kpnut

Oh Grendel, big hugs. B***** cheeky so and so’s The very reason I hate anyone else doing work for us, it’s unnerving even when the job is a good one. You’re on tenterhooks till complete.

I didn’t know that Simon; it’ll go in the file in my head for the future. Or maybe on paper too as I’m getting old! It is high but not quite overtopped on this tide. It did do yesterday so I was told. There was only boat here when we arrived, but a few more now. Only one of the five here is a hire boat but that’s not too surprising for a Saturday. Of the 6 hire boats I’ve seen this side so far, 5 are from Richardson’s. Same as at Acle on Thursday night- 4/6. A totally non exciting day today 😂. A walk round Beccles awaits, with a bit of food shopping, then to wash all the salt off the boat. Every time I touch it, my hands feel and taste of salt. What were my nice clean windows need re-doing.

Thanks Malcolm. Just read it as we are arriving into Beccles. Oh well.

No Liz, I wouldn’t have been anyway near Great Yarmouth if on my own. When I bought the boat, I did promise to myself that I’d never do the crossing on my own, but now, having experienced yesterday, I might be persuaded on a very benign day in the summer, in a drought😂 This morning, at 8.20 the St Olaves bridge gauge was 7’2”. By the time we cast off and got to the bridge 20 mins later it was 6’9”. This was two and a quarter hours before high tide, for a bridge where my list says average high water clearance is 8’. And again at Somerleyton, same sort of time before high tide. On a bridge with a high water clearance of 8’6”, I went under at 7’1”. For anyone else out on the southern rivers at the moment, arrive anywhere tight well before the time you normally would. As for Tony, I’m trying to give him the impression that everything’s under control! Off to Beccles on a rising tide, so motoring along nicely this morning.

One thing I wondered was would the yacht station ranger have rung the Breydon ranger to say a boat was on its way across. The reason I ask us that as we got to the Yare/Waveney junction, the Spirit of Breydon was moored up and had his binoculars out on us. I was reassured he’d hopefully been keeping an eye on us. That ‘remote supervision’ I used to do with the kids on D of E expeditions. He might just have been having a tea break of course, and spotted a daft boat out on the water.

Thanks Vaughan. I prefer ‘miscalculated’, makes me feel more competent😄 A number of hire boats passed me going up the Bure, which greatly surprised me. Perhaps they’d been in touch with the yacht station earlier and they’d advised coming across early.

So was I. In hindsight, perhaps he said ‘two hours ago’, which would have been about an hour early. The aweigh app graph certainly shows it rising again well before the published time. Good night apart from a creaking fender. Something I thought about while listening to that fender was my old fuel tank. When it was replaced, I was told it had about 40L of crud in the bottom, presumably accumulated in over 40 years of its life. That would have been given a good shake up. it’s no wonder boats break down with engine trouble on Breydon. The more I think about my decision yesterday, the more I’m deciding it was the wrong one. And that means the less the chance of me doing something stupid like that again!!!!!

Goodness me, what a day! It started off very sedately as, knowing low tide slack was around 15.30, depending on which tables/ranger info were used, we had the morning to use at Acle. A quick check with the yacht station confirmed the windy day with gusts up to 40mph or so, just around low tide. An earlier passage would be less bumpy, but see me running against the tide across Breydon, so I plumped for my original plan of a ‘choppy sea’ but with the tide. After getting rained on in a sharp shower while walking to Acle to buy earplugs for Tony, we moved down to a sunny Stracey Arms for a lunch stop. We set off at 14.15 with an eta at Great Yarmouth of 15.45. I’m pleased to say I was totally spot on with that timing. I was looking forward to showing Tony just how narrow and shallow the channel gets as the tide goes out. By the time I got to Ashtree Farm I was puzzling as to why the water seemed high, I remember saying ‘it must be quite a high low tide’. The quay heading by Ashtree Farm windpump seemed barely visible and we mused whether it was an indication of the increased river levels this winter, as when the heading was built it would have been high enough for a high tide, but we were on low. Carrying on a bit puzzled, I checked Project Troll sometime before Marina Quays and I got the most unsettling shock. Vauxhall Bridge was showing ‘6’8”. What? It was meant to be not long after low tide!!!!! I very hastily rang the yacht station again to ask for advice re: mooring up and after asking where I was, he said I might just get through, though it’d be a tad choppy on Breydon. The instruction was to ring again as I turned the corner to the yacht station and he’d assess the room I’d have. I have no idea what speed I then did down to the yacht station but it was faster than I’ve ever been on Springer’s Retreat😂 The first gauge actually said 6’8” and the second just by the yacht station said a bit less. I’d just about go through Wroxham at what they both said, but that’s not on a fast river with a surface changing by a couple of inches every few seconds with the wind and with a very fast rising water level and me still a few minutes away! The ranger assured me I’d be ok, so we gave each other a thumbs up and I braved it. I opened the sunroof, although I can’t see my roof rails through it, and I must say I got to know the roof of the second bridge rather closely. He was right, just about!!! I rang to thank him once I was through. All that was left was to get across Breydon. The wind had certainly not dropped yet and we rolled our way across. Tony felt a bit sick at one point, the dogs took no notice and I just held onto the wheel, wondering whether I’d break any crockery. Not a trip I’ll repeat in a hurry. It was the getting under the bridges that fazed me more than the crossing, although I’m not really sure it was sensible to have been there. It’s easy to see how an ok decision can easily turn into a not ok decision The ranger told me that the tide had turned nearly two hours earlier than expected and I do think my original timings were fine if the tide had behaved as published. And according to the project troll graphs, low tide this afternoon was just about the same level as high water yesterday. Next time, I’ll keep a better eye on those graphs from Acle downwards. It was a real shock to realise the chance of getting through those bridges was rather small. I had resigned myself to mooring up at GY to be honest and perhaps I should have done. Lesson learned, but we’ve had a good adventure, even if my heart has had a bit of a workout! As soon as we passed Burgh Castle, you’d never have known just how rough it had been on Breydon. We motored on in calm conditions with the aweigh app speed saying 6mph but on only 1100 revs, what I usually use for 4mph on the Ant. The plan of an overnight mooring at Somerleyton changed as I approached St Olaves. Nothing to do with the bridge height this time, I had plenty of room, but it’s a mooring I’ve never stopped at before and I fancied a look round St Olaves priory. Well worth a visit. Follow the concrete path from the moorings to the main road by the bridge. Cross over to the Bell Inn as there’s no path on the side you need. Turn left and walk up as far as Priory Rd, and follow the footpath sign down between the hedge and the fenced field (had alpacas in it) to the site. About a 10 minute walk. It’s free entry by the way and you can take dogs on leads. We would have gone in the Bell on the way back, but stupidly had no money with us. Last job of the night after putting the dogs out was retying the ropes for a bit more leeway.

Thursday 18th April We arrived onboard sometime after 11am, with full carload of two dogs. I’d prepared the boat ready for the off last week, so after a trip to do the food shopping and one or two social catchings-up, we departed before 1pm. Too late to use low tide through Great Yarmouth so I was only aiming for somewhere on the Bure. Pretty mooring or practical mooring? I pondered fleet dyke, boundary farm and either end of Upton dyke, but settled for the electric post (with £1.90 credit - result!) at Acle bridge. Keeping Tony warm and comfy is a major consideration early on in this trip. He’s had the tube heater on in the cabin all night and could put the little ceramic heater on for a blast if he needs to get up in the night. After a couple of nights, it’s getting warmer at night, so my idea is to set in his head that he’s been warm and snug! Today we’re meant to across Breydon late afternoon. The jury is still slightly out on this as the forecast keeps changing. Was plus 40mph wind just for this afternoon, then it changed to that round 3pm only, now changed again to longer. I’ll give the yacht station a ring, but expect we’ll ‘brave it’. If not, it’ll be tomorrow pm instead as I have no intention of a dawn raid down south tomorrow morning I’ll be interested to hear about Tony’s night’s sleep as it’s been quite noisy with bow slap and Charlie dog always potters about in the night, jumping on and off the sofa, walking up and down the corridor to sniff under the cabin doors, unlike Finlay who stretches out on the sofa and that’s that till I appear next morning. If necessary, I might wander up to the chemist in Acle this morning and see if they’ve got any earplugs to sell him. Charlie was straight out into the front well when we set off, he always likes to watch what’s outside. In contrast Finlay never goes out there, it’s difficult to entice him out when moored up and his food bowl is put out there. It’s wierd how totally different characters they have. They are brothers (Charlie being older by two years).

I think they’re BST as I was using it at the end of March when the clocks changed and I remember making a point of seeing whether they moved forward by an appropriate amount between the Saturday and the Sunday. Unless I’m imagining it, they did. Also, I’m hoping to go through Yarmouth today and low is about 14.15 according to aweigh, but 13.07 according to the tide table on the one from broads.org (?) that I’ve printed off - the one that used to use BST but has reverted to GMT all year.

I saw the thread at the top of the list of posts at 9pm and thought ‘oh no, I’ve missed the quiz’. Then realised it’s only Thursday! Hopefully I’ll be in a spot with good signal tomorrow night.

We held my mums 90th birthday family get together weekend very near Diddly Squat Farm. So of course the (adult) youngsters wanted to go, being fans of top gear etc. There was a 2 hour queue to get in the carpark, so the parking attendant said. So they didn’t bother. This was 2021 when I suppose everyone was hankering after getting out and about again.

The photo of the new cupboards in the galley look like they’re in a house, rather than a boat. Very smart indeed!

Many thanks from me too. I’m going over Breydon later this week, so all your detailed observations etc have been very useful.

Go for it Helen. There’s also the boardwalks at Barton and Ranworth that you can’t take dogs on. And if you’re moored up at home base and fancy a trip out in the car one evening, the NWT reserve at Hickling is open 24 hours (not the shop obviously).

I was going to ask how you always seem to manage that?😂

MM, I’m sorry if I have caused offence with my post. I did say I don’t often comment as I agree with what you say that we don’t know peoples circumstances and I’d rather see folk with a roof over their head than on a street. I do stand by my comments though, about building structures and cluttering the bank with junk. Of course, continuous cruisers will moor up on wild moorings, but moving on and around to give everyone fair shares is just courtesy. I just wish the BA/councils would recognise the problem better and provide adequate facilities which I’m sure would be appreciated by the vast majority. It is certainly becoming an ever more obvious and pressing situation on the river Ant.

Is it possible to post a link? I’ve hunted on the internet but can’t find it. It always useful to know space availability when cruising nearby, not that it’s relevant at the moment with the bridge virtually unpassable.

That's exactly what I say to Tony. Just don't answer. I then look up the number on the reverse number look up website, and 9 times out of 10 its been previously reported as a scam/cold call. I then block the number.

The Chedgrave marsh island just about reaches 1m above sea level according to the OS map.

I don’t often get involved with discussion about ‘liveaboard’ boats, as I have a hankering to be one myself and I fully realise there are so many issues, both financial, practical and psychological surrounding the issue. But today I went up the Ant and to Sutton staithe. And felt cross. The Ant now has either 8 or 9 wild moorings taken up with boats that seem to go nowhere. (As a comparison, I think it was about 3 last summer season). In fact, there are now various structures built on the banks. I have a feeling quite a number of the boats are owned by just one person, but might be wrong. In my book, taking up space like that and making it your home, building things, leaving junk on the bank etc is not on at all. So that’s that number of moorings fewer for everyone else. I realise they are not BA moorings, so not part of our tolls, but it really does no good to the general feel of the area, especially for holidaymakers whom we all want to return to the benefit of the future of the Broads. I don’t know the answer other than to 1. provide proper facilities for those who would actually prefer it 2. enforce the legislation - tolls, insurance, BSS- have it - you can stay but please move around to give everyone a chance to use the environs, - don’t have it - you can’t keep a boat on the Broads. But then what can the BA do to enforce people who refuse to abide by the rules? Then on the way up to Sutton staithe, there’s a group of three more on the right and one on the left as the moorings start, none of which have moved for ages. I fully agree with Gracie that Sutton staithe is just not inviting at all. I hate going up there and if weren’t for a good boatyard with fair prices at the top I’d never venture up. I also visited Thorpe green in February and thought it was extremely uninviting. It makes me feel very sad.

I left Irstead in the manner of Grendel’s rope idea on the bow. Yep, I can do that when I need to. And the bow thruster idea, I’ll try that next week. Just for the fun of it. I filled with fuel at Sutton staithe, then hoped to get through Wayford Bridge for a night up at Dilham. What was I thinking? 6’2” on the board at more or less low tide. Oh well, I moored at the bridge for breakfast before pottering down to Stalham. I’ve found a very good use of those weird mirrored windows at Hunsett Mill. I was able to look through the dead reed and leafless trees to the house and saw a boat coming towards me, their reflection in the mirror. I couldn’t see the boat for another minute as I came round the corner. So it’s a pre warning system😂 This was taken after the boat had passed me. The property is nearly marooned with flooded fields all round. They have a new water feature. The pumping station pump plus a pump draining the fields were going full pelt. I wonder how many gallons an hour that is. And in the space of less than 5 minutes on my way back down to the junction, I saw two herons, one kingfisher and one otter. Not a bad haul. I went round to Kingfisher quay to avail of the excellent pump out service, filling with water while waiting as the flow is faster than my hose reel. The main reception quay at Richardsons does give a nice holiday vibe in the sunshine. And moored up on my home mooring; the end of an eagerly awaited trip. Finlay was straight into the car and has been snoozing in there all afternoon. He’ll have to be back in the boat soon for his tea! It’s certainly blowing up a good breeze again now, no let up yet! Back next week with Tony for a southern trip. Making up for lost time.

I know Mouldy. I’m only thinking as far as the rest of the day!

At last the pressure seems to be rising. The marker dial is set at the lowest low it got to during storm Babet or the one that followed a few days later. And the sun is shining this morning; hopefully set for a nice day.

Springer’s Retreat does have a bow thruster but I can’t remember ever using it when leaving a mooring. The main thing I use it for is kicking the bow back in if it drifts out while I’m mooring up so I can get off. And when turning to get into my tight little mooring space.