Norfolk Lady Tales

[kpnut]

10 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Ideal, but the footpath that runs alongside the dyke, which was badly overgrown, making it difficult for the wife to walk the dog.  Following Kate’s lead, I went onto the relevant website and reported it.

Good on you.
I’ll go and take a look next week but the wheels turn slowly. 

[Mouldy]

1 minute ago, kpnut said:

Good on you.
I’ll go and take a look next week but the wheels turn slowly. 

We went back the following week and some of it had been cut, but Deb said that it was still overgrown between the moorings on the bends and the BA moorings further along.

[Mouldy]

Thursday morning we woke to leaden skies.  The forecast didn’t give is much hope either, but we decided to head up my favourite northern river and see whether we could get under Ludham Bridge.

After breakfast, we cast off and turned up The Ant.  We were followed for a couple of minutes by one of Richo’s newer, dual helm cruisers, but they clearly weren’t happy at 4mph and soon came charging past.  ‘Suits me,’ I thought.  ‘If they fit, so will we.’  They did slow down a little to negotiate the bridge, but I’m not sure that I would have had such a cavalier attitude, even in a hire boat.  We followed them through a little while later at a much more sedate pace.

I had no real plans for where to moor, but we did need Stalham and Tesco on Friday, so had a good selection of potential places from which to choose.  How Hill was fairly empty, Johnny Crowes Staithe was occupied, but when we arrived at Irstead, the Parish moorings were available, so we stopped there.  About an hour later, the boat that had been moored on the BA side, moved off, so we hastily cast off and moved across, so as to be on the electric.  There was 22p left on the post, so I broke out a card and topped it up.

And there we stayed for the rest of the day. It rained on and off . . . . . . . . . more on than off, to be fair and it was a fairly bleak day.  Aside from a couple of swans and a family of geese, we saw no other wildlife.

I did take a couple of photos from the aft well, looking down river, but other than those, there were no other photo opportunities that day.

I’d bought a whole chicken from Roy’s, which I roasted.  We had a quarter each for dinner, with some salad and potatoes, the other two quarters would be used for lunches.

We watched TV for a while before heading for bed.  It hadn’t been the best of days, but we were on holiday and it could have been worse.

[SwanR]

Irstead is a great place to spend a quiet day mid-holiday. 

[Mouldy]

Once again, we woke to the sound of rain pattering on the roof.  Deb took Harley for a walk as usual and I tidied the boat.  We had some mushrooms that needed to be eaten and a couple of duck eggs too, so we had egg on mushrooms on toast for breakfast.  Seemed an odd mix, but was tasty and filling.

It definitely didn’t seem like a July morning - cool and wet.  We’d used all of the credit on the electric post and had switched back over to the inverter, so no hot water from the immersion for washing up.  We cast off and Deb headed for a shower as we passed the turn for Paddy’s Lane.

We moored at Richardson’s visitor moorings and I showered and changed, before we set off for the shops, in the rain, armed with some bags and a lengthy shopping list.  I went ahead, Deb followed, walking with the dog, as Harley’s arthritis slows her down somewhat.

I eventually found everything I needed in Tesco and emerged, staggering under the weight of the shopping.  It would have been easier, but for the bottles of wine (and water)!  Deb was bemoaning the fact that the bench that used to be at the front of the shop has been taken away.  She took one of the bags and I went ahead to get to the boat, leaving Deb to wander back with Harley.  It was still raining - not hard, but hard enough.

Once they’d got back, we cruised round to Richo’s yard to fill with water.  I have to say that I find their attitude to visiting private craft refreshing, especially in an area where there are so few available moorings.

With the water topped up, we set off again, heading for Gayes Staithe.  Just as we arrived, one of the two craft moored on the side on moorings, moved off.  We turned and reversed in and settled down to a damp afternoon watching the comings and goings.  I couldn’t even drum up the enthusiasm to visit the fudge lady, it was just too wet.

We had a chicken casserole for dinner.  Seemed suitable on a cool, wet day and even had to put the heating on in the evening.  It was certainly unexpectedly chilly, especially in July.  With no internet signal and a poor TV signal, I broke out the crossword book and Deb settled down with her Kindle before retiring for the night.

Sadly, no photos today.  It was just not an inspiring one.

[Mouldy]

I’d been thinking about the possible consequences of the persistent rain and clearance at Ludham Bridge, so had come up with a plan.  I needed to go back to Stalham.  Not thinking that it would be so cool, I’d not packed enough T shirts and needed to get a few more.

We hastily had breakfast and headed back to Stalham, again mooring on Richo’s visitor moorings.  I’d seen a Factory Shop on the High Street (opposite  The Swan) and we have one from the same chain in the town nearest us and knew they sold some clothing.  We headed for there and I managed to get four branded T shirts at a reasonable price.

We walked back to the boat and hastily cast off.  I’d decided to try to get under the bridge, so we headed back down The Ant.  It was a changeover day, so the river was relatively quiet, although we did get held up for a while behind an old Richardson’s craft who was dawdling down the river.  I struggled to maintain the same speed, as even on tickover, I was catching him up.  We eventually arrived at a straight enough section of the river to allow me to safely pass.

The early marker at the bridge showed 7’11”, as did the board at the bridge.  Hmmm.  I’d not been under with the river that high before, but there was at least three or four inches of the sills showing, so I crept up and started to go under, with Deb checking clearance over the helm roof.  I was hopeful that none of the video vultures were there, just in case, but we went through . . . . . . . . just.  Deb said there was about a cigarette paper clearance, but someone on Facebook messaged me to say that there was at least space for a packet of twenty to spare!  Too close for comfort, really, but we’d made it!

We decided to head for Thurne Dyke and have dinner in The Lion, so motored straight round, moored on the farm side and I walked down to the pub to book a table and pay the mooring fee.  They were quite busy, but fitted us in at 19:45.  I went back to the boat and we had a relaxing afternoon.  The weather was improving, the rain had stopped and there were a few breaks in the cloud to allow one or two rays of sunshine through (but not many).

As the afternoon progressed, meerkat syndrome set in, standing up to watch what was happening every time a boat engine was heard.  It’s a convenient first night stop for new starters from Woods in particular, which does make me anxious.  It was all good though and the dyke was soon fairly full.

I took a few photos before we headed to the pub.  We were a little early, but were shown to our table, only to be told that they’d had a lot of walk-ins and takeaway orders, so it would be about 20:30 before they would even take our order.  I was a little disappointed and asked what benefit there was to booking.  If we ordered at that time, it would likely be close to 21:00 before we would actually get our food, which is too late for us, so we returned to the boat for a bolognese, courtesy of an emergency jar of Dolmio sauce!  To be fair, we were warned of the wait before ordering, but I do question the logic of putting walk in orders in front of table bookings.

We retired a little later than usual, to allow time to digest our late dinner, but decided to try for another carvery on Sunday to compensate!

[Ray]

Great photos as ever Malcolm 👍 You did well with Ludham Bridge, I find the whole situation with clearance there so frustrating, Potter was never in doubt and I've reluctantly accepted not getting under Wroxham now but to my mind Ludham is a bridge too far. Loosing the certainty of visiting all the lovely places above Ludham really shouldn't be on the cards.

[gancanny]

there is something to be said about the good old bathtub

  

[Ray]

3 minutes ago, gancanny said:

there is something to be said about the good old bathtub

  

There is indeed 👍

[Mouldy]

38 minutes ago, Ray said:

You did well with Ludham Bridge, I find the whole situation with clearance there so frustrating, Potter was never in doubt and I've reluctantly accepted not getting under Wroxham now but to my mind Ludham is a bridge too far. Loosing the certainty of visiting all the lovely places above Ludham really shouldn't be on the cards.

Agreed.  The amount of rain that’s fallen this year is obviously partly to blame for the high river levels and I do believe that the work the EA did a few years ago to prevent excess water from flooding the marshland that is now used for farming, will have had an effect too.  I do not believe that the new bridge at Yarmouth is in any way responsible, as the water from the southern rivers still drains effectively and although they did have high river levels at times over the winter, there was not the prolonged flooding that way experienced around Potter and Hickling.  There could be some truth in the theory that a lack of dredging on the lower Bure is a contributory factor too.  Whatever the reason, I think we should expect more than a little over eight feet clearance at Ludham Bridge during the summer months.

16 minutes ago, gancanny said:

there is something to be said about the good old bathtub

  

Also agreed, but I like to see something other than reeds.  Perhaps a centre cockpit craft is the ideal compromise.

[gancanny]

15 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

Perhaps a centre cockpit craft is the ideal compromise.

 

    yes, i think you are right,  collapsable or sliding wheelhouse is ideal

[NorfolkNog]

1 hour ago, Mouldy said:

agreed, but I like to see something other than reeds.  Perhaps a centre cockpit craft is the ideal compromise.

Swan Royale......

[Mouldy]

4 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

Swan Royale......

We had a look at it when it was on the market before we bought NL.  It needed quite a lot of work to get it back to a reasonable standard, having been somewhat neglected by the previous owners.  Had it been in better condition, we would have bought it.

[Broads01]

8 hours ago, gancanny said:

there is something to be said about the good old bathtub

  

Yes and I agree, Malcom that centre cockpits have always been a great compromise. Centre saloons can be drafty though so Howard is right, perhaps a centre cockpit with an enclosed saloon is the best compromise of all. Then again, in September I'm on Belmore TC which has a different set of benefits (hopefully) even though there's little chance of passing under Ludham.

[Matt]

Even yesterday one of Richos hire boats had to back away from Ludham Bridge as they wouldn’t fit. Looked like some Ricos staff were there waiting to help them through.

[Mouldy]

44 minutes ago, Matt said:

Even yesterday one of Richos hire boats had to back away from Ludham Bridge as they wouldn’t fit. Looked like some Ricos staff were there waiting to help them through.

Their Haines 32 Sedans have an airdraft a little taller than the Broom 29s.  There was a photo of one of them wedged under the bridge earlier in the season, so I guess they are protecting their investment in new craft by offering assistance there, although after a few relatively dry days, one would expect the river levels to be dropping.  I think we had springs recently though, which may not have helped.

I had chat with one of their staff whilst waiting for the wife to get back to the boat, regarding the bridge, river levels and issues resulting from them.  He told me that the previous week they’d had to get a bathtub under Wroxham Bridge by flooding the bilges to get a 6’9” airdraft craft under the bridge at 6’3” and even then, clipping the roof.

[Matt]

It was a rising tide at the time so no idea the end result. But it was one of the new Haines 32s.

[Mouldy]

It seemed a bit brighter when we woke on Sunday, there were patches of blue sky, but there was a lot of cloud too.  I took a few photos with the drone before we had some breakfast and left the dyke just after 09:00, heading for Womack.

The space second in from the shop was empty, so we moored there, but the boat in my favoured end spot had its engine running.  Sure enough, about twenty minutes later, the crew cast off and I pulled Norfolk Lady along and secured her.  I managed to phone the pub and book a table for the carvery.  With the final of the football being broadcast that evening, they were busy, but squeezed us in at 17:45, with the proviso that we vacated the table in time for the next booking at 19:00.  It wasn’t a problem to us, so we gratefully accepted.

After we’d both showered, we dragged the hose from the tap to the mooring and topped up with water, then spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the comings and goings on the Staithe.  Deb was sewing and as I’d finished my Chris Crowther book, started on the first Rebus novel by Ian Rankin.  It’s some years since I last read them, so thought I’d read them again.

A heron perched on the pulpit rail of one of the boats moored at the marina.  I couldn’t resist taking a couple of photos.  The weather was bright, but overcast, the blue sky having lost out to the cloud earlier in the day.

We wandered round to the pub for dinner.  The place was buzzing and every table occupied.  They certainly have built a reputation for the quality of their carvery.  We had our food and a couple of drinks before vacating the table at 18:50, as requested, before heading back to the boat to watch the football.

It would have been good to see an England win, but there can’t be many of even the most ardent England fans who could say that the result wasn’t the right one.  Spain had been the most entertaining side throughout the competition and England, possibly the most boring.  I switched off at the final whistle, before the pundits started to dissect the match.  I’d seen enough.

We retired to bed shortly afterwards at the end of another day.

 

[Mouldy]

With the fairly average weather and our shortened cruise on The Ant, I’d decided to head back south a little earlier than planned.  I’d already booked a stern on, broad facing mooring at Oulton Broad on Thursday to watch the powerboat racing, so decided to go back south on Tuesday rather than Wednesday.

With that in mind, I set the drone up to grab some more pictures across Womack Water in the early morning sun, before having breakfast and then heading for the butchers.

Based on the previous week’s experience, I thought it best to go to Lathams for some vegetables.  Deb had decided that her pillows were a bit flat, so a couple of new ones were added to the shopping list, together with the almost obligatory cakes from the bakery.

We cast off and moored in Woods yard, as we had the previous week, but were challenged by one of their staff members, who asked if we’d paid their mooring fees.  I walked to reception, as directed, to find that a standard charge of £15 is applied to all private craft, whether it’s for an hour or overnight.  It does include water and electric, but with so many of their fleet still in the yard, those facilities weren’t available to us.  I’ve since found out that even if you want water, the same charge is applied to all private boats.

Slightly peeved, we walked over to the Temple of Tat and Deb stayed outside with Harley, whilst I went shopping.  I gave a swerve to the banana toffees, but couldn’t resist the coffee ones and picked up a bag of salted caramel flavoured ones for Deb.  Again, I escaped for less than £25, even with pillows and some groceries.  I’m getting good at resisting temptation in there!

Back at the boat, I helped the crew of Contessa (an Aquafibre 37 dual helm) from Richardson’s moor.  They appeared to be struggling to get off the boat, having manoeuvred into the berth.  I found out why when I spoke to them.  The youngest was 76 and the remaining three in their 80’s.  It did seem a strange choice of boat, with such a high freeboard especially at the stern, for four novice boaters, all of whom unsurprisingly had mobility issues.

With their boat secured, we set off, heading for South Walsham and Marine Tech for a pump out and fuel, prior to heading south the following day.  We passed Moonlight Shadow on the way down Fleet Dyke, the owner on board sitting behind the boat, fishing.  Fuel was £1.70 per litre and the single pump out was £20.  Not the cheapest, but the pump out was very thorough and the service friendly and efficient.

There had been several spaces on the moorings on the bends, so we headed back there, shouting a greeting and exchanging a few words with the owner on MS, before choosing our spot.  Another syndicate craft (Goosander) was on my favourite end mooring, but we found somewhere suitable and moored.

It had clouded over since the morning, but after our dinner of pork loin steaks, a few breaks formed and there was a glimpse of a sunset, so I broke out the camera to take a few shots.

We had a lengthy cruise the following day, so weren’t late going to bed that evening.

[Mouldy]

We woke to another gloomy morning.  I’d spoken to the lads at Yarmouth Yacht Station the previous day and they’d said that we should have sufficient headroom under the bridges by 11:30, about an hour and a quarter before low.  We cast off at about 08:30, heading for The Bure and Great Yarmouth.

We passed Kate again, who was moored at Hall Farm and exchanged shouted (friendly) greetings across the river.  The rest of the journey  to Yarmouth was uneventful and we passed by the Yacht Station at about 11:50.  There was plenty of clearance under the bridges, but met a quite strong falling current as we turned by the yellow post.  With more revs applied, we made reasonable progress across Breydon, which was a little choppy, due to the breeze that had been building through the morning.  It wasn’t helped either by the small Sealine that was heading in the opposite direction, on the plane, creating a considerable wash.

About three quarters of the way across, a Wherry, which I believe was Albion, was heading across Breydon with a full sail in the breeze, quite an impressive sight.

With Breydon behind us, we kept left at the end, heading towards St Olaves and Somerleyton.  I don’t know why, but The Waveney between Burgh Castle and St Olaves always seems far more boring than The Yare, between Berney Mill and Reedham, but we eventually arrived at St Olaves bridge, where thankfully there was ample clearance for us to pass.

We also cruised under Somerleyton Bridge with no issues.  I headed for the Tea Garden moorings on Oulton Dyke and chose the end of the pontoon to moor.  With the boat secured, Deb took Harley for a walk.  It had been a long cruise and we were all grateful to stretch our legs.

It was still quite cloudy when we arrived, but as the afternoon and evening progressed, the cloud began to break with some sunshine, before it clouded over again as the sun set.

We were both quite tired, so once again, it was a relatively early night for us.  The weather forecast from Wednesday was looking better, so with the promise of better weather to look forward to, I was soon asleep.

[Broads01]

11 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Back at the boat, I helped the crew of Contessa (an Aquafibre 37 dual helm) from Richardson’s moor.  They appeared to be struggling to get off the boat, having manoeuvred into the berth.  I found out why when I spoke to them.  The youngest was 76 and the remaining three in their 80’s.  It did seem a strange choice of boat, with such a high freeboard especially at the stern, for four novice boaters, all of whom unsurprisingly had mobility issues.

I've hired Contessa and it's a brilliant boat but it is indeed hideous to disembark the stern. It badly needs some proper steps because it's so high.

10 hours ago, Mouldy said:

 I don’t know why, but The Waveney between Burgh Castle and St Olaves always seems far more boring than The Yare, between Berney Mill and Reedham, but

It's funny but I've always been the other way around. For me the Waveney side is more varied and with better views.

Fantastic photos as usual, Malcom. I love the drone shots at Thurne.

[Smoggy]

Back to the bridge clearance thing and best boat option this is thing we saw at Torksey lock back in 2008, the upper section hydraulically lowered to the stern to pass bridges.

[YnysMon]

57 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Back to the bridge clearance thing and best boat option this is thing we saw at Torksey lock back in 2008, the upper section hydraulically lowered to the stern to pass bridges.

Coo…that’s impressive!

There’s a modern looking barge, or whatever you might call it, moored near the end of Acle Dyke. Has anyone seen it ‘in action’? Each time I pass it I can’t help thinking it wouldn’t be easy to get to the bow to moor up if they did move off their mooring. 

[Mouldy]

7 hours ago, YnysMon said:

There’s a modern looking barge, or whatever you might call it, moored near the end of Acle Dyke. Has anyone seen it ‘in action’? Each time I pass it I can’t help thinking it wouldn’t be easy to get to the bow to moor up if they did move off their mooring. 

The only time it’s moved since arriving at the moorings was when it broke free during a storm.  I seem to recall it made the EDP.  And, yes, I’ve looked at it and thought the same about access to the bow every time I’ve passed it.  They must be very skilled at looping a rope over a mooring post with a boat hook.

I have a busy weekend planned, so may not get time to post the the final few days blogs until next week!

[Mouldy]

Wednesday dawned and it was quite a pleasant morning.  Not brilliant sunshine, but hazy and dry.  After I’d pulled some clothes on, I took the drone out, scared that it would cloud over again and rain!  Instead, the sun burnt off the haze and by 09:00, when we cast off, it was a clear blue sky and pleasantly warm.

We turned left at the end of Oulton Dyke, destination Beccles.  I could see that the visitor moorings at Waveney River Centre were out of commission, being renewed.  It seemed an odd time to do it, approaching peak visitor season, but I guess they know what they’re doing.

By now, some puffy clouds had developed, but after the dreadful weather the week before, it was a welcome change.  There were a couple of craft moored at North Cove, but Worlingham. was seemingly occupied by the same scruffy yachts that were there at Easter.  With so few moorings between Somerleyton and Beccles, it would be useful if overstayers were moved on.

We passed Aldeby Hall and were soon going under Beccles Bridge and turning into the Yacht Station.  There were a few boats moored on the right, where the electric posts are, but we chose a spot on the left and moored.

We needed a few bits from town and Tescos, so readied ourselves for the walk.  I went straight to the butchers, Greggs and the sweet shop, before meeting up with Deb and Harley at Tesco.  I was volunteered to go into Tesco, too, because apparently I knew what we needed.  That’ll be because I can be blamed for anything I’ve forgotten!

Once done, it was back to the boat for a belated lunch.  A bit later, I ambled round to the Harbourmasters Office to pay my mooring fees and had a chat to him.  On the way back, I succumbed to temptation and bought a 99 from the coffee shop and a lolly for Deb (she doesn’t like ice cream, preferring water ices or sorbets).

We sat and enjoyed the sunshine, chatting to a few people as they passed.  Deb was busy with her cross stitch and I read.  It was such a difference from the rain the previous week.

Not expecting the upturn in the weather, I’d previously bought a gammon joint, so roasted that, which we had for dinner, with potatoes, a tin of peas and carrots and white sauce.  Yes, I know, tinned veg is a cop out, but with only a two burner cooker, there are limitations on the culinary front!

As the sun went down, I went out with my camera to get a few pictures.  It was a very pleasant end to a lovely day.  We watched TV for about an hour before retiring to bed, hoping that the weather would hold for a couple more days.