YnysMon

Sounds like you had an idyllic day again. I love that circular walk around the Ludham marshes, it’s one of our favourites, and isn’t Upton a lovely mooring when it’s hot. Thanks for posting.

I need to get down to the allotment pronto to water it before it gets too hot and put in some plants that are overdue for planting, then retreat into a cool room to do some sewing.

Love it! Looking forward to a newbies take on the Broads.

It was me who derailed it! It was lovely to hear about your son though, so I'm not going to apologise for thread drift for once!

Thanks for posting this warning Chris. We will have to be especially cautious with Seren, as she dashes around like a little whirlwind.

Is she anticipating the next invasion or our shores?

Brilliant! I look forward to future instalments! Must be the mid-to late 70s, judging by the reference to chicken in a basket. I loved that you could get under Potter Heigham as well as up to Coltishall. Sounds like you had a wonderful time and made the most of your week.

Ooh! Trombone concertos sound good. Harry currently plays 2nd cornet with the Woburn Sands Band. At one time all the family played in their various training bands. The rest of us, all on trombones, never got beyond the ‘B’ band though. Alec drifted off to Uni, and Graham and I fell by the wayside when we were carers for my Mam. I had thought of returning, but Covid got in the way. How it all started. When the kids were young I took them along to a Woburn Sands Band ‘C’ band rehearsal to see if they would like to join. They had been learning to play trumpet and trombone in school but not getting along too well. They did join, and I came away that evening with a trombone and had a one-to-one lessons for a couple of the following weeks until I was confident enough to join in. It’s a wonderful band, dedicated to teaching music to anyone, providing instruments to all who want to learn (as you progress, the quality of the instrument improves). They are a real asset to the community and we’re awarded the Queen’s Award shortly before the Covid malarkey.

Agree, this talk of banning people from Breydon is daft.

Blooming ‘ek! That’s expensive. Actually, a few of the reviews I read mentioned the place was quiet. No wonder!

Doh! And I read your blog twice! Missed the reference to The Commodore somehow though. Sorry!

I’ve noticed that our syndicate ‘Owners’ Manual’ cover sheet gives details of who to phone in case of breakdown, but also says in emergency to dial 999. I would have thought that Skipper’s Manuals probably give the same advice. In the 1980s people didn’t have mobiles. If they had, I’m sure they would have been quick to dial 999 too.

Just been watching the first episode of this wildlife programme. Obviously I’m a bit biased (for those not in the know, Ynys Mon is the Welsh name for Anglesey) but I’ve always thought my childhood home in Anglesey was a wildlife haven. Interesting that a few pairs of marsh harriers are starting to establish themselves there. Near the start of the programme Iolo mentions that Malltraeth Marsh, which is now being returned to marshland, was drained and that some coal mining went on there in the 19th century. My great-great-grandfather was a miner there, and lost one of his legs in a mining accident. There’s also spectacular shot toward the end of the program of the male marsh harrier passing prey to the female mid air. Mid programme, some interesting shots of adders. We were always warned to look out for adders when going for walks near Holyhead, especially if you walked up ‘the mountain’ (all 700’ of her). Anyway, I loved the programme and wanted to share.

Trip Advisor is peculiar, you certainly can’t trust their ratings. Sometimes new owners take over and it takes ages for the rating to move up even if their reviews are uniformly positive. I prefer Google to be honest, and judging from recent comparisons between the two it looks to me as though fewer people are using Trip Advisor nowadays. Given all that though, I’ve not been disappointed with places that we’ve visited that had glowing reviews, whereas we have had some disappointing experiences in places that have a mixture of glowing and dire reviews. The worst being The Lion, Thurne under previous ownership. Just about the worst meal we’ve ever been served…even though it was just scampi and chips. Who though you could ruin such a simple meal? I was so glad when I heard it was changing hands. Anyway, I’ve decided it’s worth checking out reviews before committing to eat out and part with good money.

I've just read a few reviews on Trip Advisor saying that The Commodore has reopened and is good. What's more, it's now dog friendly! We've not visited it before as they weren't, unless you wanted to sit outside.

We'll be there from the 12th to 23rd (a whopping 12 days ), so I'm thinking we'd best get up north the first week!

I'm so happy! Not only do we have another trip on Moonlight Shadow mid-July, but we will be back again in September. Whoopee! I had been thinking we'd get Broads withdrawal symptoms in the Autumn, as we have a big gap in our MS allocations between July and February next year. However, Dave (JanetAnn) has offered us the use of Water Rail. We feel especially privileged as she's not a boat that can be hired. Dave is just letting us use her out of the goodness of his heart - for free! Isn't he kind. Thanks Dave. You're a star! p.s. I wonder what the river levels will be like in September - it would be lovely to be able to get under a certain bridge.

We’ll that was silly of them. Either very new to the Broads and hadn’t taken in that piece of information about not cruising after sunset and not bothered to check out anything, or thought they could get away with it. Having followed a hire craft up to Ludham bridge last July, who didn’t start to take bicycles off their roof until after they turned the corner and saw the bridge, I’m convinced that some hirers don’t bother to read any of the information they are given.

Do we know if it was in a similar spot to the last couple of boats? If it was, it suggests that whoever it is that’s responsible for maintaining posts on Breydon need to do something pronto! I did think last time we crossed that the small green buoys that they’d put in place on the ‘bend’ just opposite the lift bridge looked misleading. If I recall correctly, there were three, and were spaced in such a way that there looked to be an inviting gap between two of them.

That was beautiful. They really know how to write, to capture a fleeting moment, a memory. Poetic.

What a delightful post! I’d heard you could follow a footpath from Johnny Crows Staithe but had no idea that you could from the next wild mooring up. And to think we could have stopped there last year (we dithered too much and got too far past it and would have had to turn around). You are an explorer!

Was the rainbow over South Walsham Broad? If so, that’s a coincidence as we had a marvellous one too the one time we mudweighted there.

It could be thundery too over the weekend. Hope it isn't too bad for you. You never know, it might be just the occasional shower.

You do seem to be lucky with the weather (apart from that time you got soaked returning from our chat). Apparently they are forecasting a scorcher for Friday.

I love your vlogs, full of interest and useful information. p.s. Have you tried the whisky cask cider?