Luna’s Log

[Lulu]

Sunday 4th December 

Unfortunately another rubbish sleep which is so unusual for us. I did get a bit cold in the early hours and Desmond was very unsettled although he was toasty warm in his pjs and under his fleece blanket. Maybe it was me disturbing him rather than the other way around.  
 

Graham fixed the wiper. Huge stroke of luck, whatever had fallen off had landed on a little ledge rather than plummeting into the bilge so it was an easy fix rather than a huge dismantling job he thought it was going to be. 
 

I set about thoroughly cleaning the inside of the boat and then off we went to Barton Turf for water.  This was really to give me mooring practice as Im absolutely determined to get a grip and stop just doing helming and ropes. I too did a perfect mooring but no audience dammit.  Although really sad we cant moor at these moorings it certainly makes life easier when getting water. Also glad the tap hasnt been turned off unlike at Neatishead.

We then set off for Simpsons who werent open for very long this morning. We had rung them about 15 mins away and said they would stay for us so we could get a pump out. This means next time we can go straight out and not worry about pump out and water.  We put Luna to bed, left the taps open, dehumidifier on and the usual moisture traps dotted about. Apart from lack of sleep, a very satisfactory weekend with essential jobs done, Luna is as winterised as we do considering we will be out and about all over the winter.  Hoping to be back for a long weekend before Christmas but if not, she’s all prepped and ready for the next time. 

 

[Lulu]

16 minutes ago, SwanR said:

Sounds wonderful. What a bonus to get out whatever the weather. 

It certainly was and really didnt feel the need to go far. So lucky having so many lovely spots to go to near to the marina

[Mouldy]

Are the taps off at Neatishead?  We went a couple of weeks ago and filled up there with no problem, once our son realised that there’s a tap at the back of the post, that had been turned off.

We we’re hoping that NL was going to be lifted on Friday, so didn’t plan on going, but Paul has had more supply issues with the last items to finish the new build in his shed, but he’s told us she’ll definitely be out next by Thursday or Friday for planned works.  Hopefully, she’ll be back in the water before the Christmas break, but it’s not really an issue if she’s not.

[Lulu]

Graham said the one beside us was unless theres something he missed.  The Barton Turf one is lovely and quick and as its on our way back it wasn’t a problem. Dont know about Gayes Staithe 

[SwanR]

Neatishead was off on both sides when we were there but Gayes Staithe was on.

[YnysMon]

Looks beautiful.  I love the colour of the reeds and trees in the sunshine this time of the year. 

[Matt]

11 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Are the taps off at Neatishead?  We went a couple of weeks ago and filled up there with no problem, once our son realised that there’s a tap at the back of the post, that had been turned off.

Those taps on the back of the post must catch so many people out! Took me a while to find them but I had seen somebody else fill up so I knew they worked  😂

[kpnut]

12 hours ago, Lulu said:

left the taps open, dehumidifier on and the usual moisture traps

Seeing as you’d just filled with water, do you just turn off the water pump and open the taps? I hadn’t thought of doing that. 

[FairTmiddlin]

11 minutes ago, Matt said:

Those taps on the back of the post must catch so many people out!

Depends on your outlook Matt.

The taps are on the front of the posts.

You are stood at the back.

[kpnut]

13 hours ago, Lulu said:

All my hard work from a few weeks ago undone with the reoccurring green patina

It’s annoying isn’t it. I did springers retreat a month ago and the white sunroof is now green again. Even the orange roof has a green sheen. I’d even used tap water rather than river water like I normally do!  I thought it’s because I moor under a big willow tree but maybe it’s just ‘the norm’ 

[kpnut]

12 hours ago, Lulu said:

Im absolutely determined to get a grip and stop just doing helming and ropes. I too did a perfect mooring but no audience dammit.

Good on you Sam. And typical there’s no one there to see!

[Mouldy]

31 minutes ago, Matt said:

Those taps on the back of the post must catch so many people out! Took me a while to find them but I had seen somebody else fill up so I knew they worked  😂

It would seem strange to turn the water off and leave the hoses there.  We filled up there on 20th November, so I guess it’s possible that the BA have turned them off since, but the taps at the back of the posts aren’t obvious.

[Matt]

2 hours ago, FairTmiddlin said:

Depends on your outlook Matt.

The taps are on the front of the posts.

You are stood at the back.

If memory serves me correctly there are two taps so one at the front and one at the back! Or one on each side and nothing on the front or back…..

[Lulu]

3 hours ago, kpnut said:

Seeing as you’d just filled with water, do you just turn off the water pump and open the taps? I hadn’t thought of doing that. 

Exactly that 

[Lulu]

I haven’t posted on Luna’s Log for some time. I realise I missed write ups on two weeks over summer as well.  We have been on board quite a lot over the winter but it’s all been very samey to be honest, Irstead, Potter, Acle, Stokesby  so we had electric.  We reached our limit of -7 in the marina but we are definitely not fair weather boaters!  
 

This weekend we’ve actually been somewhere different. We stayed in the marina on Thursday then Friday morning decide to go to Gayes Staithe for the first time but we needed the side on for Desmond. It was occupied so we went on an adventure to find Woods End Staithe. Kate had been there recently and had sent me some pictures so we knew roughly what to expect.   I was nervous in case it was occupied as reversing back out would have been a considerable challenge.  It was empty. A very tight turn but we had no problems mooring.  The mud was horrendous. I tried to take Desmond for what looked like a lovely walk if it was drier but gave up when Desmond sunk in mud to his ankles and he looked up at me in a very pathetic way. He was a show dog , a princess and doesn’t like getting dirty (unless it’s fox poo for some reason) . 
 

It was a lovely peaceful mooring but not sure we will go back until it dries up. 
 

Does anyone know anything about the sunken wooden boat? I’d love to know some history about it. It’s a sad sight and wanted to take lots of photos before it’s completely gone. 
 

We left there early this morning, waved at Moonlight Shadow at Irstead and stopped at How Hill in ‘Luna’s Nook’ , saw Moonlight Shadow pass so we headed back in the hope Irstead was free. Totally empty so here for the rest of the day. Back home tomorrow 

[SwanR]

Lovely photos Sam. Hope you have a lovely relaxing day. I’m sure you will. 🤗

[addicted]

 Hi Sam, that was a nice surprise to get a luna's log write up. I've missed them. also the great photos. You are so good at that. I'm pretty dire, people missing half  their head or  their feet are typical of my pathetic efforts. Keep them comimg.

 

Carole x

[Lulu]

Thank you Carole. The two weeks I missed last summer and autumn, I have plenty of photos but delayed writing each one up then forgot completely and now I’ve forgotten details on what we did! We are out and about so much but we don’t actually do a lot other than laze about and relax:)  Looking forward to meeting up this season x 

[YnysMon]

Lovely to see your holiday tales start up again (and Warren’s). Makes me think the season is almost starting up again. How exciting!

I was thinking of trying out Wood End again when we are next on MS in May. Hopefully it will be less muddy then. I think our two would wallow in it! We tried in September but the smell from the green algae defeated us.

 

 
 

[Lulu]

Friday 7th April

We usually avoid going to the boat at Easter knowing it is likely to be very busy but Graham really needed a break from work so after him nipping to work for a few hours we set off for Norfolk at 10.30am. It usually takes 1 hr 20 but it took us 2 1/2 hours. The traffic as we predicted was dire. We had Norfolk Radio on listening out for traffic reports. Wroxham came up as long delays so we carried on on the NDR and went to Stalham via Coltishall instead.  On arrival the plan (Graham’s plan) was to get a pump out then back to the marina to do some maintenance and go out the following day. We had a pump out at Simpsons using our freebie from the loyalty scheme and I could have bet a million pounds that Graham would say lets just go out now. As we approached the dyke to our new mooring, sure enough, we just carried on. ‘Were you surprised?’, he asked. ‘Not at all, you do this every time!”

We had a lovely cruise deciding on ‘Luna’s Nook’ at How Hill. It was free so that was the first choice of our holiday achieved. I took Desmond straight off for a short walk on the field. He had an injury after picking up some glass in his pad. £160 vet bill and we were armed with antibiotics and painkillers and the fact he doesn’t move around on the boat much, hoped this holiday would aid the healing.   Desmond was riveted by a couple flying a kite in the field. I don’t think he could work out what it was at all. It was lovely to see Toad Cottage’s little garden looking so neat and tidy.  I only realises after they were leaving that the  Catcouk crew had been moored up in front of us. The problem with Richos new thing of only having the name on the stern. 
 

During the afternoon into the evening a steady stream of boats came down the Ant. The season had properly started.  Lovely sunset. Shame about the camera light in the shot below. 

[kpnut]

22 minutes ago, Lulu said:

It was lovely to see Toad Cottage’s little garden looking so neat and tidy.

I thought exactly the same Sam when I walked down there the other day. It had been a bit neglected over the past two or three years. 

[Lulu]

Saturday 8th April

I sort of woke up during the night to what I was convinced was Graham’s phone going off. Four boom noises. I thought his work must have forgotten he wasn’t on call. I drifted off again, boom boom boom boom. Then light dawned literally. I realised it was the wonderful sound of the bittern. I remembered from last year How Hill was where I had first heard them. So good to know they were still about.  
 

We decided to set off early before everyone else to get under Ludham Bridge and away from chaos. We waved at Broad Ambition as the crew went by. Purdey very much supervising proceedings.  Ludham Bridge was full bar the taped off section.  We passed Springer’s Retreat at LBBY ready and waiting for Kpnut to pick up later that day.  St Benets was full.  Our two options for mooring was Acle or Stokesby.  Acle was quite full. There was a Luna size spot but it looked a bit tight. We could see people beginning to prepare to set off so we decided to carry on to Stokesby and if that was full we would go back to Acle with the likelihood of more spaces available . We had to dodge a lot of reed debris (which I call porcupines) and bits of wood.  
 

As we turned the corner at Stokesby we saw the BA moorings were empty so that was an  easy decision.  Having been caught out once with the weird tidal movement, we were extra cautious but had no problems at all.  The biggest issue I was going to have was to avoid the cakes. I’m a few pounds off losing a stone and was determined not to give in so Graham went to the shop to get some essentials instead. Why I had to ask him what sort of cakes there were I don’t know but I resisted caving in.   Another very short walk around the green with Desmond. I really wanted to go on the lovely walk by the river towards Acle but at this point Desmond still couldn’t walk comfortably on tarmac.  We had a lazy day watching lots of boats and ‘porcupines’ passing by and visitors arrived later tapping on the window. A lovely restful day. Just what was needed. 

 

[YnysMon]

What cheeky visitors! Obviously expecting to be fed.

I suspect the problems mooring at Stokesby are mostly within an hour or two after the turn of the falling tide, as the flow is often in an opposite direction to what you’d expect on a rising tide.  

[Lulu]

We don’t feed them but assume other’s do!   It was the first time we moored there we thought we were coming in against the tide but obviously werent. A confusing bit of water at times. 

[Lulu]

Sunday 9th April - a perfect day so not selling 

We awoke to a most beautiful blue sky. It looked like this was going to be the best weather day of our break. The temperature overnight looked good too so didn’t need to look for electric. I was determined we would go to my favourite mooring, so to allow for hopefully any occupants to have left, we set off for Boundary Farm at about 9.30.  An absolutely beautiful cruise. I usually helm but decided I wanted to sit on the bow and take some video and photos from there.  The boat is so quiet when outside on the bow. I just love listening to the water against the hull.   Just before Acle there’s a lovely little cottage on the right near a mill. I’ve decided I want to live there. 
 

We got to Boundary Farm and there was only one other boat there but soon that one left and we were on our own. I took Desmond for a longer walk back towards Acle. Because it was all soft grass, Desmond’s foot wasn’t bothering him. 
 

Late morning, we spied the stunning boat that is Papaver.  Doug and Hele came over and rafted beside us and we had a good old chinwag in the sunshine. Hope you are feeling better now Hele and thank you again for the CD Doug. 
 

There was a constant stream of boats going by us all afternoon which I do enjoy watching but the downside is the excessive speed from some of them causing a lot of wash. I remember last year a ranger moored up behind us telling people to slow down.   I still love that mooring though. The lovely walks and peace when its evening is just perfect. 
 

That evening Graham cooked a yummy dinner of lamb steaks. We were totally off grid and it had been a fantastic day. After our expensive boat issues last year, worrying about it all the time and other stuff going on, I felt I was losing interest at one point and I was all for selling the boat much to Graham’s dismay.  I had even contacted Mark to ask if it was ok to post an advert to sell Luna on the forum it had got that bad in my head but it was days like we had at Boundary Farm and later on that made me realise its not what I wanted to do much to Graham’s relief.  We know Luna isnt our forever boat as we are going to need something a bit bigger for grandchildren to get the Broads bug but for the time being she’s still part of our family.