kpnut

There wasn’t an Uggghh button to press. Thankfully rolling in stuff is not one of Finlay’s habits. One of my previous dogs loved to. Fox poo is rank.

Saturday 25th May - was a VERY wet day! I was moored at Ranworth Island, among fellow bathtub owners for a very enjoyable meet. Thank goodness for the gazebos which allowed the social proceedings to continue, and very social it was too. The ground is very spongy, it sort of bounces up and down. Not so much goose poo as I’d feared and what there was we cleared before letting the dogs off the boats. Mine for one is rather partial to a snack.

Just for the record, I think they were probably speedwell. Said I was no good at identification.

Reminds me of a night in a formula 1 cheapo hotel in the centre of Angouleme in France during the heatwave of summer 2003. No air con, foam mattresses and I had a load of wet washing I’d done before leaving the campsite we’d been on. It got a bit like a sauna and I had to chuck the washing out into the corridor in the middle of the night. It went missing! The cleaner found the wet towels in the neighbouring room next morning.

I’ve been meaning to ask you (I probably have already and can’t remember) what boat you’re on and when until , so I can keep an eye out for you.

After a really peaceful night, the sun was up bright and early, certainly before me. I did get going fairly early (for me) though as I wanted to catch Womack staithe as it emptied about 10am. I left Finlay to snooze while I walked up to the butcher. What a beautiful display. Finlay got a treat of a big marrowbone that’ll last him a day or two. The church was open for coffee and cake, as I was told it is every Friday morning 10 - 12. Well worth going in, it was busy and the cake was a very reasonable £1.50 for a generous slice. They even provided a makeshift ‘takeaway’ box for me. We then went down to the dyke moorings for a while, where I tidied up that wild mooring near Womack Dyke entrance. It was very flooded all winter and like a lot of the wild moorings, has suffered from lack of use this spring as it slowly dried out. The wild moorings really do need a higher usage to stay in good condition. I expect when the fishing season starts, they’ll be more popular but I haven’t seen many boats using them at all lately. We then moved down to Fleet dyke and did much the same in 4 spots. Well I did the work while Finlay gnawed at his bone. And now I’m exhausted! Only so much you can do with a pair of shears. Thurne mouth had a string of boats moored up along the reeds, ready for the weekend’s racing. Yesterday I’d noticed the TMOR organisers had cut paths in the reeds to the riverbank, which just shows it’s solid ground. If only we all had the guts to moor up on the riverbanks we’d be able to make more little wild mooring pockets. I, for one, don’t like to do so unless I can see solid ground underfoot, which is nye on impossible when the banks are overgrown. The old EA flood defence moorings on the Bure were also being well used. Now for a well-earned shower.

At least they consult their cash machine!

Wonder how they might have got there?

I initially regretted not wearing a thicker jumper as I set off round Bureside moorings and onto the riverbank path to Thurne. But once on the path it was sheltered from the breeze and warmed up nicely. I passed through the site of this weekend’s regatta, lots of folk working hard to make it ready, and on along to Thurne dyke, which at 3.30pm or so wasn’t overbusy. I wandered round the network of footpaths round Thurne, pondering whether to walk along to Potter Heigham and deciding not to, partly because I’ve been caught out before with the riverbank path back from PH being overgrown. I found myself at the community wood (already posted about that) and then back down to the dyke. Should I have a drink in the pub or an icecream at the shop? Too cold to sit outside eating an icecream, so half a Tom Cat it was in the Lion. I don’t remember it being quite so light and bitter previously, but it was refreshing. And then back to Bureside mooring dyke along the permissive track. The line of walnut trees along there are swelling their fruits nicely. Perhaps this year I’ll get a share of the harvest come Sept/Oct. It’s turned out to be a beautiful evening. The wind’s dropped right down and the sun’s come out.

If you park near the pub/public WC and go up the driveway of the farm to the right of the pub (facing the pub), follow the farm drive round the buildings and onto the wide path, bounded by hedges either side. That’s a very nice path as it is, very diverse. The community ‘wood’ is at the end of that path on the left. It’s signposted on the gate. There was plenty more Liz but I’m not very good at identification. Plenty of thistles too I might add, but everything has its place.

Affecting the northern rivers - Thurne Open Regatta, round Thurne mouth, guessing down towards Acle and and up towards St Benets. First race 10am Saturday. Big marquee is up, lots of people beavering away this afternoon). I think it was there for last weeks racing too. The carpark is accessed from the right angled road corner below the church in Thurne.

Best wishes Andrew.

Here here, LizG, couldn’t have put it better myself. I’m wandering around Thurne at the moment and found their fairly new little community wood, with the trees still only small. There are shorter paths cut through, and some medium cut areas and some taller areas. That’s more like it. There’s clover, daisies, purple vetches, forget-me-knots, plantains, tomentil, cranesbill, young yarrow, sheeps sorrel, and some of the finer grasses, all being able to see daylight, along with a very diversely planted hedge with rose, hawthorn, maple, hazel, honeysuckle and plenty of bees. Very nice I was also thinking of what I said about nettles, docks and thistles. I was a bit unfair to them as they are important species for nectar etc for invertebrates, but as you say, we can do without them on a 1m strip for us to walk on.

Even if there’s not a good walk to be had from it at the moment, I do love the wild mooring upstream from Stokesby. You get a flurry of boats going one way or the other on their journey to/from GY but other than that, it’s remarkably peaceful. It’s quite sheltered from the wind there too. This morning, I stopped in at Acle bridge on the offchance there was 20p on the empty electric post for some housework. The dog hair was getting beyond the joke. I do have a rechargeable handheld vacuum and an inverter for the Henry but rarely think about using them as I’m normally within electric cable reach of some shore power every few days. I was in luck so did that, emptied the bin and made a cup of tea while also giving the hot water a boost. Then I moved over to Bridgecraft and paid my dues to fill with water. So I’m all done and dusted for another few days.

The noise of my bilge pump always causes me a puzzle if I hear it. I haven’t tuned in to its noise yet and I go on the hunt for what’s causing the whining noise every time. It always catches me out.

And it just lets the tougher species, nettles, docks, thistles take over. I wouldn’t mind no mow May if it was cut earlier than that, to keep the above species low and give the more delicate species a chance to get going with some sunlight onto the ground. They’d then have a chance to compete and set seed before being mown again.

Last year my reply to a stretch a bit further down that was even worse was something along the lines of ‘it doesn’t yet meet our criteria’! I wasn’t given a checklist of what those criteria were but it must be a rather odd list. But a couple of months later it had been done, so I expect this is on the cutting schedule for later on. And I notice that other stretch had been done very early in the season this year. Fingers crossed, but no, I don’t realistically expect much action. I was told in person to keep reporting though, as it helps to identify and assess problem areas quickly.

My walk along the riverbank wasn’t very long at all as wearing shorts and going through this - proved quite painful. I’ve alerted Norfolk County Council. There was a sort of path so obviously people are wanting to use this footpath.

Well, someone waved right at the last moment. Have fun with son etc and hope Cody is up for sharing! Did you have the carvery at the Kings Arms? Something I’ve never done yet although Tony says we’re trying it next time he’s down. And I didn’t hear the rain at all. Grendel mentioned it was tipping down about 1am. I must have been out for the count last night.

Yes, I remember thinking that was a nice friendly chap! I’ll keep an eye out for you. Have a great holiday.

With Grendel and I also recently keeping a few established wild spots safe by clearing the edges, how much is it ok to clear before it’s trespassing? I’d hate to think a landowner would call a halt. The boatyard websites/brochures advertise ‘miles of riverside moorings’ but I’m pretty sure this is with rose tinted glasses from bygone days. Not so sure all owners are so amenable nowadays. The wild moorings down Fleet dyke used to be cleared each spring by a volunteer working party of interested local residents who told me they’d like to keep them open, but I’m not sure that is happening now.

I had a walk into Horning this morning for no real reason other than to be nosey. Not a lot going on, a space on the staithe and I noticed the Staithe and Willow building seems to be for sale. Or it could be there’s another semidetached building behind the cafe. The ‘for sale’ sign is on the road side of the building. I moved off downstream with no particular place in mind. A few spaces were free at St Benet’s. The wild mooring by the 2 dead trees on the Bure looked enticing, but I carried on, spotting Karizma going the other direction. A space at Boundary Farm as I went past, but I carried on. I got chased by a yacht near Oby Mill as he was whizzing downstream over the other side, having been caught up in the bushes just previously. I really wanted to be well clear of him in case he suddenly shot over my side at speed, it took a while to manage clear water between us. I carried on past Upton dyke entrance, another favourite of mine. And past Acle bridge that had a space on the electric. I was just enjoying going I think. I decided that Stokesby would be good, if space, as I haven’t been for a walk down there lately. But no space so I turned and moored on the wild mooring upstream. Did a bit of gardening and Finlay had a big treat of playing ball for a change as well as hunting for some tiny biscuits I threw to the wind. It’s nice just watching the boats go by in the sunshine, but I’ll have a wander along the rather overgrown riverbank later, or if the evening is nice and calm, maybe I’ll move off again on my way back upstream. It’s just one of those days!

Hello from me. Enjoy reading and posting.

What boat was that? Hope I waved. Sorry if not.

I’d say it’s about 10 mins (but then I was a bit over optimistic for the time from Salhouse Broad to the Stag). Up the path and over the wier by the old mill, turn right on the lane and it’s at the junction with the main road. Flat and accessible all the way.