Norfolk Lady Tales

[CeePee1952]

22 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

 I’d hoped to see a kingfisher along that lovely stretch of The Ant, but was once again disappointed.

Here you are! Last night in Heron Quay at Richardsons!!

Chris

[Mouldy]

26 minutes ago, CeePee1952 said:

Here you are! Last night in Heron Quay at Richardsons!!

Chris

Well, I’ll go to the foot of my stairs!!!  😕

[Mouldy]

Wednesday 8th September 

I woke to another stunning morning, dressed quickly, grabbed a camera and drone and wandered round to the grassy area in front of How Hill House.  I launched the drone and flew it around the area, taking a few shots of the mill, river and surrounding areas, before returning to the boat.

We had breakfast of toast and marmalade (again) before setting off at about 08:45.  My intentions to  find a mooring at Ranworth and I figured that it wiutake about an hour, when some of the overnighters would be departing.

We chugged slowly back down The Ant.  The bridge marker read 8’ 3” and we need 8’ 3” clearance, but there was plenty room for us to pass under.  I was concerned at the amount of river traffic on The Bure, but could see none of the other craft  in view turn down Ranworth Dam as we approached, neither did anyone follow us down.

As the the Dyke opened into Malthouse Broad, I could see some space at the front of the moorings, so headed across, turned and moored.  It was already quite hot, without a cloud in the sky.  We sat for a while, watching the comings and goings.  A few boats departed and any available spaces were quickly filled and a constant stream of boats motored across the broad, looking for moorings, only to turn away when they realised there weren’t any.

I flew one of my drones and captured some images of the scene.  We’d been so lucky with the spell of good weather after such a disappointing summer.  After lunch, we cast off.  Although I quite like Ranworth, it’s not one of my favourite overnight stops and we’d decided to either try Fleet Dyke again, or St Benets and didn’t want to be too late to find a spot for our overnight spot.

We cruised across the broad and back to the main river, which was predictably busy, a mixture of cruisers and dayboats.  There were a couple of spaces at St Benets, but we decided to try Fleet Dyke first.  The moorings where we’d spent the night a couple of days before were full, with one boat stern moored, so we passed anxiously by only to find the other moorings full too.  We turned, expecting to have to try St Benets, but in the short time since we’d gone by, that there was a space available at the first moorings, so gratefully moored there.

We whiled away the rest of the afternoon, the wife sewing and I did a couple of crosswords.  We had salad for dinner, it was too hot for anything else and I watched the sun go down at th3 3nd of another perfect day.  We watched The Repair Shop and something else featuring Jay Blades on BBC2, before retiring to bed.

It looks as if the spell of exceptional weather is at an end, but never mind, it was good while it lasted!

[floydraser]

Excellent photography, love the drone pics! 

[YnysMon]

Those early morning shots at How Hill are great, very atmospheric. At the one of Norfolk Lady with the Mill looks like an advert for the Broads. Brill!

[Mouldy]

Having re-read my last post, I must apologise for the typos.  I did try to edit the post, but the network was so slow, it locked up.  Oh, I do hate spelling mistakes.  Must learn to proof read before I post, so I have two chances to cock it up!! 😉

[YnysMon]

Predictive text catches me out again and again. Sometimes I spot it, other times not. I find with proof reading I tend to read what I think is there rather than the reality. I once had the job of doing an annual edit of a set of information leaflets for students. This was in the late 80's when PCs were just appearing, and only a few choice individuals had them on their desks. As for me, I had to check the (paper) copy that my Secretary had produced on a word processor from my handwritten edits. I had to really slow my reading pace down. It was painful and very inefficient. 

Two or three years later we were given our own PCs. However, we were told we shouldn't be trying to use Word ourselves - that was the job of our secretaries. That edict didn't last long!

[grendel]

I believe that I would have been diagnosed as dyslexic if I had been schooled nowadays, I could write long essays and read them through to myself and they made perfect sense, yet when they came back from marking, whole sentences and paragraphs could be missing, yet I had clearly checked the work and read them in while checking, for my brain they were there, even if I had just thought I had written them, thus nowadays i am at the mercy of the built in spoil chucker that comes in all software these days.

My problem was despite this I managed to get into a Grammar school and pass exams, and we have found the same with my daughter, who was actually diagnosed as dyslexic once she attended university. she like me read voraciously when younger, so because we had a good reading ability the problem was masked, to this day I still get my i before e's muddled.

[ranworthbreeze]

15 minutes ago, grendel said:

I believe that I would have been diagnosed as dyslexic if I had been schooled nowadays, I could write long essays and read them through to myself and they made perfect sense, yet when they came back from marking, whole sentences and paragraphs could be missing, yet I had clearly checked the work and read them in while checking, for my brain they were there, even if I had just thought I had written them, thus nowadays i am at the mercy of the built in spoil chucker that comes in all software these days.

My problem was despite this I managed to get into a Grammar school and pass exams, and we have found the same with my daughter, who was actually diagnosed as dyslexic once she attended university. she like me read voraciously when younger, so because we had a good reading ability the problem was masked, to this day I still get my i before e's muddled.

Don't we all Peter, I blame the teachers for forcing me to go from printing to joined up writing. My written work looks as if a spider has walked across the page.

Regards

Alan 

[Mouldy]

Thursday 9th September

Nature called and forced me out of bed a little earlier than I wanted, so I stumbled into the loo where I noticed a fiery red hue through the curtain, causing me to investigate further.  The sun was rising and had turned the sky into one of Mother Nature’s special light shows.  Not wanting to miss the scene, I took a couple of shots with my phone, but wasn’t really suitably attired to go wandering about with a camera.

There was only one thing to do - launch the drone!  By the time I’d set it up, the sun had risen above the horizon and the amazing colours were lost and I also had the problem of where to launch it from.  I opened the sunroof above the helm and sent it up, through the opening.  To anyone watching from outside, it must have looked like something from Thunderbirds!!  I flew it for a while, until I was satisfied that I’d recorded enough shots to have done the scene justice and carefully landed it back through the sunroof.  Nervous moments!!

By then it was too late to go back to bed, so we had breakfast and at about 09:00, cast off for Womack Water.  We needed provisions and it was the closest place to get what we needed.  The rivers were incredibly busy and I was concerned that there may not be room when we arrived, but the spot nearest the shop at the end of the Staithe was empty, so we moored up.  By now, the sun had risen and burnt off any clouds.  It was hot, with full sun beating down.

I had a shower and emerged from getting ready to be told by the wife that Forum member Jemaki had been to see me, so I wandered along to his boat and we chatted for a while, before we headed into the village.  I was forced to stop and watch someone on a Bridgecraft boat moor, who had a strange attitude to stern mooring, with his crew audibly congratulating him on his helming skills.

We went to the butchers and Throwers (as it was), before return the moorings.  John had moved his boat next to ours, as he’d been caught between two tall NBD craft, one of whom was playing loud house music in the boat, whilst sitting on the sun deck.

We chugged off a little after 13:00, heading for Thurne Dyke.  It had been a long time since we’d eaten in The Lion and that was our intention . . . . . . . . . . . . which was thwarted by a lack of available moorings.  Disappointed, we headed back to Womack Dyke and found an empty space at the end, where we’d moored the previous Saturday.  I called The Kings Arms and made a booking for dinner.

The afternoon passed and I’m not sure whether it was the result of getting out of bed early, the heat (despite the stiffening breeze that had developed) or a combination of both, but I had to go for a nap in the afternoon.  Refreshed, we set off for the pub in time for our booking.  The meal was acceptable, not special, but the prices reflected that and we were happy with what we’d eaten.  On the way back to the boat, I grabbed two or three shots with my phone, having missed the sunset.

Back on board, I finished a few fresh strawberries with some cream and the wife had a yoghurt.  She doesn’t like cream, so all the more for me.  Yessssss!! 😁😁 There was nothing much on the TV, I watched something on Quest to pass the time and we went to bed around 22:00.

[Lulu]

Fantastic photos.  I just love Fleet Dyke and Womack Dyke. So wishing we were back onboard even though it hasnt been long since we got back. 

[CeePee1952]

1 minute ago, Lulu said:

Fantastic photos.  I just love Fleet Dyke and Womack Dyke. So wishing we were back onboard even though it hasnt been long since we got back. 

Ditto to the photos and wishing we were still onboard instead of back home! 😩

Chris

[Mouldy]

25 minutes ago, Lulu said:

Fantastic photos.. . .

23 minutes ago, CeePee1952 said:

Ditto to the photos . . . . . .

Thank you!

26 minutes ago, Lulu said:

 . . . . . . So wishing we were back onboard even though it hasnt been long since we got back. 

23 minutes ago, CeePee1952 said:

 . . . . . . .wishing we were still onboard instead of back home! 😩

Chris

We’re here until Tuesday and hoping to make the early crossing back south tomorrow morning.  The wife (who’s still working) still has more holiday available, so we’re hoping to get back for another week maybe next month.

Commiserations, Chris.  Owning our own boat was a longtime ambition for me (in particular), and having eventually achieved it, we love spending as much time aboard as possible.  Moving to Norfolk has helped, although we’re based in the south east of the county and not near the Broads, but that still makes visiting special, where if we lived closer, it may not be so much so.

[SwanR]

Love seeing all your photos. You should start turning them into videos - they would look great on my larger screen tv!

4 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Moving to Norfolk has helped, although we’re based in the south east of the county and not near the Broads, but that still makes visiting special, where if we lived closer, it may not be so much so.

This is an interesting point.  As our March holiday was cancelled we have our first short break on a boat coming up next month. We haven't visited that many places around the Broads since moving here but it will be interesting to see how it feels to be out on the rivers ... especially if we come through Wroxham at all.

[YnysMon]

Looking forward to hearing how you get on Jean.

[addicted]

21 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Thank you!

We’re here until Tuesday and hoping to make the early crossing back south tomorrow morning.  The wife (who’s still working) still has more holiday available, so we’re hoping to get back for another week maybe next month.

Commiserations, Chris.  Owning our own boat was a longtime ambition for me (in particular), and having eventually achieved it, we love spending as much time aboard as possible.  Moving to Norfolk has helped, although we’re based in the south east of the county and not near the Broads, but that still makes visiting special, where if we lived closer, it may not be so much so.

When we retired, we thought a move to near where our boat was moored made sense.  We relocated from North London to just outside Ely where the boat was moored. We enjoyed  being able  to just "pop down" to the boat and to be able to keep the garden watered  while on a prolonged stay. However a change of marina owner forced us to relocate our mooring to the Broads and although the journey is 2 1/2 hours long we would not go back to being local now as we've got back that "being away on holiday" feeling which we hadn't realised was missing.

 

 

Carole

[Mouldy]

Friday 10th September 

I slept a little longer on Friday, so if there was a special sunrise, I’d missed it, but a glance out of the window indicated that there was a change in the weather.  There was broken cloud cover, admittedly with some sun breaking through, but once outside there was also a breeze developing.

We had our breakfast - you can guess what we had with reasonable odds of guessing correctly, before casting off.  We needed some bottled water so chugged up to Potter, passing the first quiet moorings only to find the second ones full, so turned and returned to the first ones where there was space.  Deb, who’d already showered and got ready,  wandered up to Lathams whilst I had a shower.

The cloud had broken and although it was breezy, I decided to fly my drone.  Due to the area and the fact I would be flying over people, I’d be using my smaller drone which isn’t as able to be flown in stronger winds, so with a degree of trepidation launched it off the roof of the boat.  I shouldn’t have worried as it flew perfectly and I got a few good shots of the surroundings.

With the drone safely back and packed away, we set off.  My intention was to cross Breydon on the early tide the following morning, so a mooring at either Stokesby or Stracey were the choices, Stokesby being preferred as it’s quieter.  We stopped off briefly at Pedro’s basin for water, before arriving at Stokesby.  The BA moorings were occupied, but we found space at the farm, so tied up and had lunch.  A little later, one of the two craft  at the BA moorings cast off, so we quickly moved and saved an £8 mooring fee in the process.

The weather had been changing, heavy dark cloud developing and eventually, distant rumbles of thunder could be heard.  It wasn’t long before some rain arrived, but to be fair it wasn’t much after such a stunning week.  I was a little disappointed, though, as Stokesby is a great location for stunning sunsets and thought that, due to the weather, there wouldn’t be one, but the cloud broke sufficiently for the sky to colour just enough to be worth a photo.

We had dinner of lamb leg steaks with new potatoes and broccoli, before watching Paul Merton and his wife and their motorhome messing about in Norfolk and Grantchester before retiring to bed.

My alarm was set for 05:15 Saturday morning.  Friends were travelling from Northampton to meet us at our home marina on Saturday around 11:00 for the day, so we needed to depart Stokesby by 06:00 to catch low water at Yarmouth and have enough time to get to Brundall.  It was going to be tight!!

[addicted]

Marvellous pictures thank you. They're a joy to look at.

 

 

Carole

[Ray]

I must add my praise to the others for your stunning photography!

Keep 'em coming 👍

[CeePee1952]

9 minutes ago, Ray said:

I must add my praise to the others for your stunning photography!

Keep 'em coming 👍

Absolutely! 

Chris

[BroadAmbition]

Really appreciate / enjoy your drone photos 

Griff

[floydraser]

I'd like to know how you manage to arrange such fantastic skies in your photos? 

Great pics again..

[Mouldy]

Saturday 11th September 

The alarm went off at 05:15 and I dragged myself out of bed.  It was too dark to see much out of the windows, but it wasn’t raining.  The wife pulled some clothes on and took Harley for her walk.  It would be a few hours before we moored again, after we’d set off, so she needed time to empty her tanks !

I readied the boat, mopping down the windows, taking in the TV aerial, opening the curtains and getting the dog’s breakfast ready.  The wife returned, the pooch having done her business and just before 06:00 we started the engine and set off.  I hadn’t called the yacht station to check the tide times, but had used the table on broads.org, which showed low at Yarmouth to be around 07:30, but the Awiegh app, low was earlier at 07:05.  Either way, we’d be there somewhere between low and slack, so should be okay for clearance at the bridges.  As dawn broke, it was evident that the weather had changed, with cloud cover and a grey sky.

It had been quite a high tide and the ebbing flow helped us make good progress towards Yarmouth and we went through the yacht station at about 07:25.  There was almost 11ft at the road bridge, so more than enough for us to pass easily.  Turning right at the yellow post though caused us to nearly come to a stop as we hit the falling current turning onto Breydon.  With more throttle applied, we were soon making headway across an almost deserted stretch of water.  We passed two or three craft coming in the opposite direction and by one Barnes boat who was almost on the plane as he overtook us.  It was one of their old AF 42s.  I didn’t think they could do that!!  He was soon out of sight and heading towards Burgh Castle.

We turned right and passed Berney Mill.  It wasn’t long until before he came storming past us again, still travelling far too fast and creating quite a wake.  I went for a shower as we headed towards Reedham and Debbie took the helm.  Morning ablutions completed, I went back to take over and was told that the speeding Barnes boat had been moored in Reedham as we passed through and by the time we’d got to Hardley Dyke, he came steaming past again.

There were quite a few sailies  heading down river, some making good progress in the breeze that had developed.  We passed Ray, moored at Cantley.  I’d like to have moored for a chat, but we needed to get to Brundall to meet our friends back at the home marina, so waved and carried on.  The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful, aside from seeing the Barnes craft mooring at a private fishing jetty as we approached The Beauchamp Arms!

We arrived at our moorings at 10:55, not bad timing if I say so myself, about twenty minutes before our guests arrived in their car from Northampton.  Once aboard we cruised back along The Yare, down Fleet Dyke and to Rockland Staithe, where we moored for a cheeky pint and lunch.  As we sat outside, the clouds rolled away and were were left with a lovely, sunny afternoon.

Sated,  we cruised back up Short Dyke onto the main river, passed through Bargate and to Postwick Viaduct, where we turned and returned to the marina.  I’d tried to book a table at The Bridge Inn for dinner, but they were fully booked, so settled on The Fur and Feather.  With the boat moored and secured, we drove to Woodbastwick and enjoyed a good meal there.

When finished, we drove back to the boat, had a coffee and our friends departed at about 22:30.  It had been good meeting up with them again, the first time we’d got together since before the second wave of the pandemic and we’d all had a good time.

It had been a long day and it wasn’t long before we were tucked up in bed.  Apologies for no photos, but entertaining our guests had been a priority.  Normal service will return for the next instalment.

[Mouldy]

I woke on Sunday to the sight of sunlight through the roof hatch in the fore cabin.  Once up, the wife took the dog for a wander and I dried the windows down.  We had breakfast and set off, destination Norwich.  Chugging up to Postwick the previous day had reminded us that it had been over a year since we last visited the city by river, so going again would make a change.

There we’re a few craft moored at The Ferry House and the moorings at Bramerton were full, too.  We were in no rush and the journey into Norwich took about two hours.  The scenery entering the city by river has changed greatly since my first visit about fifty years ago, with many new apartment blocks springing up, along with sympathetic remodelling of some of the old warehouse buildings into residential premises.  Only the old Coleman’s site remains, which I guess will be redeveloped in time. Also, since the old floating restaurant has been taken away, the station building is clearly visible from the river, which has quite an impressive facade.

By now, the weather had warmed up it had turned into a pleasant day.  We moored almost opposite Pulls Ferry, dropped the mud weight, locked up the boat and wandered over Bishops Bridge and back along the riverside walk to the back of Pulls Ferry before going up the road and past the Cathedral.  It was good to see so many people out and about, enjoying the sights and the good weather, so different from how it was in July 2020 when we last visited and the city was virtually deserted.

As we entered the shopping centre, it was clear by the number of empty shops that like so many other centres, the pandemic and its effects had impacted many businesses.  We didn’t need a lot of supplies, so a visit to Tesco near the market was sufficient to get what we needed.  Shopping done, we retraced our footsteps back to the boat.  The Red Lion pub In Bishopsgate, just by Bishops Bridge, that had closed down last year, has been reopened and appeared to be doing good business, with most of the outside tables occupied.  I’ve read good reviews about it, so must visit there at some point to try it for myself.

Back on board, we had bacon rolls for lunch, before topping up with water and setting off again.  I had a couple of spots for overnight mooring in mind, the Commissioners Cut being the first, which was already occupied sadly, the other being Bramerton.  As we approached, a large cruiser cast off, so we quickly moored in the space he’d vacated and set up for the evening.  It had become quite breezy and had clouded over.  The wife did some knitting and Indic a couple of crosswords.

Later, we cooked our dinner of pork chops, new potatoes, cabbage and gravy and as we couldn’t get a signal to watch Endeavour, using my phone as a hotspot, we streamed the last two episodes of Vigil.  One things for certain - I couldn’t go on a submarine.  How claustrophobic does that look?

After that, it was bedtime.  Monday was to be our last full day on board and I hadn’t a clue where we were going or how we’d spend it.

[Mouldy]

Monday 13th September 

Dawn broke on Monday morning.  It was our last full day and I wanted to get the drone up for some more aerial photos, so looked out of the window to see a mirror smooth river and mist hanging over the river and adjoining fields.  After pulling on some clothes quickly, I set the drone up and launched it.  I guess it was in the air for about 25 minutes, during which time I shot several photos before landing it safely.

After breakfast, we chugged off heading for Rockland St Mary.  Having visited Tesco’s the previous day to top up with necessary supplies to go to the end of our break, we realised that we’d forgotten to get tea bags.  Doh!!!  The Staithe was empty when we arrived, save for one other private craft moored near the electric posts.  We moored on the other section, not bothered about hooking up to the mains.

We got ready to walk to the shop and as we locked the boat, Ranworth Breeze pulled in alongside, so we had a chat with the owners for a few minutes before heading into the village.  I’ve never been to the shop there before and to be honest, it wasn’t what I was expecting, sort of a combination between a village store, post office and tea room.  With tea bags purchased, along with a date and ginger cake, we strolled back to the boat.  Almost back, we passed a sign, which frankly did make me chuckle as I tried to imagine what it was warning.

Back on board, we put some part baked rolls in the oven and cooked some sausages to fill them for lunch.  With a touch of brown sauce, lovely.  I had thought about Langley Dyke for our last nights mooring, but had seen a post on Faceache, showing it to be fairly full, so we opted to head for Hardley Mill pontoon instead.  Knowing it to be quite a popular mooring, I didn’t think there would be space available, so had Hardley Cross as a fall back, but as we rounded the bend it became obvious that there was no one else there.  Happy days!!

We tied up and chilled for the rest of the afternoon.  The weather had been largely sunny, but a little cooler, with variable amounts of cloud.  I sent the drone up again to get a few shots of the mill and as the sun set, took a few more with my phone and camera.  Dinner was a boneless salmon fillet, with fine beans and boiled new potatoes.  We watched Silent Witness before retiring for the night.

It had been a good day.  It had been a good break, one that we’d both needed after quite a hectic time at the bungalow.  Home tomorrow, Deb returning to work and me to continue with updating our home and hopefully to wash our cars which had been sadly neglected whilst a skip had been on the drive during the period that work continued on the bathroom and kitchen.