kpnut

That phrase ‘oh how we danced’ got in my head, thinking it’s part of a song I used to know. Just remembered ‘oh how she laughed’. Part of ‘under the lilac’, old campfire song. Thanks for the memory. I hate ticks! The possibility of Lymes disease manifesting itself months later scares me, so I give him his monthly dose of pesticide, even though I really don’t like that idea either!

Just found the first tick of the season on Finlay, already dead due to his tick tablet. He picked it up on the walk to the beach from Horsey Windpump. This time last year he came back from there with 7. So a timely reminder to all dog owners to keep their tick treatments up to date.

Saturday 18th June Where did I leave off? Ah yes, Upton Dyke in the heat. Returning to the thread with much changed weather conditions. I gave Finlay a bit of a training session, as I often do on that nice grassy bank at Upton Dyke. We then pottered to Acle after breakfast as I wanted to see if I could jog Sue’s memory of the Acle Bridge Inn many, many years ago on a young farmers’ exchange weekend that our club had with Acle young farmers. No recollection, not surprising really as many of those weekends passed in a bit of a haze! A walk to stretch our legs to Acle Dyke and back was followed by a caffeine fix at the Dunes cafe. A shame that the forecast rain started just then so fearing the inevitable, we retreated to the kiosk, but it soon stopped again and actually stayed dry until we reached the boardwalk moorings for Hoveton Great Broad, opposite Salhouse Broad. On the way, Viv had had some rather sad and shocking news so we debated whether to continue our explorations or head straight back to Stalham. As an ex police officer, she very practically decided there was nothing she could do if she rushed home, and wanted to continue. The tern chicks pestering their parents for food on the broad cheered us up and we used Cheska’s many ID apps to identify various flora and fauna species. I would highly recommend this nature trail as a fantastic intro to the Norfolk Broads ecology, for newbies and old hands alike. Signboards are plentiful and informative, the boardwalk is in good condition and the bird hide provides binos. I may have already done this promotion earlier in the postings, apologies if so. Leaving here rather later than planned, we had to get straight back to Stalham with no stop at Gayes Staithe for fudge. All was not lost though, as we had a booking at the White Horse at Neatishead, so a quick detour by car found us buying up the fudge lady’s stocks! We were relieved to find the boxes still on display at 7.15pm. Another filling meal in the pub. Their menu is comprehensive and there was plenty of choice for one of the group who is not only gluten free but also diabetic. Even gluten free beer and she was so delighted by this that she gave the barman an a mighty kiss- he was most surprised, poor young man. We speculated that if the sexed had been reversed, the ‘culprit’ would have their day in court next week!!!! She apologised to him. I have noticed that most pubs, perhaps only on the Broads, but probably everywhere, seem to have morphed into mini restaurants. Gone are the days it seems of finding a table, ordering a drink at the bar and asking for the menus. You seem to need to book in advance, be shown to your table and waited on. I’m other words, restaurants in all but name. Little time for a social drink and then ‘shall we eat?’ I wonder if it’s to do with staffing issues in the kitchen, so table orders need timely planning. Back to the boat for homemade liqueurs and the last night of our little party. Maybe i shouldn’t post photos like that! but I reckon the illusion of being sensible is shot now anyway. Today, after 2 guests departed, Sue and I had a car trip to the seals at Horsey, walking across the fields to the beach from the national trust car park at Horsey wind pump. While there, we got a text from the others saying how surprised they were to get to Acle so quickly, seeing as it had taken ages by boat! And as a last sightseeing visit to round off this little intro holiday to the Norfolk Broads, we drove to Burgh Castle where I just knew that Sue would be wowed by the big skies and low horizons over the water and marshes from the viewpoint by the castle. All in all, a lovely few days spent with rather zany company, but I can report that all 3 are hooked on boating and the broads. Am I daft to invite them again ‘en masse’? Too late, I already have! Tomorrows job is to get the boat back together, everything back in its place and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet!

Bacon sarnies for breakfast, we all agreed a real treat to smell that bacon. Although 2 of my friends had said ‘no meat’, when I’d mentioned the potential food list before the trip, they were suitably tempted. With the temperature already rising to the ‘hot’ end, at 9.15 we set off up to Womack. Spaces aplenty and no real queue for water. Not the best stern-on mooring to be honest, what with a bit of cross wind, slightly panicky instructions from my crew who were fending off and terrified as I went even near neighbouring boats which then also made me a bit jumpy. More practice needed between us is needed I reckon. But better that they are worried about other boats rather than thinking it doesn’t matter! A visit to the baking lady for those Portuguese tarts preceded a walk down the lane to Hunters Yard, down the shady track that leads off to the left, a right turn at the junction coming out at the drainage pump at the start of the Potter Heigham chalets. I was most relieved that the riverbank path had been cut. It snaked round to Womack Dyke end and up past the dyke moorings. Finlay borrowed a bit of space next to a yacht moored in the single mooring near the dyke end for a good swim. There’s a lot of wildlife and livestock out on those marshes which led us to speculate about the amount of shade the cattle can access. With 2 of us from a farming background, I suppose this was natural. Back at the boat for a quick pint of water or two before heading for a drink in the Kings Arms. Salad lunch followed and a most refreshing cruise to show the chalets of Potter Heigham, turning in good time before the bridge as I was cautious of the quite stiff breeze, with obligatory photoshoot. My guests were a bit perturbed by HW boats doing all sorts of odd things, both under instruction and afterwards when sent out on their own. Maybe the yard really tests handling skills by making them veer across the river and turn sharply to avoid oncoming boats! And then we retraced our steps down the Thurne, and down the Bure where there were plenty of sailey boats to think about, to Upton dyke where I was extremely delighted to find the end mooring free. It’s always fantastic to moor there when hot, as the breeze is just right. The bench at the end on the grass provided a good spot for 4 slightly more than middle aged ladies to relocate scenes from Last of the Summer Wine, put the world to tights and watch the boats go by with s glass of cider kindly provided by one of them who owns a cider orchard and bottles it commercially. With the sun going down over the marshes, we again speculated why the sunsets captured on our phones never look so good as some of very colourful Facebook photos of the Broads at sunset. And so to bed in our oven of a a boat. I had hoped my friends wouldn’t be cold on their visit - no chance today, even the fridge is struggling. Tomorrow look a lot different so they will at least not go home with a false impression! Their comments - love the birdsong why have I never been here before? Those fishing rods are very long i feel so sleepy -and on that note, having just dropped the phone through falling asleep myself while writing this, I’ll call it a night.

Just checking in to see how it went. Well done Bern, Grendel and Steve.

Settled for the night now at Upton dyke and boy, it’s warm in here!!!

Thurs 16th June. What a day, I’m washed out and ready for bed. Surely nothing to do with the raspberrry vodka and wine for tea! My 3 friends had all arrived by 12, so after coffee etc we set off, with an ‘on the hoof’ dinner. Going through Irstead the Jolly Richie passed us and lo and behold, 3 sets of fancy dress and a flag appeared - my friends all togged up - lots of ‘ahoy there’ etc entertained the occupants of their boat while I gestured a sincere apology to the boat moored up at the staithe!!!!!! A stop at How Hill for the obligatory touristy things and a good run for Finlay who’d spent most of yesterday and this morning dozing in his car crate and on to St Benets. It’s interesting seeing the rivers through new eyes with all the magic of the sparkle on the water, the swans etc. Too tired to write anything else!

No fault code as yet, but have been promised use of a diagnosis machine soon. Then I’ll know what I’m working with. Many thanks for the photos.

Now that will be in my head a while (unfortunately)!

Brilliant. The brass band movement is responsible for many of the finest brass players in the top orchestral seats around the world. Their training and development set up is one of true equality. The only differential between people is those who are keen and will practice and those not. Obviously natural talent comes into it too, but how many of the worlds greats would never have known they were any good without the chance to learn, with access to an instrument on loan? Saying that, Richard, my son, did not go through that route. When he was three he saw a trombonist on TV and said that’s what he would play. I think he thought everyone played an instrument ‘cos his big sister did, as did me, his mum and his grandma. So come primary school and school music service provision, he started on cornet as his arms were too short for the trombone, but age 8 he swopped over. He was fortunate enough to have a specialist trombonist as his cornet teacher and Pete then stayed as his trombone teacher all the way to conservatoire auditions. He chose Glasgow, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to be precise, after being offered scholarships there and at the RAM in London. And he’s still in Scotland, 11 years on from leaving home for college, still blowing down a piece of brass tubing for a living!! Covid threw a bit of a spanner in the works for a musician just establishing himself, but after delivering pizzas to the hungry folk of Cumbernauld for a while to pay the bills, he’s back on track. I go up there a few times a year, timing my visits with performances I particularly want to go to. You ought to go back to it, says me who lapsed from playing the bassoon many years ago! I sold it to pay for a new trombone for Richard when he went to college. Havd a listen to Ferdinand David trombone concerto and the Launy Grondhal, both played by Christian Lindberg. I’m sure they’ll both be on YouTube. He has the most amazing tone. You might be able to find Ole Olsen concerto as well but it’s not so well known. Richard played the UK premiere with the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra a few years back. Wierd how as boating thread meanders around through many other topics. Sorry!

Ooh, thanks for that Karizma. I can feel my confidence growing that it might not end up being quite so costly as imagined.

What a lovely river. I always think of the Thames as being the bit through London, how mistaken am I?

Thanks Helen, I’ll look out for it on catch-up when I get home.

Omg Grendel, glad to hear you are still with us after that and as you say, the driver might have been more than slightly shaken up.

Well, all the laundry got done on my return to the yard, along with hoovering, cleaning etc ready for 3 guests tomorrow morning. All old school friends and all mad as hatters so I’m in for an interesting few days. I had the most wonderful journey back up the Ant this morning. It was very quiet on the river and unusually for me I put a cd on. 3 very lyrical trombone concertos that my son has played in the past, so what with the beautiful scenery and a number of kingfishers about, that will now be a memory for each time I hear one of those pieces in the future. After all my housework, I set about trying to solve the puzzle of the diesel heater. Well, not really, seeing as I have zero understanding of electronics, but firstly I found the heater. You were right NeilB, it was behind the sofa, hiding behind a panel, but rather helpfully will be very easy to get to. Once I knew the eberspacher model number, airtronic M, D4, 12v I set about reading an operators/service/fault code manual I found on the butler teknic website. I think the heater is doing exactly as it should on start-up until the bit where it says about igniting, then it tries again, then it stops the pump and runs the fan down for a few mins before shutting down. So I, with the help of far more knowledgable people on the yard have come to the conclusion if could be the glow plug, either coked up or knackered. Very un-usefully, it seems the tool you need to take the glow plug out is supplied in the box when you buy the new one, which I’m loathe to do without confirming it’s the issue. I’ve been promised the use of a diagnosis machine to get the fault code, and am very grateful for that help. I was searching under the dash for the heater fuses, and have also learnt they are somewhere completely different, in the battery compartment under the floor in the bedroom. I’ve come to the conclusion that this boat is a case of ‘once you know, you know’ but until then it’s all a bit of a mystery! I’m learning fast though.

I’ll try and be there, but with 3 guests on the boat, it might look a bit antisocial. I’ll see what they say. They might all be ‘early to bed’ders!!!

Why is there a pop up lightship in Barton Broad? And yes, it is 4 wherries

Thanks Smoggy, but for me I’ll stick to good old fashioned paper maps. My phone is so ‘old’ ( in tech terms) that I doubt the battery would last a whole days walk. I just use the OS Explorer 1:25000, orange one, or preferably the ‘little yellow publications’ 1:16000. These are just blown-up versions of the explorer, no extra detail, but larger so I don’t have to see the world through glasses. A number of them cover most of the Northern Broads and I expect the Southern ones too. They are trouser pocket size, come in a little plastic sleeve, are laminated and can be folded in infinite ways to fit most walks back to back without unfolding again.

That’s the one Grendel. First roundabout by the vet hospital is where my allotments are.

I’m just nosey!

Google seems to like taking people the way I think you went up there. If you came off at the end of the M62 where it turns into the A63, I expect you came up past Market Weighton, past my house and allotments before getting onto the Driffield Road. That route is actually no longer than coming off at Howden and much prettier.

Back at the boat, fed, watered and showered. I decided on a walk at about 3.30 as otherwise I was going to nod off and the day was just too nice to do that. I won’t describe it all but will mention places I passed and if you want to follow, an OS map will show you. I’m at the next wild mooring upstream of Jonny Crowes staithe (the inlet up from How Hill). So I thought I’d walk to Woodsend staithe off Barton Broad. Up the track, over fields from Cobbs Farm where the soft barley ears were blowing and making patterns in the crop. I must say whoever is meant to be maintaining the riverbank public footpaths could learn a lesson of two from the local farmers, who seem to be taking their path responsibilities very much more seriously. The paths and tracks were a joy to walk down, cut enough for ease but with plenty of wild flowers left to the sides of the field margins. Ending up on the lane down past Catfield Hall where I could hear the peacocks mewing or whatever it is they do, making a racket anyway! And at the end, you follow a path past a gate and sign that is a bit ambiguous cos it sort of infers you shouldn’t go there, but then invites you to. And it pops you out at Woodsend, with a sign saying welcome to moor for 24 hours. Quite shallow though. So my goal achieved, I should have ambled back, but no, along that path to the staithe was a track going off into the NWT reserve. Nicely mown etc to invite you in and asked for dogs under close control, so that was OK. All the NWT reserves I’ve come across before have said no dogs. So I had a wander down and found an info board saying I was on Catfield Fen. I continued to follow the path until it took me to a derelict drainage pump in the middle of the fen, aptly named Middle Marsh drainage mill on the map. The path continued, albeit more overgrown, but curiousity got the better of me and I followed along, realising I’d have to retrace my steps eventually because there were dykes all around so no way of veering off left or right. But I wondered if I would get to the river, it looked on the map like I’d end up just below and opposite Irstead if I could. Tantalisingly close, must have been about 100yards as I could hear the boats, the ground got just too wet and muddy underfoot so I had to turn round. No sign of Catfield Broad as marked on the map. I think before long the OS is going to have to remap Norfolk - coastline and all the small broads turning into carr. I’m going to go on Google maps and see if I can find some imagery to see it. Back near the entrance I met three chaps peering at something in the bushes. They were taking photos of a swallowtail butterfly. I was too late for a photo but did see it. I had thought I’d seen one earlier too but dismissed the idea as being a bit early for them. Loads of Norfolk Hawker dragonflies down there too, big fat bruisers they are! And some equally large blue ones. Carrying on back along the lane, I decided on another detour, to All Saints Church, Catfield which was open, and has yet more scrubbed out faces on the rood screen. Those Cromwell supporters were certainly active round here. Oddly, I could find no info about the history of the church. All in all, 8 miles and nearly 4 hours, but chuffed I found somewhere unexpected. I’m very glad my little map cut off the eastern side of Catfield, otherwise I’d still be out there now searching for the head of Catfield Dyke. That’s for another day! On returning to the boat, I could hear a strange sound. It turned out to be a swan who’d taken a fancy to the metal rubbing strake things on the side of the boat. Whether he was sharpening/cleaning his teeth, or scraping off algae I don’t know but he got cross with me when I tried to stop him. Then his family came along and he got distracted.

I was thinking of doing it and hanging it out to dry on the line on the boat down the river. I thought it might lower the tone though!!! And had visions of bed sheets blowing across someone’s bow! Epic walk today, just on my way back, about 2 hours later than planned.

Or those yummy sloe gin mince pies that Aldi did at Christmas, but perhaps they had evaporated all the alcohol off in the baking, shame on them!

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.