Lulu

A few more boats at How Hill today than when you were here Jean. Think around 5. Looking forward to the rest of your write up :)

Exactly what’s been happening to mine from my iPhone. I haven’t been doing anything different. Is this a technical issue forum end?

Spent a couple of hours cleaning the Sahara sand off the boat. Many people in the marina doing the same thing in this glorious sunshine

Just had ours done this morning by Tim Waters. He has confirmed he has a couple more to do next week then retiring from doing BSS work

Happy birthday Ian. Certainly had lovely weather on your special day :)

Thank you for the updates. They are so useful. We will carry on with the Brundall/Acle route to Stalham

I spent ages cleaning Luna a couple of weeks ago. I suspect all my work has been undone. I’ll look out for a rust coloured boat in the marina on Thursday.

When we have a pump out we pour own own supply of blue in the pan and add more blue when we leave the boat and always close the lid. We probably pump out more than we need to due to being nearly on max once and unable to find a pump out that was open or had space for us to moor. Ours is a drop through

Would love to see some photos

We sterilise our tank at once a year and run the taps for a while each time we visit. We dont feel the tank left for 2 to 3 weeks at a time, especially in warm weather would do us much good so we drink bottled water. If we lived on it with a constant turnaround of fresh water in and out of the tank we probably would drink it (after Selsie has changed all the water pipes which is the next project)

Its been empty for quite a while now

Mooring paid via card

Glad we have our plaque :)

Warm welcome to the forum and good luck with your search

The first pennant didnt last that long as it ripped so the second one we purchased we now cover when we are not onboard. It cost around £15 if I remember rightly so having to become a member at £25 a year plus whatever the pennant costs now is an expensive little bit of material!

Wish I’d ordered a few more at the time now.

https://www.broomboats.com/contact/ We got ours direct from Broom. The pennants dont show up listed in the shop but Im sure they are still available. Make sure you ask for the original logo

Friday 4th /Sat 5th March I woke to hear the booming sound of what I assume were bitterns and lots of other bird song. We could quite happily spend days at How Hill. Absolutely love the place to ourselves. I took Desmond for a walk along the river towards Irstead then we set off for the marina quite early. Once back, we thoroughly cleaned Luna inside and out. We had tried to keep the mud ingress to a minimum all week and had done quite well but I wanted to do a proper spring clean. We had some non boaty stuff to do in the afternoon and spent the last night of our holiday in the marina. On Saturday we loaded up the car with all the washing (and there was loads of it) and left around 8.00am. It had been a fantastic holiday. We had been on the whole incredibly lucky with the weather and had got on all the moorings we wanted, knowing we were unlikely to get some of them again with the new season starting. As much as I love spring and summer there is something very special about winter boating.

Thursday 3rd March Selsie’s rather significant birthday! (I'd better not disclose) We don’t buy each other presents usually but so I didn’t get told off, I bought presents for Luna instead, two rope holders for the pulpit rails. We are so pleased with them and how tidy it makes everything, that I’ve ordered two more from Sheridan Marine. Speedy service and good prices. I took Desmond for a walk across a field opposite the fudge lady's cottage and was hopeful the day would brighten up. We decided to go off grid for the first time this holiday as it wasn't going to be quite so chilly so set of for How Hill. How Hill was totally empty so we picked what we call Luna’s Nook. I guess in a few weeks time it will be heaving again. We so like winter cruising! I went off for a long walk around the grounds. Desmond was in his element. Molehills everywhere which for some reason he has to pee on every single one of them. It was a very long time wandering about.... We had an easy to cook ready meal for dinner realising we had timed it a bit wrong having our meal from the White Horse the night before instead of on Selsie’s birthday night. But to be honest, having How Hill totally to ourselves more than made up for it. It was absolute heaven. It was so quiet and I spent late evening looking at the stars, with no light pollution. Think I need a telescope....

love those teeth - say cheese Wednesday 2nd March It was another overcast dull day but at least it wasn’t raining. I'd woken early with Desmond falling out of bed. We set off for Ferry Marine to get a pump out as soon as they opened at 8.00. We used to moor at the marina so it was all familiar to us. Great service as usual. We topped up with water as well and it cost a total of £18. We then went back up the Ant, destination Neatishead for the night. A lovely slow cruise and hardly met anyone. Ludham, How Hill and Gayes staithe all had just one boat at each. We arrived at Neatishead, also just one other boat there. The fishermen were great while we were faffing about mooring up. Like last time, it was very muddy around the Staithe. I took Desmond for a walk down to Gayes Staithe and back and resisted the fudge lady’s stall, then popped up to the shop for a few supplies. Later the same group of private boats we had met at Ranworth arrived and by the evening I think there were around 6 boats in total. We decided to order a meal from the White Horse, delivered to the boat. Such and excellent service and the food was just as good as last time. It still amuses me that we have to put in an address which is "Luna Aurora, Neatishead Staithe, on the right as you look from the road”. The food was delivered right on time and piping hot. Thoroughly recommend. A lovely evening and so quiet, just the sound of an owl every now and then. We are now full of confidence getting in and out of Neatishead but will still probably avoid during the peak season.

He rarely looks our of the window whilst cruising unlike Seren who always looks so keen to watch whats going on. I think he’s just very used to travelling from his show days as he’s the same in the car.

Tuesday 1st March Our run of fabulous weather was over. What a miserable damp and cold day dawned. We are not fair weather boaters by any means but I have to say cruising in the rain isn’t our idea of fun especially when it is cold so decided on a very short cruise to Horning staithe. On the way we saw an egret? The white stork heron bird and more moorhens. We checked the sailing club webcam every now and then and could only see one cruiser there so felt confident we would get a space by the time we got there. Sure enough there was space although a bit more of a squeeze than first thought as a little fishing boat was there which didn’t really show up on the webcam. In between the rain, I took Desmond off for a walk around the village and found a nice little circuit, up to the playing field and down very steep steps into Lower Street. Who said Norfolk was flat... It was a fantastic view from the top. We got some very good sausages from the shop and had them in rolls for lunch. Quite a few Richardsons and Herbert Woods boats went past throughout the day but only one other boat moored at the Staithe which was surprising. There seemed to be more boats about today and we could feel the season was starting.

Monday 28th February As usual we woke early to a bit of a sunrise. It had been very chilly during the night, especially when the electric ran out at 4.00am. I went for a walk along the river and was delighted to see a pair of hares running around. Thankfully Desmond didn't spot them, being too small to see over the reeds. Think I may have to call him a 'bathtub' dog... Our aim today was Ranworth. We have only moored there a couple of times pre Desmond because of the issue of getting him off the boat with no stern access. We had to stop there whatever as we were getting low on water so the decision made to fill up and if the taxi rank wasn’t available we would find somewhere else. It was a bit chilly on the way so we tucked Desmond up and as usual he slept the entire cruise as usual. We arrived at Ranworth at around 9.30. There were a few boats and the taxi rank was occupied so we moored up anyway to fill up with water. Desmond was standing at the door as he always does when we stop so Selsie said he would try and get him to shore. Heart in my mouth, Desmond trundled down the side of the boat with Selsie holding onto the handle of the harness and he was absolutely fine. I was a bag of nerves. He was a bit hesitant getting back on but again, no problems. I was a bit cheeky and asked the people on the taxi rank if they were staying and they said they were leaving in ten minutes so once they had left we moved Luna and soon the other boats had also left so we had the whole place to ourselves. It was absolute bliss. Sun, blue sky (sorry Cambridge Cabby!) and we sat just looking at the view thinking how incredibly lucky we were and knowing this was probably a one off this year. Quite a few rangers were around and we started chatting to them and mentioned that we had emailed about the broken post at Potter. They said they had seen our email and thanked us for letting them know and that Potter was their next destination. A group of private boats and a couple of hirers arrived, then Chiltern Lady so I went over and had a chat. Had a lovely walk down Priory Lane but realised doing the circuit was a bit too far at that time. The angry birds arrived at the window having a right old yell and squawk at us and even Desmond decided they weren’t friends and tried to ignore them. It was nice to see quite a few moorhens about. Haven't seen any of them in a long time. As usual the fresh air and staring at a wonderful view all day meant we were utterly exhausted and retired early again.

After the recent storms, it was perfect timing and we were very lucky.

Sunday 27th Feb Woke up early to another beautiful day so I went for a long walk with Desmond beyond the bridge. It was still pretty breezy and we had to turn Luna around. We put on a centre line and worked out the wind should easily turn us. I had a bit of a scare as I was just starting to take the rope off the post, felt it was a bit wobbly, then the post broke away with the rope still around it and it fell into the water. I managed to retrieve the post, unravel the rope but then it was hard to get sorted to depart, trying to keep hold of Luna. The gentleman on the boat behind us thankfully assisted so I could get on board after seeing our predicament and we in the end did a graceful turnaround with the wind assisting. Selsie emailed the BA about the post en route to our next destination which was to be Acle. The waves were really rolling but Luna is such a lump we hardly noticed. We arrived around 10.00. There was only a couple of other boats and for a lot of the day the moorings were empty with the odd one coming and going. We decided to take Desmond to the Bridge Inn. We haven’t taken him inside a pub before so only intended to have a drink to see if he behaved. He was a good lad and the landlord brought him a bowl of water and on leaving he said Desmond had passed his first pub experience with flying colours! After a long walk along the river we decided to have a meal from the Bridge Inn and the landlord very kindly said we could have a takeaway. Desmond's food obsession means we wouldn't have had a relaxing meal although he is improving when there is food about. We probably ate the best fish and chips we have ever had. As so often is the case when we are afloat ,we were all falling asleep by about 9.30.