Jump to content

YnysMon

Full Members
  • Posts

    6,030
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    106

Posts posted by YnysMon

  1. 2 hours ago, SwanR said:

    We haven’t been down the Chet for many years now. Interesting to read your perspective. Still worth cruising?

    Definitely!

    2 hours ago, Mouldy said:

    It’s only a couple of years since The Chet was dredged.  If the channel isn’t widened soon, it will become increasingly difficult to navigate, especially on the bends as you near the junction with The Yare.

    It’s also disappointing that the moorings at Pyes Mill are falling into disrepair.  I’m not a big fan of Loddon basin.  I try to avoid stern on moorings, as I don’t really like being the meat in the sandwich between other boats and issues at the car park which resulted in the toilets being pinned as Loddon Drug Store on Google Maps (pin now removed) have done little to enhance my opinion of the mooring.  We’ve always preferred to moor at Pyes Mill and walk into the village, which has much to offer.  It would be a massive disappointment if those moorings are lost.

    I do enjoy cruising The Chet, though.  To me, it’s kind of The Ant of the southern rivers and relatively easy to get to from our base at Brundall.

    I was surprised by the narrowing of the Chet, as it’s not that long since we had to negotiate dredgers and barges to get to Loddon. It looked to me (no expert) as if floodwater had broken up the reed bank and left clumps of reeds further out in the river.

    We had a very peaceful time on the staithe last night. No sign of any trouble. There were a few teenagers there when we arrived, one of whom was magnet fishing. Graham asked if he was looking for something in that particular spot, as we wanted to move closer to the electric point farthest from the road, and he switched his fishing spot without any complaint.

    We got to Beccles mid morning. My plan of leaving Loddon at 6am worked out perfectly, as we arrived at Beccles at the point of high tide. I had wanted to avoid slogging all the way up the Waveney against the tide.

    • Like 3
  2. Another early start this morning. We set off from Loddon at 6am. Currently traversing the New Cut on our way to Beccles.

    The Chet needs a bit of love and care. There are several sections of Pye's Mill that are marked off with hazard tape as the quay heading looks dodgy, and in the lower sections several bends where the reeds are growing out onto the river, narrowing it considerably. 

    PXL_20240320_064253654.thumb.jpg.826f6db6f4ebda8f3d8e656ace3bae24.jpg

    • Like 2
  3. We didn't go anywhere in Loddon, apart from Graham visiting the Co-op.

    We are trying to ration our pub visits. I had thought to visit the butchers, but we had half the haggis cottage pie left over from a few days ago, so I thought I'd best use that up before buying more food. The cottage pie helpings weren't going to be huge, so Graham bought a couple of sponge puds and custard from the Co-op for him and Harry and a dairy free option for me. 

    Earlier today I drafted a post which I forgot to send and have just accidentally deleted. It was to comment that this BA barge passed us. Not sure if it was towing or suspending the boat alongside. Looked like it had been submerged for some time by the looks of it.

    PXL_20240319_113407935.thumb.jpg.f366a9ee02e5053497cb3ae8373ee2c0.jpg

    • Like 3
  4. 9 hours ago, MargeandParge said:

    I'd the pub open? 

    Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

    Nope, no sign of any activity in The New Inn.

    The walk up to Brundall through the fen was interesting, lots of buds on trees and bushes and lots of bird song. I used the Merlin App on my phone and it identified the bird song of the following birds: wren, blackbird, chaffinch, Robin, great tit, blue tit, greenfinch, wood pigeon.

    The evening we were at Somerlayton it identified a ring-necked pheasant, blackbird, Cetti’s warbler and song thrush.

    It’s a brilliant app, especially considering it’s free. 

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
    • Sad 1
  5. We didn’t make it as far as Norwich. As we were passing through Brundall it occurred to me that we could stop at Brundall Gardens and visit one of the Co-ops in Brundall instead of Morrison’s, so we did that. Just as well, as it probably have been after sunset by the time we got to Norwich, completed our shopping and turned back downriver. 

    We are moored at Rockland St Mary this evening. Another exceptionally quiet mooring. There is a road alongside, but not a lot of traffic on it.

    • Like 4
  6. 4 hours ago, kpnut said:

    I like hearing the rumbling of the trains across the bridge. 

    Me too, having grown up in hearing distance of a terminus. Lots of shunting noises. When I was little, must have been pre-school (pre-1965) my grandad used to take me to a bridge that overlooked the turntable so that I could see a steam engine being turned around. 

    • Love 1
  7. Graham says Somerlayton wasn’t peaceful all night; he heard a couple of long freight trains cross the bridge during the early hours. I slept through that.

    Currently making our way up the Yare, having stopped off at Hardley Cross to make lunch and to wait for the flow to change direction.As usual, though on theory the tide had ‘turned’ earlier, the flow was still going out to sea an hour later.

    We need bread and other stuff, so are aiming to go to Norwich to visit Morrisons then back to Bramerton or Rockland. We’ll have to see how long it takes us to get to Norwich though. We might have to abandon that plan. 

    • Like 2
  8. 1 minute ago, SwanR said:

    It certainly did brighten up late afternoon ... lovely photo. I've not moored there other than possibly a quick coffee stop many years ago. What's that area like for an overnight stay?

    It's exposed to the west, so great for sunsets but not so good in a westerly wind. When the weather is calm it's really peaceful and perfect. Especially out of season. This evening we are the only boat here. You do get quite a bit of noise when trains go over the swing bridge, but the trains don't run overnight. 

    There are two electric posts and lovely walks. Also, there's a 'gastro pub', The Duke's Head, just a short walk up the lane. I've been meaning to revisit since they've had new management, but an evening after lunch in The Copper Smokehouse isn't the time to go there. We've only had a sandwich this evening as we are still stuffed.

    The village looks nice, but doesn't have a shop nowadays. 

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
  9. 11 minutes ago, floydraser said:

    I've just done a very silly thing, ordered a portable barbeque, one of those little ones with a fan. There will be a summer sometime I think.

    So if summer is a washout it's your fault?

    :default_badday:

    • Haha 1
  10. The lunch at the Copper Smokehouse was super excellent. I recommend! I had their smoked brisket with the usual Sunday lunch accompaniments. Four large roasties, a humungus Yorkshire, mashed sweet potato, creamed leeks, roasted parsnips and carrots and a bowl of kale, broccoli and mange tout. Everything perfectly cooked and with smokey gravy to-die-for.

    How Graham managed a pud, I'll never know.

    I'll post some photos when I do the proper tale.

    We are now on our way to Somerlayton. 

    • Like 6
  11. You would have been welcome Kate, had we been there. 

    We retired at a reasonable time last night as the Aweigh app said low tide was going to be just after 7 this morning. It still said that when I checked before we left Horning at 5'ish. Just before we got to Marina Quays it changed its mind and decided low tide wasn't going to be until 8.24, so we went under the bridges about half an hour before low tide. At least that meant we didn't need to lower the canopy. We had almost 10' clearance under Vauxhall bridge. 

    Now chugging across Breydon against the tide. 

    • Like 6
  12. 7 hours ago, ExSurveyor said:

    I always add an extra litre of blue, direct down the pan. I was told to do this as the pipe from the tank to the pumpout outlet was quite long. We also put the yard blue straight down from the pan for the same reason.

    When we were discussing loo ‘smells’ at a Moonlight Shadow AGM an year or so ago, one of our members (who also has a share on a narrowboat) said that putting blu directly down the loo was a bad thing, that it would rot the seals of our loos. He suggested putting extra blu down the pump out outlet instead. We have recently been using a ‘pink’ solution which is supposed to be okay for putting down the loo.

    I’d be interested in other views on this smelly topic. :default_rolleyes:

  13. 1 hour ago, MargeandParge said:

    That Sainsbury’s at Thorpe is a good one and their garage is normally very competitive. Don't forget your nectar card.

    We used to use Griffin Marine so it was our local super market. 

    Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

    Nectar card and (our son’s) Alec’s staff discount. Between the two we can make quite a saving. Sainsbury’s allow you to nominate a second member of you family for a discount card. So much easier than IKEA where Harry was supposed to get a manager to sign for any discount for a family member. 

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

For details of our Guidelines, please take a look at the Terms of Use here.