kpnut

I only have to look at them and that’s 1kg added. The trick is not to put clean trousers on too often, the more you wear them, the looser they get and make you feel you’re achieving something. The clean ones have always contracted in the wash.

Yes, I’m hoping it’s on the better side of the forecast. Maybe I shouldn’t have cleaned those windows, tempting fate!

A bit of a wherry fest going on on Barton Broad this morning. I think there are 4 of them moored up, but a bit far away to see properly. How many masts does a wherry have? The washing and housework will have to wait till tomorrow. The day is too good to waste so I’ve got myself a nice wild mooring on the Ant. I might even clean the windows this afternoon!

No Helen, I haven’t. I’ll wait till I’m with someone who orders a pint and try theirs! I love cider, make my own and used to work on a farm where I made it too, and although I love the taste of brewers grains which is barley malt after it’s been cooked up before yeast is added to make beer (I know I like this as I also used to work in a brewery!) I can’t stand the smell of taste of whisky, malt or otherwise, so doubt whisky tainted cider will be to my liking.

Jude’s last day with me so needed to make it eventful. Said hello with a wave to Bluebell who came past on Chiltern Lady while we were eating our breakfast. Then a mosey upriver from How Hill to Gay’s Staithe. I wasn’t too bothered whether I moored at the staith or at Neatishead, but I don’t particularly like the stern-on side at Gays staithe - a bit midgy and no view. We were completely lucky that as we arrived two sailey boats were just departing, one from the end mooring and one from the front side-on mooring, so we chose the side-on, just to save using the mud weight. A relax with a cup of tea in the sun and off we set on a wander. We had an hour or so to use before a lunch date with the White Horse. Firstly up past the carpark and following the footpath across the field to join the one that comes from ThreeHammer Common. Right at that junction and down into the lane to Neatishead. If you’re not sure where I mean, it’s just before the bend where the fudge lady’s house is. So next stop there to spend our pocket money! Then on the Neatishead moorings to watch the world go by on the bench at the end. There was no world going by for a while, very quiet indeed, but a kingfisher darted past at such a speed that we wondered if they fly faster than racehorses gallop. Good old google gave us the answer, about the same speed, that led to a big discussion about kingfishers’ lives. Robert Fuller, the naturalist and wildlife artist who lives up near me on the Yorkshire Wolds had a good report on them to read. The moorings were pretty empty when we got there at 11.45 ish. Then in quick succession 4 boats came along, so we gave assistance where wanted. Along to the White Horse, full of the same folk we’d been helping, we opted for the ‘small plates’ menu, after my experience there the other week when I could barely move afterwards and unable to finish my meal for about the first time in my life. Along with space for a pudding, it was the right decision. Pleasantly full and soporific along with a pint of cider (the normal, not the whisky cask), we ambled back to the boat. A stop off at Sutton Staithe boatyard for diesel and a pump out set Jude back £95 in total. Pump out was £15 and fuel at £1.72/L, was 44L for our trip, about 8.5 mpg. Safely moored up at our home mooring at Stalham, we wandered down to the free mooring at the end to chat with Bluebell again, who had spotted us with another wave on our way in. Finlay wasted no time in asking to go to bed in his favourite spot - his crate in my car. After fond farewells to Judith in the morning, I’ll be over to the launderette with the bedding etc as 3 more school friends are arriving later in the week for an intro to this boating lark. Let’s see how many more people I can convert! Two more stats for the trip - Just under 49 miles walked. That includes all the steps up and down the boat etc on my step counter, not just walks. And just under 3000 extra calories burned, if you believe how it calculates it (I don’t by the way!!!), but if true, I’ve earned at least an extra day’s food, maybe I can keep that in the bank and stuff myself with cake and alcohol with my next friends turning up!!!!!

A crisp, clear morning here at How Hill, I did the circuit walk from the far end of the moorings, down the firstly gravel, then grass track. Turned left at the junction and doubled back along a leafy track, past two beautiful properties and left along a footpath, over the footbridge and left onto the lane to How Hill. A mile, about 20 mins, just right for setting the day striatum and giving the dog a run. Note to self -don’t wear crocks on longer walks, I have backache this morning after wearing them yesterday. I was surprised last night when I put the dog out how many spaces there were. It had been much busier through the afternoon.

That was a wonderful read, Helen. Diolch yn fawr. I would be scared rigid in a sailing boat. Your description of the interior was fascinating, excellent use of space.

Oh, and there was a plane over the How Hill area all afternoon doing aerobatics, circles, twists, dives etc. My stomach wanted to rebel just watching.

Mines like that too. At least I presume it’s quite cheap. £6 a month for 4GB and unlimited calls and texts, not that I send many of them. No pump out at Womack as Dave said its closed on Sundays. He apologised cos i’d rung yesterday and was told on the phone it’d be open. So we’re hoping for the best. I doubt it needed doing, just that Jude was paying before she goes home on Tuesday. I often try to plan trips to go into Boulters towards the end. While at Womack we had a wander for an hour, 1.5 miles. At the top of Horsefen Road, where it joins the road to PH, there’s a footpath that goes more or less parallel to the road. There’s also another hedgeveg stall with potatoes and eggs today. After a few fields, turn left on the lane, up to and across the road continuing on the lane and it bears round to the left to come parallel to the road again back to Ludham. At the junction at the end you have numerous choices, but they all lead back into Ludham. (Actually, the right hand lane might go to Catfield) We chose left, then bear right and it comes out past Throwers store. A nice little walk on quiet lanes, just enough for a bit of exercise. I didn’t see the board for the Portuguese tart lady, is she still baking? On to How Hill. The rivers were certainly busier this lunchtime than I’ve seen for a long while, but funnily enough when we arrived at Womack at about 10am there was plenty of space and when we left at 12 it was only half full. I’d have thought it’d be more popular on a Sunday lunchtime in June. Arriving at How Hill, I thought we were going to be out of luck, but saw a fairly tight spot and was concentrating so much I failed to notice I was coming in in front of the couple we’d moored next to at Salhouse the other day. We had a good chat, then time for some food and a real exploration this pm. I wanted to see if there is a path running along the riverbank behind Jonny Crowes Staithe and the wild mooring a bit further upstream. After a nice wander along past the boat shed and the 2 pumps on the newly ‘done up’ path, it skirts round the reedbeds, goes over a little bridge and ends up on a rather muddy track. We turned left instead of following the footpath sign to the right as I was sure we’d get to Jonny Crowes by doing that. A few mins later and we were there and it was free! I nearly ran all the way back to the boat to bring her round but thought better of it!! A small pathway then led us up the riverbank to the next mooring and I’m sure you could walk to the next mooring up too, but with shorts and crocks on, thought it would wait for a welly and trouser day. So now, I’ve opened up a new way to enjoy How Hill by knowing I can moor there and access the ice cream in the eelcatchers cottage. In fact, as we continued on our walk, I also realised how near Ludham is from How Hill across the fields. Retracing our steps to the track, and following it as it turns into a lane, we turned right at a t junction marked How Hill. This lane comes back down the western side of Cromes Broad although you can’t see it, just like you can’t see the eastern side from the track. That was a bit disappointing. This lane would take you straight back to How Hill, but we turned left down a really well maintained footpath. Finlay sat very nicely to the whistle as two young deer shot out from the field right in front of him-pleased with that as he was quite a way, maybe 50 yards, in front of me! There’s a good view along this path over to Ludham church. You can just see it in this photo. Where the path arrived at the lane, turn right to get back to How Hill or go diagonally over the field in front to you to extend the walk to emerge past the downstream end of the How Hill moorings. I won’t describe that as this has gone on long enough as it is. We followed the lane back to How Hill with a detour to the secret garden. Rhododendrons and azaleas are over but still plenty of colour. 3.5 miles, 2 hours for those interested in a slightly different walk to the norm. Tea of veg curry to round off the warm day, along with a glass of cider. Bit midgy here tonight! All entrances/exits closed!!! And the cuckoo has been cuckoo if. Which reminds me of what I heard yesterday on our way back from PH to Thurne. A cuckoo started in one key, cuck then coo a third down, as normal. Then another started one key up. So the two were slightly out of time with each other so we got what sounded like church bells as their two songs intertwined. Most melodious I thought!

Plan today is Womack for a pump out and a wander, then How Hill for more wandering!

Will try that Jean, thanks. I’ll do it when I get home though, when I’m back in Wi-Fi.

I’ve often wondered whether the An t went along the Hundred stream. I was up there on the concrete track from st Benets a couple of weeks ago looking for ‘evidence’. I knew about the Bure and the straight bit by the abbey. I presume the loop on Fleet Dyke would have been where the river changes direction and sometimes people mudweight in the little inlet on the left hand bend. Many thanks.

I like the marmite idea, will try that and tell Jude too. I don’t like the idea of using soya either. I got told by the medics at the drugs trial clinic I do trials for that it affects oestrogen/fsh levels. One carton of oat milk, barista version, was nice and thick, the other , original, was really runny. Even after shaking it up well. I tried the resizing, but how do I do a right click on the iphone? I might have to wait till I put them onto my pc once home, when I’ll be able to do it. When I clicked on Edit on the right hand side of a chosen photo, it only allowed me to alter the contrast, brilliance etc etc

Can anyone tell me how to reduce the size, as in MB, of my photos on an iPhone as uploading them and inserting them is gobbling up data. They average about 4MB, but Judith’s were only measuring in KB. Thanks.

So to this afternoons activity and thoughts. We decided to stay put and pay our money at Thurne Dyke rather than moving to Womack as ‘planned’ ( in the loosest sense). 2 reasons-we’ve never moored here before overnight or done any walks from here ( although later I remembered I’d done the riverbank to P.H.last winter). And we have both walked many of the Ludham area walks numerous times. Mooring pricing is a bit unusual. If you pay before 6pm up at the pub to stay over, it’s £7.50. If you pay after 6pm, meaning they have to come down and collect it, it’s £10. So that means if you come after collection time and wander up to the pub to pay, you’re effectively paying for a collection service you don’t receive. Not that I would ever be bothered to negotiate, it’s what it is to be honest! We duly paid at the pub and set off round the village footpaths with the aim of ending up down Staithe Road by the wind energy museum at the end of the P.H. Chalets. Plan was then to walk to the bridge and then back along the riverbank to Thurne. I can’t describe the route through the Thurne footpaths as too many junctions etc and too many alternatives to lengthen or shorten, but somehow we managed to go too far on a path and ended up coming out by some allotments and a pretty cottage at Bastwick and down a lane to the main A149. Pleased to say there is a super path/cycle path along the side of the road into Potter. A sit down on the bench in front of the pilots office gave us ringside seats for the boats going through the bridge. Then all the way back along the river to Thurne. Straightforward I thought, but from the end of the chalets all the way back to Thurne was extremely overgrown. I don’t know who’s responsible for maintaining public footpaths along the river, but am very surprised to see it like this as it’s the Weavers Way. The footpath between Fleet Dyke entrance and halfway to Thurne mouth was in a similar state a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps it’s to do with ‘No mow May’? But I did notice the paths behind the newly cut fishermens’ patches downstream of Oby and on the north bank of the Thurne were cut. How we didn’t end up with any stinging nettle stings, seeing as both of us were wearing shorts, I don’t know, but maybe the nettles were Fen Nettle which we learnt yesterday have fewer stinging hairs. Very grateful to them anyway, for not attacking us! We learnt a new word on the internet yesterday too, to ‘traike’, so that’s what we were doing in the last bit of our walk - to trudge wearily! I was very surprised to check my mileage. It was only 4.5 miles, took 2.5 hours with the obligatory stops to talk to dog walkers and allotment holders! I would certainly recommend some of the walks round the lanes and fields of Thurne, but maybe not the riverbank unless you know it’s been seen to. Cauliflower cheese for tea, rather more odd than usual as made with oat milk and some form of soya ‘cheese’ which wouldn’t melt, as Judith has to keep off lactose. Now enjoying the evening sunshine and warmth as the wind seems to have dropped a bit.

Definitely developing a poodle face It has been the loveliest summers day.

I chatted to the folk on board. It belongs to the boss of a tech firm who allows staff to book it out. It’s all electric. I didn’t like to ask if it was for sale for you!!!

Won’t be joining you Neil, we stayed at Thurne Dyke seeing as neither of us had ever moored here before.

Hopefully we’ll be joining you at Womack dyke in an hour or so Neil. If no room, we’ll go on the riverside by that barn just before Womack entrance.

Saturday 11th June. The morning comprised a trip downriver from Acle to Stracey Arms. We’re hoping to view the wind pump now it’s had its cap replaced, but it hasn’t been fully commissioned yet, so we plumped for a coffee in the cafe and intro to goats for Finlay. He or they weren’t bothered, in fact I doubt Finlay even noticed they weren’t dogs! The Mill House Farm moorings in the photo - as described yesterday, peaceful and well kept. The quay headings have rubber rubbing strakes all the way down too, but I did notice the quay is VERY low and the posts very short. Now at the entrance to Thurne Dyke for lunch, quite a windy spot. A day boat came in beside us, but the ropes were so short they wouldn’t reach the posts, so I lent rhond anchorage for their lunch stop. And then a hire boat joined us, first timers making a good job of the windy conditions. Is this anything to do with you Grendel??? Forgot to mention we passed an eel catcher on our way downriver yesterday, near Oby Dyke. He landed a net that looked quite full to my amateur eyes.

I agree about dogs normally well behaved and snoozing under the table, although ones that bark and react when you go past their table are as bad as poorly behaved children ( normally kids just being kids, but not having been taught there’s a time and place for everything). When I was in the White Horse at Neatishead the other night, I’d forgotten the lead and Finlay still managed to stay sensible and he’s a springer spaniel!

I thought about the syndicate route but didn’t have the confidence of potentially trashing a boat belonging to others too! Not sure I can afford a boat either to be honest, but just taking it slowly and ‘making do’ where necessary, thinking of it as slightly more comfortable than camping. The time on the rivers is the major bonus. I’m lucky to be retired with a husband who, although he doesn’t share my passion for ‘roughing it’ on the boat, doesn’t mind manning the fort at home while I’m here. I came in every month last year, had Ranworth staithe to myself in December during storm Barra, New Years Eve at Womack watching fireworks over the water from the churchyard, experienced Hickling area in March when completely deserted and peaceful, and many other special times. But I do also spend quite a bit of my time on diy, either on my home mooring, or preferably as part of a trip downriver. Maybe that’ll get less as I get the boat how I want. Your boat time can be 100% holiday. Swings and roundabouts I suppose.

Thanks Roy. I think because it’s slightly further from the moorings than many other places, it gets missed a bit. It sounds like you have happy memories from there with relatives involved in the community. You are right about the gardens. We saw some lovely ones, especially now the roses are out.

She must be doing well on it and having a bit of a growth spurt. We were at Salhouse overnight last night and this morning Finlay was really chilled out on the grass, much more so than usual. I know it sounds daft, but I’m sure he remembered being there before, at the meet, when he was having the most wonderful time with the other dogs. I can’t get over how they all got on so well.

Oh wow, what a week, hope you are on the mend now