YnysMon

I had the port side berth.

Personally, I think ‘the south’ is rather special. There’s quite a lot of banter here and there on the forum jokingly trying to dissuade people from coming down south. It’s generally quieter. Bit more distance between places, but given the advice to run your engine for a certain number of hours that’s an advantage.

I suspected that you‘d misheard what I was trying to yell Jay. Anyway, you haven’t answered the question. Who was tooting in Brundall?

Thanks Liz, and thanks also to you and your family for looking after her all these years. Grendel also needs to watch his head whilst washing up. LOL. I shouldn’t scoff though, as I bumped my head once or twice, and I’m only 5’4”. Not as much as I did on Lustre though. I must say that I found my berth in the forward cabin very comfortable. We are looking forward to having a second trip on her.

Monday 27th July Almost 7.30 before I woke this morning. Such a peaceful mooring! Seren was more settled too. The first night she had slept in the wheel house, as it was fairly warm and still. The second night we put her bed in the galley, and she settled okay. I did hear her move around a bit though in the night. Last night she wouldn’t settle though. She found she could squeeze underneath the door into the wheelhouse and tried the same into the cabin, so we moved her bed to the space between our bunks and she was fine. I even managed to get up to go to the loo in the night without squishing her. I’m glad we moored at Langley Dyke. Although we were very sheltered, this morning I could see that the tall trees surrounding the head of the dyke were moving around quite a bit in the wind. It was overcast this morning, and the forecast was promising rain within the next hour or so. We were aiming to go through the New Cut between 11 and 12, but wanted to take Seren for a walk somewhere first, so we just had a cup of tea and then set off shortly after 8. As we were passing Cantley it started to rain. The rain didn’t last that long though. When we got to the mouth of the Chet we turned around and moored up at the Hardley Cross moorings. We wanted to take Seren on the circular route that goes from there to Hardley Dyke, up toward Hardley Church and across from there past Hardley Hall down to the bank of the Chet, and so back to Hardley Cross. It started to rain again half way through our walk, but it wasn’t heavy rain, so we didn’t get soaked. It was good to have a slightly longer walk than we’ve had in previous days. I think it's about two and a half miles or so. Hardley Dyke. On our way up the hill toward the church we passed wheat fields. Hardley Hall. Once back on the boat we had coffee and then set on our way again. Reedham moorings looked busy today, but quite a few spaces were taken by day boats from Waveney River Centre, so there would have been spaces after lunch I guess. We met more day boats travelling toward Reedham as we went along the New Cut. Not surprisingly, we have found the Yare a bit busier yesterday and today as new hirers from the northern rivers make their way down south. Once we had got through the New Cut the Waveney seemed fairly quiet. It was also very windy, and as the tide had turned to an incoming tide the SW wind was whipping up quite a chop. Somerlayton. Further down the Waveney. Did I mention it was choppy? We moored up at the Oulton Dyke Dutch Tea Gardens moorings and took the awning down, so that we wouldn’t be catching the wind so much when we approached Water Rail’s home mooring. Glad we did too, and also glad that, when I got there, I had just about enough space to come in and moor into the wind. Dave’s friend, who owns the property, spotted us coming in and came to help with our ropes. He also kindly went to fetch our car, as we’d left our car keys with them. Dave arrived shortly after and we had a bit of a chat before unloading our stuff off the boat. Dave invited us to have another trip on Water Rail toward the end of the summer. Isn’t he lovely! As we hadn’t had lunch, we made our way back to Oulton Broad Yacht Station car park to find some food. We didn’t want to risk going inside a café, so ended up getting fish and chips from The Mermaid Chippy up the road. I don't think it used to be a chippy with a good reputation, as until last year or so the reviews of the place weren't very complimentary, but I'd heard that it had changed hands about 12-18 months ago, and I must say that the cod and chips that I had was very good indeed. The fish and its batter were perfectly fried. We had to wait outside the shop whilst it was freshly cooked to order, which wasn’t any hardship at all. They were only allowing one customer in at a time. Drove back via the A11 this time, which was a quicker journey for us, though probably longer in mileage. Shame our weekend is over!

Sunday 26th July I woke really early again, before dawn. We had agreed that we would set off around 7am this morning, to make the most of the outgoing tide, so I woke Graham shortly after 6. It was a beautiful morning. We had been debating where we could stop off to find a shop, as I wanted to buy some beer and cake as a thank you for Dave (thanks for the suggestions Grendel, Selsie and Mike). Yesterday’s rain had put paid to us going to the Thorpe Sainsbury’s, which is in walking distance of the Commissioner’s Cut, though there’s also a bus service. We didn’t really want to go into Norwich, so we reckoned that our options were to go to Loddon or, if there was space, Brundall Gardens BA moorings for one of the Brundall Co-ops. Yes! There was enough room for us, so we moored up at Brundall Gardens. A first for us. I had read somewhere on the forum that the boardwalk up to the village can be slippery, but actually it wasn’t too bad, most of it being covered with wire mesh. Graham commented that it was more like Brundall Swamp than Brundall Gardens (though the area behind was signed as being Church Fen). We went to the Co-op that’s near The Ram, as that’s the one that was closest for us. It was pretty well organised Covid-wise, sanitiser hand gel, spray and blue-roll by the door and a clearly marked one-way system. Once we had done our shopping and returned to the boat we got on our way again. Not for long though. We spotted that the Brooms fuel kiosk was open, so we stopped to top up the diesel (though Dave, bless him, had said we didn’t need to). It didn’t take a lot of topping up anyway. Again, on our way, and approaching The Water's Edge and Bramerton. We were still debating where we should go today. Should we go back through the New Cut today or tomorrow? I have had a hankering to moor in Langley Dyke since a while, so we decided to nose our way down there to see if there was space. Just before we got there we passed Moonlight Shadow. I thought I was slightly unlucky in my timing turning down Langley Dyke, as two largish boats were coming the other way. No issues though, I just took things slowly. As you may have seen on my "(Not) Carried Away by a Moonlight Shadow" thread, Hylander caught a photo of us going down the dyke. Maybe I wasn’t so unlucky, as it’s just as well that those two boats had left if they had been double moored as Hylander had reported. Actually, the moorings there were more extensive than I had expected, but I guess that’s because the boats that did moor up there overnight were all fairly small boats. It was getting on for late morning by now. We had a walk down the dyke, intending to walk toward Hardley Mill. However, we didn’t get very far as there were a couple of cows with a calf on the river bank. Some other walkers did go past the cows, but we tend to be cautious if cows have calves with them. You never know how they will react to Seren. Returning to the boat we relaxed with some drinks, read/did crosswords. I switched around my plans for lunch and dinner and made our ‘main meal’ for lunch – salmon, new potatoes, courgettes, patty pan and french beans. In the afternoon we had another walk along the dyke and sat for a while watching boats pass on the river. By this time the passing boats were mostly day sailies. Dinner this evening was another easy option - pasta with a jar of pesto and leftover veg mixed in with it. After dinner I took a walk down the other side of the dyke. Lots of butterflies there. We had another early night.

Yes, thanks for posting. I'm enjoying your tale very much. Helen

Saturday 25th July As planned, we set off early, about half an hour after the dawn, chugging very slowly down the dyke to hopefully minimise the possibility of waking up the campers in the field across the dyke. It had been raining gently since I had woken up, but the rain had reduced to a drizzle when we set off and stopped completely before we got to Beccles. The sky remained fairly gloomy though. We moored up at the Beccles Lido moorings to take our roof and windscreen down. This morning there was over 7’ clearance under the Old Bridge. Once through, Graham put up the windscreen and also managed to put the roof back up himself, using the block and tackle (rope & pulley) system provided. As we had set off so early, it was ages before we saw another boat on the move. Lots of fishermen around though. We had passed under Beccles bridge around 6.30, so I was surprised that we got to the entry to Oulton Dyke just before 8am. I had been checking the ‘Aweigh’ app on my phone periodically, to get a feel for how fast we were going at certain revs, so I knew we hadn’t been going over the speed limits. I usually find the journey times published in the Broadcaster are generous. So, we slowed down as we didn’t want to be fighting the tide up the Yare. Once we passed the Waveney River Centre and got to the more open sections of the river we started to feel the wind chill. We both changed into warmer clothes. We were passed by a Gold Gem just before Somerlayton, I assumed they were aiming to get to Yarmouth for slack water. Somerlayton Bridge. Isn’t it lovely to go down an almost deserted New Cut? We only passed one other boat. Reedham didn’t seem very busy either, I assume because most people had moored near their Yards for a Saturday handover. It was getting on for mid-morning by the time we were approaching Cantley, so we moored up to let Seren have some exercise Gimmee treats Dad! As others have mentioned, Vagabond is still moored up on the Cantley BA moorings. (Is that it now…is she there forever?) I was amused by the two loos sitting on her roof. Perhaps someone is gradually dismantling her? On our way again and coffee time. The weather seemed to be improving with the sun coming out. As we approached the Beauchamp Arms I thought the place might have closed. It looked boarded up. When we got closer I realised that they were just having some work done to the river side windows and entrance. By the time we got to Brundall it was positively warm and I had to change into cooler clothes again. We got a glimpse of Moonlight Shadow on her home mooring as we passed. I hadn’t checked the allocation chart, so I was just guessing it might be Jay’s turn when I noticed a family loading their stuff on the boat. I waved madly, and the lad who was standing at the stern door looked rather bemused. I hope Jay won't mind me posting this, as no one is identifiable. After we’d gone around the next corner we heard a boat sounding a horn, but Graham thought it might be the boat that was following us down the river. I did wonder later whether it might have been Jay. Ferry Inn moorings looked busy, but there weren’t that many people in the beer garden. Bramerton looked busy at first sight, but a lot of boats had left large, but not quite boat sized, gaps between them. Social distancing? We found there was plenty of room on the Commissioner’s Cut moorings, though one side is still taped off. We moored at the entrance and then turned the boat on its ropes. Shortly after a Broom Captain took the mooring behind us. We took Seren for a walk along the river bank, intending to loop back through Thorpe marshes. We hit a slight snag though. The path through the marshes had been claimed by a couple of swans. We had to backtrack and found another route, which took us up to the Yarmouth Road. There were some dark clouds looming, so we were glad to get back to the boat after only a few spits and spots of rain. We settled down to relax with a glass of wine/cup of tea, but that was interrupted by a sudden downpour and we needed to quickly put up the awning. Of course, as soon as we got the awning up the rain stopped. Lots of dark clouds around still though, so the awning remained up. Just as well, as we had a prolonged thunderstorm early evening. We had an easy dinner: Sainsbury’s Gammon Steaks with Pineapple (just bung in the oven) with new potatoes and some veg off the allotment. Fortunately, the rain dried up by the time Graham took Seren out for her pre-beddy time walk.

Friday 24th July After just a fortnight back in work, Graham and I were on our way back to the Broads again this morning, very much looking forward to our trip on Water Rail. The only thing is that the whole responsibility of taking someone else’s boat out hit me, and I was feeling a nervous wreck during the journey. I think Dave thought I was completely daft when I explained how I felt. Of course, once underway, all my nervousness disappeared and I relaxed and started to enjoy myself. I read on another thread that Water Rail dates back to 1933 and was a Herbert Woods boat called Delight VII, which was bought by fellow forum member (w-album) Liz’s Dad in 1965. Liz sold her to Dave last year. We felt very privileged to be able to have a long weekend on her. Dave had suggested that we meet him in the car park behind the Yacht Station this morning, as he hadn’t been able to track down the postcode for the property she is moored at. It’s lucky he did, as I doubt that we’d have been able to find the place by ourselves, even with a postcode. The entry to the track down to the place just looked like a small gap between neighbouring driveways. Dave showed us around Water Rail (maintaining social distancing naturally). A friend came over paddling the Canadian canoe that Dave had also offered for our use, and secured it to Water Rail’s port side. We soon transferred our stuff to Water Rail and, with a helpful push-off from Dave, we were off, pootling gently across Oulton Broad and down the dyke. Water Rail turned out to be the ideal boat for Seren. She loves to see what's on the river. We took things pretty easy and turned up the Waveney. The river was very quiet. Not surprising for a Friday on the southern rivers. I think we only spotted four hire boats: one Broom’s Captain (who almost forced me into the reeds a few bends before Beccles, he was so far over ‘our’ side) and a few Silverline craft. To start with Seren whined quite a bit. We started to wonder if she needed a ‘comfort break’. North Cove moorings were virtually full, with only a space for a very small boat but there was more room for us on Worlingham staithe, so we moored there for a while and took her on a walk. We also took the opportunity to take the windscreen down together before leaving, just in case there wasn’t anywhere else to moor before Beccles. Worlingham Staithe. It was a pleasant walk and it was lovely to see so many butterflies. The journey up to Beccles was lovely too. Rather cloudy, but that didn't spoil it for us. Maybe planning to get under Beccles Old Bridge at around high tide was a bit foolish, but we did it, and with a good 9” or so to spare. Dave told us that Water Rail is about 5’9” with the roof and windscreen down. Beccles. There were quite a few canoeists and a few day boats on the stretch up to Geldeston. It's one of my favourite stretches of river and was wider than I recalled, wider than the stretch up to Coltishall anyway. There was a short section of what looked like fairly new quay heading about half way. Judging by the huge tree stumps there, it must have been very overgrown last time we came this way. Isn't it beautiful. We rhond anchored in Geldeston Dyke. It wasn’t as easy to moor there as it was a couple of years back, as there were some waist high weeds on the bank in some places. There were a few day boats moored up when we got there, but they left soon after. As evening fell we moved to a section where it was easier to get on and off the boat and then turned the boat on her ropes so that we wouldn't need to mess about turning her in the morning. Seren had a bit of a run up and down the bank and then we decided to try out the canoe. Last time we tried Seren in a canoe it wasn’t a great experience. She was so distressed that I elected to return to shore with her, leaving Graham to paddle off with my cousin. Mind you, we only had an hour’s hire on that occasion, so pressure to use the time, and it didn't help that we were on a rather choppy Scottish loch. We only had a short paddle today. Seren whined to start. Hopefully we’ll be able to gradually get her used to being in the canoe, which will be handy if we want to mud-weight. Back on Water Rail, we had a go at putting up the awning. Of course, as soon as we had done so the sun came out and it got rather warm, so we took the side awnings off again. We relaxed for a while until dinner. I had brought a vegetable chilli that I'd had in the freezer at home which we had with rice and salsa. Water Rail has a lovely little galley. It even has a decent sized fridge. After dinner Graham made up our beds in the forward cabin, putting on a mattress cover and sheet in addition to our sleeping bags. We then took Seren for another walk along the bank, turning around just before the end of the dyke so as not to disturb some fishermen who were on the bank there. Earlier in the evening we had been discussing where to go tomorrow, thinking that it would be best to start early so that we could get through the New Cut around low water. So, it was an early night for us before darkness fell. Helen Geldeston Dyke.

I've changed my mind about adding the tale of our weekend on Water Rail to this thread. She deserves her own thread! I shall shortly be posting a new thread 'Weekend on Water Rail'.

I had a look at the picture of the galley in Pacific Star on the yard’s webpage. It looks a decent sized fridge, just about as big as you’ll get on any boat. Expect it to be slightly smaller than a normal under-counter domestic fridge though. For that special meal, there’s quite a selection of restaurants in Beccles itself. I tend to check out trip advisor in advance of our Norfolk visits. Although I take individual reviews with a pinch of salt, Upstairs at Baileys, Graze at the White Horse, and the Wine Vaults seem to rate highly pretty consistently. I haven’t visited any of them myself, but would like to sometime. I would also echo the advice to stay in the yard the first night. There are several good places for a meal in Loddon and it will take the pressure off that first evening so that you can relax into your holiday. Helen

Me too. We’ve been avoiding pubs, but also cafes etc. I know that’s not good for the local economy, so we have been trying a few takeaways.

So, it was The Kings Head. Not visited, and not somewhere that appeals to us unfortunately. Nice location though.

Looking at the tide table I would be looking to return on the Wednesday or Thursday. We’ve done a latish passage through Yarmouth northward a few years back and ended up mooring on an emergency pontoon as we found that we weren’t going to reach Stracey Arms before sunset. Anyways, given the advantage of quieter rivers that the southern Broads offer, why the dash north? (Just an observation as we’ve been lucky enough to spend some time both north and south this month.)

Glad this thread has been resurrected as we’ve just had a weekend on Water Rail. Liz’s info on how old WR is and that she was bought from Herbie Woods by her father are fascinating. I’ve been writing up my blog today, in breaks between working, so the tale of our weekend should appear soon.

Sounds wonderful. That Womack Dyke wild mooring is one of my favourites. Handy for dog walking. Great place for sunsets too. Thanks for posting.

Just one of many possible itineraries. I tend to plan my itinerary around the tides, as I hate having to crank up the engine to fight against incoming or outgoing tides, at least on the southern Broads where the tide tends to be more noticeable than the northern Broads. However, I also know that lots of other forum members are happy to cruise against the tides, so don’t let that put you off. There’s a good link to tide tables here: also lots of other useful info. https://www.mynorfolkbroadsboating.co.uk/ see the link to the left of the page for the link to tide tables. another thing to bear in mind...the rise and fall between tides and the strength of the tide is greater the nearer Yarmouth you are. Reedham has a Yacht Station attendant during the day who will help you with your mooring lines, to take into account the rise and fall of the tide. You won’t have that assistance at St Olaves, which has a similar rise and fall, so if you intend to moor there read up the advice on ‘spring lines’ that’s available via the link above, or moor up at Reedham before you go to St Olaves and ask for advice. Oh, and if you are planning to overnight moor at Oulton Broad or Beccles Yacht Stations...at this time of the year it’s best to phone ahead and book your mooring spot. Enjoy! The Broads are magical.

Classic drift. Sometimes thread drift is annoying, other times it’s just, well, hilarious.

So where’s The Grebe? You do realise that Mr Helen (I haven’t yet told him that’s his name from now on🤣) is TT.

I know this one can’t be right as you wouldn’t be that obvious...or would you...? The Bell, St Olaves. can anyone else tell that I’ve not actually visited any of the said establishments and am just wildly guessing?

How about the The Lord Nelson, Reedham?

Naughty? I thought that was your middle name....?

The Yare wasn’t really a serious suggestion. LOL.

Well, it looks a bit ‘distressed’, whether deliberate ‘fashionista’ pub decor or just neglect I couldn’t say. You didn’t cheat by getting your daughter to take a photo of the ladies in the Yare by any chance? Not that I’ve been in there yet.

Just got back home. Tale to follow once I’ve sorted my photos etc. Jay, I’ll explain what I was shouting when I get to that part of the tale. Anyway, we had a great time, despite the ‘varied’ weather. Helen