Carried Away By A Moonlight Shadow...

[YnysMon]

I got slightly worried yesterday evening. The owners who were on board MS this week, but who could only use part of their week, reported that the batteries didn’t appear to be charging properly and lights were flickering when not on shore power. 

Luckily for the syndicate, the guys at Horning Pleasurecraft have already checked things out and discovered it was due to a loose wire on one of the batteries. That’s a good outcome. Much better than having to shell out for new batteries!

[Broads01]

The good service from Horning Pleasurecraft continues.

[NotDeadYet]

On 30/03/2024 at 19:13, YnysMon said:

If anyone else is around early June, do let us know!

Well, you asked! We'll be collecting Clearway from HPC on 31st May, unfortunately for just a week. We had to skip last due to Mrs NDY's sudden illness, so are now very excited. We'll look you up before heading off.  Thanks for your excellent musings, pictures, and food pointers, much valued over here.

[MargeandParge]

We really hope that you and your Mrs have a wonderful holiday free from any illnesses. Have a great time and let us know all about it. That is the info that doesn't need censorship. 

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[YnysMon]

3 hours ago, NotDeadYet said:

Well, you asked! We'll be collecting Clearway from HPC on 31st May, unfortunately for just a week. We had to skip last due to Mrs NDY's sudden illness, so are now very excited. We'll look you up before heading off.  Thanks for your excellent musings, pictures, and food pointers, much valued over here.

Hope you have a great time, and that the weather is kind to us. A little less rain would be much appreciated!

Clearway looks a lovely boat. A good choice for getting under those pesky bridges! 

[NotDeadYet]

Thanks for the good wishes. Last time out we had Skyway, who is a large lady! It's nice to get up high now and again, but we wanted a change and had booked Clearway for last year, before having to cancel.  Thanks to HPC and Hoseasons, it wasn't too painful financially and we're delighted to be able to pick up where we left off. 7 weeks to go!

[YnysMon]

THE TALE OF TRIP 19

Monday 22nd April

Just a short five-day trip this time, but a bonus one, as no one else in the Syndicate had been able to take advantage of a spare week. We have a new syndicate member who was unable to use their first week due to having already booked up holiday leave and originally we had thought that this spare week would come in handy to complete some work on MS (replacing the repaired push-pit rail and replacing a panel in the aft heads). However, last week’s owners had left early and Horning Pleasurecraft staff had been their usual efficient selves and completed the planned work last week.

This meant that my son Harry and I have been able to fortuitously catch a few extra days on board. We couldn’t take the whole week as I was committed to playing the organ in two churches Sunday morning and Harry was playing in a Woburn Sands Band concert late Sunday afternoon (which was a really excellent concert). Unfortunately, my husband Graham and younger son Alec couldn’t join us as they had commitments this week, and we decided that our two dogs would also stay home to keep them company.

Graham had done most of the food shopping for me yesterday (bless him, he does spoil me) and so by leaving MK fairly early we managed to get to Horning in time to depart from the Marina before mid-day, despite a stop-off in Roy’s to get a few choice morsels (mainly locally produced sausage, bacon and dressed crabs). It’s amazing how quickly you can get everything on board and get away when you don’t have to prepare the boat for the dogs (i.e. cover every saloon surface). Setting off and mooring up is a lot more peaceful without the dogs too. Seren whines like anything, making quite a racket, and Pozzie has decided recently that he sometimes needs to join in.

So, our departure from HPC was a lot calmer than it normally is. Apart from knowing that we would stay up north, we hadn’t decided where to go today. We did a bit of dithering whether to go up the Ant, but in the end decided to go down the Bure as far as Stokesby, moor up for a visit to the shop, then return to Acle. Last week I thought we could do some mud weighting, as we don’t have the dogs with us, but the temperatures this week seem to have dipped again, so we were wanting to be hooked up to electric ideally.

It's nice to be able to appreciate the upholstery for once!

When we got to Stokesby the BA moorings were taken (as anticipated). However, no sooner had we moored on the farm moorings and sorted out our ropes properly (which took longer than normal as the ropes expert – Graham - isn’t with us), we spotted that a space had become free on the BA moorings. We started off again, post haste, and as we approached the BA moorings the other boat there started off too. So we have ended up with the mooring to ourselves for much of the day. It seems that getting to Stokesby around 2pm, or shortly after, is a good ploy, as people who have had lunch at the pub are ready to leave (I’ve previously noticed a similar turn-over at Potter Heigham early afternoon).

By this time we were peckish ourselves, so we made our way to the pub and had a couple of starters with a shared portion of chips. Harry had whitebait and I had the salt and pepper squid. As we had only been peckish, not really hungry, we didn’t even finish the chips. We also visited the shop and got some rocky road and some chocolates.

There is what seems like a fairly tame swan and there are also some cheeky geese in Stokesby.

Back on the boat we put a couple of pounds credit on the electric post and I did some unpacking. Harry caught up with some sleep.

Late afternoon we went for a walk along the river bank as far as Old Hall Drainage Mill. It wasn’t that long a walk, but enjoyable. There’s one section where there’s a little belt of blackthorn that forms a small tunnel over the path. It felt very odd going for a walk without the dogs though.

 

We only wanted a light supper this evening, so we had the dressed crab from Roy’s with some fresh crusty bread and a small side salad. There wasn’t anything on telly that we wanted to watch either and we felt too tired to start watching a DVD, so it was a fairly early night.

Doh! Once I was nicely ensconced in bed, I realised we hadn’t checked how much credit was left on the electric post. I semi-dressed again, went out and was surprised how much we’d used since mid-afternoon, so put another £2 on the post. This lasted until just before 7am the following morning. I guess it’s not surprising that the credit isn’t lasting so long, given the way the utilities have increased in price. On this trip, we generally used just over £3 overnight, plus another £1 heating the boat with a dimplex from late afternoon. We had a dimplex on in each of our cabins (mine was on a very low setting) and each had an underblanket.

 

[YnysMon]

Tuesday 23rd April

I woke before dawn this morning. Back to my old bad habit of waking early the first few nights on board. I was very cosy in bed until the electric credit ran out, after which I got up and put the Webasto on, so was still cosy. 

Around 8am I woke Harry and made him some coffee. Shortly after that I spotted that the river was dead slack, so I took the opportunity to set off without Harry having to help me with untying the lines. The plan today was to go up the Ant. Almost as soon as we started off it started drizzling. Very light drizzle, but you know how that can fog up the windscreen even more than proper rain. I was wishing that I’d put some Rain-X on the windscreen yesterday.

Fortunately, the drizzle eased off as we neared Ludham Bridge, so I was able to pop my head out of the helm hatch and, as the sills were visible under the bridge, we didn’t need to take our canopy down. I had been given a heads up by a lady in a passing private boat that there was 8’ under the bridge.

The drizzle mostly kept off for the journey up the Ant, so I was able to keep the hatch open and enjoy the bird song. Thanks to the Merlin App, I’m starting to recognise some bird song, especially birds that have distinct calls such as chiff-chaff and cetty’s warblers. I do love a journey up the river Ant, even on a dull day.

Our luck struck again. There was no one at Irstead Staithe! We hastily moored up and found 87p credit on the post. Win-win! Some swans were quick to beg for food.

We decided to have today’s main meal at lunch time. We had chosen a couple of rump steaks when at Roy’s. To be honest, they were a bit of a disappointment, being rather tough. Maybe we should have gone to Ludham butchers (I was trying to save cruising time yesterday by only going to Roy’s). On the other hand, the beer battered oven chips that we also bought at Roy’s were great. We discovered them on our last trip, and I’ve not found them on sale anywhere else so far. 

far.

After lunch we went for a walk to Alderfen Broad. As we were walking along Shoals Road (that leads from the staithe) we spotted a deer running across the adjacent field, that in turn startled a large hare. We love spotting the wildlife and the flora. Last time we were on the Broads the hedgerows were full of daffodils. This time, they were generously sprinkled with bluebells and other wild flowers are starting to come out too.

At the end of Shoals Road we found the (late) Queen’s tree.

We got to the Broad along Water Lane, then some footpaths that took us to the eastern entry to the nature reserve.

Having visited the viewing platform...

I then commented to Harry that the path that leads to the southern entrance to the reserve looked a lot less muddy that it had last time I visited.

I was slightly regretting this observation a little later when one foot sank almost to the top of my boot.

It was very muddy, and it started to rain, so our trousers were fairly wet by the time we got back to the boat. We were both wearing trousers that dry quickly though, and as the sun came out when we got back (sods law), they dried nicely our very warm saloon.

It was a very peaceful evening, apart from when the boat moored on the nearby parish staithe ran their engine. They did this after the normal 8pm time, and also at 7am the following morning. Grrr.

 

 

[YnysMon]

Wednesday 24th April

Kate (forum member kpnut) and I had hatched a plan to meet up at around 10am this morning at Acle. I’d figured that it had taken me a couple of hours to cruise from Acle to Irstead yesterday, so I duly started out at 8am this morning. Harry was still in bed, so I managed to set off without his assistance again.

It was a pleasant morning, with just a few spots of rain, which wasn’t an issue as we had just over 8’ clearance under Ludham Bridge, so we got through with the canopy up again.

As we emerged onto the more 'exposed' parts of the river, the wind seemed to be bit stronger than the ‘moderate breeze’ that the BBC had forecast and when we got to Acle it was blowing strongly off the BA moorings. I don’t think we would have managed to moor up without Kate’s assistance. It didn’t help that a squall with rain and even stronger wind struck just as we were mooring up, so both Kate and Harry got wet.

This duck seemed quite happy sitting near MS' bow.

Kate went back over the bridge to her boat and then she and her husband Tony joined us in the Dunes River Café for breakfast. I enjoyed a child’s breakfast, which was plenty enough for me: sausage (or you can opt for bacon), egg, beans and tomato and toast. I was pleased that they were sensible enough not to put butter on my toast, as I’d asked for dairy free milk with my tea, even though I’d forgotten to mention that I didn’t want butter. That’s good service.

After our breakfast, Kate and Tony joined us on MS for a while for a natter, before they set off for Womack.

Harry and I walked into Acle. We had planned to follow the Weaver’s Way as far as Acle Dyke, but the stretch of path that leads from the Acle Bridge Inn moorings was flooded, so we ended up just walking to and from the village along the path that follows the line of the road. It’s a fairly pleasant walk though as it’s separated from the road by a hedgerow. We were a bit concerned about these swan eggs on the way into Acle, but on our way back, the (mummy?) swan was back. We also spotted a moorhen.

We found the old pillbox in Acle that Kate mentioned in a recent post, which seems very incongruous stuck in the middle of a new housing development, and on our way back through the village we noticed that there appears to be a semi-pillbox built into the side of Manor House, an old house that overlooks the green in the centre of the village.

We also discovered a wonderful deli called Lemon Tree Fine Foods, which is on the corner opposite the church (and near the Co-op) and specialises in cheese.

Well worth a visit if you are a cheese lover. They had several local cheeses, but also some more unusual British and continental cheeses, including the Norwegian gjetost cheese (it’s brown and fairly sweet), which I haven’t had since visiting Norway with my Mum. Although I try to avoid dairy in the tree pollen hay fever season (i.e. now!) I find that goats milk/cheese doesn’t trigger symptoms as badly as cows milk.

After visiting the cheese shop we picked up a few bits and pieces in Co-op before returning to the boat. Luckily, although we had a few spits and spots of rain during the walk, we managed to get back to the boat without getting wet. Apart from the squall that we’d had when approaching Acle, today’s weather wasn’t too bad with lots of sunny spells. The wind died down in the evening, so we had a peaceful night without bow slap.

This evening I tried out something a bit different (for us anyway). As (vegetarian) Graham isn’t with us, we had duck breasts with a salad of spinach, chopped orange segments, (cold) new potatoes and sliced red chilli with an orange juice and oil dressing pepped up with a splash of soy sauce. Very easy to prepare and - YUM!

Graham has refined his solution for keeping the saloon warm. This time we have a blanket that has a channel sewn in for an extendable curtain rod. This gets hung in the doorway between the saloon and galley.

Harry is spending some of his time on board learning Japanese. 

[YnysMon]

Thursday 25th April

The plan for today had been to moor at Potter Heigham and do the circular walk that joins the section of the Weaver’s Way that skirts Hickling Broad and Heigham Sound. However, given the path at Acle had been flooded yesterday, we thought…perhaps not.

Instead, we decided to go to Great Yarmouth. It’s not somewhere we would want to visit when we have the dogs with us, so today seemed a good opportunity.

First, we enjoyed the final cruise for this trip up to Horning. Shortly after Thurne Mouth, we noticed that Springer’s Retreat was in front of the boat immediately in front of us, and as that boat turned up the Ant, we ended up following Kate until we turned off into HPC.

Entering the HPC basin...

It's lovely that our mooring is alongside most of the other syndicate boats.

We managed to find a car park in Yarmouth not far from the Market Square. They seem to have built a new market building recently, and there were some interesting food stalls there.

Sadly though, Yarmouth town centre seems mostly run down and a bit tatty. There is Victorian arcade that at one time must have been quite posh, but is currently looking very sad, with most of the units being empty. I’m sure it could be revived if someone had some vision. Renting out some of the units as what looks like very bare office space isn’t going to help.

There are also shops along some of the 'rows' that lead off the market square.

We walked from the market toward the yacht station, noticing the interesting names of some of the ‘rows’ on the way. This one sounds a bit gruesome...

And what the on earth is a 'peruke'?

Lunch was had at The White Swan, which is very close to the yacht station and the old town walls.

There’s a fishmonger’s there (with a wonderful selection of fish and fish products, including baguettes and salads to take away) and a fish restaurant. Harry and I both chose a dish from the specials board: Halibut steaks with pea risotto, pickled samphire and mussels, and a lovely creamy sauce. Absolutely delish.

I overheard one couple nearby telling other diners that friends had recommended they try the seafood platter, so if we visit again we might try that.

The fishmongers...

After lunch we walked down to the historic South Quay, passing Vauxhall Bridge on the way.

Near Vauxhall Bridge there's a memorial stone to the tragedy that occurred when a suspension bridge collapsed when a crowd had gathered on it to watch a clown's stunt. Sadly the majority of the victims were children.

There was almost 8' under the bridge.

Harry didn't have that much clearance walking under it. 

The flow under Haven Bridge looked pretty ferocious.

There are a number of museums in the vicinity of the South Quay,

but for today we just visited the National Trust Elizabethan House. I’d like to visit some of the other museums some time. There is also an old fishing vessel, the Lydia Eva, that is free to visit. When we were passing it was hosting a large party of small children and their carers, so closed to other visitors.

By the way – a tip. If you are caught short and want to find the nearest loo whilst visiting the South Quay, the Public Library near the Elizabethan House is handy.

The Elizabethan House was interesting. Originally there had been at least three buildings separated by 'rows' - the narrow passageways that led between the river to the sea. At that time sea-going ships didn't come up river, they were unloaded off the beach area, and the rows facilitated movement between the river vessels and the sea. This passageway in the house had originally been a 'row'.

Different rooms in the house are furnished to reflect different eras in the house's history. Apparently, there's a theory that the plan to execute King Charles 1 might have been hatched in this very room.

After that, we went back to the market area and walked as far as the Britannia Pier along the pedestrianised Regent Road.

Pretty depressing, as most of the shops were shut, and the ones that we open seemed to be mostly very cheap tat. Maybe the place will have more life about it in the summer. I’m not very keen on the typical seaside resorts at the best of times.

Back on the boat we had a very peaceful evening. I enjoy our evenings moored up in the boatyard. It somehow feels like ‘home’.

[YnysMon]

Friday 26th April

The usual boring final cleaning morning, following an early morning visit to Boulter’s.

It’s a lot easier and quicker to clean the boat without having had the dogs on board though! We got away around mid-day and went to The White Horse, Neatishead for lunch. We both just had burgers, but they were very enjoyable, and I took the opportunity to buy a loyalty card for £10, which gives 5% off food and drink. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to buy one, as it’s also valid in the Thurne Lion.

We had a good journey home, with reasonable traffic. I was glad I wasn’t going the other way though, as there appeared to be several hold-ups.

[Lulu]

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

And what the on earth is a 'peruke'?

“Peruke, man's wig, especially the type popular from the 17th to the early 19th century. It was made of long hair, often with curls on the sides,”
 

You learn something new everyday!

[dom]

1 hour ago, Lulu said:

“Peruke, man's wig, especially the type popular from the 17th to the early 19th century. It was made of long hair, often with curls on the sides,”

It's also a term (still in current use) for a form of antler deformity in deer. Presumably one meaning derives from the other, but no idea which came first.

[YnysMon]

Thanks…you certainly do learn something new everyday. Harry and I were impressed at how much history was lurking in the nooks and crannies of Great Yarmouth, if you look carefully.

[kpnut]

4 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Harry and I were impressed at how much history was lurking in the nooks and crannies of Great Yarmouth, if you look carefully.

Looking at your photos of the old town, it certainly does have much to share with Hull old town as I mentioned to you it might. Even down to a ship to look round. Ours, presuming it’s still there, is the Arctic Corsair. There’s an extremely interesting fishing museum and the Wilberforce museum all about William Wilberforce and the abolition of slavery. It has the most amazing couple of mulberry trees in the garden, I picked them one year and made some delicious mulberry jam. 
And a couple more museums that I can’t remember the names of. Also ‘the Deep’ - the worlds largest ‘submarium’ which I think is just a posh name for an aquarium. 
If you ever get up my way, it’s well worth a visit (and a cuppa (of more) at ours!)

[kpnut]

I haven’t noticed that cheese shop in Acle before. I’ll do some Christmas shopping in there later in the year. 
And that fishmonger in GY looks good too. Maybe worth a stop after one of my visits by car to Burgh Castle. 

[YnysMon]

I think the cheese shop is fairly new. I don’t remember seeing it last time I walked into Acle to visit the co-op. 

[YnysMon]

53 minutes ago, kpnut said:

I haven’t noticed that cheese shop in Acle before. I’ll do some Christmas shopping in there later in the year. 
And that fishmonger in GY looks good too. Maybe worth a stop after one of my visits by car to Burgh Castle. 

There’s plenty of parking for customers outside The White Swan and its adjoining fishmonger shop. When we travel into Gt Yarmouth from Horning, our route takes us past the yacht station and The White Swan. If you are approaching from Acle direction it’s just off the roundabout after you cross the river Bure. 

[FairTmiddlin]

The Witherspoons's name "The troll cart" refers to the carts used in the rows to transport all goods household or mercantile.

A thin cart with two inset wheels (to clear any steps in the row)

[YnysMon]

Switching from the 'live' thread from our June trip to the long-winded version.

Trip 20 (yes, really!)

Friday 31st May

We got on our way around 9.30am and headed for Northampton where we visited Graham’s Dad, who is currently in St Andrew’s Hospital, so it wasn’t until 11’ish that we properly got on our way to Norfolk. We stopped for lunch at La Hogue Farm Shop (on the A11, just after the turn off from the A14) and then stopped at the Thorpe Sainsbury’s for our food shop, so it was around 5pm by the time we arrived at the boat. By the time we’d unpacked and made the beds it was getting on for 8m, so we just had some bread and cheese/salami before unwinding for a bit before bedtime. We had a peaceful night despite it being fairly windy.

Chilled dogs.

We have learned through experience not to leave the pennant out if it’s windy, as it causes a knocking sound in the fore cabin.

Saturday 1st June

We both woke early this morning, as is usual on our first night on the Broads.

After a breakfast of flapjacks (brought from home), we got on our way around 8am and cruised as far as Acle. The plan was to find somewhere to moor from which we could witness the excitements of the 3 Rivers Race (3RR). There was a fairly strong northerly wind blowing, so rather than attempting to moor on the north bank at the BA moorings (all spaces on electric taken anyway) we passed under the bridge and moored outside the Acle Bridge Inn. This was a first for us, we haven’t moored there before, never mind about mooring there overnight. It was the ideal spot for watching the 3RR as it was within sight of the bridge and opposite the red marker buoy that marks the point which race participants can paddle to/from to get under the bridge.

Initially, we only paid to hook up with electric as we weren’t sure whether we would stay there overnight. The northerly wind was rather chilly, and we fancied digging our the dimplex radiator from it’s summer storage spot under the sofa. As the 3RR wasn’t due to start until late morning, we went into the Inn for a late morning breakfast (they stop serving brekkie at 11). I had a small breakfast and Graham had Eggs Florentine (similar to eggs benedict, but with spinach instead of ham). By the time we’d had breakfast we had decided to stay there overnight, so we added the £10 mooring fee to our bill.

By 2pm several boats had come under the bridge. As the afternoon wore on it got busier and busier. It looked like the majority had decided to come down the Bure first and tackle the Thurne and Ant later. Late afternoon boats started to return upriver, whilst other’s were still coming downriver in droves. Exciting!

Early evening we had a walk with the dogs as far as Acle Dyke. When we returned, we had a light supper, a potato, lentil, asparagus and egg salad. I went to bed shortly after that, even though it wasn’t even 9pm. Tired out!

[Broads01]

Pozzick really is a handsome chap.

[YnysMon]

Sunday 2nd June

I woke around 4am this morning and am pretty sure it was the voices of sailors coming back upriver to get under the bridge that woke me. The limit for completing the 3RR is 24 hours. The dogs must also have been disturbed, as Pozzie started to whine and scratch at our cabin door. I took the dogs out in turns and then settled in the saloon. I didn’t feel cold initially, even though there was only the occasional gleam on sunshine. Later I moved the radiator into the saloon from the cabin. Graham was still cosily ensconced in his bunk.

Just before 5am a Hunter’s cabin yacht came back upriver and over the next hour there were three or four other boats, all cabin cruisers (not as speedy as some of the other boat classes).

 

Graham got up in time for us to start off from Acle around 8am. We had made tentative arrangements to meet up with Sam, Graham and Desmond at Stokesby mid-morning. Luckily there was space for Moonlight Shadow and Mermaid on the farm moorings. We arrived about half an hour before Sam and Graham, so had time to take the dogs for a walk.

 

I had intended to invite Sam and Graham on board for coffee but had forgotten that Desmond is rather nervous of other dogs, so we just had a chat instead. We showed Sam around MS, and I got shown around Mermaid.

Just before 11 we waved farewell to Sam and Graham and set off for the transit through Great Yarmouth. Sam sent us a photo of us setting off.

 

We went through Yarmouth shortly after low tide, well before slack, and there was almost 10’ under the bridge (still not a lot considering I was hoping the water levels would be lower in June).

By now, the weather was perking up. Pozzie went to shelter in the shade. Seren hasn't such a thick coat, so she was fine.

 

The breeze across Breydon meant it was still cool for us (we had our canopy down).

 

Once we moored up at Burgh Castle BA moorings we got quite hot and we had to change to cooler clothing. This was another first as we've only stopped here briefly during the daytime previously. 

There are two electric posts on the mooring. One was out of action, and taped off, so clearly the BA were aware. On the other post there was one socket with just over £3.40 credit. Who would put that much credit on at this time of the year? Naturally, we though that was a gift. This time of the year we don’t use much, even if we have the electric radiator on overnight (on a low setting), so there was still over £2 credit left the following morning.

For our mid afternoon 'lunch' I had a steak and Graham had vegan sausages, which we had with baked potato and steamed asparagus.

After lunch, Graham fell asleep in the sun whilst I did some crosswords.

 

The dogs settled down to sleep too, so all was peaceful.

Late afternoon I went for a walk to explore Belton, following the footpath that runs from the far end of the moorings (the upstream end). I passed a pub (the King’s Arms) around 10-15 minutes into the walk. Carrying on, I turned into Butt’s Lane that leads toward Burgh Castle and then the lane (Porters Loke) that leads toward Goodchild’s, the Fisherman’s Arms and back to the BA moorings.

Graham then took the dogs for a walk toward Black Drainage Mill. The path beyond the end of the moorings was very overgrown though.

After that we just sat in the sunshine. We didn’t want much for supper, following our large, late lunch. I went to bed whilst it was still light, around 9pm. Before that, I had expressed a bit of nervousness to Graham about being cast off in such a strong tidal area, so Graham took a 'belt and braces' approach to our mooring ropes.

 

 

[Lulu]

It was an absolute delight to finally meet you all in person. Moonlight Shadow is a lovely boat. Such a great layout. Obviously it took a very long time to do the full tour of Mermaid 😂 

[YnysMon]

Monday 3rd June

We had decided yesterday that we would get up early this morning to take advantage of the remaining rising tide to get to Loddon. I actually woke earlier than the alarm I’d set, so took the dogs out individually for a ‘comfort break’ around 5am. I was surprised to see another boat moored up behind us. That hadn’t been there when I went to bed, but then I had retired before sundown.

We set off around 6’ish, heading downriver toward Breydon Water so that we didn’t have to worry about going under St Olaves bridge just before high water. I’ve never seen Breydon shortly before high water before, without the sandbanks being visible.

 

There were a couple of wherries moored at Berney Arms.

 

We cruised up the Yare at near tick-over, not that slowly though, given there was a strong tide behind us. Although we were heading for Loddon, we had made a plan to moor at Hardley Cross moorings until at least mid-morning: a. to wait for the tide to turn and b. to allow time for some of the boats that had been moored at Loddon to return down the Chet before we ventured up. There weren’t many, so I guess it hadn’t been that busy on the staithe.

In the meantime, we had some breakfast and then took the dogs for a run along the path that runs alongside the Chet. It was very overgrown, but at least it was just tall grasses, not nettles and thistles.

 

Just after 10 we set off up the Chet. The tide still hadn’t turned on the Yare, though it seemed fairly slack on the Chet. As we were passing the lower channel into Hardley Flood it was clearly near the turn as water was flowing very sluggishly into the Flood. By the time we got to the channels connecting the river with the flood it was the opposite.

As there were plenty of spaces on the staithe, we checked out the leccy points before settling on our position on the staithe, somewhere in the middle. We plugged into a post that had just over 80p’s worth. We didn’t use much overnight. The weather today and overnight was very mild, despite it being drizzly early afternoon. Apart from us taking it in turns to wander up Loddon High Street, we had a very lazy day.

Late morning Jean and Mike (fellow MS syndicate holders) turned up and said hello. They were staying in Norfolk in a cottage for a few days. We had a good natter before they continued on to their afternoon destination and we made lunch.

I prepared mushroom and halloumi burgers, using large portobello mushrooms roasted in the oven, fried halloumi and onion marmalade. I had found some ‘french fries’ in the chiller section in Loddon Co-op to go with the burgers. Graham first tried mushroom and halloumi burgers in La Hogue (it’s the place we usually stop off for a meal on our way to the Broads) but the last couple of times we’ve visited this dish had disappeared off the menu, much to his disappointment. I think we’ll be making these again. Very easy to prepare, and tasty.

After lunch, Graham had a look at our life ring, and realised that the rope attached to it was completely degraded. As he took the old rope off much of it just fell apart. It was lucky we hadn’t needed to use it!

 

 

He had brought along some Marlow rope that he’d discovered in his Dad’s garage (Dad used to own a small boatyard and chandlery), so he set about splicing a new rope for the ring and had fun creating a ‘monkey fist’ (or whatever you call it). He does enjoy messing about with rope.

 

The finished article.

 

Late afternoon, I went for a walk to Chedgrave, to explore the bits we haven’t explored when the dogs are with us. I passed the local shops and headed toward the church. I struck lucky as the Vicar was in the church. She was very welcoming, explaining that their east window had only been reinstalled a couple of days previously. It had been restored following an incident of vandalism a year or so ago. I don’t recall how long ago, but it had taken them a while to raise the funds for the restoration.  The window is unusual, comprising of fragments of medieval stained glass that had originated from Germany.

 

In this next photo you can just about see how they've pieced together the smashed glass. The vicar told me they spent ages picking up fragments of glass after the vandalism incident. Putting it all back together must have been like a super-difficult jigsaw puzzle!

 

We had the usual very lazy evening, not wanting much for supper, just pasta with pesto and a small portion at that.

 

[YnysMon]

Tuesday 4th June

Another early start this morning. We had warned our immediate neighbours on the staithe that we were planning to start off around 6am, which is what we did. Thankfully, Seren didn’t make her usual racket as we started off.

 

We were aiming for Beccles and wanted to complete the majority of the journey up the Waveney with the tide. It was a lovely journey, especially as we had started out so early, so we hardly passed any other boats. None on the Chet and none on the New Cut. Win-win!

 

As usual Pozzie just went to sleep whilst Seren was on assisting the helm duties.

 

We got to Beccles around 10am. There was 13kw on a nearby post, which the Harbour Master advised Graham should last us overnight (which it did easily). No idea what that represented in £’s credit though.

 

Graham went off to Lidl for some more food shopping (not that we needed much, we always over-cater), then I made us a fry-up. Early afternoon we took the dogs along for a walk along the river bank past the sailing club, as rain was forecast for the rest of the day. Once the rain started, it was persistent and heavy at times, so we had another very lazy evening. Despite the rain, the Sea Cadets were out canoeing. 

 

Supper was an experiment. I had found a recipe for baked sweet potato with a lime, cucumber and avocado salsa, but didn’t have all the ingredients – it should have included chopped green chilli and topped with a vegan crème fraiche flavoured with wasabi However, Graham liked it well enough for me to try making it again at home to the proper recipe. The salsa was a good counterbalance to the sweetness of the potato.

We stayed up a bit later this evening, to watch the latest episode of Sewing Bee on telly.