YnysMon

Monday 15th May The penance for going to sleep so early the previous evening is a very early wake up the following morning. I woke before 4, but couldn’t complain, having had well over 6 hours sleep. Did a bit of jigsaw’ing to while away the time. A cuckoo went absolutely demented just after 4 and sang almost non-stop for at least half an hour. At 5, a white car drew up on the bank and its occupant chatted to someone for quite a while (presumably on his phone). He left about half an hour later. How mysterious. We got up about 7am and by 8 I was getting ‘itchy feet’ (well itchy helming or whatever) so we set off. We were against the tide initially, but that slacked off as we headed downstream. Once we got to the end of the New Cut we were against the tide again. It didn’t really matter as we weren’t in any particular hurry. Seren did not like it when other boats went passed and caused bow slap. Whenever that happened she got onto Harry's lap. Harry spotted a deer in someone's garden just below Reedham Bridge. Going up the Yare. We had debated whether to go to Loddon, but ended up continuing up the Yare as far as Rockland St Mary, arriving there around 1pm. There was only one other boat when we got there. Harry said he fancied a pint in the pub, so we all went there to have lunch. Very good it was too. We all had ciabatta’s, which were very reasonably priced at just under £8. Graham had grilled halloumi, Harry had bacon and brie and I had the best option: their ‘home-made fish finger' ciabatta. It was more like a battered mini fish fillet than a fish finger but all the better for it. They all came with really well-cooked fries, side salad and a small dish of home-made red-cabbage coleslaw. Excellent! After that, Graham and Harry took the dogs for a walk whilst I washed the Cobb and did some vacuuming. I also went around to say hello to the crew of Chameleon when they arrived. As is usual for us, we didn’t do much for the rest of the day. Three other boats turned up, which still left space for a couple of other boats that weren’t taken. We had cheese/rollmops/trout pate with sourdough bread, salad and pickles for supper and had another early night.

Sunday 14th May There wasn’t much point in getting an early start this morning, as low tide at Beccles wasn’t until mid-afternoon. Seren made herself comfortable (that's comfortable?) We had a chat with Robin on Kingfisher (we have serious hydraulically powered canopy envy) and admired his re-modelled transom (see Robin’s Golden Light 5 blog under the Restoration Projects thread). Kingfisher set off before us, as they had a cunning plan to moor up at the Lido in Beccles to wait for the tide. We had a late morning fry-up before starting off just before noon, as we figured we’d probably be able to get under the bridge a couple of hours before low tide. When we got to Beccles we had just over 7’, so no problems getting under the bridge. We moored up at the Yacht Station for a while. Pozzick and Seren enjoying the sun at the Yacht Station... I went off to Lidl whilst Graham got rid of our rubbish, refilled with water, sent Harry off for ice-creams. So when I got back I found that Harry hadn’t yet gone to the office to get a paddleboard licence. That was soon got and we were on our way again with the falling tide still helping our progress. Plans for today and tomorrow were very vague. We knew we wanted to visit Norwich during the day on Tuesday (having found out last year that visiting on a Monday is useless, with so many places being closed on Mondays), so we had today and tomorrow to gradually make our way to Norwich. Worlingham Staithe was unoccupied, so we quickly span the boat around and grabbed a spot. Just in time really, as another boat came in to moor shortly after we’d tied up. It was fairly early afternoon still, but having a relaxing day was a nice contrast to yesterday’s long cruise. The sun had properly come out at last so Harry and I sat in the sun with a G&T or two whilst taking in the view and watching Graham sand down more woodwork. It’s so relaxing watching other people work and watching the river roll past. We lit the oven and the Cobb around 5pm. Harry and I had Ludham butchers’ burgers and minted lamb chops whilst Graham had a plant burger. We had these with oven-baked wedges seasoned with paprika and a home-made coleslaw. An even earlier night tonight. I’m sure I was asleep by 9pm.

Saturday 13th May An early ‘ish start this morning as we wanted to catch the late morning tide through Gt Yarmouth. Actually, we started off too early (around 8’ish) and had to stop off at Stokesby for a while. The line of disturbed water where an old ford may have been is clearly visible in this photo. Harry went into the shop but didn’t get anything (shock horror!). I walked up to the church. The church at Stokesby is quite simple and charming inside with some lovely old pews at the back with carvings. They have a serious problem though. The tower is trying to detach itself from the church. They have a tower fundraiser going. Good luck to them! Old churches take a lot of looking after. Fire and brimstone! We successfully raised funds to repair our copper roof a few years back and are currently trying to fundraise to build some loos and a heritage centre in our church yard (our church is one of the few buildings remaining designed by the famous Robert Hooke, one of the others is 'The Monument' in the City of London). We got on our way again... and, by taking it easy, managed to reach the Yacht Station around about slack water. There were only four boats moored up there. Breydon Water was very quiet too, one boat overtook us (we were still going fairly slowly) and only a couple of boats passed going the other way. We went up the Waveney. The initial hurdle was getting past some tacking yachts near Goodchild’s. Harry mostly stuck on our side of the river, and they just tacked fore and aft of us, except when one yacht indicated that he should move out into the river and pass behind them as they tacked. We hadn’t made any firm plans where to moor. North Cove and Worlingham were full, but we found we had 7’ under the Old Bridge at Beccles, despite it being a couple of hours after low tide, so we continued upstream rather than stop at the Yacht Station and eventually moored in Geldeston Dyke just in front of Kingfisher (lovely boat). Graham started off prepping some of the wood trim for re-varnishing. Dinner this evening was pasta with a cashew nut pesto. The sauce was made from cashew nuts blitzed in a smoothie maker with an avocado, lemon juice, nutritious yeast (to give a slightly cheesy flavour) basil leaves and seasoning. I wasn’t sure about using my smoothie blender when not on shore power, so Harry checked our battery monitors whilst I put the blender on: it hardly drew any power. We were all tired after our long cruising day and had an early night, so we didn’t get a change to say Hi to Kingfisher’s crew this evening.

Friday 12th May I drove in to Ludham early this morning to visit the butchers. I could have been earlier though; I hadn’t realised they open at 8am rather than 9. Once I got back to HPC Graham set off for MK, taking the dogs with him. It was a very rainy morning, so I just hunkered down and used the Wi-Fi to do a bit of catching up with email, YouTube and so on. Malcolm (our syndicate Chair) had messaged to say that he’d received the signed paperwork for the sale of a syndicate share and the payment had been received, so I emailed our new owner and sent him the Boat Manual and a guide to the marina. We are really pleased that the share was sold very quickly, without being advertised, as we were recently asked to put a name on our waiting list. It was also sold at a price that is relatively comparable to shares that have sold in other syndicates. Probably a reflection of the installation of a new engine, the move to HPC and the other improvements that we've made to the boat. For lunch I fried a boarwurst sausage that I bought in the butcher’s. I served it with fried potatoes, fried mushrooms and fried egg. My eyes were too big for my belly though, and I couldn’t quite finish that lot off. As the rain had stopped by now, I decided to risk a walk. As described in the ‘Live’ thread I walked as far as Ludham Bridge. Turning right out of the marina, I took the path that leads up toward the Primary School (one of those paths similar to the ones in Ranworth and Ludham village that are on the other side of a hedge from the road). At the School I branched right along Church Road. I had a look around the church. Obviously they have a big connection with St Benet's. After that I took a path from the corner of the church car park that led in the direction of Upper Street (Horning). This went along the side of a field and came out at a junction of lanes where I found a very colourful pheasant. Crossing the lane I carried on in the same direction down a rough and rather water-logged track. This followed the ridge to the north of the river Bure, so there were occasional glimpses of boats as well as a view of St Helen's Ranworth across the valley. Eventually the track joined a lane at Hall Form Cottages, with the entrance to Horning Hall visible at the end of the lane. At the junction of the track and lane there were a couple of (empty) dog kennels. The other one was called 'Chez Fido'. I turned left and followed the lane in the other direction, passing some sheep in the fields between the lane and the river... then turned right when it joined the Hoveton to Ludham road (A1062). When I got to Ludham Bridge I checked out whether Kate's boat was still outside LBB - yes it was (it's the orange bathtub). I spent some time watching boats pass under the bridge – there weren’t many. I checked out whether I could get past the piling works on the Horning Marshes bank – no I couldn’t. I then visited Ludham Bridge Stores. The new bakery next door (Dollie's Bakery) wasn’t open, and it didn’t have any signage to indicate when they would be open either, which wasn’t very helpful. Having got myself a ‘Mr Whippy’ ice cream I made my way back along the road, hopping onto the bank when cars came toward me. It’s not a pleasant road to walk along, given there’s no pavement, but I managed. There were a few stretches where there wasn’t a grass back, just unrelenting hedge, and these tended to be on blind bends (how helpful), so in those instances I crossed the road to walk the ‘wrong’ side so that I could see around the bend. Once I got to Upper Street I found this sign: that's easy to read isn't it! I branched left down Church Road which joins School Road and followed that back to the marina. Altogether I was out for just over two hours. It felt quite chilly when I got back to the boat, so I put on the small radiator that we have on board. I just made myself a sandwich for supper, having had such a generous lunch. It was after 9pm by the time Graham got back with Harry, as Harry hadn’t finished work until 4pm and then wanted to go home to finish packing.

Interesting. What's 'firtimber'?

We aren’t sure. It used to be the case that our management company had an agreement with NBD pilot to take syndicate boats through. We need to reach out to NBD to check what the current position is. I’m

Hmm…I think I made the right decision not taking Moonlight Shadow there (38’), as your bow is hanging over rather.

Spot on timing!

Indeed, as a customer I would say there's nothing more off-putting.

At least it hasn't been taken over by blue-green algae yet!

Yes, very close.

Thursday 11th May As Graham was planning to travel to MK on Friday morning, our aim today was to make our way back to our home mooring in Horning. We didn’t set off particularly early and our initial destination was How Hill. When we got there, we first had coffee and cake (Norfolk shortbread from Latham’s) then we took the dogs out for a walk along the path that leads toward Ludham Bridge, not that we went that far. We then made our way back to the boat and set off down the Ant and up the Bure to Horning. As we were approaching the Bure, we could see dark clouds massing in the distance to the south and west and the occasional flash of lightning. The clouds were coming in our direction but, luckily, we managed to get moored up in HPC shortly before the rain started. We had some sandwiches for lunch (coronation egg again, but this time without chopped coriander in it) then went in the car to the Thorpe Sainsbury’s to do our food shop for the second week. I made a visit to the marina office to ask about the Wi-Fi, as they have recently upgraded the Marina Wifi. They had emailed details of the new Wi-Fi to our admin mailbox, but I couldn’t connect for some reason. Turns out I’d left the final character of the password off. It was early evening by the time we got back to the boat and Graham went for a shower whilst I thought about what to cook for our dinner. In the event I didn’t cook anything, we had bread and cheese/charcouterie with salad and pickles.

Wednesday 10th May We didn’t wake so early this morning, but still managed to get on our way shortly after 7am. The plan was to go to How Hill so that the dogs could have a run off the lead. Although dogs have to be kept on a lead in the How Hill grounds, the paths that run north and south from the moorings are good for dog walking. Before the dogs had their walk I visited the secret gardens. There were some beautiful azaleas and rhododendrons out, but several whose buds hadn’t yet opened, so I was guessing that the gardens would be even more spectacular next week or the following week. The bluebells in the wood above the gardens were spectacular too. When I got back to the boat we had coffee and cake, splitting the coffee and walnut cake that Graham had bought in Stokesby between us (which was ample, their portions are very generous). We then took the path that leads north from the moorings, following it until it joined the lane that leads to Johnny Crowe’s Staithe, at which point we turned around as the lane looked very wet and muddy and retraced our steps. Seren kept stopping to eat sticky weed. Leaving How Hill we continued upstream, the original plan being to seek a mooring at Neatishead. However, on reflection, we thought we’d take advantage of the mild weather and seek either a wild mooring or one without electric. During the winter months we prioritise getting shore power, so we’ll see plenty of Neatishead in the off-season. We figured we needed water though, as we hadn’t filled up since Sunday morning, so we made our way across Barton Broad to Barton Turf Staithe. Although you can’t moor up there any longer for a day or overnight mooring, you can moor up briefly to fill with water. The hose there has a good wide bore, so filling up takes no time. We also took the opportunity to get rid of our rubbish and glass bottles, as there are a couple of large rubbish bins and a bottle bank behind the staithe. We had spotted that there was plenty of space on the Paddy’s Lane moorings so rather than go back down the Ant in search of a wild mooring, we decided to bagsy the mooring right at the end, furthest away from the staithe, the same mooring that we had moored at earlier in the week. It’s a lovely, sheltered mooring; quite the sun trap. We soon had to lower the front and rear screens again and bring the canopy back up to keep ourselves and the dogs cool enough. I made a frittata with some left-over new potatoes, spring onions and courgette. After lunch we whiled away the afternoon reading and doing crossword puzzles. I fed some geese. There were three families of geese with chicks roughly the same age. Two families with three chicks each and one pair that had six chicks. Early evening a very dark cloud slowly advanced toward us from the west, with rumbles of thunder. We ended up having an extended thunderstorm and it rained most of the evening. Fortunately, it stopped in time for us to take the dogs out before settling for the night.

Tuesday 9th May Not surprisingly, after our early night yesterday, we were both up by 6am this morning. We got on our way by 7am. It was a pretty miserable morning. It had been raining quite a lot during the night and was still drizzling. We were thinking of aiming for Womack today. However, as that wouldn’t be enough of a cruise, we decided we would first head downriver to Stokesby to see if the shop there still had the Rollo Rocky Road that we so enjoyed last year (they didn’t, but they did have a Malteser version). Graham and the dogs having some quality time whilst we were underway. It was getting on for 9 by the time we got to Stokesby. According to the ‘Aweigh’ App the tide should have just turned, but it was still flowing out quite strongly. We moored just downstream from the pub and a couple of friendly guys on a nearby Brooms Explorer gave us a hand with our ropes. Graham took the dogs out and went to check whether the shop was open. It was (and had been open since 8am, which is earlier than the opening hours listed on the pub website). Also the pub was serving breakfast from 9am. Suddenly I felt very hungry, despite having had a light (bread and jam) breakfast whist we were underway. We and the dogs were made welcome in the pub. I had the Traditional English Breakfast and Graham had Eggs Florentine with large mugs of tea. Both went down a treat. We then took it in turns to visit the shop. I got some chocolates and a slice of rocky road, Graham bought a slice of coffee and walnut cake and also bought some bunting. A bit late for the coronation, but should come in handy for the NBN meet. It was getting on for 11’ish by the time we got on our way again. We first made our way to Potter Heigham. The moorings there were fairly busy, but we managed to find one decent sized slot about halfway along the Repps Bank moorings. Graham went off to Latham’s in search of a brush, as we thought the water line on MS’s hull looked like it could do with a bit of a scrub and Graham thought the deck brush that we had on board was too soft to be up to the job. When he returned to the boat he told me that he’d seen a brush with rubber bristles, so when I had my turn in Latham’s I bought that, along with some swan food, a fresh loaf from the bakery and a few other bits and pieces. Whilst I was in Latham’s Graham took the dogs for a walk. We debated whether to stay in Potter H or go, as originally planned, to Womack. The latter won out and we cast off again. By this time the sun was making an appearance and it got really warm on board. We kept the canopy up though, as there were a lot of dark clouds around. When we got to Womack we checked out The Island, but there were already three other boats moored there, so we returned to the Womack Dyke BA moorings, as there had only been a couple of other boats moored there. Within the next hour or so that filled up though. The dogs had another short walk, curtailed by a brief shower, after which the sun reappeared again. As we were still fairly full after our breakfast, we didn’t really want any lunch. However, we had a ready-to-bake Cherry Bakewell Pudding in the fridge that I’d brought from home, plus a tub of dairy-free custard, so I heated those up and we had pudding instead of lunch. Whilst we were eating that a thunderstorm started up. The thunder was mostly in the distance, but the rain was pretty heavy initially. When it lightened up a bit I walked up to the village to Throwers for a few items that I wasn't able to get in Latham’s. We had a very quiet evening, not even watching telly. Supper was just bread and brie for Graham and bread and charcouterie for me, accompanied by pickles and salad.

Bank Holiday Monday - 8th May The dogs woke us really early this morning, just after 5. Possibly the rather loud dawn chorus had set them off (bittern still going strong and a cuckoo joining in for good measure). After a bit of persuasion, they did settle for a while longer. I couldn’t get back to sleep though, so I got up, closed the cabin door so that Graham could get some more sleep, opened the curtains on one side and the rear blinds to let the rising sun in, and settled down with a dog either side of me to pet some dogs. Quality time! Shortly after sunrise. Graham got up around 6.30, so we quickly did our engine checks and got on our way down the Ant as we thought we’d try to get to Wroxham around low tide (10.30’ish). Apart from a few Richardson’s boats heading upriver (presumably to hand their boats over) the Ant was pretty quiet. We saw a kingfisher on the way down to How Hill, where we stopped off for a short while for the dogs to have a good run. Setting off again, Graham made us some breakfast (just tea and a jam sourdough buttie for me). It was a beautifully sunny morning, lovely and warm with a bit of a breeze, just right really, and very warm for early May. Passing Ferry Marina, it was noticeable how much of their fleet was in and on the moorings opposite. No wonder I’m starting to think it’s very quiet on the rivers. Pozzick and Seren were enjoying the trip. We did pass a few cruisers on the way up to Wroxham, and of course we were passed by several day boats, but not to the summer madness swarm of day boats. Even Horning Staithe was mostly empty. I phoned the pilot when we reached the outskirts of Wroxham and he said we should be fine getting under with the clearance we needed, and he would be waiting for us at the staithe. Unfortunately, when we got there, he broke the bad news that the pilot service is no longer serving private boats. He thought I’d have plenty of clearance to take the boat through myself but having discussed the experience of taking MS through previous with the rest of the Management Team, we have come to a collective decision that it’s not worth the risk to encourage members to take the boat through ourselves. Last time I found going upriver fairly straightforward but coming back through distinctly dodgy. So we found ourselves cruising back downriver without a clue where to go. We thought we’d just stop at the first free (i.e. no fee) mooring that we came across. Has anyone else noticed how cheeky the ducks are just south of Horning? We usually pick up a passenger somewhere near the Church Staithe or the water works. When we got to Cockshoot Dyke we found there was space, but it always seems a bit pointless mooring there, given HPC just literally just around the corner. We continued on to St Benet’s where we found a handy MS size gap. It was getting on for 12.30 by now, so we had a sandwich lunch and then took the dogs for a run around the grounds of St Benet’s. Pozzick doesn't have much stamina and flops down now and then, but Seren had to be put on a lead as she wanted to paddle on the muddy shore. After that we returned to the boat and read for a bit. Pozzick snoozed whilst Seren watched the passing boats, several of which went past far too fast and/or too close. (Not the chap in the piccie below, I hasten to add!) By late afternoon we were getting a bit fed up of being tossed about. We realised the river traffic would die down, but the breeze seemed to be strengthening and we were starting to anticipate having a fair amount of bow slap overnight. We made a sudden decision to leave and find somewhere more sheltered, ideally down Fleet Dyke. When we got to the moorings on the bend, we found plenty of room with only two boats moored there, one at either end, and it certainly proved to be more sheltered. We took the dogs out to have some more exercise and, once back on the boat heard the boom of another bittern and then a cuckoo. Although we heard a few cuckoo's when we were on the Broads last May, it's years since I've heard so many cuckoos, and it's only our second day of cruising! This evening we had an aubergine and red pepper biriyani. Very quick to make as I’d pre-cooked the rice earlier. It was just a case of frying the veg, adding some curry paste and the rice and chopped coriander leaves and mixing the whole lot up. I bunged in the half tin of lentils that I had left over from yesterday too, just to use them up. We retired very early this evening. I think we were asleep by about 9.30.

Sunday 7th May We both woke before 6 this morning but didn’t rush to get away from the Marina. We took our time and appreciated hearing our first cuckoos of the season. We didn’t start off until around 8, having first topped up with water. The river seemed fairly quiet, and although the morning was dry, it was cloudy. Cockshoot Dyke seemed mostly full and once we passed Ranworth Dam the first boats appeared going in the opposite direction. We turned up the Ant and had plenty of clearance under Ludham Bridge. The sun started to come out fitfully. Neil (NeilB) had posted to let us know that the river levels were fairly low, and we had a reasonable chance of getting up to Dilham. I was still dithering whether to try for Wood End Staithe or Dilham right until the last minute. I actually turned past the green posts toward Wood End before chickening out. I couldn’t remember how much longer Moonlight Shadow is than Water Rail and, as there hadn’t been that much space to turn Water Rail near the staithe last year, I decided not to try. Dilham was back on the cards! When we got to Weyford Bridge there was 7¼‘ on the gauge. We moored at the BA moorings just before the bridge and I went off to the Farm Shop for a few bits and pieces, including fresh scones and cheese straws. Whilst I was away, Graham overheard some boaters who had just returned under the bridge reporting some antisocial behaviour from a boat that was moored at Dilham (creating a noise late at night etc.) I presume they must have been reporting that to someone from Broads Beat or a ranger. When I got back we dropped the roof and made our way under the bridge. However, when we were about half way to Dilham we met a guy (again not sure if he was Broads Beat or a ranger) in a rib who told us that the staithe would be full by the time we got there, so we turned around in the widest section that we could find and returned down the Ant. Probably just as well if there was someone behaving antisocially up at Dilham. Our first thought was to seek a wild mooring below Irstead, but decided to moor up temporarily in Paddy’s Lane to put our windscreen back up before crossing Barton (we could feel the breeze strengthen as we got nearer the Broad). The mooring right at the far end of Paddy’s Lane was free, and once we had moored up we decided we couldn’t do any better, so that was us done cruising for the day. It was around midday by now, and those scones were calling us. Very nice they were too, though Graham was disappointed I hadn’t bought any cream. Next time! We had a lazy sort of afternoon, with the afternoon turning out hot and sunny. We had a light lunch of baked large mushrooms on toast around 2pm. I had a few bacon rashers with mine, picked up in the farm shop. The bacon was good quality but didn’t taste a patch on Ludham butcher’s bacon. By 2.30 or so it was getting hotter and hotter. Initially I used my pashmina to cover my head and shoulders to protect them from the sun, and poor ol' Pozzick was sheltering from the sun in the passage way between the front heads and bunk room (Seren can cope with heat better than Pozzick, not having such a thick coat), so we soon decided to bring the canopy back up and put the fore and aft screens down, as that had worked very well last year when we had the heatwave. We thought it would be good to have an earlier supper this evening. I put some new potatoes on to boil just before 6pm. Shortly after I did so we heard loud music, and one of the largest, tallest cruisers on hire came down the dyke toward us. About halfway down the dyke they turned around and somehow, they managed to secure themselves to some trees – not exactly a wild mooring, more a wild tie-up-to-anything. The music was still blaring though. Given they had a quantity of glasses on the table up top, our guess was that they wouldn’t be the quietest of neighbours, so we decided to depart. I had a word with the people moored up behind us who also wanted to find somewhere else but weren’t sure where to go. I made some suggestions and both boats got underway. Part way across Barton Broad Graham saw them divert toward Limekiln Dyke and, as we moored up ourselves not long after, we guessed they’d found a mooring either at Gaye’s Staithe or Neatishead Staithe. We ended up on the wild mooring just below Irstead that we’d used last July. It was very peaceful, even taking into consideration the bittern that started up calling shortly after we got there and continued overnight. Once we were settled, I started off supper again. Boiled new potatoes, some tinned green lentils warmed up and dressed with french dressing and freshly chopped parsley, steamed asparagus, and semi-hard-boiled egg. This was a fairly light supper, but that suited us, especially as we ended up going to bed fairly early. What with the unexpected evening cruise we missed the coronation concert. Something to watch on catch up when we get back home as I gather it was good.

Saturday 6th May Amazingly I slept well last night. It has taken us 13 trips on Moonlight Shadow for me not to wake up in the early hours on our first night on board and then not be able to get back to sleep. It was very peaceful last night though, hardly any wind, so no bow slap or rocking about. On the other hand, it was a full moon, and on previous trips just a bright moonlight night has kept me awake. We both woke around 6am, not bad as we didn’t have a particularly late-night last night. We could hear that the dogs were awake, but they were quite happy together in the lounge, so we didn’t get up until almost 7. Whilst Graham took the dogs out, I took down blinds to let the sun in and warm up the saloon. I did pop the heating on, but soon regretted that, as it got a bit too warm quite quickly. After about 15 minutes we put the heating off. As mentioned yesterday, we decided to stay on our home mooring today to watch the coronation. I wasn’t intending to watch the ‘talking heads’ bit beforehand, but we put the telly on before 8 to check the signal and a I found quite a lot of the interviews with guests interesting. After having breakfast and so on and before the coronation really started up, I prepared some sandwich filling that Graham could use later on to make us sandwiches for lunch. As he’s vegetarian instead of ‘coronation chicken’ sandwiches we had ‘coronation egg’ sandwiches. Basically an egg mayo with added ingredients: a small amount of mango chutney, curry paste, chopped spring onion and chopped fresh coriander. Once we started watching we had to close most of our curtains and put the blinds back up on the canopy rear windows as the sun was quite bright, which isn’t great for TV viewing. It also got quite warm. Graham got a picnic chair out as Pozzick and I were hogging the sofa and he didn't want to sit in the seat next to the telly. Whilst we were watching the coronation the crew of Evening Shadow turned up, loaded up the boat, decorated it with some flags and were on their way. If any of the Evening Shadow crew are reading this, I apologise for not introducing ourselves. We were just getting into the highlights of the coronation service by then: the anointing and actual crowning. We aren’t normally that antisocial! Anyways, we enjoyed the rest of the service and the procession back to the Palace etc. We had planned to go cruising once the TV coverage had ended (due around 3pm) but by this time the weather on the Broads had turned. The sun had disappeared, and it was starting to drizzle. We were also conscious that the dogs hadn’t had a really good run today or yesterday, so we decided to prioritise them and take them to Caister-on-Sea beach (our favourite). The beach was relatively quiet, and although it was still drizzling, we only got damp not wet-through, and the dogs seemed to really enjoy it. Success! Back at the Yard, Graham went for a shower whilst I chilled out with the dogs. We had a vegan Mac’n’Cheese’ this evening before turning in at a reasonable hour. By the way, eldest son Harry messaged today to say he'd been given leave for next week, so that completely upended our plans for going south this week as Harry wants to go south next week.

Trip 13 - May 2023 Sorry, I've been a bit tardy starting the proper holiday tale write-up. Normally, I get a chance to start doing that over the weekend after the end of our trip. This time we had an extra bonus few days after handing MS over to attend the NBN meeting. This tale is basically a more long-winded version of what I've posted on the 'Live Carried Away' thread, and with extra photos. Friday 5th May We didn’t start off from home until around midday as we hadn’t done that much packing in advance (well I hadn’t anyway). The day started off with showers, but luckily Graham was able to pack the car between showers. Somehow he managed to fit everything into the car and top box, so we didn't need the trailer. En route we had a really heavy shower near St Neots and then by the time we had passed Cambridge the sun had come out again. We stopped off at La Hogue Farm Shop Café for lunch. Luckily it wasn’t too hot, so the dogs were fine in the car. If it had been sunnier and hotter, we’d have had to make do with a Maccy D’s drive-through at Barton Mills. We got to the Postwick interchange just after 3.30pm and I did our shop first in Lidl and then the Thorpe Sainsbury’s whilst Graham stayed with the dogs. It always takes twice as long to do a shop in an unfamiliar supermarket. At least with Lidl the layouts of most of their shops are similar, but Thorpe Sainsbury’s seems to have moved some section or other each time I visit. When I came out of Lidl the sky was very dramatic and there were rumbles of thunder in the distance, and the thunderstorm really started up in earnest as we approached Sainsbury’s. We bided our time for a while in the car park waiting for the rain to subside a bit before I made a dash for the store. By the time we’d done the shop and had driven to Horning it was well after 5pm. We were lucky that the showers had dried up and the sun had come out again, so we were able to unpack the car and top box without getting everything soaked. It took a while for us to get ourselves sorted, as Graham spent some time putting rugs over the upholstery before we let the dogs in. We also moved the majority of the new cushions that have recently been put in the saloon to the bunk room, where we stored most of our 'spare' stuff. It’s the first time we’ve been on board since the upholstery was re-done and it looks even better in ‘real life’ then it does in the photos that are on the syndicate website. Also, it’s a lot more comfortable to sit on – more supportive. Our Chair Malcolm (Mouldy) had also been on board earlier in the day to Vax the carpets, so Moonlight Shadow was looking very good. By the time we had unpacked the shopping and the essentials and made up the beds it was getting on for 8pm. We had a light supper: fresh rye sourdough (it was warm when I picked it up in Lidl) with brie for Graham and charcouterie for me with some picked beetroot and gherkins. We can’t eat large meals that late in the evening any longer. Following a tip-off from Malcolm, Graham put out the digital aerial on the roof and we found that we had a very decent TV signal for BBC1, so we decided not to get up early tomorrow and cruise somewhere before the start of the coronation, but to stay on our home mooring until the coronation TV coverage ends mid-afternoon.

I've just returned after after a fortnight. The first week we were up north all week and thought it was incredibly quiet for May. The middle Saturday we went down south, and it was very quiet. However, I certainly noticed the difference when we came back up north on the Wednesday. Lots of boats out, mostly Richardson's and Herbie Woods. When we went up to Stalham to meet with Kate this last weekend there was plenty of space in most of Richardson's various quays, so it looks like they are doing quite well.

I’m not surprised they are doing an ‘offer’, judging by the number of their boats that were on their frontage and on the moorings opposite last week, and even more the week before. Didn’t see many of their boats out on the river either. Wonder why?

Womack (womankind? …best typo ever!) Island is definitely a lot more sheltered than Worlingham, as much as I love the latter.

Thanks again Kate for making us so welcome. We were so relieved to hear that Findlay has finally been able to relieve himself! He's such a lovely dog. I'm sure that there aren't that many dogs that would be so unphased about his home being invaded by two other dogs, one rather large and one rather over excited. Thanks for making it possible for us to attend the meet.

I would have thought, don't rest the board anywhere on the boat when cutting!

We had such a lovely time. Our thanks to Kate firstly, for making it possible for us to attend, very generously offering to accommodate us as our Moonlight Shadow syndicate allocation ended the Friday right at the start of the meet weekend. An especial thanks for additionally accommodating our son Harry, who had unexpectedly joined us for the second week of our allocation. We found that Kate’s (relatively small boat) can easily accommodate four adults and three dogs. That’s one very well designed boat interior! Our thanks to Simon (Cambridge Cabby) and everyone who helped out with the organisation, and to all the other attendees who made us so welcome.

We had a lovely day at the NBN meeting yesterday. We managed to reach Ranworth in the nick of time, just as Broadband Grebe and Broad Ambition were setting off. We tucked in behind them and met the rest of the fleet coning down Ranworth Dam. Our thanks to Nigel for the organisation and the fiendish quiz featuring lots of trick questions. The weather was perfect too, which helped. Thanks again to Kate for her hospitality.