YnysMon

How lucky was that! Got to Stokesby, no room on the BA moorings but no sooner had we moored up beyond the pub that a space on the BA moorings became free, and as we were approaching it the second boat moved off too. 😊 So that's us settled. Now in the pub for a late lunch.

Yay! We are on MS again. Just son Harry and I, and no dogs. Now on our way down the Bure, dithering about where to go.

I enjoyed the latest Woburn Sands Band concert this afternoon/ early evening. Harry plays 3rd cornet on the band. Normally, the programme features photos of all the players. This time one of the tuba players had drawn a cartoon of each player. Harry was asked what his hobbies were. He mentioned boating, adding that he'd needed his wellies last time.

Welcome to the forum. More like ripping up £20 notes nowadays…

I noticed that when we were last on our way down to Beccles. (Maybe that should be ‘up’, depending whether you are talking about going south or travelling upstream), lol.) I was tracking our route on Aweigh App. Luckily I’ve been up and down that stretch so many times now I knew it was wrong.

Loved the photo of the two dogs. The electricity at Beccles is a bit of a mystery to me too. What’s it like going up Beccles tower? Are the steps fairly enclosed or are there scary bits on ladders like at Ranworth? I’m ashamed to say I haven’t yet managed to get all the way to the top of Ranworth tower. Being scared of heights is such a downer.

I’m sure a ditty on Eastbourne is not beyond your wit Mr M. Could be easier than Bournemouth anyway, though Poole could be more fruitful poetically. Margate and Ramsgate sound a bit pedestrian. Somehow Morecambe and Scarborough (Scarborough Fair did quite well) sound a bit better, though in harsh reality probably more chilly and rainy. Minehead? Nope.

Yes, their mapping seems to be a bit off around Womack.

We had a message from my father in law’s neighbour. They rushed over as all the fire alarms in his house were going off. He had burnt some toast. He was talking about disabling the alarms, as they are going off frequently, but I’m hoping they are the type where that’s not possible. It’s more serious than it may seem, as his memory issues mean that he puts food on to cook and then forgets about it. Last time we visited I found a couple of overcooked items in his oven, but behind those were four or five items that had been reduced to charcoal. We reported that to the social worker and he had a visit from a fire protection officer, hence the extra alarms that have been fitted. It’s just very worrying.

Gosh Kate. What an adventure! At least you got through safely. Hopefully it will be more calm and more reasonable river levels coming back. I was wondering if you planning to be up north at all next week? Don’t reply here… I’ll send a pm.

Hope you have a great time, and that the weather is kind to us. A little less rain would be much appreciated! Clearway looks a lovely boat. A good choice for getting under those pesky bridges!

I’ve seen a post somewhere or other that said the staff have been told. So although not all the t’s have been crossed it sounds like it will happen. Hope so!

I got slightly worried yesterday evening. The owners who were on board MS this week, but who could only use part of their week, reported that the batteries didn’t appear to be charging properly and lights were flickering when not on shore power. Luckily for the syndicate, the guys at Horning Pleasurecraft have already checked things out and discovered it was due to a loose wire on one of the batteries. That’s a good outcome. Much better than having to shell out for new batteries!

One of the things I like about Moonlight Shadow is how the gunnels (or whatever they are called, I mean the outer ‘walkways’) slope down from bow to stern, which does help when the river is particularly low or high.

I must put in a word about the ‘New Name, Same Me’ lady. She started out videoing rather sensational videos at Ludham Bridge, which turned me off. However, I notice her more recent videos are a lot more varied, many exploring other areas of the Broads. Last weekend’s video did feature some boats having difficulty at Ludham Bridge with the wind, but no ‘incidents’, and sympathetic commentary which just served to remind people that the tide and wind combined can make things difficult. Actually, I found it quite instructive to watch. I also liked that she said that nasty comments would be deleted.

You can’t beat reading ‘The Coot Club’ whilst on a sailing holiday on a Hunter’s boat.

It very rainy and gusty here in Milton Keynes today. I hope it calms down before next week. Apparently the Met Office are promising high pressure over the weekend, so that should improve things. (Cross fingers).

I usually print off my own tide table with the BST adjusted. Even so, I often find that the local conditions at the time means that the latest prediction from the Aweigh App is more accurate.

Reminds me of the way the (1930s?) Water Rail screen drops down.

I usually try to wave too. The trouble with a lot of latest boats is the tinted windows. They may help with the glare, but they are definitely antisocial. Until a few trips back I used to wave anyway, though I had no idea whether the occupants waved back. I must admit I don’t tend to bother nowadays.

It depends on your circumstances. I get the impression that most of the current members of our syndicate can’t just take an extra week on a whim. If you are working and only have four weeks leave per year (and we have four weeks allocation) that does restrict you. Graham and I have stayed at or near to the bottom of our ‘priority ladder’ for the last year or so as we have hoovered up several spare weeks. If you claim a spare week you go down to the bottom of the ladder. If anyone else had been interested in this week they would have taken priority. Anyway, even if you can’t take advantage of ‘spare’ weeks, the four weeks we get for our annual fees is very good value, probably cheaper than one week’s hire in the height of summer. It’s also very unusual to have a spare week in April. Mostly the ‘spare’ weeks fall in the winter months. I love being on the boat in winter. It’s very different to the warmer months but no less enjoyable. Short days. When the sun is out, some magical days when you have the rivers almost to yourselves. A focus on getting moorings with electric. More days on our home mooring, with days out exploring Norfolk and Suffolk. A different holiday experience overall.

We’ve been ‘banking’ with Nationwide since the 1980’s. We were previously with Lloyds but I took umbrage at them charging us a whole 3 months charges for being overdrawn when our account went into the red on a Saturday. I was paid on the day before (Friday) but they didn’t credit our account until the following day. Lloyds certainly didn’t have a working day on a Saturday in those days, so it felt like they had deliberately messed up so they could charge us.

Whoopee! We (at least son Harry and I) will be back on Moonlight Shadow a lot earlier than expected. We already knew that MS would be unoccupied the week beginning Friday 19th April, but had set that week aside for work on the boat. Firstly the push pit rail would need to be re-attached to the boat with associated gel coat repairs and secondly, some work was needed in the aft heads. When I was cleaning the boat at the end of our March trip I noticed that the silicone seal one side of our aft heads shower tray was no longer forming a seal. Malcolm (Mouldy), our syndicate chair, had visited the week after and resealed it, but in doing so had noticed that the panel below the loo was needing to be replaced as it was pretty rotten. The team at HPC have worked their usual magic though, and have already completed both pieces of work. Thanks guys! Luckily, no one else in the syndicate wanted the week, so I have been able to claim it. It will be just be a few days though, rather than a full week, as Harry's band is playing a concert at The Stables (the concert venue that John and Cleo Dankworth established in Milton Keynes) Sunday evening. So, we'll just do a Monday to Friday trip, leaving the dogs to keep Graham and Alec company. Graham can't make it unfortunately. I'm planning to take a lot less 'stuff' than we usually do. Just the number of blankets and rugs that we take for the dogs take up 2-3 bin bags. Hope the weather will be kind to us. I have a hankering to do the things that we can't do when the dogs are with us - like mud-weighting.

Great write up. Thanks! Have you considered hiring something that is low enough to get up to Coltishall, Dilham and Geldeston? I love those stretches of the rivers above the low bridges.

I recall coming down the Bure on one occasion and we seemed to be losing 1/4 foot of clearance between each marker gauge at Great Yarmouth. Thankfully we had taken our canopy down, so there was no panic.