YnysMon

I don’t think it’s that. As far as Graham and I are concerned, we can’t afford to eat out that often. If you’ve read my holiday tales you’ll have seen that we mostly cater ‘on board’. So, when we do splash out and spend our hard earned cash we try to hedge our bets and go somewhere that might reasonably match with our preferences. Why waste our money on somewhere that we probably would not enjoy? Just because we chose to visit one pub over another doesn’t mean it’s the better for everyone. Not everyone has the same tastes/preferences. (And that’s a good thing.)

That’s a good idea!

I used to have organ lessons Friday evenings from the ago of 16. I remember it being quite scary letting oneself into a huge dark church during the winter months, locating the organ key in the church tower and starting some pre-lesson practise whilst waiting for my teacher to arrive. Obviously, as I was waiting for him to arrive I couldn’t lock myself in. Even after he arrived I thought the two of us were vulnerable. He was a very old and extremely doddery. The fact that he was known to overindulge at the pub most evenings probably didn’t help with the doddery’ness. Despite that he was a true gent. One evening on his way back home he somehow managed to fall down a deep hole in the road that the water board had dug. Luckily he wasn’t badly hurt, but he probably got his leg pulled quite a lot.

Our fortnight on MS is already the result of a three-way swap, instigated by me, so I don’t think we can mess fellow syndicate members around more than we already have done. We have received a very kind offer from another forum member, so once (and if) arrangements are confirmed I’ll be able to share the news. It’s looking very hopeful though!

I’m just having a big, extended sulk, grump, whatever-you-call-it. We have a whole fortnight on Moonlight Shadow this May (whoopee!), and then we have to go home on 19th. Sigh.

Honestly Jeff, I don’t think I’ve had chicken in the basket since about 1979!

The organs I play aren’t quite in that league (). Willen Church is small, but then the village it served was tiny too, until it got swallowed up in Milton Keynes. It does have the distinction of having been designed by Robert Hooke, who worked with Wren to restore London after the great fire and who discovered all sorts of things…a true polymath. It was completed in 1680, replacing a run down medieval church. The build was paid for by Richard Busby who was headmaster of Westminster School and who has a large memorial in Westminster Abbey. Willen has a tiny organ, one manual (keyboard) and no pedals. We have Victorian pews, clear glass windows, pink walls (yes, really!) and cherubs on the ceiling. The other church I play in is the Cross and Stable in Downs Barn, built as part of the development of Milton Keynes in the early 1980s. The organ is electronic, two manuals and pedals. Even though it’s a modern church/community centre, it also has a peal of bells and a team of bell ringers. The bell ‘tower’ is on a mezzanine level open to the main body of the church. A study in contrasts. I love both churches.

I haven’t a chance to put a roast in the oven a couple of Sundays each month. The second and fourth Sundays I play the organ at two morning services, and normally get rewarded by hearing the same sermon twice!

I knew I’d forgotten one…Chedgrave is also on my ‘to-do’ list. Last time we went past was a Sunday morning, so I didn’t like to barge in, possibly in the middle of a service. There’s an interesting display of local history in Loddon church, in a couple of rooms reached via a spiral stair near the entrance door.

Thanks for the post Simon. What a lady! A life well lived indeed.

Eeeww! I suppose it depends how long the tin of spam had been lying in the bilges. Was it rusty or blown? If not you could have had a nice (?) fry-up. On the other hand…

Don’t think so…you could always join in! If you prefer not to, Sunday afternoon is pretty safe.

It is too! I’ve heard the church at Ludham has recently opened a tea room. (Hmm…must watch out for predictive text this afternoon…it just tried to correct tea room to tea rum!) Haven’t visited it yet, but I’m hoping it will be a compensation for losing Alfresco’s Tea-rooms . By the way, I was very sad to hear that the lady who used to run Alfresco’s with her husband had passed away. In my opinion, every church is worth visiting, but Norfolk is very lucky as most of the churches are not locked during daytime and were built in a period in which the county was very wealthy. As well as Ludham, my favourites include Irstead, Belaugh, Beccles, Loddon, Thurne, Potter Heigham (quite a walk to this one as it’s located in the main village on the other side of the Stalham road), Acle, Catfield (walkable from Wood End Staithe, off Barton Broad) and Barton Turf (half way between Neatishead and Barton Turf). Somerlayton is also interesting, but again a bit of a walk from the moorings (see my Water Rail holiday tale from September). I have so far failed to visit Geldeston and Coltishall churches as both were locked when I tried to visit. Other’s on my ‘to-do list’ include Smallburgh (walkable from Dilham), Stalham, Sutton, Fishley (near Acle) and Stokesby. There’s also that church with the weird looking ziggurat tower that you can see in the trees behind Waveney River Centre. Apparently that was built by a member of the Boycott family (another member of whom was responsible for the origin of the word ‘boycott’). Another shout out for the church at Winterton on Sea too. I haven’t been up the tower, but the memorials to the lifeboat rescues were very interesting. There’s an excellent website on Norfolk churches… http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/mainpage.htm

Drunken idiot with a chain saw? What an alarming thought!

Come and say hello if you are on Blue Mist at the same time as we are on Moonlight Shadow.

Agree Grace. There are some strange people around!

Even I’ve heard of Filey! Not been there there though (yet!).

Of course... I meant downstream not upstream!

We didn't make it south this month, but there was plenty of evidence that the BA appear to be fairly busy. Lots of going on up north. Building up the bank near Horning Hall from dredging's taken from Ranworth Dam and further up the Bure, replacing quay heading in South Walsham Fleet Dyke. Evidence too of a lot of trees and shrubs having been massacred on the opposite bank from How Hill (should make getting along that stretch a lot easier in the summer). I was quite impressed.

A warm welcome to the forum Bucket, from Graham and me.

The last few times we’ve passed Reedham Ferry the quay heading seems to have been progressively deteriorating . It’s not too bad upstream of the ferry on the stretch nearest to the pub, but beyond that bit, even upstream, the quay looks a bit dodgy. Personally, I’d rather pay a fee at Reedham. That’s probably unlikely though. We’ve stopped off there a few times, but never for an overnight mooring.

Has anyone been to Bungay? I was wondering if that would be worth a visit.

Mud-weighting is definitely to be recommended. This one was taken early the morning after our very first night on the Broads. We were mud-weighted on Hickling Broad. Dates back to 2015. I still consider myself a Broads newbie.

Dawn on South Walsham broad.

LOL. That’s the trouble with catching up with the forum in between bouts of working, and not really concentrating properly! I meant, of course, mooring at Acle and walking from there to Upton. Sigh! I’ll probably never live that one down.