Carried Away By A Moonlight Shadow...

[YnysMon]

Sunday 31st October

As promised, the weather got a bit lively this morning. We took our time having breakfast (just tea and toast) and didn’t venture out until getting on for 10, and then not by boat. Harry and I went to the Thorpe Sainsbury’s, to pick up a few bits and pieces that we had either forgotten, couldn’t get in Roy’s or thought would come in useful. Graham went off to the berth holder’s showers in Brooms, as he’d run out of time to have a shower before leaving home.

The wind was even stronger when we got back to Brooms, but we knew it was forecast to lessen early afternoon. In the meantime, we just bided our time, relaxed and had a fish platter lunch featuring the local produce from Roys.

Shortly after 1pm we could see the sky clearing from the south west, and not too long after that the wind dropped to a reasonable level. There was still quite a strong breeze, but without such strong gusts. We quickly got our act together and got on our way, heading down river and debating (as we normally do) where we should head for: Hardley Mill, Loddon or Somerlayton. We had thought of going to Beccles tomorrow, but the state of the tides meant that would have been a bit of a slog back up the Waveney.

On our way down the Yare.

Cantley was at full-blast.

Very tempting...no boats moored at Hardley Mill.

I was wondering why there was some dredging equipment at Hardley Cross moorings. We found out why the following week, when we encountered them on the Chet.

We decided to go north tomorrow instead, and return to Beccles next week, when the tides would be much more helpful. In the meantime, we headed up the Chet to Loddon.

We passed three other boats on our way down the Yare and none on the Chet. There was one Brooms boat that turned up the Chet before us, but we took our time and chugged up at about 3mph. They stopped at Chedgrave Common moorings, whilst we continued up to the Staithe. Apart from three other private boats side moored either end, we were the only ones there, moored right in the middle between two of the electric posts, which turned out quite well. There was £1.34 left on one post and £1.30 on the other, so we ended up plugged into one for the evening and the other overnight, topping it up with another card as we have two small dimplex heaters with us this trip, plus electric underblankets for Graham’s and Harry’s beds. (And before anyone comments, Graham tried very hard to persuade me that I needed an underblanket too, but I’m quite toasty enough with a water bottle.)

For dinner this evening Harry and I had steaks and Graham had a Quorn bake thingy, accompanied by baked potatoes and veg. Graham has recently decided to stop eating meat. It’s generally good for us all to eat less meat, but his decision has forced me to re-think our catering for this trip. There are some meals where I’ve just got Graham a veggie alternative, but otherwise have tried to plan for vegetarian or fish-based meals. We’ll see how we get on with this as the fortnight progresses!

We ended the day with a few games of dominoes before Graham took Seren out for her pre-beddy constitutional.

Loddon: TV signal ok. Signal for Harry’s wifi unit very weak.

[SwanR]

Great to start reading your write up ... waiting eagerly for each part. Love seeing your photos. 

[Lulu]

I’d happily go vegetarian since losing my taste and smell due to covid but Selsie wouldn’t be able to cope!  I love how Seren always is interested looking outside while you are cruising. Desmond just goes to sleep and only gets excited when we stop as he knows he going for a walk. 
 

 

[Mouldy]

52 minutes ago, Lulu said:

I’d happily go vegetarian since losing my taste and smell due to covid but Selsie wouldn’t be able to cope! . . . . . . . . . . . 

I don’t think that the wife could cope if I went vegetarian, either.  Any kind of spicy food tends to have an effect on me that others probably find antisocial!! 😁

[YnysMon]

Monday 1st November

Woke up around 6am this morning. I’m not sure why I woke, but it was impossible to get back to sleep due to the sound of nearby fishermen of Loddon chatting to each other. I think they were trying to keep their voices down, though you know how sound carries over water.

Just after sunrise, the Brooms boat that had stopped last night at Chedgrave Common turned up at the Staithe, so that woke me up even more. We are guessing they were newbies, as they seemed to have some difficulty stern mooring. (That’s not a criticism, we’ve all been there!)

Graham and I got up, had breakfast and checked out the weather/news. Graham topped up with water (not that we had used much) and then we left Seren with Harry (who was still in bed) whilst we went up Loddon’s main street to Boots and the Loddon DIY shop. Yesterday evening we checked out the First Aid Kit on the boat. It was very depleted, so instead of buying a lot of individual items to replenish it we had found online a version by Boots that seemed very comprehensive and good value at £20. We ordered and paid for this at the Loddon Boots, intending to pick it up when we return south next week.

The visit to the DIY shop was to see if they had an electric under blanket. Harry and Graham have been enjoying the benefits of electric blankets this week whilst I’ve been using a hot water bottle. Actually, I’ve been very cosy, but Graham seems to think I’ve missed out. They didn't have one, thought they thought that they would have one in stock by next week. In the meantime, I've persuaded Graham I don't need one. 

Our shopping trip didn’t last long. We got back on board (Harry still in bed) and departed the Staithe by around 9.30. It was a gloriously sunny morning for November and the slow chug down the Chet very much appreciated.

Leaving Loddon.

Harry actually got out of bed shortly after we left Loddon but left me to helm for a while, taking over just after we’d gone through Reedham.

Seren has decided that sitting next to the person helming is quite nice. 

We went as far as Polkey’s Mill, where we moored up (combination of strong outgoing tide and strong wind in the same direction made for a very controlled ‘ferry glide’ mooring, so that was good).

We took Seren for a short walk, had a sandwich lunch and then started off again, intending to go through Gt Yarmouth around low tide. Actually, we started off too early, so ended up crossing Breydon on very low revs. Quite nice really, as we could really appreciate our surroundings, including the bird life.

There was tons of room under the Vauxhall and Yarmouth Road bridges, but quite a bit of flow still ebbing down the Bure (as expected). I’m not sure if this is allowed, as the Yacht Station closed yesterday, but we stopped at the Yacht Station moorings for just over an hour to wait for the slack, so that we wouldn’t be wasting quite so much fuel plugging up the Bure.

We didn’t push it either so it was just after 4pm by the time we were approaching Stokesby. Our plans for mooring there were upended as there was a BA barge moored there. We continued on to Acle and got there before sunset.

Mind your head dear!

 

Another lovely sunset this evening. Though I seem to have mislaid the photos I took. That's the trouble with using two cameras and a mobile!

Harry had brought the DVD set of the TV series ‘Black Books’ with him. He and Graham have watched it, but I haven’t for some reason. We watched the first three episodes before and after our dinner. Dinner was a vegan cashew nut and basil pesto. You toast about 50g of cashew nuts and chop them up (I’d brought my smoothie maker to do this, which sort of worked, though they were chopped a bit too finely), and blend another 50g of nuts with an avocado, fresh basil, nutritious yeast (which I didn’t have, so used some Marmite dissolved in water instead) and garlic, all whizzed up together with olive oil and water. The paste is then mixed in with your pasta and the chopped nut sprinkled on top. Surprisingly good.

We had a really early night.

Acle: TV signal weak. Wifi excellent – 4G 3 bars.

[YnysMon]

Tuesday 2nd November

I had a really good night’s sleep, thank goodness. Acle Bridge is fairly noisy during the day, especially when lorries rattle over the bridge, but the traffic dies down at night and we found it to be really peaceful. It’s also great for giving Seren a good run in the morning, without having to keep her on a lead. We are very cautious and keep her on a lead anywhere near traffic.

Once Graham had taken Seren for a run this morning, we set off, as we thought it would be good to take advantage of the final hour or so of the incoming tide. Harry was still in bed. Mind you, I was still in my PJs with a very thick fleece top keeping me warm. It was a lovely mild morning though. 

Such a beautiful sunny morning, and nothing else on the river.

We passed a couple of hire boats moored on the southern bank of the Bure near Thurne Mouth and then nothing until we turned up the Ant. The Ant was relatively busy. We passed one boat on the stretch below the bridge, had to give way to a Richardson’s boat at the bridge (easy – hardly any wind), passed three boats moored at Ludham Bridge moorings, three boats moored at How Hill, a couple of hire boats on wild moorings and passed Robin on Trixie just downstream from Irstead.

However, I’ve got ahead of myself. We first had to get through Ludham Bridge at high water. Firstly: our observations of the bridge markers. The advance downstream bridge marker was showing about 7¾‘ (in response to this we retracted the roof but left the screen up). The marker just before the bridge showed 8’ and I spotted that the marker upstream of the moorings (for people coming downstream) showed just under 8’.

It turned out that the concrete sills of the bridge were a couple of inches or so higher than the water level, and Grendel once posted saying he had measured the gap between the bridge air-draft from the sills to be 8’ (if I’ve remembered that correctly). Also, Graham had a tape measure in hand going under the bridge and measured 17”+ clearance from the top of the windscreen. So we definitely would have had plenty of clearance with the roof up.

The Ant is beautiful all year round, but particularly so when it is so quiet.

 

We spotted a couple of kingfishers between How Hill and Irstead, and a couple of otters. We had Barton Broad to ourselves and only passed a couple of boats on the upper Ant.

We turned toward Wayford Bridge and Dilham, crossing our fingers that we’d be able to get under the bridge.

The bridge height gauge just before the bridge was around 6 ¾ , so we thought we’d try our luck as we needed 6’10” with the roof and screen down. We took it very, very slowly under the bridge and got through with only an inch or so to spare, but we were through! Just got to get back under tomorrow!

We didn’t bother putting the roof back up once we were above the bridge. Although there was definitely a chill in the air, the sun was very warming, and we had a delightful, slow cruise up to Dilham. There was one other boat moored there when we arrived, but plenty of room for us. We moored on the stretch facing the road bridge and plugged into the lekky point.

We didn’t put the roof back up, but sat enjoying the warmth of the sun.

 

It was so warm, a butterfly settled on the boat. The last we'll see in 2021 I expect.

I made us a brunch, which took a while as I par-boiled a large potato to make potato rosti, which we had with sausages (meat for us, Quorn for Graham), tomato and fried egg, plus black pud for the meat eaters.

After that we went for a walk. We crossed the bridge, turned left down a lane, left again down Broad Fen Lane, which eventually brought us to the Tonnage Bridge over the old North Walsham and Dilham Canal.

It’s not open for navigation, but it looks like at least one boat is moored on it. There is also a canoe hire business part way along Broad Fen Lane. We walked back along a footpath over fields that took us onto Oak Road and then back to Broad Fen Lane. Not too strenuous a walk, but just right for a short late-autumn afternoon.

Harry spotted an owl.

This evening we just had a bread and cheese supper, featuring some Norfolk cheeses that we’d picked up in Roy’s, plus Graham’s favourite; Camembert, as we didn’t feel like having a heavy meal.

Today has been a great day for wildlife. As well as the otters and kingfishers seen on the Ant, we had a butterfly and dragonfly land on the boat shortly after we moored. During our walk we saw a deer and a barn owl and when we got back to the boat after our walk we spotted a kingfisher perched near the bridge just in front of the boat and a moorhen scuttling around nearby. There were also masses of tiny spiders at Dilham.

[Lulu]

Fantastic photos Helen. What a treat seeing the owl.  
We have always found Acle surprisingly quiet. 
The bridge markers at Ludham certainly are different from each other and made us question if we needed to lower our screens this morning for the first time. 

[SwanR]

Great photos Helen. I must make note of where that walk was. 

[YnysMon]

Wednesday 3rd November

A day of contrasts, starting off with a beautiful still, clear morning and ending with squally showers. We woke to find that we had run out of electric, maybe we had used more overnight as it was the first really frosty night of the season. I put the Webasto on to warm up the boat. I could hear that Harry and Seren were awake too, so went through to the aft cabin to take Seren out for a comfort break. Harry hastily got dressed and we both went out to watch the sun rise.

We got a bit distracted from the sunrise though, as I spotted a kingfisher in the undergrowth on the bank opposite the boat. Whilst we were trying to take photos it flew off onto the front rail of the boat and Harry managed to get a really good shot of it.

We thought we might as well set off and enjoy a cruise in the early morning sunshine. The mist was rising off the river and the sun’s rays streaming through the trees. Glorious!

Graham and Harry retracted the roof and took the screen down as we approached Weyford Bridge. We got through again with only an inch or so to spare, taking it very slowly and cautiously.

As we were running low on some essentials (mainly bread and wine), we thought we’d try for the Richardson’s free moorings, so that we could visit Tesco. However, when we reached them, they weren’t free, they were full of Richardson’s boats, so I guess the free moorings only count during ‘the season’. Thinking back, we should have tried for Stalham Staithe. I’d forgotten about that.

Anyway, we turned around and continued our delightful journey down the Ant, only passing a couple of boats.

Crossing Barton Broad. There were cormorants (or are they shags?) on each of the red posts. Do they prefer red to green?

On the way down the Ant, Graham got a call from the Telecare Service, which the Social Worker had contacted to provide a ‘panic button’ for his Dad. They were calling about installing it, so Graham advised them to call his father. A few minutes later we got another call from them to say he’d refused it, so Graham had to call his Dad to remind him that he’d already agreed to have it.

Harry took us carefully under Ludham Bridge, this time with our roof up. As we were approaching the bridge we could see a (Brooms?) boat just completing a turn downriver of the bridge, having presumably, and sensibly, decided they had too high an air draft. We followed them down the remaining stretch of the Ant and then continued our way down the Bure, having decided to make for Ludham and then try for an electric point at Potter H.

Harry did his first ever stern mooring at Womack Staithe, probably taking things a bit too carefully, but successfully. There were four Ferry Marina boats moored at the staithe, all with very high air-drafts. Given the height of the rivers, that must have limited their cruising range. Mind you, we had gone through Ludham Bridge at near high tide yesterday and today, so maybe it’s been better than we think.

Graham took Seren out whilst Harry and I went shopping. First we went down Horsefen Lane to seek out the bakery. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open today, but the butcher’s in the village was and we got some groceries in the ex-Thrower’s too. When we got back to the boat, Graham was waiting for the water hose. We had our lunch whilst we were waiting, and when we did get the hose, found out why there had been such a wait. It’s so slow! Once we’d filled with water we left for Potter. Harry wasn’t happy at his exit from Ludham, especially as there was a Broads Authority van parked just behind us. His Dad had untied the ropes before he’d realised, we started to drift and there was another boat across our path. Anyway, apart from Harry panicking a bit, it wasn’t really an issue.

When we got to Potter H it looked quite busy, with the moorings nearest the two electric points taken. We moored at the first available spot just beyond Thunder, but when Graham got the extension lead out for the electric post the couple on board said they were about to leave and we could take their spot. After we’d had a chat with them, mainly about syndicate stuff (Thunder is also a syndicate boat and managed by the same company as ours) and they had left, we pulled the boat downstream on her ropes and ended up stern to stern with Moonlight’s sister boat, Evening Shadow. It wasn’t long before the couple on board her this week returned, having had lunch in the Norada (which they recommended). After we’d had a chat with them and they’d also left, we headed for Lathams. We got a real mixture of things: Christmas cards, cantuccini, tomatoes, swan food, dog treats etc. The delights of Lathams, the sort of shop where you can’t help picking up something you didn’t go in for.

Although the morning had been wonderfully sunny, by the time we were filling up with water in Ludham, dark clouds were looming. They had passed us by, and luckily we didn’t get a downpour until we had returned from Lathams.

We hunkered down for the rest of the afternoon and evening, mostly reading, so we didn’t watch any more episodes of Black Books this evening. Late afternoon we had a call from the service that monitor’s the Telecare service – Gofal Môn, to advise us that Dad had set off the alarm. We had provided his neighbour’s contact number, so asked them to call that. Obviously, later on we did some phoning to check he has okay.

Dinner was vegetarian haggis with neeps, tatties and onion instant gravy.

As the evening wore on, the bow slap noise from the north westerly wind was getting worse and worse (we were facing the bridge), so Graham suggested we turn the boat on her ropes. Once we’d done that it was much quieter, except that we were hit by another squall, with very heavy rain (lucky timing as we’d only just finished repositioning the boat and everyone was back inside). We all had an early night and a very peaceful night’s sleep.

[Broads01]

I'm enjoying your tale and photos Helen, thank you. I've long since given up on ever trying to get water at Womack, life's too short.

[SwanR]

Another great day and what a joy to see that kingfisher. 

We used the water hose at the old Horizon Craft area outside Pedros at Acle. Fastest water ever … we were done so quickly. 

[YnysMon]

59 minutes ago, SwanR said:

We used the water hose at the old Horizon Craft area outside Pedros at Acle. Fastest water ever … we were done so quickly. 

We’ve used that one on a previous visit too. This time they had removed the hose and we were too lazy to get our own hose out. It would have been a lot quicker doing that than use the Ludham one.

I saw on another thread that someone had questioned whether it would be difficult to get water during the winter months. All I can say is that we didn’t experience any problems. Apart from the hose in Ludham the ones at Potter H and Neatishead were still available.

[Mouldy]

32 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

We’ve used that one on a previous visit too. This time they had removed the hose and we were too lazy to get our own hose out. . . . . . . . . 

There’s usually two hoses in the basin.  Had they been taken away as well?  The one by the hut at the pump out point hasn’t been there for some while, I believe.

I’ve read (on Faceache) that the restaurant is ‘temporarily’ closed.  Not only that, but customers arrived for pre booked meals and hadn’t been notified of the closure.  It may well be closed due to staff shortages due to the pandemic and it’s obviously wrong to speculate, but with no communication with their customers, no explanation on FB or their website and the removal of water hoses, my cynical side does begin to wonder.

It does seem strange, particularly at this time of year.  There’s good road access, ample car parking and enough local business to sustain a popular restaurant through the winter months, even if only open three or four nights a week.  We’ve never eaten there, but it always seemed popular.

[YnysMon]

We wondered about Pedro's. According to Google they were supposed to be open the Sunday we were moored at Acle, but the place was definitely all shut up.

[YnysMon]

Thursday 4th November

Woke to showers and a rainbow.

We didn’t rush to get away early this morning. Graham wanted to go back to Latham’s having thought of something extra he wanted, and thought to get a fresh loaf He did get a sourdough loaf from the bakery, though when we cut into it at lunchtime it didn’t seem that fresh. You would think that you couldn’t go wrong buying a loaf first thing in the morning from a bakery. Disappointing.

Before setting off we did our engine checks. The oil level was worrying, just a blob at the end of the dip stick, whereas each day so far (and all the other times we’ve been on MS) when we’ve checked oil it’s been at the right max level. We got the oil out and topped up a bit, there wasn’t that much left in the container, but we didn’t use it all. Set off down the Thurne, and part way down the bungalow section got concerned about how the oil pressure was dropping. We haven’t paid that much attention to oil pressure previously, so panicked unnecessarily, as the oil pressure is fairly low at low revs anyway. On the other hand, we wouldn’t have been so concerned had there not been a sudden, rather than gradual drop in the oil level observed in the engine check. I think we were right to be cautious. We decided to turn around and return to the Potter Heigham mooring.

Once there we called the BCBM agent, and he liaised with Brooms for us. An engineer came out with an extra supply of oil (our 5l container was running low), had a look at the engine, topped up with oil again and ran it for a while. It appears that Brooms were aware that we have a bit of an oil leak and we were advised we should be okay if we don’t push the engine too much. We agreed with our agent that we’d monitor it over the next few days and call him again if we had any concerns.

It was getting on for mid-day by the time we set off again.

The sun came out occasionally, but there were plenty of showers too. We stopped at St Benet’s for a while for Seren to have a run around.

While we were there we had lunch (bread and cheese) We also had another call from Gofal Môn as Dad had set off his panic button again. We weren't able to contact him as his phone was engaged, but we were able to contact his neighbour to check that he was okay.

We thought to try for a mooring in Horning, knowing it would be unlikely. On our way past St Benedict's church staithe we spotted some more pumpkins. There have been pumpkins spotted in random places over the last few days, including on the bank just south of Womack dyke.

Sure enough, when we got to Horning we couldn’t moor. There was space for a couple of boats, but only small ones, so we turned around and headed for Ranworth. We had waved at Silver Cloud and Evening Shadow as we cruised up ‘The Street.

There were about eight or nine boats already moored at Ranworth, so plenty of room for us. Due to the stiff breeze we decided it would be best to moor at the side of the staithe, near the ‘taxi rank’. It was more sheltered there. There were a couple of coots swimming around the boat shortly after we arrived. 

We didn’t bother going to the Maltsters, which I find a bit hit and miss, great sometimes, just okay other times, so we stayed on board. Had some games of dominoes, read and watched another episode of Black Books. Dinner was pork steaks with mash and veg from Ludham for me and Harry and a vegan burger with same veg for Graham.

[YnysMon]

Friday 5th November

Another glorious sunny morning.

We didn’t rush away from Ranworth this morning. Harry and I fancied having a look at the church, so Graham stayed with Seren and the boat whilst we had a look around. I noticed as we approached the church that they normally serve tea/coffee and cakes from 10.30 weekdays, but not Friday’s unfortunately.

Harry went up the tower, whilst I bumbled around looking at the antiphoner (service book with music), rood screen, flowers etc.

There is some lovely needlework in the church too, with a beautiful needlepoint kneeler before the altar and lovely embroidery on the cloth before the altar.

When he came down from the tower, Harry said he’d forgotten how scary going up the final ladders is.

He spotted Moonlight Shadow peeking through the trees.

We then walked down the hill that runs down toward the Nature Reserve and walked along the board walk to the viewing platform looking out over Ranworth Broad before returning to the boat.

There was only one other boat left at the staithe by the time we left.

It was now mid-morning so we set off and had coffee and Norfolk Shortbread whilst underway, Graham having done the engine checks whilst Harry and I were having our Ranworth wander. He reported that the oil level seemed okay this morning, which was a relief but odd. I still don’t understand why the oil level has been fine every day apart from yesterday.

We headed up the Ant again today, intending to make for Irstead or Neatishead. Before leaving Ranworth we could see that the water levels were high this morning, so we took the roof and screen down well before the bridge. There was just over 7’ showing on the board, and the sills of the bridge were lapping with water.

As had been the case earlier in the week, Irstead was occupied by several fishermen, so we decided to continue to Neatishead. There were fishermen there too, and when I called to say I wanted to moor up was directed to go further down the dyke. It was a tight squeeze, as one of the boats moored half-way down was a bit wider than your normal boards boats, but we got to the end of the dyke. There was another fisherman there too, but we managed to find a space without making him move.

Later on, early afternoon, the wide boat left, and another boat that tried to reverse in also found that the fishermen wouldn’t budge. The woman who had got ashore had to fend off the boat to get it around one of the keep nets. I found it slightly intimidating, and it’s half put me off trying to moor at Irstead or Neatishead during the autumn and winter, despite there being electric points. I had thought of trying for Stalham Staithe, but suspected that I would have the same problem there. In fact I was starting to get ‘home’ sick for the southern broads where we’ve yet to have any issues with fishermen.

We had lunch at The White Horse, where Seren was made very welcome, a bowl of water was brought out as we were taking our seats, everyone made a fuss of her when they came over and she got some treats when our food was served. The food was good too. I had gnocci with a vegan garlicky creamy sauce, mushrooms and beetroot, which was very tasty. Graham had a vegan burger and Harry a southern fried chicken burger. All very yummy.

We returned to the boat for a short time, then went out for a walk in the late afternoon sun. Just before the turn off to Gaye’s Staithe Graham and Seren turned off up a footpath whilst Harry and I continued down the lane that runs to Irstead as far as the Barton Broad board walk.

The sun was setting by the time we got back to the boat and all the fishermen were packing up for the day.

We didn’t want much for dinner this evening, so just had new potatoes with bacon (vegan version for Graham). We then played cards and watched the next episode of Black Books before another early night.

[SwanR]

It’s interesting about the fishermen. We saw a sign the other side of Potter Heigham bridge at BA moorings that actually said that 1st November to 14th March anglers have priority and boats mooring should not disturb them. I don’t know whether any other BA moorings are the same. 

[YnysMon]

18 minutes ago, SwanR said:

It’s interesting about the fishermen. We saw a sign the other side of Potter Heigham bridge at BA moorings that actually said that 1st November to 14th March anglers have priority and boats mooring should not disturb them. I don’t know whether any other BA moorings are the same. 

Yes, I spotted that too. It makes perfect sense, as there is a demasting area across the other side of the river for saileys. We once moored on those moorings (Potter Higham Martham Bank, if I recall correctly) July 2017. We were the only ones mooring there, so it's not a popular mooring even at the height of season. There's quite a lot of road noise from the bridge and , if you have been lucky enough to get under the bridges, you wouldn't normally want to moor there when there are so many peaceful places to moor further upstream. The only reason we moored there that July was because it was our first night after picking up the boat and we found we were very tired by late afternoon. We'd had a busy few days just before, travelling to North Wales for my mother's funeral, then returning to MK and setting off to Norfolk, all within a few days. We were simply exhausted. 

Of course, this month, the irony is that we didn't see one fisherman on those Martham bank moorings. 

[YnysMon]

Saturday 6th November

We didn’t get up that early this morning. It seemed easier to allow time for others to leave, given we were near the head of the dyke. We had to negotiate a couple of boats moored opposite each other, but that wasn’t a problem. The plan today was to go back down the Ant and make our way to Potter H again. Although cloudy, it was a pleasant morning, milder than it had been for a few days.

The headroom through Ludham Bridge was better than yesterday, though still not great (7½‘ on the gauge furthest upstream) we took our roof down but left the screen up. Just below the bridge we encountered a surprising number of boats making their way up the Ant. I was left wondering if they would all pass under the bridge.

The Bure, in contrast, was very quiet...

the main excitement being avoiding a tacking yacht, and it didn’t seem long until we were turning up the Thurne and then Womack dyke. There was some sort of social event going on where the Wherry Maud is moored. Looked very welcoming!

The Horsefen Lane bakery was still closed, but we managed to get to the butchers before they closed for the afternoon, and picked up a few things in Throwers.

Whilst we were shopping, Graham and topped up the water, so as soon as Harry and I got back we set off for Potter H again.

Not surprising - very little room under Potter H bridge today.

The river looked fairly high when we got there.

There were hardly any boats moored at Potter (though I did notice the one downstream of us was the same one that had been downstream of us last time, and in the same position).

I tried feeding the swans amd ducks, but got mobbed by gulls.

I made us a brunch (sausage, rosti and egg, and for Harry and I tomato and black pudding), then we went for a walk along the north east back, as far as the start of the moorings near the Martham boatyard.

The concrete path that runs behind bungalows was mostly flooded, so we walked along the grassy bank above it.

The fishing spots on the bank were pretty much flooeded out too.

By the time we got back to the boat it was getting on for sunset. Harry went off to Lathams, whilst Graham and I stayed on the boat with Seren, then when he returned we went to Lathams.

Dinner this evening was pasta with roast pumpkin and a creamy (bechamel) sauce.

This evening we played cards, rather than dominoes, and watched the next episode of Black Books. We’ve now gone through the first series.

 

[YnysMon]

Sunday 7th November

Early morning at Potter H.

A short cruise today. We weren’t that early getting up, but set off before breakfast as we wanted to get to Acle in good time. We had booked a table for 12 noon in The White Horse, Upton, and we weren’t sure how long it would take us to walk from Acle Bridge to Upton.

The river levels looked very high as we cruised down the Thurne.

And we came across more pumpkins on the river bank.

Graham actually took the helm for a while as Harry hadn't yet got up and I wanted to go and get washed and dressed...I have got into a habit on our early morning starts of just throwing on a very cosy top over my PJs. (You can see from Seren's expression, she doesn't quite believe it's Graham sitting beside her.)

Passing Upton Dyke.

We got to Acle around mid morning. Before we set off I read a message from Jean (SwanR), who had forwarded a flood warning, so we made sure that the connections to the electric post (adaptor and extension lead connections) were off the ground, just in case the river overtopped the moorings.

It was a lovely walk to Upton.

We had set off around 10.30, which was plenty early enough, as we got to the pub before 11.30.

Graham bought a paper, so we whiled away the time before the pub opened in reading the paper/Sunday supplements.

The lunch lived up to expectations. I like how they recognised they were expecting a party with a dog. 

Graham and I had their Sunday roasts, well I had beef and he had a lentil and veg cutlet, which looked homemade and Graham said tasted very good. There was a good helping of roast spuds and parsnip and huge Yorkshire pud and a very good selection of veggies in a side dish: cauli, broccoli, red cabbage, green beans, carrots, mashed swede. All the veggies were cooked to our liking too – not too hard and not mushy either. Very good value too at less than £12. They also offered pork or turkey roasts. Harry had beer battered plaice and chips, and couldn’t finish it, the fish was so large. We couldn’t manage puds.

We got back to the boat about half an hour after high tide. These were the Pedro's moorings.

It looked like Dunes Cafe had to close due to the river overtopping.

Although the tide had clearly overtopped the moorings, it didn't seem they had done that much. Fortunately, the electric posts in Acle are raised on concrete plinths.

We whiled away the rest of the afternoon not doing very much at all. We didn’t want much to eat this evening either, just bread, cheese and crackers. We’d intended having a pudding this evening, but skipped that too. Just a couple more episodes of Black Books and a very early night. We were intending to start off tomorrow at the first glimmer of light.

Harry hogging the heating.

[YnysMon]

Monday 8th November

The alarm was on for 5.30 this morning, so that we would have time to take Seren out and generally sort the boat out before setting off around 6am. By then, the first glimmer of light was showing in the east, slightly more of a glimmer than the bright lights of Great Yarmouth that is, and the stars were still shining brightly in the west.

My camera is so light sensitive that the first pictures look lighter than it actually was.

It was an idyllic journey down to Great Yarmouth, with a beautiful sunrise. We even saw a fox on the bank on the lower Bure.

Stracey Arms.

As we got further down the Bure there was some mist on the river.

We took the roof down as we passed Marina Quays, as a precaution. I’ve never travelled down the Bure with the river level being so high. For once I could see why some people get caught out, as in some places it looked like the marker posts were almost in the middle of the river. There wasn’t a sign of the muddy banks you normally see. When we got to the first marker post it showed roughly 8’ (the 8’ wasn’t legible, but we were judging by the gap between the river level and the 7’ mark).

Anyway, we got under both Vauxhall and Yarmouth Road bridges without taking our screen down.

Approaching the first bridge.

Harry and Graham had a good laugh at the way I ducked, even though the screen was up. 

The river was completely slack as we passed the Yacht Station, through once past the post the tide was surging into Breydon Water.

We had Breydon to ourselves. It was fairly flat too. Most of the birds seemed to be at the Yarmouth end, as there weren't the ususl mud-flats to be seen.

At the end we turned up the Waveney.

We had originally intended to go to Beccles today, but the flood alert issued yesterday suggested that the Beccles quay could be overtopped today, so we thought it more prudent to go to Oulton Broad Yacht Station and get a mooring on the pontoon. On the way, we took our roof down again to get under St Olaves bridge.

We had about the same clearance there as we’d had in Yarmouth. The roof stayed down until we’d passed under Somerlayton bridge. Good thing it was such a sunny and mild morning.

We got to the Yacht Station before 11. Unusually, the boats already moored on the inside of the pontoon were side-on, and the Yacht Station Master said we could choose whether to stern or side-on moor. We did the latter.

I made us a brunch of sweetcorn pancakes with bacon (vegan version for Graham) then we made our way to Oulton Broad North railway station, just in time to catch the 12.40’something to Lowestoft. It’s a very short journey, but convenient (Graham I and once walked and it took us about an hour or so).

Once there, Graham went off in the direction of the South Pier whilst Harry and I went off to M&S. Harry had only brought one pair of PJs with him and had decided he needed a second pair for our second week on the boat. Once he’d got his PJs we went off the join Graham for a walk down the Esplanade.

Seren had a good run on the beach, then we gradually made our way back to the Station. There’s a lovely little shop in the station that has tourist information, sells second hand books and other bits and bobs and serves refreshments. Graham got some coffee and cake and I bought what I think might be the ideal Christmas present for my cousin (a second hand book about railways).

Getting the train back meant we got back to the boat before sunset, and it was a lovely one too.

We ordered an Indian takeaway from The Labone early evening, selecting vegetarian options so that we could all enjoy the same dishes. They do deliver, but as they offer a 15% discount for orders collected and paid for in cash, Graham collected our order. We certainly enjoyed our meal.

Our evening was the usual, cards, dominoes another episode of Black Books. As we’d had such an early morning, it isn’t surprising that we were ready for bed by 9pm this evening. Harry took Seren for a pre-bed run in the Nicolas Everitt Park.

[SwanR]

Really enjoying your write up and seeing all your photos Helen. This one looks like it was such a beautiful day. I’ve still not done the Breydon crossing but the sights are nonetheless so familiar. Love Lowestoft and it sounds as if it made a nice little trip. 

[addicted]

Your photos have been superb Helen especially the owl and kingfisher thoroughly enjoyed the write- ups too. Thank you.

 

Carole

[YnysMon]

Tuesday 9th November

I got up before dawn again, but the sky was clouded over, so no spectacular sunrise this morning. The sky did clear within the next hour though, and we had another lovely sunny day. First prority was to take Seren out for a walk. It's lovely to be able to let her off the lead without walking far from the boat.

We thought we’d have a more leisurely morning today, having popped into The Old Dairy (newish coffee shop near the Yacht Station) yesterday and been impressed by the look of their cakes and pastries. As they said they opened at 8.30, we thought we’d treat ourselves to something for breakfast and cake for our 11’ses. I got a fresh croissant and Basque cheesecake, Harry had a toasted bagel and cheesecake, Graham got an almond croissant and carrot cake.

After breakfast we made ready for the off. One of the boats moored nearby set off before us and, as I mentioned on my 'Live' blog, left their rubbish on the pontoon before they left. Outrage!

Here's the evidence, though I hope I've managed to avoid posting any evidence of which boat was the culprit. Said boat was not yet moored up when I took photos yesterday. The boat was a private boat, not a hire, so more shame on them. 

We set off from Oulton Broad before 10 and made our way to Beccles.

Harry took the helm. Graham started to strip/sand down the window ledge in the aft cabin (which he volunteered to do at our AGM).

I double checked the inventory, starting with the contents of the kitchen cupboards (again, something I volunteered to do at the AGM).

We got to Beccles late morning and had coffee and cake.

Harry and I then walked to the nearby Lidl to top-up on food items and a few other bits and bobs to last us the rest of the week. Later in the afternoon I walked up to the town centre, found a pet shop that sold swan and duck food (plus snacks for Seren) and found the Beccles Roys. It appeared to sell most stuff that you can find in Hoveton, but both department store, food hall together, plus a smidge of DIY and gardening. Meanwhile, Harry went off on a walk to discover the route of the old railway that spanned the river just downstream of the Aldeby moorings.

This evening Harry and I had venison steaks from Ludham butchers with new potatoes and veg. I wasn’t quite sure how to cook them, but guessed that they would be okay done the same way that I do a rare rump steak. They were lovely. Graham had a vegan burger.

The ravenous hordes waiting for their dinner.

[YnysMon]

Wednesday 10th November

We so enjoyed our early start yesterday that we decided to get up almost as early today, so we set off from Beccles just after 6.30. We also wanted to get to the end of the New Cut before the tide turned (forecast for about 9.30).

It was a bit gloomy this morning. Can't complain, as we've had some lovely sunny days on this trip so far.

It was dry when we set off, which was handy as I was able to stick my head outside to have a better view. After the first few bends of the river it started drizzling though.

Actually, we got to Reedham about half an hour too early.

We moored up near the Ranger’s hut and took the opportunity to visit Cannell’s Farm Shop (where the Cupcakes place was), where we got some cakes (brownie, fruit slice, orange and chocolate slice). We had those with coffee back on the boat whilst we waited for the tide. By the time we’d finished our ‘2nd breakfast’ the tide had turned and we continued on our way to Loddon. The destination today had to be Loddon, as when we visited last week we ordered a new first aid kit for the boat from Boots. That needed collecting.

At the mouth of the Chet there was a red sign warning of dredging works from the 1st November. I think it said until some date in February, but I’m not sure on that. It warned of delays of up to 1½ hours. We came across a JCB on a platform just below the upper channel to Hardley Flood, scooping up mud from a barge and depositing it on the bank. The barge was right across the river, so it was just a case of holding station for about 10-15 minutes or so until the barge was empty.

Once it was, a work boat took the barge upriver to where another JCB was doing the dredging. We only had to wait a short time for the work boat to drop off one barge and pick up a full one. Once he’d gone back downriver there was enough space for us to pass the platform the JCB was on.

There was plenty of room on Loddon staithe, although there were two boats there moored side on. Three other boats arrived over the next couple of hours, leaving only a small gap.

We got to Loddon before mid-day and Graham dashed off to Boots (just in case it was half-day or something). We were very impressed with the Complete First Aid Kit that we bought. Very good value for £20, considering the contents.

Whilst I was preparing lunch, Graham painted another coat of varnish on the aft cabin window. This is the sill after two coats.

I made the meal that I’d planned for this evening for lunch instead. Richmond vegan sausages (the closest we’ve found to real sausages) with mash and roast veg – cauli, celeriac and carrots. It took longer to cook than planned as after the first 20 minutes after putting the roast veg in the oven I found that the gas cannister had run out – and judging by the state of the veg, just after I’d put them in. Graham switched cannisters and I started timing the veg again. In the meantime, Graham went up the road to check for gas availability in Loddon DIY – no good, they only had empties. We tried Brooms, on the off chance that they might be more accommodating now that the main season is over. Not surprisingly, they couldn’t as they are continuing to hire out over winter. We thought of trying Brundall DIY, but I thought I’d try Swancraft first, as we’ve found them to be very helpful to us in the past, and I know that Malcolm and other NBN members rate them very highly. Initially, the chap at Swancraft didn’t think he’d have any of the size of propane that we needed, but he said he would go and check and asked me to phone back in 5 minutes of so. Our luck was in. He had two and could let us have one. Wasn’t that great!

The dinner (lunch) was worth waiting for.

After dinner Graham and I did a little inventoring, noting the remaining contents of the kitchen.

Shortly before sunset a Brooms Captain arrived, but were too wide to fit in the remaining gap. They left and we saw them moored at Pye’s Mill the following morning. I think it’s outrageous that they had to leave and go to a mooring without electric because other people were side moored. To make matters worse, after it had started to get dark, the side-on moored boat whose stern was facing our boat left. It took him an age to get his engine going though, it sounded as if it died several times between him revving it hard, and in the process our boat filled up with diesel fumes. I was fuming myself! It was lucky it was such a mild evening, as we had to open up all our windows and leave them open for quite a while to try to get rid of the fumes.

We had a light meat and cheese platter meal this evening. Lidl Italian charcouterie selection, some Lincolnshire poacher (cheese) bought at Cannell’s with some left-over brie, Norfolk goats cheese and smoked Norfolk Dapple, sundried tomatoes, olives and a rye sourdough from Lidl.

This evening we had a break from watching Black Books and enjoyed watching a film instead – ‘Keeping Mum’ a comedy with Maggie Smith, Rowan Atkinson and Kristin Scott-Thomas.