YnysMon

So what happened to the planned visitor's centre? Have I missed some posts last winter or spring?

Hi Jean, Yes, that’s something that I hadn’t anticipated as I thought we had been pretty much ‘chilled’ and relaxed when we had hired. Somehow, being on Moonlight Shadow felt different. I hadn’t ever felt pressurised to get anywhere previously, but somehow it felt that we had all the time in the world. We spent a lot of time travelling very slowly and, as a result, taking more in somehow. It’s a bit difficult to explain. But...

Hi Mr NN, You really think he would have left any? nah!

Thanks for the detail on how to get to La Hogue from the ‘other way’ Speedtrple. We were certainly smitten with the place.

Hi Vanessan, Not sure about the comparison with other Farm Shops to be honest, as they aren’t places I go to very often. They do tend to be a bit expensive and, at heart, I tend to be a bit of a Scrooge. I must say that it looked good though. Good selection of veg, and a lovely looking meat counter. I did fancy their home-cured bacon. Also, lots of baked goods, preserves and gifts.

Indeed Alan, though February seems a long way away! Saturday 31st August Although we got up plenty early enough and got our stuff off the boat before 8.30, we had to wait around for ages to get a re-fuel and pump-out. I guess we should have realised that Brooms would prioritise their hire fleet over us. Oh well. They did a thorough job of the pump-out, and I was pleased that we only had to pay just over £58 for fuel. So, it was just after 10 when we left (we were supposed to be off the boat by 9.30). We had considered going to East Hills Bistro again, but weren't that hungry and, in any case, we fancied returning to the La Hogue Farm Shop and Café that we'd stopped at on the way for lunch, so we headed for the A47. Before turning off to the A11 though, we had a bit of a detour to Caister St Edmund, which is just off the A47. It was the site of a Roman town and the Caister St Edmund Church is located within the walls of the town. There isn't much to see, but it was a pleasant walk around the perimeter and there were some interesting information boards scattered around. The church was pleasant too. Shame we weren't there the following day, as they were putting on cream-teas Sunday afternoon. We were disappointed not to be able to turn off to La Hogue Farm going westward along the A11, so our lunch plans were scuppered. Ended up stopping off at Caxton Gibbet McDonalds, so that was a bit of a let-down. Got home mid-afternoon. Just as we drove up to the house it started to rain. Good timing eh!

Friday 30th August Last day. (Sob!) We got on our way before 8am this morning, making our way from Hardley Mill on the incoming tide to Bargate where we mud-weighted. I think we only passed one other boat on the way there, and there was only one other boat mud-weighted on Bargate when we got there (plus the boat moored in one corner that has been mentioned on other threads). A bit different to earlier in the week! I made a cooked breakfast (oven baked sausage, mushrooms and tomato plus lightly fried potatoes and black pudding). After breakfast I had a shower, before we headed off again upriver without much clue where we were heading for, except that we wanted to stop off somewhere for Seren to have a run around. Just as we were preparing to leave Bargate a flotilla of little boats came along, like little ducklings all in a row. Hope the kids had a lovely time learning to sail. We ended up going all the way up to Norwich, getting there around about high tide (more by luck than good management), and under Trowse Railway Bridge with about a foot to spare with canopy up. We didn’t want to moor there, just to check out where the moorings outside the Yacht Station railed area were exactly (as mentioned in someone else’s out-of-season holiday blog). We might consider mooring there during one day in February. Probably not overnight though, as I think we’d feel a bit vulnerable being the only ones moored there. We turned around and headed back down river, thinking that we would stop at Bramerton Common. On the way we had a sandwich lunch. Unfortunately, Bramerton moorings had filled up whilst we’d been up to Norwich and back, so we continued on past Surlingham Ferry and Brundall to Short Dyke (leading to Rockland Broad). Moored there and went for a walk down the dyke and along the bank of the Yare whilst Seren had a manic run up-and-down. I say manic, because she got all hyped up every time a motor boat went past on the river. She also likes to try to pick up 'sticks' that are far too large for her. Short Dyke. It was getting on for 4.30pm by the time we returned to the boat and we headed back to our home mooring in Brundall, passing through Rockland Broad on the way. Back in Brundall. We had pasta carbonara for dinner (not out of a jar this time) and started to pack our stuff ready for vacating the boat in the morning. Watched a bit of telly before turning in for the night. Alarm set for 7am. What a lovely week it has been.

Thursday 29th August - Part 2 Obviously, it didn’t take us long to get from Hardley Mill to Reedham. We managed to get a mooring at the far end of the BA moorings nearest the bridge. The bridge was working today, the previous few days some of the bridges that we had passed under had been stuck closed until the evening. Although it was another beautifully sunny day, the temperature was a bit more moderate than it had been over the weekend. Mind you, I did manage to leave a footprint in melted tar on the road, so it wasn’t that cool! Having wandered along the river front we made our way up the hill to the shop. Graham got a Snickers ice-cream and wandered back to the boat with Seren whilst I went to check out the church (I know…yet another church!). It was a good 10 minutes or so walk from the village to the church via a footpath signposted as the walking route to Pettitt’s Animal Adventure Park. This took me across the railway bridge that overlooks the swing bridge... ...and then on a path alongside the railway cutting. All along the path were reminders that, despite the hot day, autumn is just around the corner. I found the road leading to the church is almost opposite Pettitts. It seemed a very welcoming church, with visitor’s being invited to make themselves tea or coffee and to help themselves to biscuits. Perhaps because it suffered a major fire in the 1980’s, the vibe in Reedham church seemed a lot more relaxed than most churches. Areas for kids to play were prominent. It has very modern (and to my mind, stylish) pews and two modern stained-glass windows, with the rest of the windows being mostly plain glass. The new windows are mostly abstract, one depicting three crosses and the other shades of yellow (for Christ) and blue (for John the Baptist) meeting in the middle. The plain glass in each window is etched with maps. The main (yellow and blue) window with a map of the area around Reedham and the other with a map of the Holy Land. There are some surviving older memorials, mostly commemorating the Berney family. The churchyard is pretty large and has been extended. Some interesting names on earlier headstones e.g. ‘Obedience’, ‘Providence’ and one I’ve not come across before – ‘Barzillai’. I made my way back to the boat along roads this time, Church Road, Mill Road. It was a lot further to walk than the footpath route, and this time I had a three-bottle pack of beer to carry, as I had popped in to the Humpty Dumpty Brewery shop to get a thank you present for son Harry, for watering the allotment whilst we were away. Humpty Dumpty brewery is near the church too, just next door to Pettitts. We whiled away the rest of the afternoon, waiting for the tide to turn. Although low water was around 5.30pm, it was well after 6 by the time the flow slackened. We then headed upriver, aiming for Cantley or Langley Dyke. However, the same space that we occupied last night was free again. As it was getting on for 7pm, we thought it unlikely that anyone else would be looking to moor there this evening, do mooted there for a second evening. We had Sainsbury’s Duck Legs in a fruity sauce (can’t remember what exactly) with new pots and veg this evening. Watched Great British Railway Journey’s, as it featured the area around Taunton, and we’ll be near that area for our next annual May-time holiday with my cousins. After that we watched a DVD that we had found on the boat about the history of the Norfolk Broads. Lovely sunset again this evening.

Thursday 29th August Health warning - I've gone more mad than usual with photos in this post. In fact, I couldn't post them all, so have had to split this day into two posts. By the way, apologies to those uninterested in historic churches, this tale is turning out to be a bit of a church-fest. This morning, after a light breakfast, we went for a 'longer' walk with Seren. From Hardley Mill we walked along the bank towards Hardley Dyke. There was a lot of 'tractoring' going on. These three photos were taken from the same spot, all different fields: This was taken at the end of Hardley Dyke: From there we turned ‘inland’ up towards Hardley Church. Naturally, I took the opportunity to have a look inside the church. It’s chiefly remarkable for having mostly escaped the Victorian craze for church restoration, so gives a sense of what a pre-Victorianised church was like. It had a couple of medieval wall paintings, a very large one of St Christopher, complete with fishes around his ankles and a heron to the right of his knee, and a smaller one of St Catherine with her wheel. The pews are pre-Victorian and have some interesting graffiti. The local kids must have been obsessed with boats, as they feature prominently. There were small sections of medieval stained glass tucked away at the top of some windows. On our way again, we took the road toward Hardley Hall, turning off just before the hall onto the Wherryman’s Way. This is Hardley Hall. We followed the path down to the bank of the Chet. Rush hour on the Chet. We made our way along the bank to Hardley Cross... ...and then along the Yare and around Hardley Dyke back to the boat. When we got back to the boat, there were several people doing various jobs around the mill, including this chap who looked precariously perched. When I zoomed the photo I was reassured to see that he was wearing a harness. The plan for the afternoon was to go the Reedham and have a bit of a wander around there. As mentioned, I'll post the rest of the day in a separate post.

Hi Jean, Yes it was. Graham has had an issue on most of the hire boats with not finding the sofas particularly comfortable. He was fine with Moonlight Shadow's seating. We also found the beds in the forward cabin very comfortable. It also had nice think cushions, so next time we won't bother with taking our own. We really liked the shower too, good and powerful and plenty of hot water. We decided to use the main loo but for showers use the ensuite shower off the aft cabin. We didn't need to get a pump out all week, so that was a bonus too. We haven't had a boat that has a warning light on the loo before, so that was handy. The galley, though compact, was really well stocked with pots and pans, crockery and utensils, with a really good quality frying pan (again, no need to bring my own in future). All in all, we were very pleased. Helen

Hope there will be Nogs about! Whilst writing up this account I kept thinking that I must apologise to the Nogs and Jay about the distinct lack of pub visits on this trip. Graham and I were on an economy drive with a vengence! We didn't eat out once, apart from breakfast on our way to Norfolk. Made it a really cheap holiday though.

Lovely to meet you both briefly at Pye's Mill. Beautiful photos Malcolm. Especially the early morning ones. Helen

Yes it was. It's lovely and peaceful (that's a term I've been using a lot on this trip). We like being on a pontoon too, no worries about rise and fall of the tide. The only thing is that the guard rails in the middle of the pontoon make things a bit awkward. It would have been better to have been moored either end.

Not until mid-February unfortunately. That seems a very long time to wait! I think we've had one of the first 'autumn' weeks (last week) and just about the final 'winter' week. Something like that anyway. Actually, we are quite looking forward to experiencing a real winter break. Hoping the weather won't be too bad and it's sure to be nice and quiet.

Wednesday 28th August I woke fairly early again today, not surprising after having such an early night. Graham and Seren continued slumbering even though I got up and made myself tea. Each night we have been setting up Seren’s crate on the floor of the aft cabin and folding it up during the daytime. The folded crate also came in useful as a barrier across the open rear doors when we wanted a breeze to flow through the boat but didn’t want Seren wandering off onto the bank. I wrote up yesterday’s log and started another jigsaw on my iPad. The app I use has a daily free puzzle, and I’ve been storing these up in preparation for the holiday. It was lovely being on a wild mooring, very peaceful and, as the wind had shifted to a westerly, very little traffic noise from the Acle bridge. Graham got up around 8 and took Seren for a run along the riverbank. Yesterday evening we had been debating whether to go back down south today or Thursday. We had decided it would be today and that we would stay on the mooring until the afternoon and do a circular walk to Upton in the morning, calling in the pub (the excellent community owned White Horse) for lunch. However, by the time Graham got up it had started raining. Nice gentle rain, but still…rain, and it looked like it would continue all morning. We changed our plans and headed up the Bure and then up the Ant. Between Ludham Bridge and How Hill I started to think that going up the Ant was a daft idea, though until that point we had been really enjoying it, despite the rain. Shortly before How Hill two private boats came around a corner at some speed (at least one must have been doing well over the speed limit), one trying to overtake the other. Neither altered their speed one bit, even though it was clear that there wasn’t enough space for the three of us. I ended up checking my speed and in the reeds. Grrr! Five minutes later as we were approaching the bend to the How Hill straight a Herbie Woods boat came around the corner on the wrong side, having just overtaken a sailey that was under power. More grrrrrrrs! Graham asked if I had brought my St John’s Wort capsules with me (a Dr had suggested I take it to lift my mood when I was stressed out last year). Well, no…I mostly find The Broads relaxing! The rest of the journey was blissfully uneventful though. Most people, after all, both private boaters and hirers, do behave themselves! There was actually a space at Irstead! However, we had planned to get water, either at Gaye’s Staithe or Barton Turf Staithe and then go on to find a wild mooring. Gaye’s Staithe it was, with several spaces being available. Seren had a bit of a walk. We filled with water as planned and I made us a brunch, this time trying to keep the frying and oil to a minimum. Sausages, large mushrooms and tomato done in the oven, new potatoes fried with just a light spray of oil, scrambled egg. We waited for the rain to ease up. Once it did, we got on our way again, intending to head up the Ant in search of that perfect wild mooring. However, half way across Barton Broad I commented to Graham that it would be pretty boring being stuck on an isolated mooring the whole of the afternoon and evening. We hastily checked the time for Yarmouth slack water and our distance charts and decided that if we headed back down the Ant immediately, we’d have enough time to get through Yarmouth today after all. So, we turned around and enjoyed another (this time uneventful) journey down the Ant and Bure. Graham messing about... On the whole it seemed pretty quiet. Wonder where everyone had got to? Maybe it was because I’d be a bit late for slack water, but I seemed to be the only boat heading south. It turned out to be a pleasant afternoon. The rain dried up and the sun came out occasionally. It was pleasantly warm, rather than hot, but we kept the canopy up. We passed under the Yarmouth bridges about 40 minutes after slack water, which worked out fine. The Bure was only starting to turn and the incoming tide was helpfully pushing its way up Breydon Water. We only passed one boat across Breydon and there were no other boats heading in our direction. This was our wash this time. A bit more than our crossing yesterday, but I do like how 'civilised' Moonlight Shadow's wash is generally. The evening light was lovely. Graham gesturing to me that there was a seal on our starboard side. I did spot it, but wasn't quick enough with the camera. We turned up the Yare, thinking that, if all the moorings were full, we would just about have enough time to get to Brundall before dark. We struck lucky at Hardley Drainage Mill though, and got a mooring on the pontoon in a space between a private boat and the Wherry ‘Maud’. As we were mooring up (helped by the chap from the boat in front of us) it started to rain gently again. We had another lovely quiet evening. There was a small amount of credit left on the electric post, and we plugged in so that I could use the microwave to make us a quick supper (not the greatest – tinned burgers, tinned veg and instant mash - but at least it was filling and quick). We actually got a decent TV signal this evening, so were able to watch ‘Who do you think you are?’ with Paul Merton.

Tuesday 27th August We decided to head north today. More for the ‘doing it’ than wanting to go anywhere in particular on the Northern Rivers (we had spent a week up north in July anyway…see my tale on Lustre). Slack water wasn’t due until 3pm and this time I was determined to wait at least ½ hour after slack water to go through Yarmouth, as the last couple of times we crossed northward we ended up plugging against the tide up the Bure. The day started with a quick trip into Beccles for me (Tesco), Graham meanwhile taking Seren for a walk and topping up the water. We had a leisurely breakfast and waited for the tide to turn before setting off around 10am. The original plan had been to stop off at Somerlayton or Herringfleet for an hour or two before carefully timing our ongoing journey to Yarmouth. However, we had found over the previous couple of days that it was much more pleasant to be chugging along slowly than sitting around. Being still, on land or sitting on the boat was just too hot. So, we decided to take our time and did most of the journey at or very near tick-over, taking things very slowly, and having a sandwich lunch on our way and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Waveney. I had Peter's (Jenny Morgan) advice in mind about there being wild moorings available above Somerlayton and managed to spot a couple that we might well try out in future trips. We still got to Breydon Water too early though. As we started the crossing, I commented to Graham that this would probably be the slowest Breydon crossing on record, other than in a canoe. Shortly after saying this I spotted a canoe some way behind us in the distance… and yes, he did pass us! At one point I thought we would be swamped, as a large boat was coming up behind us throwing up a huge bow wave. However, he was really considerate and dropped his speed right down every time he passed another vessel, at the time I took the photo below he was just building up speed again having passed the boat in the distance and then he dropped his speed again to pass us. Good man! As a bit of a contrast...this was our wash. We had a bit of a shock as we approached Breydon Road Bridge as a private boat came though ‘our’ side of the bridge. Thank goodness we weren’t a couple of minutes earlier going through. I did get a photo, but obviously won’t post that here. Graham enjoyed taking us through Yarmouth. The Yacht Station looked very busy, with lots of double moored boats. Not having been through Yarmouth during the summer months, that sight was a bit of a novelty for us. The journey up the Bure was lovely and quiet, though we did pass about three boats. The tide was just right for us too. We moored briefly at Stracey Arms so that Seren could relieve herself (she hadn’t been off the boat since Beccles) and then continued up river. Not surprisingly, the Stokesby and Acle moorings were all full. Shortly after Acle, about half way between the Pedro’s moorings and the Northern Rivers Yacht Club hut, we spotted what looked like a good wild (ish) mooring. It had proper quay heading and a grassy bank. We took advantage of the lovely hot water to have showers before making dinner (lamb steaks this evening). I tried watching ‘Bake-Off’, but the TV signal at Acle was rubbish. Never mind, I’ll watch it on catch-up TV when I get home. We settled down for an early night instead, pretty much tired out after eight hours non-stop cruising.

Monday 26th August I didn’t wake until after 6 this morning, so that was an improvement on yesterday. There was a light mist on the river, with the sun glowing through the haze. We didn’t need to rush away this morning, as we were heading for Beccles, and low water at Reedham/ St Olaves wasn’t due until after 2pm. We took Seren out for an early morning walk before the heat built up again (another scorcher forecast), making our way along the Wherryman’s Way route that took us down B/unclassified roads and across a few fields to Heckingham Church. The church was open, though it was just after 9am. It’s one of those churches looked after by the Norfolk Churches Trust. They currently have an appeal going on to raise money to re-thatch the roof. It’s a charming little church, very simple inside with some pretty old memorial stones. There was a house across the field from the church with a lovely weather vane... We retraced our way back to the boat and I made us a fry-up. It was getting on for 11 as we set off on our way down the Chet, planning to moor at Hardley Cross moorings for Seren to have a run around, as the morning’s walk had been entirely on the lead. Before setting off we made our way to the staithe to take on water. The journey down the Chet was lovely, we only passed a couple of boats, so a lot quieter than I’d anticipated. We put the screen down as well as the canopy this morning, so as to catch as much breeze as possible. However, when we got to Chet-mouth we found all the Hardley Cross moorings were taken (particularly annoying as every other time that we passed during the week there was plenty of room there), so we ended up just carrying on and plugging against the last of the outgoing tide through the New Cut. We still had the screen down at this point, and as a precaution, we put Seren's lead on her, as she was tending to leap from one side of the boat to the other. We turned up the Waveney at the end of the New Cut, still plugging away against the tide. We didn’t go far though as there were spaces on the Herringfleet BA moorings. Seren had a bit of a run around though, unlike the Somerlayton moorings, there doesn’t seem to be any access to footpaths from Herringfleet. We waited about an hour for the tide to slacken off before motoring on again. We didn’t charge our way up the Waveney but kept pretty much at tick-over until we observed that the tide was starting to flow up more strongly. Even then we didn’t hurry, I doubt that we went any faster than 4mph. I’d phoned the Yacht Station this morning and had been assured there would be plenty of room on the ‘far side’ of the Station. Some photos taken en-route to Beccles. We didn’t get to Beccles until around 5pm, and bagged the last space before the posts (wouldn’t have fancied trying to get in between them). I dashed off to Morrison’s, even though I was also intending to go to Tesco’s in the morning. On the way I noticed that a new Lidl is being built on the route between the Yacht Station and Morrison’s. That will be a lot handier to get to once it’s open. In the meantime, Graham took Seren for a walk. There was an extended family moored next to us, having a wonderful time together (which is great…just what the Broads is all about). It’s just that the grump in me sometimes wishes I wasn’t there for all the shrieking. Maybe a wild mooring tomorrow! One thing that has slightly surprised us on this trip is the number of people seen taking a dip in the river. Given the heat it must be so tempting. The first day we even spotted a family dipping a bucket in the Yare near Surlingham to fill a paddling pool that was on the bank. Is the river water deemed safe nowadays? I guess the Waveney must be if an organised swim event was held from Beccles. There was the most spectacular sunset this evening. I was a bit slow getting around to taking a photo of it, so haven’t done it justice. Although I had a cool ‘ish shower this evening, it was still so hot outside and on the boat that I felt that I could have done with another one immediately after. Whew! Though I'm delighted at the good weather, I'm not sure how much more sun I can take!

That's a Brilliant (!) idea Pauline. Count us in!

Sorry we didn't make it to Upton Pauline. Would have been good to have met you again.

Thanks Jean, yes we do seem to have struck lucky with our two holiday weeks on the Broads this year.

Sunday 25th August I woke quite early this morning. Since Graham and the dog were still slumbering, I just stayed in bed and did a jigsaw on my iPad for a while. It got well past 7.30am and there was still no sign of anyone waking, so I got up and took the blinds down/pushed back the curtains to let in the early morning sun and warm up the lounge a bit. It was soon toasty. I sat for a while writing up an account of yesterday. It was so peaceful, with just a few rowers on the river. Around 8 I made tea and checked whether Graham was awake. He was…just about, so I made him a cuppa. The first few boats started to go past and Seren started to woof quietly to tell us ‘I’m awake’, so Graham got up and took her for a short walk. It’s not surprising that she slept quite late this morning as she had a very active hyped-up afternoon yesterday. It was after 9am by the time we got on our way. We weren’t in a hurry anyway as we were planning to only go as far as Loddon. Some shots taken on the way... When we got to Pye’s Mill I had to ask a fisherman if he would mind moving as there appeared to be only one space left. He didn’t look very happy about it (naturally), but he did move along without complaint. Once moored up we went to say thankyou and offered him a cold beer (which he turned down but I think appreciated the gesture). It was really very hot by now. I should have been sensible and just made a sandwich, but instead put some potatoes in the oven to bake. Meanwhile we sat on a nearby bench. It was so hot, we got out an umbrella to give us some shade, at least until the sun moved to behind the trees. Despite the heat, it was an idyllic, peaceful afternoon. Pye’s Mill is certainly a lovely spot. The river was quite busy, with lots of craft of different sorts going to and fro. We loved this one, though it was a bit noisy and didn't look that sea-worthy. What fun though! Mid-afternoon an elderly chap who had been walking his dog stopped to chat with Graham. He said that he lived in a cottage near Pye’s Mill and was telling Graham how there had been sewage works nearby when he bought the cottage. His friends had thought him daft because of the smell from the sewage works, but be explained that he hadn’t minded as he used to work with cattle. Not sure what his wife thought though! Anyway, within a few years of moving there the sewage works was shut, so he had certainly made a smart move. He also reminisced about his time during National Service and how it had given him the opportunity to see different parts of the world, having previously not been further than Norwich. Late afternoon I walked into Loddon past the church to the Co-op. It was blissfully chilly in there, I felt like staying there for the rest of the day. On the way back I found the path that goes behind a boatyard and along the riverbank. However, there were cows with calves in the riverside field, so we wouldn’t risk walking that way with Seren. We waited a while for it to cool down a little in the evening before taking Seren for a walk along the road and then the path to the church. Once back on the boat we both felt it was still too hot to eat much, so just had sandwiches. The evening was mostly quiet and peaceful. However, we were really puzzled at the number of times the boat in front of us ran their engine. When they did it early afternoon I thought ‘microwave?’, and early evening I thought ‘showers?’, but another couple of times over the evening…? When it got dark, we were also treated to some fireworks (well the sound of them nearby), which Seren wasn’t at all happy about. At least someone was having a good time though!

Right...here goes with the holiday tale. Sorry...I've indulged myself, so forgive the amount of detail! Moonlight Shadow – Trip 1 Saturday 24th August We got away from home just after 8am, on a beautiful sunny morning, with the weather forecasters promising a record-breaking hot bank holiday weekend. Can't believe our luck, especially as we also had a really sunny and warm week on Lustre in July. Rather than our usual Costa’s coffee stop, we thought it might be good to have a mid-morning brunch in the East Hills Café in Brundall instead. However, by the time we turned off the A14 onto the A11 we were feeling very hungry and, spotting a sign to La Hogue Farm Shop and Café, took a spur of the moment decision to stop there instead. Very glad we did too, and it looks likely to become a regular stopping off point. The breakfasts that we ordered arrived surprisingly quickly, especially considering they were reasonably busy, and were really good. I had their ‘healthy breakfast’: lean bacon, roast cherry tomatoes, poached egg, land cress (it’s similar to watercress) and granary toast. Graham had their normal breakfast. He said the sausages were particularly good. I also took the opportunity to pick up some extra veg in the well-stocked farm shop. The traffic was pretty heavy for the rest of the journey, with long tail backs leading up to the Barton Mills roundabout and the Norwich bypass. It was getting on for 11.30am by the time we got to Brundall, just about right really, as the cleaners hadn’t quite finished cleaning the boat. Our handover had been scheduled for 12, but the BCBM Norfolk agent had called me the previous evening to say that he would be there from 11. The handover didn’t take that long. However, as we were transferring our stuff from the car to boat, I realised I’d left my lip sun-block at home. This is an essential for me in sunny weather as I find that the sun tends to trigger cold-sores, so Graham popped in the car to Brundall Co-op to get some. I started unpacking but had to pause frequently to stop Seren barking at swans. That gave me a really good excuse to sit on the riverside bench to watch river traffic go by. Encouragingly, it wasn’t as busy on the river as I’d expected. It must have been about 1.30 by the time we got on our way. I only wanted to have a gentle pootle around this afternoon, to get used to handling the boat, so we went along with the tide upriver with no particular plan in mind. Seren loved it. Graham had thought ahead about where Seren was likely to position herself to see out of the boat, as she loves to keep a sharp look-out, spying out other boats and wildfowl. He had brought a mat to put on the dash behind the windscreen, so that she wouldn't slip and, more importantly, wouldn't scratch the dash surface. Most of the moorings that we passed were full, though there wasn’t that much traffic actually on the river. Views of the very 'busy' river...fore and aft... We turned around just beyond Whitlingham BA moorings and went back to the Commissioners’ Cut where there was one space right at the head of the Cut (the moorings on the left going-in were taped off). We took Seren for a walk around Thorpe Marshes and back along the river-bank. It was still only around 4pm by the time we’d had our walk, so we decided to go back to our home mooring for the night. I was slightly worried about reversing out of the cut, but it went perfectly. I just took it nice and slow. Bow thrusters were a great help. We had a bit of excitement around the next turning as we spotted another craft in difficulty. Initially I thought they’d got their stern stuck aground, though they weren’t that near the back, but it turned out that they couldn’t lower their outboard. We had been told by the agent that our insurance doesn’t cover towing, but we managed to get help to them as the Freedom Cruiser’s yard was in sight. The guy from the yard came out in a boat to tow them in. It was a lovely quiet chug back to Brooms. We took our time. I found it a bit tricky getting into our mooring as the tide was pushing me off as I was going in, but we got in safely on the second attempt after I’d aborted the first try. After unpacking and making the beds we had a pleasant peaceful evening, thought there’s a fair bit of train noise given the train track is in sight of the mooring. Not something that bothers me, as I grew up in hearing distance of a busy ’ish train station. We had the bonus of a lovely sunset. Lovely comfortable beds too, so we had a good first-night's sleep. Helen

Hi Mark, Yes, I remember you waving from Whitey. One of the things I love about Moonlight Shadow is its mooring. It’s lovely to sit on the stern and just watch the river and other boats go by. Bliss!

Love the photo of Gracie and her fish.

Hi Mark, where were you? I’m not very good at spotting people, but I noticed a convivial party of people sitting on Bramerton Common who were all waving madly at us. Or maybe you were one of the sailors who shouted over a Welsh greeting? It was lovely to (briefly) meet Malcolm (Mouldy) and his wife as they passed us at Pye’s Mill. Anyhow, we are back after a wonderful week. Moonlight Shadow was all that we had hoped, and we can’t wait until our next turn on her. The weather was certainly kind to us. We managed to go to Loddon, Beccles, up north and generally pootle gently around the Yare and all for £58 in fuel...which was a lot less than I’d expected. Highlight of the week? Difficult to say...maybe it was the slowest Breydon crossing on record (more on that anon...). I’ll try to get going with a proper tale tomorrow, though the allotment beckons. Mentally, I’m still on the Broads...chilled.