(Full disclosure: I fell asleep when I got home…)
Firstly, sorry for the delay to the conclusion of my holiday blog. Worse still, the last post ended on a cliffhanger – would we survive our first night of overnight mudweighting? I’m sure many of you will guess the reason for this delay – was it because we sank overnight? No.
Well, before I get to that, let me quickly talk about the late evening after I last posted. After our son was eventually asleep, the wife and I spent a long time in the aft well. The design of this boat is just excellent. Whilst you can’t visit the upper reaches of the Bure or Waveney (or get past St. Olaves apparently… not that I’m still irritated), the space, the layout, and the aft well are all just great. Naturally, being on a mudweight, we were head to wind (albeit a very gentle breeze) meaning the aft well was completely sheltered. I even stood under it at Norwich when there was a shower as the canopy is quite sizeable too. Just such a great place to be in the evening!
We sat there, enjoying the peacefulness of the night air and the stars in the sky. I wouldn’t say it was a particularly great location for it but, using my binoculars (why have we never thought of doing that before?), we could see so much. We could even make out some craters on the tiny sliver of moon out. The peace was really only broken by a group of people chatting loudly at the far end of the Broad – it reminded both of us of camping with our cadet group. Funnily enough, just a few moments later, a much louder voice was heard telling the ‘sea cadets’ to be quiet and respect the other boaters. Thought the din sounded familiar…
I awoke quite abruptly at about 6.30 to the noise of something hitting against the hull. But that can’t be possible when you are floating in the middle of a Broad? I sat bolt upright and looked out of our tiny cabin window, fearing the worst. Everything seemed okay except it was clearly quite a bit windier. I assume the bang (and subsequent few bangs) were fenders blowing in a gust of wind. I settled back for a snooze.
At 8, I started to get up. Got dressed, used the loo, and as I headed up from the cabins, Mrs Catcouk said, “that boat looks closer to us this morning. I noticed it an hour ago.” I need to discuss the importance of watching our position ‘at achor’… Sure enough, Swan Rapide, which had been quite a respectful distant astern was now only two boat lengths away. I kept an eye on some transit lines abeam and, sure enough, we had slipped a few boat lengths. Over the next 15 minutes I kept a keen eye on it and eventually decided it was time to go (spoiling our lazy lie ins). As best I can tell, we were pretty secure for most of the night but the morning gusts had worked us free. I reckon we slipped a boat length in about 20 minutes and we certainly couldn’t have travelled at the that speed all night!
It far from ruined the experience though. The evening was just awesome and I strongly suspect that it will be on our list of ‘must dos’ next year. By 8.30, we were steaming down the Yare with two other boats.
After a sleepy chug through a very quiet Horning, we arrived at Cockshoot Dyke. The Dyke was full when we arrived but a cruiser was just about to leave (I’m really glad we didn’t head up here as a backup last night!). The dyke was full because a fleet of sailors out of Martham with an accompanying Jayne were in situ. As I understand it, there are two youth groups out that normally share some of Hunters and Marthams yachts between them (my colleague being part of one of the groups – the suspected group that had a capsizing earlier in the week). This year, the two different groups had agreed to change this up to have each group hiring from just one yard in case they couldn’t get under Potter Heigham – having your group split in two by a medieval bridge would be an inconvenience…
Whilst they got themselves ready for their day of sailing, we enjoyed a late and relaxed breakfast. After an hour or so, we intended to explore the Cockshoot Dyke boardwalk which we had done about 5 years ago. Those of you in the know will realise a flaw to the plan. Just as we were about to head off, both the wife an I noticed a sign across the entrance. We knew what it would say but chose to stroll up there anyway – reserve closed due to recent bad weather and storm damage. I vaguely recall seeing Cockshoot Dyke had had to close a few years ago; is this still that same closure or has the boardwalk sustained damage again?
This disappointment aside, we set off earlier than planned. To complete our ‘grand tour’ of the Broads, there were a few places we had cruised past and needed to go back to. We started with a gentle cruise around both of South Walsham’s Broads. Whilst we didn’t spot any nature of particular interest, we did receive two guests. A pair of mallards decided to hitch a ride on our roof. Naturally, we were only too pleased of the company and broke out the duck food. The female duck was so tame that my wife was actually able to touch her!
On our way back out of Fleet Dyke, the sailing group we had left at Cockshoot Dyke appeared. One yacht had just moored up on the dyke moorings but I could see a trail of masts entering the top of the dyke. Sure enough, an interesting passage ensued. All three of the remaining yacht fleet were tacking up the really narrow channel as two cruisers were entering behind. With such little space and oncoming cruisers, I’ll be honest and say I’m not entirely sure what the rules of the road expected from me. Obviously, give way to the sails but who would attempt a pass first. In the end, the decision was made for me. The first oncoming cruiser, no doubt deciding they didn’t want the hassle, turned around and went back onto the Bure. I was then gifted an easy pass as all three yachts ended up tacking on the same side and we too were free on the Bure!
After this, we headed up the Thurne and were treated to a passing wherry who was just raising her big black sail. What an awesome sight! With our slightly accelerated schedule, we were too early to mudweight at South Walsham (the outer Broad) for lunch so decided to explore Womack Dyke instead. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a short stay free mooring there as we probably would have stopped in the BIG shop and got ice cream but £5 seemed a bit much just for an entry fee. They look like good moorings though. An excellent mooring was found hidden behind ‘Womack island’ but, sadly, they are currently closed for maintenance (seriously though, that mooring looks like an amazing hideaway!).
After lunch on the Womack Dyke moorings (and my goodness, the water levels were high – it was one heck of a step on and off the boat), we headed to the BA moorings at Potter Heigham. I saw an actual boat go under the bridge!! It was only a little dayboat out of Phoenix Fleet but it still counts! The bridge gauge was showing 5ft. Having seen the Jayne out of Martham earlier, I couldn’t help but wonder how on earth they still manage to get that big beautiful craft though. Also, having had the time to admire her up close earlier, I can honestly say that I am impressed at just how well presented that boat is. Clearly, Martham are magicians – there’s no other explanation. Beautiful wooden hirecraft that look like new and are also able to fit through unfeasibly low bridges – it can only be some form of magic.
Whilst doing the obligatory walk around Lathams, I bumped into our friends from the afternoon in Beccles. They had come up to moor here earlier but found no space. Instead, they had headed back to Richardsons early and come here by car instead. I was surprised because I think when we arrived at 2.30, we were only one of three on the moorings. In keeping with the familiar faces, when we got back to the boat, Jayne had moored in front of us and were preparing to receive their fleet. Again, we would have to pass them… But it was easy this time – none were tacking and all were keeping easily to their side of the river. Sometimes, passing yachts is really easy!
Again, we passed the wherry, this time lowering her sail as she approached Womack Dyke. With time pressing on, the only thing left on today’s agenda was to get near enough to Stalham. My thanks to some boaters moored at Ludham who spotted one of our bow lines trailing in the river. When I had planned the route, it looked as though we would reach How Hill by about 6 which is the latest I really like to be without a mooring (and this was broadly accurate). However, I realised that we haven’t been down the dyke to Neatished and Mrs Catcouk is desperate to see a kingfisher (and we have spied them there before).
Well, this has ended being a holiday of risks, so we pressed on. I knew Irstead would be without space but there would be a slim chance of finding something at Gays Staithe. I am really glad we did as the cruise over Barton in the evening was just amazing and got even more picturesque as we headed down the channel toward the sun. With light on our side, I decided we would head down to Neatished to hunt for a kingfisher – I knew there was no chance of finding a mooring there (how true this was) but it meant I could observe Gays on the way past. Unfortunately, another cruiser was just leaving Limekiln Dyke as we arrived so I had to focus on that rather than spotting a mooring space (and, worryingly, it looked pretty busy).
Well, our kingfisher hunt was fruitless but our mooring hunt wasn’t. Coming slowly back out of the dyke, I had a good scan of Gays Staithe. All the side on moorings were taken and the stern on side looked full as well but… Through the binoculars, there might have been space next to Swan Rapide (are we following them?) but there were certainly many free mooring posts down the far end of the impossibly narrow channel. Having earnt my tight space manoeuvring badge in Brinks’ marina yesterday, I thought we should give it a go. I actually brought the boat astern down the entire length of the stern on moorings believing this would give us the best position to moor. And it worked – much to the surprise of several onlookers. A couple were out walking their dog and very kindly took our lines and helped us tie up.
We were once again gifted with a beautiful mooring spot. Despite the extremely high number of craft moored around this very tiny spit of land, it is lovely. Surrounded by woodland, it just felt rather magical. I also discovered that there are toilets here too – about a 5 minute walk away is a Broads Authority car park for the Barton Boardwalk. I always love finding somewhere with shore facilities that means we can avoid filling the septic tank. Maybe these toilets aren’t considered attached to the moorings but they must be at least as close as the ones at Ludham Bridge. Very clean too.
The downside (or plus side, depending on how you look at it) is there is absolutely no signal for me at Gays Staithe. This last entry had to be posted after the fact and I thought I would include our sad return to the boatyard.
I worked out that we could afford another kingfisher hunt down to Neatished and back if we left by 7.30. So, at precisely 7.42 (sigh) we searched again for an elusive kingfisher. Still no joy. A little deflated, we headed out across Barton Broad and joined the rest of the returning fleet to Richardsons (something slightly funny about seeing so many boats all heading back for the same thing).
After that, we followed the Ant out of Barton Broad (which we hadn’t used on the way here) and there was just one last water way to tick off. Instead of turning left for Stalham, our last half an hour was a gentle chug down to Sutton. Apparently, Sutton Broad is Goose City – there were so many of them lurking around. Lovely, peaceful chug over the broad though.
I was a bit worried we wouldn’t make our 9am handover time but, as we turned back up toward Stalham, there were several other fleet boats chancing their luck. Of course, it is always sad returning to the yard but I am always mildly terrified. After a long stretch of boating, you would think that the last stern mooring of the holiday would be easy but I always seem to make a mess of it. Today was a real challenge as we were later in too: there was a space for one boat so high precision was required. Remarkably, it was a doddle. Even the staff member on the quay remarked that I had made it look easy (which I take as high praise). Furthermore, Mrs Catcouk remarked that I must be especially pleased with myself as we had the ropes on at exactly 9 – full use of the boat hire time achieved!
The guy from the yard mentioned that it was a busy morning – he overheard me commenting on the vista of fleet returning over Barton Broad to our neighbour. He said, jokingly, that he didn’t want to see us back as they were receiving 45 boats this morning (and 17 heading out later). I offered to extend our holiday… The staff are always lovely. I also had a look around (with permission) of a cruiser we’re considering for next year. The chap on that quay joked we take the boat if the keys were in it – tempting…
That more-or-less completes our epic odyssey of the Broads. We have managed to visit the far ends of all the waterways you can in a 7’08 boat in the space of just one week. On top of that, we have several things on our to do list for next year too! All that remains for this year is… the fuel bill! As already reported, we have covered 169 river miles. 139 litres of diesel burned at a cost of £195.57. Actually, the cost of £1.40/ltr seemed quite reasonable compared with the first road garage I saw and very reasonable compared to the pirates at the Waveney River Centre (over £1.80 – who are they kidding?!?!?).
Another great family holiday completed. Now to go home and make a start on the washing…
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I watched because I already had the bug from my childhood.
