Cal

It was a morning walk on the beach with the dog. Before walking into town to do a bit of shopping. Then with the shopping decanted back on the van we had a walk along the harbour and to Walberswick. The Bell Inn beckoned for a quick couple of pints and then the short ferry ride back to Southwold Quay and the campsite. Now back on the van watching the storms roll in again. Weather forecast is terrible for this afternoon and overnight but should clear up again in the morning. Tonight we have some smoked fish from the shack on the harbour front for dinner. Vans going to stink 🤣🤣🤣

Glad we packed clothes for everyone eventually 🤣🤣🤣

Our day today started with a short ferry ride across the Yare. Then it was onto Beccles to stock up on a few essentials from the supermarket. And then finally onto our destination Southwold. We have a couple of days off driving now. Our pitch here is huge. Just a shame the weather isn't suitable to sit outside. It's very blustery with thunderstorms on their way. The dog is absolutely shattered. I think he will appreciate a quiet afternoon on the van this afternoon while we sit out the rain. We have a couple of days here now before heading back onto the Broads.

Was just wondering. There was quite a display somewhere in the area.

Did they have fireworks on Saturday night?

One thing we have discovered today is we don't need to travel by boat distance. Road distance is much quicker 🤣🤣🤣 It's been a busy day. We stopped off at Ranworth for a spot of breakfast. Then it was onto St Bennetts Abbey. We still had time to kill so we called in at Potter Heigham. Before heading to tonight's stopover at Reedham Ferry campsite. Its a nice walk into Reedham from here.

The food certainly didn't disappoint last night. Top notch 👌

After a visit to Horning we have headed to our destination for tonight, Fur and Feather at Woodbastwick. Spent many an hour in here previously. We had a wander down to Salhouse Broad and were surprised just how quiet it was. As we were leaving a couple of Wherries entered the Broad. Didn't catch their names though unfortunately. Now back at the pub for a couple of beers. Looking forward to dinner later. The food coming out looks good today.

Caught up with an old friend this morning.

There was a real chill in the air with the rain here last night. We didn't put the heating on in the end. The heat from cooking the Shepherds pie was enough to take the chill off.

First stop of the trip is Fosdyke Bridge on the River Welland and we have some stereotypically British weather to start the holiday. I suspect the heating will be going on later although it's warm enough for now. Got a homemade Shepherds pie to stick in the oven for dinner later.

We love the Norfolk Broads and as regulars will know we spent a lot of time there on our beloved Naughty-Cal as well as on a selection of different hire boats over the years. This evening we head off out on our first trip there by road in Milo, our little motorhome. Now we don't expect to be trying out Milo's floating capabilities but we do expect to be spending plenty of time by the water and some time on it, and no doubt Sydney the dog will be in it. So first obstacle out of the way. I managed to get Milo out of the tight driveway and onto the road without damaging it 🤣🤣🤣 Liam should be home from work any minute and then we will be hitting the road.

Our first visit to the Broads was in 2003. (Newbies I know!!) We hired Breakaway from Barnes Brinkcraft for a week. We thoroughly enjoyed it despite the weather being dire and the boat being completely unsuitable for a weeks hire. Here we were, I would say moored but it was grounded, outside the Reedham Ferry. We moored in very silted up cut out and of course the tide went out and left us high and dry. Our next visit was in 2004 when we hired Joy, again from Barnes. In 2006 we hired Joy again but were in the process of buying our own boat at this time. Trying to transfer money for the deposit over the phone and arrange surveys was interesting with patchy phone coverage. We had a bit of a break from the broads then. It was 2011 before we took our own boat for the first time. The trip there and back by sea being as much part of the holiday as being on the Broads. We again took our own boat to the Broads in 2014, 2016 and 2018. In 2018 we took the boat by trailer which gave us more time on the Broads. The decision to do this was made due to having recently acquired a dog and it wasn't fair for his first sea trip to be 5 hours down the East coast. He enjoyed his time on the Broads. In 2017 we hired Viscount from Richardsons and had a lovely late autumn break. Our last visit was in 2019 when short on time to take our own boat we hired Swan Ranger from Richardsons. We loved this boat and when we do hire again it will most likely be this boat again. It doesn't seem like it was so long ago that we were last on the Broads. Our next visit starts on Friday night, but not by water this time. We sold our beloved boat in 2020 and bought a motorhome for a change of adventure. We will be travelling around the Broads (and a little of Suffolk) in little Milo for nine nights. We have a varied mixture of stop overs lined up and will be visiting places we have been before but also places new to us as well. We very much hope we enjoy it as much by road as we always did by boat. I'm sure there will be some day boat hire thrown in somewhere throughout the break. This is little Milo. If you see us around give us a shout.

If the boat is under 32ft and 3.5T then I can thoroughly recommend Tony Tugboat. He transported our boat a few times. https://www.tonytugboats.com/

We decided to go to the beach before it got too hot. Dog enjoyed himself. Now back at home. We were going to walk to the pub this afternoon but it is hotter here in Nottinghamshire than it was at the coast so it might be a few beers in the garden instead!

It's been sunny in Lincolnshire this weekend as well. The River Steeping was looking well yesterday in the sunshine. Looks set to be more of the same today. So it's a beach day for us I think 😃

It has been a lovely sunny weekend in Nottinghamshire. Very warm and wall to wall blue skies. Lincolnshires turn for some sunshine this coming weekend. We are off to sunny Skeggy

Summer will be back on the Broads on the 1st July. Of course it will, that's when we are there. It's been in Cheddar with us for the last few days

We are off to Cheddar in a couple of weeks so they can expect flooding down there the week before we go (Seems to be the pattern we have going on this year) Norfolks turn in July

Fret I believe they call it in those parts.

The hill back up from the beach was only the first of the hills for us. The site we were staying on was right at the top. It wasn't as bad a walk up as we thought it might be though. We must be fitter than we thought

Day 2 It was a misty start to the day. We met a nice couple on the site and decided that we would go and walk the dogs on the beach in the morning. The boys loved it and were absolutely shattered when we had finished. After the walk we had a sit down at the pub by the beach before heading back up to the site where thankfully the mist had lifted and it was a lovely end to the day so we could sit outside with a few beers before heading back in van for a roast beef sunday lunch. Sadly the drive home on Day 3 was terrible. The weather was terrible, the traffic was terrible and the journey took an age.

We had a lovely couple of days in Robin Hoods Bay for the bank holiday weekend. We stayed on a lovely site overlooking the bay called Hook House Farm. Day 1 We had a very pleasant drive through the moors. Traffic wasn't as bad as expected for a bank holiday weekend. We had a quick stop to change drivers and let the dog stretch his legs because we were making better than expected progress. After a nice walk we headed to the site where we had a super friendly welcome from the owners who came out to show us our pitch and helped us level up the van. The field was quite sloping but the owners know the best places to park and have their own ramps and mats to help level up. Once we were settled in and set up we had a nice walk down into the bay through the fields. After a few hours we walked back up the first hill. Handily located pub at the top where we had a couple of beers and watched the last part of the coronation parade. Then it was back to the van for a nice homecooked lasagne and garlic bread. Love cooking with a view.

Fender socks are the work of the devil. Specifically designed to trap grit and dirt and then scratch and scuff the gel coat.

We are down that way for a few days in six weeks and had been looking forward to fish and chips sat by the river