kpnut

That's an interesting design. Maybe slightly more difficult than ladder rungs to wrap one leg round it and put your foot in from the other side to stop it swinging, but do-able. As you say, a loop (or a ladder rung for that matter) is easier to grab hold of than just a piece of rope.

I wonder if the design of some of the newer boats is an issue as regards speeding. The higher out of the water you are, and the less the visibility due to small windows, especially with their tinted glass, make you far less ‘at one’ with the river. I think some people just switch off from their surroundings. I suppose like someone mentioned, a bit like in a car, protected from the world, in you own little bubble, until all of a sudden you’re in the middle of an incident, wondering how it happened. And no, that’s not how I drive my car! And hopefully not the boat either, although I did own up to being distracted by talking too much to my guests on board last week and not noticing a few forumites passing me till they’d nearly gone by.

Number 1 rule of the bus if using for a walk. Catch it to the start of the walk, and walk back at your own pace with no worries about missing the bus back.

Just what I was going to write Gracie. Each week I’m out I see something on the less than social side, but always counterbalanced by far more incidents of downright kindness and friendliness. This week’s was a middle aged man (of a couple, playing loud music on the quay heading at Salhouse) telling the person who wanted to come in to moor next to them to **** off. I purposely made a point of going over to help the new arrivals moor up and give a friendly welcome, otherwise it might have ruined their evening. It happens, it’s life, especially when all cooped up together on moorings. Broads Control is there to report things to if necessary, especially dangerous actions that lead to injury.

Can I ask how much was the diesel at MarineTech? and is it normal stuff rather than GTL? it’s so easy to get into that I might start using it more often. I thought I’d asked when I went there for a pumpout, but can’t remember now if I did or not.

Beautiful scenery as always up there, but even more beautiful Herdwick sheep. They are just gorgeous, like teddy bears. And not to bad to handle when it comes to penning them.

Excellent. No wonder I was confused by the size, I read it in feet, not metres. It was only when Helen said it looked like a tardis that I delved further. 😂

I don’t recall that at all. You’re right, Sharp Edge on Blencathra;far more of a challenge than Striding or Swirral Edges on Helvellyn. I am trying to think of my favourite route. I have so many memories of different excursions when walking the Wainwrights, and the Cumbria Way, some on beautiful days, some in wild conditions, some a doddle, some very challenging with full wild camping packs on our backs. Bur the northern half of the Lake District certainly is more fun. With the bonus of a wet afternoon in Keswick planned into the itinerary!

Keswick, one of the best places to shop in the country, for someone like me who does ‘outdoor practical, rather than ‘street fashion’. And Pontefract cakes in the sweet shop! I’m glad it’s a favourite of yours too. Wonderful place. We used to spend every Christmas in self catering accommodation in Keswick when the kids were teenagers. Out walking for the whole of the daylight hours on Christmas Day, including a pub stop, more than likely in Rosthwaite, then back to make a start on the Christmas dinner which ended up being eaten about 7pm and always going down well with such an appetite built up.

At least you won’t worry about what you can’t see Neil. This morning he wasn’t up quite as far as you. We reckoned he does about the same yardage a day as a hedge layer, not many!!!!!

The email also mentioned alarms/personal lifelines etc that might not work anymore. It said to check with your alarm provider. Back to the argument of having to keep up with technology or get thrown out with the rubbish. I prefer using the landline where possible. I’d rather that all and sundry didn’t end up with my mobile phone number. Better to get the cold calls only at home on the landline, (not that we get many to be fair) rather than not being able to escape them on the mobile phone when out and about. I never get them on my mobile and I sort of assume it’s ‘cos I don’t often ring anyone other than personal calls from my mobile.

Tuesday 18th July Well, that’s another enjoyably sociable trip sadly over. Judith and I stopped in at Boulters for fuel on our way back from Salhouse to Stalham. We received a friendly wave from a boat before Horning but my apologies if it was from a fellow forumite, I’m not sure who it was. With company on board, I seem to often be driving along facing away from the far side of the river, missing folk passing me in the other direction. That sounds awful, I am looking where I’m going and do see the boats, just don’t register who they are! We stopped again at Ludham Bridge to walk down the mooring and over the bridge to see George at the boatyard. I’d promised him a pot of proper homemade strawberry jam for his girls to try. Ludham Bridge was surprisingly busy for a midweek late morning, especially considering the rivers are so quiet. I made a bit of a hash of mooring up to start with. It had been a last moment decision and I was facing the wrong way for the tide and not really focused on what I was doing. I ended up completely not where I wanted to be, so aborted that attempt, went upstream a bit and turned round and perfected the manoeuvre second time round. Other than that, a quiet cruise home in time for lunch and packing up Judith’s car. For anyone needing to know, the dredger is working right on the bend going up towards Stalham Staithe, meaning the channel is very narrow at the moment. I do like the nasturtiums and tomatoes the operator is growing on board. Very cheerful and colourful they look. I spent part of the afternoon cleaning windows and scraping out the gutters and drain holes, then sorting out cupboards/shelves so as to better utilise the new shelving unit Tony built me. Generally getting the boat ready for my next visit, not long to wait, only next week. Time to pop home with the washing and see to the allotments. I’m going to try and persuade Tony to come for part of the next trip!

I received an email today from BT, telling me my landline will be changing to something called a digital voice sometime in the next twelve months. It needs plugging into the broadband router instead of the phone socket. It went on to explain that if there was a power cut or the broadband was down, I won’t be able to receive or make phone calls, even 999 ones and therefore I need to keep a mobile phone handy and fully charged. What nonsense sort of service is that???????

I never knew you could get a shed of those dimensions. You must have some willpower to have done so well with your weight management. Hats off to you.

It was quite funny really, just logistically a bit of a panic. But I do know that without my slightly better knowledge of the village, Julie wouldn’t have made it to that bus. It seems parts of ‘British Business UK’ aren’t using common sense any more. Putting technology (eg use of apps, q codes, no-one to speak to etc) in place without thinking of the practical consequences. In this case, a lack of joined up thinking leading to the message not being changed for all parties involved.

Oh Ian, life certainly throws more than your fair share at you. Keep positive and similar to what Jean said, an enforced rest might be a blessing in disguise.

2of us went for a walk to explore St Benets and then down the concrete track and left along the lane to the Dog Inn, having a look into Ken’s Veg shed as we passed. I really regretted not bring my money to buy a punnet of cherries. Then back down the permissive path starting opposite the lay-by. The wind certainly took its time to die down in the evening/night but it was a peaceful enough night and again we woke to a lovely morning. Monday 17th July We’ve had early rises these last few days and have benefited from glorious sunshine. It reminds me why I keep promising myself I’ll get up earlier when on my own, only to promptly decide not to. I was treated to a nice cup of tea before getting up, and after breakfast we walked along the causeway towards Ludham Bridge for a leg stretch. A beautiful cruise along to Hoveton Great Broad nature trail followed, with the river still being very quiet, I think, for the time of year. We then crossed into Salhouse Broad and mudweighted for lunch before moving over to the moorings, keeping an eye on the ever darkening clouds and rumbles of thunder. We then had a rather eventful hour or so, linking up with the 5b bus to Norwich railway station from the village. On the way, the heavens opened to a hailstorm (ow) and then heavy rain. The bus timetable still says the Bell, rather than the Stag. if I hadn’t been there, my friends said they’d have been going on a search for another pub. Secondly, there are two bus stops, opposite and adjacent but the printed timetables at each stop are identical and don’t say which stop you need for Norwich. I worked out it was the adjacent one needed and then checked the bus company website for any updates etc, meaning to just find out how far away the bus was. There was a service update posted that said the bus stop was out of action, and there was a temporary one on Mill Road, by Mill Close. So Google maps helped me locate that. We set off for that stop, only to see the bus behind us taking its normal route and sailing past the bus stop we were originally standing at. Realising what the bus was about to do, (3 sides of a square in essence), I had to leg it to the top of Mill Road to hunt for the bus stop on Norwich Road. I managed to get there in time, stop the bus and ask him to wait for my friend who couldn’t run as she had a rucsac on her back. He moved the bus further up towards the junction to give her less distance to walk, causing a minor traffic jam in the process. The driver told me he’d only just been told to go back to his normal route. The company ought to have removed their service update at the same time. I tried ringing the office, but got a nice answerphone message saying I could email with feedback. Not much use for the poor sod who might be trying to catch the next bus! We got rained on just as we arrived back at the mooring, but since then it’s been beautiful blue sky again. Typical early July weather.

It didn’t seem to be closed for very long in the end. Was it closed yesterday when it was a great deal more windy? Have fun down south Simon. 2wks afloat is a good long spell.

Oh blow Malcolm. I’m so distracted with others on board! Yes we were heading down to Stracey Arms for a coffee and make our acquaintance with the peacock chicks etc. Neil B passed us, I just about noticed him at about Upton dyke before he went past. We would have bumped into each other at Womack as I was heading that way to fill with water, but stopped off at Bridgecraft instead seeing as there was a big gap to negotiate in the wind, which doesn’t seem to have eased off as much as I thought it was meant to today. And then back to moor for the night at St Benet’s so we can be off on a dog walk. I did read, on our return up towards Acle, that Breydon Water is closed to hire craft today, so perhaps that’s why it was so, so quiet down that way this morning.

Saturday 15th July After heavy rain till evening yesterday, we woke to a beautiful morning. We had a quick walk down the boardwalk to the birdhide where at least I saw some wildfowl on the broad for a change, albeit only swans and mallards. Strangely no youngsters of either species. We were away for 7am and had the river to ourselves for ages, apart from a duck who joined us on the stretch between Horning church mooring and Ranworth dam. I’m convinced it’s the same duck as came on our roof and peered down through the sunroof a couple of weeks ago as the behaviour was exactly the same. A very learned, and very successful behaviour by the looks of it. Not many folk were around as we went through Ludham bridge. We followed Ruby up river but at a far enough distance away that the occupants probably didn’t clock us. Finlay’s ears pricked up when I mentioned dog Delilah’s name though! At some point I passed Troyboy and waved, but I only know that for definite ‘cos he’s told me (!). Rambling Rosie also came down past us and we exchanged a quick hello. We were moored at Stalham in good time for filling with water, doing the hoovering and having breakfast prior to Judith’s arrival and once she was unpacked and on board we were away again for about 10.30am. I was keen to be away pronto as the wind had already picked up considerably from earlier and my aim was the shelter of Fleet dyke. We did have a 40 minute stop at How Hill for a dog run and look in the cottage and wherry Hathor and the ice cream purchase to be stored for later. I confirmed with the ranger running the electric eel trip that the photo I’d scanned into my phone from a trip I did in 1979 was indeed him! Getting off the mooring proved more difficult than I’d like, with us being blown quite strongly upstream by the wind. Thinking about how I should have done that differently, that will be stored in my head for the future. We arrived at the first wild mooring on Fleet dyke and once moored, appreciated just how hunkered down into the bank we were, so we’ve had a peaceful night with the strong wind (forecast said average 45-50mph) certainly going on longer than forecast. After a latish lunch we set off on our walk round the marsh to Upton and back to Pilson Green. I think Finlay was grateful for a long walk. Sunny and dry all afternoon with none of the expected rain arriving. We did pass a few branches down. Passing both sets of EA moorings I got a bit distracted talking to folk I am acquainted with so the 2Js had a bit of a wait when they got back to the boat, waiting for me to turn up with the key. They’d enjoyed sitting on the stern out of the wind watching the river go by.

Friday 14th July cont. Coltishall lock was empty when I arrived and I spent a bit of time with Finlay on some water training. Time soon came round to walk up to the bus stop where my friend Julie alighted after a successful but long journey from Hertfordshire. Tube into London, train to Norwich and bus to Coltishall. Very straightforward but with long waits between changes with public transport not knitting together well. So 5 hrs total. As she arrived at 2pm, the rain started and it got heavier as time went on. Bridge clearance, 2 hours before low tide was 6’10”. Because of the rain making things rather gloomy we got as far as Cockshoot dyke before I called it a day at a bit past 6pm. We were one of only three boats which seemed rather odd, but by 8.30pm it had filled up, with space for a couple more overnight. I wonder why hireboaters were leaving if so late to moor up, all coming from the Horning direction soI presume newly released. Maybe handovers are later than they used to be.

I think I recall but wish it registered in my mind better as I went past. I had known you were on that boat as I told Catherine last week to keep an eye out for you. Hope you’ve had a good time out. Has Vera got on ok?

Sorry not to have made it Steve. Even if I’d been on my own and could have joined in, the signal at cockshoot dyke where I’m moored is virtually non existent. Maybe we’ll pass each other over the weekend and put a face to a name after all this time spending Friday nights together!!!!!!

How did I miss you? I think I’m half asleep at the moment! And Jean, hope your day out is panning out well. We’ll be going through the bridge at about 4pm so might see you towards Wroxham if you have the boat out till then.

Ooh, Catherine never told me about that stopping point! Hope little’un wasn’t too noisy.