me up.

well I have this to say, before you swear at boats that come haring past when you are 2mph over the speed limit, check the units you have the speed set for, yes I was reading it in km/h, so when I was doing 6 mph (i thought) up the river ant, I was actually almost spot on the speed limit. the downside of solo cruising is that there is nobody to brew you a coffee on the move, and that regular mooring up and comfort breaks are required. i have just moored up at paddys lane for a quick comfort break, a cup of coffee and a sandwich, a second sandwich has been made for my mate Ron. When coming to the mooring I stuck my nose in and tied up to a post at the front, but had misjudjed the wind direction, and had to wait until I had performed a 180 and tied up the other side of the stern, well I was secure anyway.

Darn that mirror, I asked it who was the fairest of them all, and it told me Jayfire, now I know it must be fibbing.

suggestion noted

another one to train to look to see which side land is before taking a flying leap.

a little taster from the videos

Just for jay, here I am modelling the tee shirt

I have been running webcams front and rear most of yesterday, though having filled one 32Gb memory card already, and presumably over half filled the 64Gb card in the other, I can see i will have to be more selective over which sections of river I record, yesterdays was mostly the rivers above Potter heigham, I think I will film a section up to dilham, and another to coltishall, my 3 main planned destinations for this holiday, i do have 2 spare 32Gb cards and the 4 8Gb ones that came with the cameras to spare, i do hope you lot are prepared for the hours of cruising videos when I get back

good morning everyone, i type this from Womack dyke, and its glorious outside, last night the boat moored behind me departed at about 6pm, so i thought well thats good at least there is a small space available, sure enough late yesterday evening (about 9.45, still just about light two private boats with a group of youngsters turn up, one slots into the gap behind me and very quickly shuts its engine down, the second double moors next to it and also shuts down quite rapidly, very considerate considering the late hour, and no fuss. still i had a good night sleep and am awake, drinking my morning tot of rum with coffee, posting on the forum and about to start cooking breakfast.

well they go off anyway

i obvigsously havent been posting enough, i have just moored up for the night at womack dyke moorings, i had just passed a boat that waved at me and asked me how i was, and i spotted a jayne sized hole. prior to that i had had a busy day, at 8am i started the engine and thought, where will i go today, so i headed back towards Marthams, not too far, as i hung a left at meadow dyke and headed for horsey mere. on arrival i moored up at the mill moorings for an hour for a coffee and a bite to eat. an hour later i turned jayne at the corner and headed back out, beware, if you skirt the edge of horsey mere, you will get weed around the prop, i went right round, looked at waxham cut and decided against it, as i needed to clear the weeds off the prop again. back down meadow dyke, where i met everyone and their neighbours coming the other way, one trip boat 2 sailies one of those was goosewinged and filling the entire dyke, i nudged into the reeds and he took his boom in just enough, day boats, cruisers, paddle boards and kayaks. at the end i took another left, down candle dyke and left again to west somerton, i had checked the situation re the weeds down here and they said it was fine an, well so it was because the weed cutter was operating down there, weeds were floating away downstream, i also passed an old chap who waved and yelled, its a bit full down there, when i arrived it dawned on me that he meant with weeds (i did wonder why he was rowing when he had a perfectly good outboard) anyway, the quay was empty. another bite to eat, toilet break and coffee (not necessarily in that order) and it was time to leave, i had determined that 1pm was when i needed to depart an hour and a half later, i reached potter heigham bridge, popped into lathams for some cooking oil to cook my tea tonight, then called the boatyard. one of their staff was soon at hand to take me through, and he hopped off at the first convenient boat the other side, on i went, through potter heigham, there was a space at the quiet moorings, but i thought no, so i headed for womak thinking to look for robins wild mooring, this was not to be as i was spotted by friends, and found a gap at womak dyke moorings.

To get one of those, you need to hire from marthams.

When turning watch where the back of the boat goes, boats are rear steer, so when you stick the wheel hard over, the rear of the boat moves sideways, and will hit anything near it, so make sure your stern isn't going to clout another boat if you turn. If you are having trouble getting away from a mooring, steer toward the bank, (you might want somebody on the bow rope, and that will kick the back of the boat into the river, then you just need to reverse out. You can turn once you are in the clear in the middle of the river.

i awoke some time in the middle of the night, and the astronomer in me took over, so i opened the roof hatch and stuck my head out for a look-see. The comet was spectacular, the tail viewed from a site with little light pollution was longer than i had imagined. But then i turned to have a look at what else was being presented, a stunning view of the milky way just overhead, and the waters were so still, i could see its reflection on the water, truly spectacular.

i just saw it was occupied when i arrived, but there is plenty of space at deep go dyke, just the two boats here tonight