The Hot One , The Full Report .

Bob48 · May 29, 2017

Hello everybody here is the full report , less the bit about Potter Heigham .

the holiday started in the usual fashion , wandering around the house first thing in the morning , making sure we had everything we needed for our week away , followed by a short trip in a cab to our local railway station and then the bus trip to Stalham , we boarded our fine vessel Crown gem 4 around 2.30 pm, in a light drizzle , which we had expected . tea was the first order of business , then cast off and onward to our first stop , Ludham bridge , it is here that we made our first contact with john aka Maurice Mynar , and his friend Bernie from the sailing vessel Midi , and Megan his Dog. we exchanged pleasantries , before heading for Salhouse and the NBN meet , on our way up the River Bure , the good lady took over the helm and i took control of the camera so that she could show those who needed to be shown that yes, she can drive a boat . we approached Salhouse Broad around 6.30 pm , to be met by Hockham Admiral , Vaughan and his good lady , Timbo from RT and his good lady and the two Boys , we also met Grendel , and Charlie from Bound2please, among others . we had a glass of wine in the company of the Admiral and Vaughan and his wife , and very nice it was too . we then headed by foot to the Fur and feather at Wood bastwick for our much needed evening meal , we were both very hungry as we had been on the go since before 8am .

we had a fine evening in Salhouse , and the following morning we bid farewell to our new found friends and set off for Wroxham for passage through the bridge to Coltishall . a brief stop in Wroxham to top up on a few provisions from Roy's, and then we headed to our next destination the Rising Sun . we met some more people here Mike and his wife , who insisted on buying us beer for helping him moor his boat , although there was no need , but he insisted .we had a short squally shower , then had another drink and headed for our needed bed .

Sunday morning broke bright and very warm , we decided we'd head for Ranworth , and did we some silly things on the way first a hire boat with out the pilot , , Oops , i wouldn't have wanted to be in their shoes on return to the boat yard .then the rather inebriated , party of friends in two day boats playing " Dodgems " bumping into each other as they sped past us near Salhouse spit , one either side of us , i did mention to the young man that passing on the inside was rather dangerous only to be met with a tirade of abuse, you just can't tell some people . we got to Ranworth and decided the best way was to go for a pint and a look at the menu , on arriving we found a group of fabulously attired Morrismen doing there dancing so we decided it'd be rude of us to leave , and had another pint instead .after this, we were on our way back to our boat and came across a gentleman with a beautiful red E-type jag, which he graciously allowed me to sit in , getting in and out was far from graceful .

Monday and another beautiful day dawned and we headed for Potter Heigham , i have all ready told you this tale so won't go over it again.after the debacle at Potter we headed for more familiar water in the form of Womack Staithe , and what a fabulous evening we had, we decided we'd try the Kings Arms in Ludham village for our evening meal , and wow , what a meal we had , the good lady had Steamed salmon on parmentier potatoes served with steamed broccoli and asparagus this hollandaise sauce with a basamic drizzle , while i had a 16 oz sirloin with a bucket of chips, home made coleslaw, mushrooms ,onion rings and half a grilled tomato , it was absolutely spectacular and worth every penny we'd spent on it.

Tuesday, i now look like a lobster as does the good lady, another scorcher of a day dawned and we decided that a short hop to fleet dyke was in order as we wanted to go for a wander around the Fairhaven gardens , took some fabulous photos , it was well worth the visit, we ate on the boat this evening , a salad with chicken cooked in green pesto with onions and grapes and mascarpone cheese, with the inevitable crusty bread for dunking in the sauce , met some more people here firstly there was Mike from Sunderland on his last few days of a three week break , he looked a bit like capt birdseye , a little later we met John and LIndzi who were also on the last few days of their break , we stood and nattered to them for a few minutes , before heading back to the boat avoiding the nasty bitey things that swarm around marshland

.wednesday and we headed for Ludham bridge , well and truly roasted today , we just sat and watched the world go by before heading to the Dog Inn , for ham egg and chips , it was here we saw a barn owl flying low across the meadows , then just as we left this same bird shot over a hedge that we were walking past and nearly frightened us both to death.

thursday and our last full day afloat , we headed away from Ludham looking very well done and a little sore , to be honest , and headed for How Hill as we wanted a look around again we were not disappointed, the Rhododendrons were magnificent , we even saw a swallow tail butterfly , although sadly i wasn't quick enough to get a photo. our day complete we headed with sad faces back to Richardsons at the end of a fantastic week for our traditional chinese take-away and a bottle of wine , we then spent the evening reminiscing about our week afloat and what a wonderful time we had had. we met some fantastic people some rather eccentric people lots of smiling people and some who looked a little nervous . but we had a great time , we are now looking forward to September so that we can come home again to the Norfolk broads .

if you have been, thanks for reading the tale of our journey , it was lovely to meet some of you , stay safe . until the next time we meet .

Bob & Jo

the good ship Crown Gem 4 cheers

Bob48 · May 29, 2017

addendum

i must apologise to Broadsword we saw you twice on OBY it was good to see you and your lady out and about cheers

deebee29 · May 29, 2017

Hi Bob & Jo

I'm glad you had a great time apart from your little incident at Potter, don't worry, these things happen to us all.

you are right about Fairhaven being worth a visit, we go every couple of years and our latest visit was April. We really enjoyed it.... didn't go on the boat trip though.

Here's looking forward to September (for us as well)

thanks for sharing your experience

cheersbar

Bob48 · May 29, 2017

Just now, deebee29 said:

Hi Bob & Jo

I'm glad you had a great time apart from your little incident at Potter, don't worry, these things happen to us all.

you are right about Fairhaven being worth a visit, we go every couple of years and our latest visit was April. We really enjoyed it.... didn't go on the boat trip though.

Here's looking forward to September (for us as well)

thanks for sharing your experience

may well see you then

YnysMon · May 29, 2017

Ooh...16oz Sirloin! Sounds really good, though beyond my appetite. I must admit your home cooked chicken and pesto etc sounded even better. (Perhaps we could have a food section on this forum?) Glad you got to How Hill, we loved the rhododendrons and azelias...you went one better than us though in spotting a swallowtail as we had visited the first week in May. We were a bit too early for butterflies.

Sounds like you had a good time (apart from PH).

Thanks for the write up...keeps us going until our next visit!

Helen

Hockham Admiral · May 30, 2017

16 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Ooh...16oz Sirloin! Sounds really good, though beyond my appetite. I must admit your home cooked chicken and pesto etc sounded even better. (Perhaps we could have a food section on this forum?) Thanks for the write up...keeps us going until our next visit!

Helen

Errr, I'm sure we do! :wave