Cal

Time to relax at last. We are on holiday. The boat is loaded up. We are showered and refreshed. So now it is time to wander around to Woodcocks for a bite to eat and a few drinks before we have an early night ready for our 6am pick up in the morning. Alarm is set for 5am! That's earlier then for work.

Almost didn't have the best start to the holiday at dinnertime. Took Sydney for his dinnertime walk in the park and on the way back to the car to go back to work he was attacked by a loose bulldog. It threw him around a fair bit but somehow Syd has been lucky and has escaped seemingly unharmed with no wounds. The bulldog must have just got a mouthful of fur each Time!

We have not hired Sonnet but did hire Joy which was the older version. We found it a very comfortable boat for two people with plenty of room. Easy to handle and manouverability was good even without a bow thruster. The single level accommodation will be ideal for you both. Sonnet looks to be a very nice boat. Fitted out far better and making better use of the space then Joy.

I'm guessing the boat will never become fully water tight? But how long before the amount of water it is taking on isn't a worry anymore? (As you might have guessed I know very little about wooden boats )

We usually bring good weather with us to Norfolk but that is getting ridiculous

There was a wooden yacht (I believe an old Broads yacht) that had been on the hardstanding at our marina for several years having work carried out. The owner didn't wet the bilges before launching it and low and behold the next day it was sat on the bottom. Pumped it out, up it came and eventually the wood swelled up again and it stayed afloat with the pumps eventually taking out less and less water. The next wooden boat the yard launched they left it overnight on the slipway on the launching trolley so it couldn't sink but could take on water. That one managed to stay float long term. We had never thought about it before but I guess it makes sense that wood swells and shrinks with the moisture content it contains. Well done guys by the way the boat looks great. Maybe we will cross paths. Good luck with the launch today.

It was noticeably cooler in Sheffield last night and this morning. The thermometer in the car was reading 17 degrees this morning at 7am as we drove into work, which is the coolest we have seen for a few weeks. We both slept a bit better last night.

Give us a wave if we cross paths.

We find that our cabin tends to keep a little cooler as it only has a couple of small windows so keeps nice and shaded. Was still too hot to sleep comfortably on Sunday evening though. We had both hatches open and the door cracked open a little which is usually enough to induce a bit of a through draft but nothing.

Sydney was feeling it this weekend. He hasn''t been too bad so far but over the weekend there wasn't even a breeze to keep things a bit cooler. We ended up taking him swimming a few times (and he fell in a couple of times we think on purpose to cool off!) We were tempted to get in with him and cool off ourselves. Mind you the thermometer on the boat was telling us that the water temperature was 26 degrees so that wouldn't even had felt cool!

Yes. We moor at Burton Waters directly opposite Harbour Lights balcony. Give us a shout of you see us. Come across for a drink.

"Rule" 23 makes no mention of State of tide though. If it was intended to restrict the time of the tide you can travel through the bridges it would state x hours before/after low water. The lowest possible speed consistent with safety is a wide ranging statement. It can be anything from 1 knot if you are against the tide to 6 or 7 knots to maintain steerage if you are with it. We have in the past turned into the tide when we have been unsure if we will fit under a bridge (Selby when it was unable to swing) and crept backwards to the bridge giving us the option of making a controlled exit if it looked like it wouldn't fit. Perhaps not ideal in a less manoverable boat.

It was far too hot yesterday on the boat. We can usually keep a nice breeze blowing through by keeping the hatches open but nothing. Not even a hint of breeze. Made for a difficult night's sleep. Well that and the million and one insect bites I got on Saturday evening which decided to itch like crazy every time I moved.

We don't intend cutting it this fine this year

We are getting launched at Sutton Staithe but think we will be heading south for the first part of the holiday. We are booked in at Pedro's in Acle for Friday night.

Boat going with the tide always has right of way at bridges.

We have never gone across at LW and have always just gone across when it has suited us, bridge heights permitting of course. Not a problem punching the tide in our own boat but it is a bit of a long slog in the hire boats, though they will do it with just more slowly.

No. We are going on the trailer this year. Don t think the new dog is quite ready for the five hour sea trip from either Hull or Boston yet. We never stop at Wells on the way down anyway. Prefer to do the trip down in one go. Usually stop on the way back though. This time we will have the full two weeks on the Broads instead and the cost of the transport is only what we would spend in diesel anyway!

Will do.

I make it ending on 6th August so make sure you have plenty of sun screen on your open boat .

Heat wave will last at least another three weeks in Norfolk. We are coming. It's always warm and sunny whenever we bring Naughty-Cal.

Naughty-Cal is now ready to head to the Broads. Just the small matter of four days at work to get out of the way first and then we will be on our way.

The boat yards.

No. We drive petrol cars Red diesel for the boats (obviously) at our marina is 75ppl.

Folks from Worksop use the term duck. Not used so much up the road in Sheffield.