kpnut

Choose a warm sunny day and sit on the terrace, it’s wonderful. The interior is rather 1970’s.

That’s enough excitement for one day - on my way back down the track from Horning, I met the BA lad who’d been cutting reed earlier today. He said for me to watch out with the dog as there were some cattle out on the riverbank. I could see evidence of them as I walked on, but not them themselves. I did a slight detour on my way back down the riverbank to go out on the fen and see where he’d been using what looked like a silage cutter, chopping the reed up and blowing it into a hopper behind. In the second photo the one year old reed, cut last year is visible in the distance. It’s done on a 4yr rotation. Once back at the boat I gave the dog an overdue haircut and very soon after, sure enough, 19 beautiful cattle, all shapes and sizes, came wandering along and past me towards Neaves Mill. Not knowing the name of anyone, I looked up Horning Hall and the search brought up Horning Hall Farm Cottages. So I rang the lady there, who called the farmer out and 20 minutes later, as the cows came wandering back up from the mill, we put the cows back on the marsh. They seemed quite content to go home. No photos cos I was busy! The only reminder of the cows’ excursion is a load of flies that weren’t around this morning.

It seems fairly quiet on the rivers today. A few boats passed me on the moorings. Then I set off for a walk, destination firstly Horning church staithe, then Horning itself. The church staithe was empty but two boats arrived a while later and on arrival at Horning staithe there were also two spaces. I should have come by boat! Full again now though.

Sorry hear you’re not feeling your best Ian. I was on a walk round from Ludham Bridge to Horning this morning and a man standing at the end of his drive along Lower Street was coralling folk into their macmillan coffee morning. So I’ve had tea and ginger cake and very nice it was too, accompanied by lots of friendly chat.

The day started with trying to feed the dog and realising that before I take the boat out, I’ll have to buy some more dog food. Oops. I’ve changed to feeding a grain free biscuit on board as feeding raw was getting too faffy and taking up room in the fridge. Finlay seems more than happy with everything I give him and I’ve now found one that suits him at the business end too, so it suits me too. So a quick shopping trip, then yet another pumpout round at Richardsons Swan Quay (I went to Kingfisher Quay first off but it was so quiet round there that I wasn’t surprised to be told the lads were working on Swan). My WCs seem to take quite a bit of water to flush without issue and sure enough, I was told it was mainly water being pumped out. Expensive, but necessary. Our meander down the river took us as far as Griff’s corner above Neaves Mill. Mooring up took a bit of time as the wind was blowing the boat out. You need three hands when solo mooring with rhond anchors when it’s windy! And the day passed very gently, thinking to myself a number of times when a procession of boats came past just about how busy the river is, chatting to folk who came into moor next to me, taking the dog out (he needs some serious work in readiness for the working season, better late than never!) and experimenting with some acoustic insulation round the water pump - that proved only very slightly effective. It would have been nice to have seen the forecast sun, it was hidden behind thin cloud all day and made the day quite chilly.

On my ipad (very old), using my phone as a hotspot, I get ‘cannot verify server identity’ ‘cannot be verified by safari. Review the certificate details to continue’. on pressing ‘details’ I get ‘plesk’ not trusted expires 25/9/24 looks like there is an option to press ‘trust’ which I’m not sure whether I should. Going back, if I just press ‘continue’ instead of ‘details’, I can log on. And it lets me write something.

Good to see St Benet’s Level drainage mill without the scaffolding of the last couple of years. I presume the sails get hoisted on now the scaffolding is out of the way. 🤞 Looks like a super job, many thanks to whoever has done the restoration.

The previous owner had fitted cold white LED strip lights. Unfortunately you have to buy the whole unit if you want to change, rather than just the LED strip inside and at about £30 a piece, I’m not spending that. They are very ugly units to be honest, so one day I might find something I like better. I’ll look at what you mention. For £11 I bought some cellophane designed for doing just the job of toning down the light. You buy it in varying ‘grades’ of toning down. I cut the strips and just slid them in behind the cover. The worst bug was getting inside the units. The screws were tiny, I need a magnetic screwdriver!

And this morning, we explored the Carlton marshes nature reserve in two episodes. Before breakfast we walked up to the river Waveney opposite the Waveney River Centre, enjoying a sit down at one of the bird hides to watch some Muntjac deer and a couple of herons. And after breakfast, a longer look round the rest of the reserve, including a visit to the visitor centre shop and a hot chocolate in the café. The reserve is really well laid out, with well signposted routes and a fairly clear map, well maintained paths, some of which are accessible by wheelchairs, mobility scooters etc, lots of events advertised, guided walks on Thursdays and Saturdays, and has many diverse habitats - all in all, an interesting place to visit. 100,000 visitors a year, hopefully with a similar impression. But you won’t find much more there than at many other locations on the Broads - Upton marsh, Ludham marshes, etc etc (apart from better paths🫤), so if you can’t get to Carlton marshes and are pretty mobile, it’s still possible to get out and about from the moorings and see what there is to see. We timed our return to the mooring just in time to set off for Great Yarmouth and our journey over Breydon and up the Lower Bure was calm, relaxing and uneventful. Arriving at Acle Bridge about 3/4 hour before official sunset, but with an overcast sky, we moored up as far upstream as possible on the ‘Pedro’ side. I would have liked to press on to Upton, Boundary Farm or the Bure wild moorings, but thought better of it. After having the southern rivers to ourselves, or so it seemed, I was amazed that every mooring, private and public, at Stokesby and all of Acle Bridge pub and BA moorings were taken, with none available either on the paying section of Pedros side. With three gaps further up. There were even boats moored at Hall Farm, below Acle bridge, where there are often none. We’re already planning our next trip south. Sorry Smoggy, we’re smitten!

The morning dawned very calm and dewy, if that’s a word. We took a walk in wellies to reccie the Worlingham mooring. I prefer the mooring at North Cove, partly due to there being a circular walk from there. And partly because vehicles are parked further away. I understand why the Waveney has been described as a lazy river. This morning it just looked so peaceful and content! I could get well used to this routine of walk, then cooked breakfast, then cruise. Today’s cruise was to Oulton Dyke, which I now realise was further than expected. Looking at the map, it is probably about the same as St Benets to Wroxham, enough time for a good battery recharge and hot water. Our plan was to moor at the Carlton Marshes nature reserve pontoon, but it was full. There was plenty of space opposite at the Dutch Tea Gardens, but we went for a cruise down to Oulton Broad, hoping a mooring would pop up when we got back. No such luck, so we moored opposite, vowing to keep an eye out for a space. We kept remembering to look out while doing a diy job of toning down the cold white LED lights that make my boat look like an operating theatre, but then became so totally engrossed in some financial discussion, we missed our opportunity altogether! Oh well, probably be ok in the morning. So we set off for a walk. Last time we’d been here, we’d got a bit lost as there are footpaths everywhere, in all directions round here. This time, we found out where we’d gone wrong and knew exactly where we were until hitting a brand new housing estate. Footpaths again in all directions, some rerouted, some extra ones and we were soon very puzzled as to where we were, apart from knowing where West was from the slowly setting sun. After asking some youngsters who showed us on the map the general area where we were, but who disagreed with each other, a man spotted us with our map and put us right. Half hour later we were back at the boat, with a free space on the Carlton Marsh pontoon. A quick move over there gave me the chance to use my nav lights in earnest for the very first time! So we’re set up for a walk round the nature reserve in the morning with an afternoon crossing of Breydon.

We woke to another sunny morning, if a tad more breezy. We took another walk into Geldeston, partly because I wanted to check out the mooring possibilities up the other ‘arm’ into Geldeston. We walked down to Rowancraft but couldn’t really see any obvious moorings in the basin outside. There was one space on the quay heading but all the other boats looked private and as if they were on their own moorings. The track access round there looked a bit ‘private’ too. We were about to give up, having noted that Rowancraft advertise fuel, water and pumpout facilities, then we spotted a public footpath going down the side of the river and past a low bridge that puzzled me as it had a barrier across saying ‘no entry’. So I was a bit bemused as to how the boats get up to Rowancraft until I saw another entrance into the marina a bit further down. There was a boat moored on the long stretch of grass we were walking past and a couple drinking their morning coffee. They confirmed this stretch of grass as open to all. So I’ll give that a go at some point in the future. I’ll also ring Rowancraft to find out the info about access and water/pumpouts etc. The Wherry pub had a bit of a ‘morning after the night before’ feel, with some staff clearing up the garden area after the music last night. We compared it with our past lives, collectively clearing up on Sunday mornings after Young Farmers’ Club events on Saturday nights, all those years ago. After a cooked breakfast as yet another treat, we returned to Beccles YS to drop off our guests. Halfway between high and low tide, there was plenty of clearance under the bridge at 8’5”. A lovely weekend visit it’d been. We made use of the water pipe to fill up before setting off down an extremely quiet Waveney to our destination for the day at North Cove. About three boats passed the other way, but nothing in our direction. And since mooring up, I think we’ve seen only one boat go past. We tried out a new walk, up the track where the fishermen moor, and across the Beccles to Lowestoft railway line to North Cove and Barnby, stopping for a drink at the Swan at Barnby. Looks a nice menu, especially if you like fish, and it seemed quite a locals’ pub with a lot of folk greeting others as they came in. The walk back went down past the North Cove nature reserve which unfortunately doesn’t allow dogs so we continued down the public footpath to the Angles Way riverbank path and back to the boat. It was a really nice, and gentle walk with lovely views of the grazing meadows with very contented groups of cattle, probably no more than 3 miles max. The sun is now beginning to go down and the river looks wonderful.

And of course, it would have been rude not to stop for another drink at the Locks on the way back. And wow, what an exhausting game of rugby! (to watch). Thoroughly enjoyed that too.

I’m fast coming to that conclusion Grendel. And MM. After our swim at the lido and a very peaceful night at Beccles YS, we were up early to get to Morrisons and take the dog out before our guests arrived. We welcomed them with a coffee etc and set off for Geldeston at about 10.45am. And the day has got better and better! Firstly, beautiful sunshine, secondly space at the Locks Inn and thirdly, after a pint at the Locks, a nice walk up to the Wherry for lunch and ‘Wherryfest’ music festival. Very entertaining. To cap it all, the rugby will be on later (SA and Ireland) and I’ve already checked I have a good tv signal. I recommend the southern broads.😂

That’s tomorrows itinerary. We have Judith’s (my crew member) sister and brother-in-law joining us in the morning for the weekend. Looking forward to a hilarious weekend, knowing Alun from old.

Each time I come down south, I fall for the southern broads a bit more. I always vowed I wouldn’t pass Great Yarmouth without someone else on board, but having been three times now, am beginning to feel if I pick my day, I’ll be fine. Otherwise I have to wait till a friend has a long enough visit to the boat to make it worthwhile. So I’m formulating an idea of three weeks next summer sometime. We’ll see.

It’s happened already. You’ve got yourself booked up too much😂 The timetable is on their website. It’s heated till end of september then stays open for cold water swimming through winter. We had a good swim. It was £7 for up to about two hours I think. We managed 3/4 hour. Nice warm showers afterwards. There’s also a café. This is the interior of the church, and the separate tower in the yard.

It really was exceedingly rich and sweet Sam.

After a walk along from the moorings at Somerleyton to herringfleet mill, we had a very relaxing cruise down to Beccles. Before mooring at the yacht station we popped into Quayway boats for a pump out. Rather on the dear side, but what a lovely friendly and extremely helpful chap. I’ll stop there again. We ate a fairly early lunch, and are now sitting at the lido moorings waiting for the lido to open at 4pm for a swim. Good thing we stopped in at the church, they had some secondhand books for sale and we’ve killed a good 3/4 hour reading - very relaxing.

Now that’s what I call celebrating retirement Helen.

How true that is Jean. The more you think you know, the more there is to worry about. The first time I came across to the south, with a hire boat, I didn’t think it was a big deal, just needed planning for the time through GY. And then, once I got Springers Retreat, and came again, I read far too much stuff and worried about every little thing.

You could give grorge at ludham bridge a ring. If he has diesel in, he’s usually cheaper tan both Boulters and Sutton staithe. But last time I asked (a month ago) he was still awaiting a delivery.

Thursday 21st September. Wanting to catch the outgoing tide as far as possible, we departed a quiet Rockland at about 8.15. Rockland Broad was full of wildfowl, including lots of coots. And here’s the evidence of the vegetation management on Short Dyke. My thoughts on passing the Beauchamp Arms were ‘what a waste of a massive potential’. Breakfast was cooked at a stop at the Reedcutter moorings at Cantley. Last time I came south I think they must have been full as I hadn’t realised there are some BA 24hr moorings there. There are some wonderful views up on the bank walking back upstream. The whole of the landscape is very green and vibrant at the moment and with the cattle grazing, very ‘Constable-like’. The tide had turned when we set off again, but it wasn’t noticeable until, on passing under the Reedham bridge, I had to up the revs somewhat. We’d had to wait a few minutes for the ferry to cross and I certainly hadn’t noticed the fast tide then. We pondered about what the water does when it comes off Breydon, past Berney Arms and meets the New Cut. Does it turn in, in which case it’d push us along the New Cut? We got our answer when we started speeding up noticeably, getting the helping hand of the water behind us. But then why does it not do the same at the St Olaves end, turning in, and somehow meeting the water from the Yare with a great big hump in the middle? I suppose it’s because the angle of the two watercourses is more acute at that end. All very confusing. Our destination of Somerleyton was soon reached and we moored nearest the bridge end, knowing it’d be noisy with the trains, but also interesting with the bridge opening and closing. Finlay had an afternoon on his own while we walked up to visit the gardens of Somerleyton Hall. If you haven’t been, it should be on the agenda. They were super, with the added bonus of a fun half hour getting lost in the maze. There are some stunning trees in the arboretum. And the house itself (closed for visits) is very impressive from the outside. The Maze. The village itself is an ‘estate village’ with many of the houses owned and rented out by the estate. We met a lady collecting her children from school who told us the primary school is thriving and very popular with families from far and wide. Always nice to hear of a rural school with hopefully a bright future. And another day rounded off by a stop-off for a glass of cider, this time at the Duke’s Head.

Wednesday 20th September. Decision made. The BA notice of the closure of Breydon had disappeared from their website, so we decided to give it a go. We needed to leave at 7am, so after feeding the dog and having a cup of tea and a banana, we togged the dog up in his life jacket and set off. The journey down the lower Bure was lovely, I’d say fairly calm and beautifully sunny. It seemed that low tide today wasn’t as low as last time I’d done the journey as there seemed to be more water and fewer mudflats! Maybe neap rather than a spring tide? On nearing GY we met a few boats coming upstream, but nothing going in our direction. In fact we didn’t see another boat going our way for the whole journey. Breydon was much calmer than I’d expected, nothing untoward at all. We moored up at Berney Arms to cook breakfast and go for a walk to the railway station and then down towards Polkey’s Mill. What a beautiful morning. But wow, on the return to the boat, we could see it bobbing up and down rather disturbingly on its mooring. We had an interesting time moving off from the quay and a highly amusing trip down towards Reedham, heading straight into the wind. One fender on the starboard side lodged itself on deck and decided to stay there. The fender near me at the helm kept making an appearance by the window, along with a load of spray. I realise for some people this is a run of the mill experience, but for a newbie like me, it was exciting! We found out later that about that time of leaving Berney Arms, Breydon had been closed to hire boats again. Passing through Reedham. Passing Hartley mill. Our destination of Rockland came up soon enough. The reported overgrown vegetation along Short Dyke had been cut and looked very inviting but I wanted to try out the village staithe if there was space. Which there was. My mudweight didn’t seem to want to be of any use at all, perhaps there’s no mud on the bottom? So we were swaying about a bit and I was also surprised at the fall of the tide. In fact, Finlay didn’t get his last outside visit before bed as it would have been difficult getting back on. Why is there a bigger tidal range on the southern broads than the north? Is it due to the expense of water in Breydon water? We had a super walk from Rockland round to Coldham Hall pub. What a lovely setting. The only time I’ve cruised past, a couple of years ago, it looked so busy with yachts that I thought it must be a private club house, only later finding out it is actually a pub. I enquired about mooring, £10 redeemable with food purchased, first come first served, electric available (the price the lady quoted me was extortionate at £10 for electric, but maybe I misunderstood or she was wrong). We found a farm shop on the way back, Yare Valley farm shop, so will look that up on the internet with a view to a visit next time. In fact, I’m think I might have to brave the journey south on my own sometime just to potter round this area for a few days. What with a vineyard visit to fit in from the moorings at Bramerton Common as well, there does seem to be a lot to explore. Back at the staithe, we popped into the New Inn to book a table for tea. I’d heard good reviews and also that the pub is closing in October so wanted to get there before that, if that is indeed the case. The rain had started during the walk and was only light while we adjusted the mooring lines and I added an extra fender to the stern. By the time we were going for the two minute walk to the pub, it was tipping down so wellies were needed. Our table was next to the table of our neighbouring boat that I’d noticed had an NBN flag on the bow. We had an interesting, wide ranging chat to the couple, not only boat neighbours it seemed, but near neighbours in real life, living only 20 miles from me. Andy and Carol were on a hire boat and admitted to not really following the forum over the last few years but they had enjoyed the meet at Salhouse in 2016. I asked if I could mention them in my holiday tale. Game stew with mash for both our teas at a very reasonable price. We ate the malteser millionaires shortbread from Stokesby for pudding once back on the boat. One piece did for the two us us and even then, it was so rich we could have got another two portions out of it. The end of a very fun day.

Monday 18th September. Back at the boat after what seems an age, but actually is just a month. I have been so busy in that time with the paving of my son’s garden, and travelling virtually the length of the UK (bit of an exaggeration but from north of Glasgow to Sussex and Kent) that I am truly ready for some time on the boat, where life becomes so much more simple. Happily, the boat was feeling as fresh as I’d left it and I soon felt I hadn’t been away. The plan is for a trip to the south with my most loyal boating friend (and lifelong friend from primary school). Tuesday 19th September. Judith duly arrived on time and we soon got her gear stowed away. Our plan for today was to head for Stokesby, with a view to crossing Breydon on the early morning tide tomorrow. The only spanner in the works with the plan was the increasingly strong wind, with it forecast to reach 45-50mph by afternoon until Wednesday afternoon. I’d rung the staff at GY yacht station in the morning and he gave me good general advice about timings etc. Judith and I decided that if Breydon got closed for hire craft we’d re-assess and in the meantime go to Stokesby anyway. Breydon duly got closed to hire craft but the weather really didn’t feel too bad. Finlay got his walk round the paths and lanes of the village, with a stop for us at the pub and an irresistible visit to the chocolate cake shop. We then had a very peaceful night at Stokesby to my surprise, knowing it can get blowy there at the best of times.

My apologies for Friday steve, I’ll be entertaining guests in Beccles, all being well.