Carried Away By A Moonlight Shadow...

[SwanR]

All I know is that Womack Dyke was successful a few years back when the football was on!

[Mouldy]

18 minutes ago, SwanR said:

All I know is that Womack Dyke was successful a few years back when the football was on!

We sat at the BA moorings to watch the Queen’s funeral.  The only interruption was a BA ranger who was strumming the ruddy moorings!  Good to see the BA weren’t wasting toll payers money on a day off for their employees!

[Broads01]

Acle bridge is always good.

[Vaughan]

The TV signal is coming from about SSW, from Tacolnstone, so Salhouse Broad is hidden behind the high ground. You need a place with a "clear view" south across flat land, so Acle Bridge or Thurne dyke would be good.

[Gracie]

9 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

the signal is marginally better if you are on the front moorings as opposed to the taxi rank side .

Dear forum members and friends, this has nothing to do with the signal, it's to keep you away from the taxi rank  x

[YnysMon]

9 hours ago, Mouldy said:

We sat at the BA moorings to watch the Queen’s funeral.  The only interruption was a BA ranger who was strumming the ruddy moorings!  Good to see the BA weren’t wasting toll payers money on a day off for their employees!

Strumming? For a sec then I had a vision of a BA ranger rudely interrupting the Queen’s funeral by sitting on the moorings strumming away at a guitar. I guess that wouldn’t have been as noisy though. 

[Mouldy]

32 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

Strumming? For a sec then I had a vision of a BA ranger rudely interrupting the Queen’s funeral by sitting on the moorings strumming away at a guitar. I guess that wouldn’t have been as noisy though. 

Spellchecker doing it’s thing again.  No, we were moored at Womack Dyke, watching the funeral and a BA ranger came along with a petrol strimmer to cut the grass.  I had to untie the boat to move it, to avoid getting showered in grass clippings, then move back again when he’d finished.  

I should have learnt by now, to check not only what I typed, but also what the spellcheck ‘corrected.’

[ranworthbreeze]

15 hours ago, YnysMon said:

We'll next be on Moonlight Shadow for a fortnight from early evening on 5th May, the day before the Coronation. Can anyone give us any advice on where we should head for on Saturday if we want to watch the Coronation on TV - where are we most likely to get a good TV signal? Are there places we should avoid?

Lodon is a dead spot for TV reception and phones Helen.

Regards Alan

[Vaughan]

40 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Lodon is a dead spot for TV reception and phones Helen.

Funny you should say that, as I remember that the day of Harry and Meghan's wedding was on the spring meet at Salhouse.  We were sitting there happily watching the wedding on Richo's standard 12 volt TV, with Ranworthbreeze  moored beside us.  It was only when she left early, to catch the tide, that we realised that all her height and various metal bits must have been acting as a relay TV aerial!  When she left, the picture died a death!

Luckily the day was saved by Oldgregg, who was a guest on board at the time   and managed to call up the programme through some sort of APP on his tablet.  Technology way beyond me, but it worked!

[Bikertov]

There is talk of ceasing the current terrestrial TV signal from 2030 onwards, to be replaced with 5G (mobile) and internet provided signals.

[Mouldy]

5 minutes ago, Bikertov said:

There is talk of ceasing the current terrestrial TV signal from 2030 onwards, to be replaced with 5G (mobile) and internet provided signals.

The powers that be are under the impression that the sale of new ICE cars will be banned at the same time.  I certainly can’t afford a new electric car, when prices of anything ‘family’ orientated start at over 40k.  Unless things change in the next few years, there will be a new poverty appearing soon - travel poverty.

With ridiculous rail fares and disappearing bus routes, those who cannot afford to replace their old ICE vehicles will be stuck where they live.  The result of more ill thought out ideas, by people who haven’t a clue.

Will 5g and/or internet access be provided free of charge to those who can’t afford it? 😡

[Vaughan]

31 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

With ridiculous rail fares and disappearing bus routes, those who cannot afford to replace their old ICE vehicles will be stuck where they live.  The result of more ill thought out ideas, by people who haven’t a clue.

 

Which also makes a joke of the Broads National Parkway (sorry - Northern Distributor Road) which will "feed" literally thousands of little boxes on vast housing estates on what used to be green belt Norfolk countryside.  The occupants will have no local infrastructure : no school, no doctor, no village hall, no fire station, no pub, certainly no village church and above all, no shops within 10 miles. 

They will just have to hope that the developers will have installed sufficient power supply on these estates - there will already be insufficient water supply and drainage - for all of them to be able to re-charge their "eco friendly" electric shopping carts  - that we used to call cars - whilst "working from home " in between peak time power cuts.

Their only hope - whilst their only view of "Norfolk countryside" through the kitchen window is into some-one else's kitchen window - will be be that "Iceni Farm Foods" internet delivery will get through to them before they starve to death.

 

 

[grendel]

we are currently in the position that even new developments are not allowed to apply for spare capacity for future use, the energy regulator has been blocking the ability to add a bit on for future EV charging for decades, the energy suppliers havent even been able to future proof their networks by adding extra capacity in new and replacement substations, so an 800kVA substation is upgraded to supply more capacity, and the energy regulator will only allow the providers to add just that needed capacity, so someone wants 200kVA more than the substation is rated for, they get allowed to upgrade the 800 to 1000, whereas they may know that the area will soon need an extra 1000kva, so they could have changed the transformer for a 2000kva one and allowed for future expansion, but no, thats not allowed,.

then the government announce they want everyone to change over to ev's, and wonder why the infrastructure is not there for charging (and wont be until well after their deadline for changeover has long passed) substation manufacturers are working flat out now, the lead time on a transformer is 3-4 months from order, the bigger the transformer- the longer the lead time, at national grid level it takes years to get a transformer built. if every home needs a charger, that will double the capacity required at a minimum. I just dont see the electricity supply industry having the capacity to accomplish this work in decades, let alone a few years. we dont have the manpower, we dont have the supply chain, at the moment even cable is on a long lead time.

[Turnoar]

When I lived in the big smoke (Norwich) and I first got a DAB radio it was amazing, loads of channels, Future community radio etc. Traffic news was great to get the full picture of roadworks nationwide. Then moved to a valley behind Cromer ridge; no go and back in the box for a few years. Moved to North Walsham, tried again, hopeless but then read that the infrastructure was being upgraded to improve the signal. If it has happened it didn’t make any difference when I got it out of the box recently. TBH I don’t mind a bit of hiss or noises that sound like space beings trying to make contact, I’ll stick with analogue!

[Mouldy]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

we are currently in the position that even new developments are not allowed to apply for spare capacity for future use, the energy regulator has been blocking the ability to add a bit on for future EV charging for decades, the energy suppliers havent even been able to future proof their networks by adding extra capacity in new and replacement substations, so an 800kVA substation is upgraded to supply more capacity, and the energy regulator will only allow the providers to add just that needed capacity, so someone wants 200kVA more than the substation is rated for, they get allowed to upgrade the 800 to 1000, whereas they may know that the area will soon need an extra 1000kva, so they could have changed the transformer for a 2000kva one and allowed for future expansion, but no, thats not allowed,.

then the government announce they want everyone to change over to ev's, and wonder why the infrastructure is not there for charging (and wont be until well after their deadline for changeover has long passed) substation manufacturers are working flat out now, the lead time on a transformer is 3-4 months from order, the bigger the transformer- the longer the lead time, at national grid level it takes years to get a transformer built. if every home needs a charger, that will double the capacity required at a minimum. I just dont see the electricity supply industry having the capacity to accomplish this work in decades, let alone a few years. we dont have the manpower, we dont have the supply chain, at the moment even cable is on a long lead time.

I understand that our contribution to greenhouse gasses is about 2% or the overall total.  Obviously, 2% is significant, but realistically if we became carbon neutral and cut our greenhouse gases to zero overnight, unless the worst offenders make dramatic cuts, we may as well not bother.

I watched a video on YouTube a couple of weeks ago and find it hard to disagree with the argument presented.  The title is a slight misnomer as this section deals with the environment:

https://youtu.be/zJdqJu-6ZPo

[marshman]

Saw that elsewhere - he is good but of course, nobody believes him!

He makes a valid point!

[BroadAmbition]

Just watched that you tube video, thanks for sharing - Hard to argue with what he says

Griff

[YnysMon]

Oi, you lot! I get a day when I’m too busy to check the forum, and whilst my back is turned my thread gets hijacked by electricity chat. Honestly! 

[ExSurveyor]

40 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

Oi, you lot! I get a day when I’m too busy to check the forum, and whilst my back is turned my thread gets hijacked by electricity chat. Honestly! 

Don't worry Helen, its electric vehicles, it won't last long

[grendel]

7 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Oi, you lot! I get a day when I’m too busy to check the forum, and whilst my back is turned my thread gets hijacked by electricity chat. Honestly! 

we wont charge you.

[YnysMon]

What Seren would say (but convert the 'he' to 'she').

[YnysMon]

Only one week before we are next on Moonlight Shadow. Whoo!

[YnysMon]

Trip 13 - May 2023

Sorry, I've been a bit tardy starting the proper holiday tale write-up. Normally, I get a chance to start doing that over the weekend after the end of our trip. This time we had an extra bonus few days after handing MS over to attend the NBN meeting.

This tale is basically a more long-winded version of what I've posted on the 'Live Carried Away' thread, and with extra photos.

 

Friday 5th May

We didn’t start off from home until around midday as we hadn’t done that much packing in advance (well I hadn’t anyway). The day started off with showers, but luckily Graham was able to pack the car between showers. Somehow he managed to fit everything into the car and top box, so we didn't need the trailer. En route we had a really heavy shower near St Neots and then by the time we had passed Cambridge the sun had come out again.

We stopped off at La Hogue Farm Shop Café for lunch. Luckily it wasn’t too hot, so the dogs were fine in the car. If it had been sunnier and hotter, we’d have had to make do with a Maccy D’s drive-through at Barton Mills.

We got to the Postwick interchange just after 3.30pm and I did our shop first in Lidl and then the Thorpe Sainsbury’s whilst Graham stayed with the dogs. It always takes twice as long to do a shop in an unfamiliar supermarket. At least with Lidl the layouts of most of their shops are similar, but Thorpe Sainsbury’s seems to have moved some section or other each time I visit. When I came out of Lidl the sky was very dramatic and there were rumbles of thunder in the distance, and the thunderstorm really started up in earnest as we approached Sainsbury’s. We bided our time for a while in the car park waiting for the rain to subside a bit before I made a dash for the store.

By the time we’d done the shop and had driven to Horning it was well after 5pm. We were lucky that the showers had dried up and the sun had come out again, so we were able to unpack the car and top box without getting everything soaked. It took a while for us to get ourselves sorted, as Graham spent some time putting rugs over the upholstery before we let the dogs in. We also moved the majority of the new cushions that have recently been put in the saloon to the bunk room, where we stored most of our 'spare' stuff. 

It’s the first time we’ve been on board since the upholstery was re-done and it looks even better in ‘real life’ then it does in the photos that are on the syndicate website. Also, it’s a lot more comfortable to sit on – more supportive. Our Chair Malcolm (Mouldy) had also been on board earlier in the day to Vax the carpets, so Moonlight Shadow was looking very good.

By the time we had unpacked the shopping and the essentials and made up the beds it was getting on for 8pm. We had a light supper: fresh rye sourdough (it was warm when I picked it up in Lidl) with brie for Graham and charcouterie for me with some picked beetroot and gherkins. We can’t eat large meals that late in the evening any longer.

Following a tip-off from Malcolm, Graham put out the digital aerial on the roof and we found that we had a very decent TV signal for BBC1, so we decided not to get up early tomorrow and cruise somewhere before the start of the coronation, but to stay on our home mooring until the coronation TV coverage ends mid-afternoon.

[YnysMon]

Saturday 6th May

Amazingly I slept well last night. It has taken us 13 trips on Moonlight Shadow for me not to wake up in the early hours on our first night on board and then not be able to get back to sleep. It was very peaceful last night though, hardly any wind, so no bow slap or rocking about. On the other hand, it was a full moon, and on previous trips just a bright moonlight night has kept me awake. We both woke around 6am, not bad as we didn’t have a particularly late-night last night. We could hear that the dogs were awake, but they were quite happy together in the lounge, so we didn’t get up until almost 7.

Whilst Graham took the dogs out, I took down blinds to let the sun in and warm up the saloon. I did pop the heating on, but soon regretted that, as it got a bit too warm quite quickly. After about 15 minutes we put the heating off.

As mentioned yesterday, we decided to stay on our home mooring today to watch the coronation. I wasn’t intending to watch the ‘talking heads’ bit beforehand, but we put the telly on before 8 to check the signal and a I found quite a lot of the interviews with guests interesting. After having breakfast and so on and before the coronation really started up, I prepared some sandwich filling that Graham could use later on to make us sandwiches for lunch. As he’s vegetarian instead of ‘coronation chicken’ sandwiches we had ‘coronation egg’ sandwiches. Basically an egg mayo with added ingredients: a small amount of mango chutney, curry paste, chopped spring onion and chopped fresh coriander.

Once we started watching we had to close most of our curtains and put the blinds back up on the canopy rear windows as the sun was quite bright, which isn’t great for TV viewing. It also got quite warm. Graham got a picnic chair out as Pozzick and I were hogging the sofa and he didn't want to sit in the seat next to the telly. 

Whilst we were watching the coronation the crew of Evening Shadow turned up, loaded up the boat, decorated it with some flags and were on their way. If any of the Evening Shadow crew are reading this, I apologise for not introducing ourselves. We were just getting into the highlights of the coronation service by then: the anointing and actual crowning. We aren’t normally that antisocial!

Anyways, we enjoyed the rest of the service and the procession back to the Palace etc.

We had planned to go cruising once the TV coverage had ended (due around 3pm) but by this time the weather on the Broads had turned. The sun had disappeared, and it was starting to drizzle. We were also conscious that the dogs hadn’t had a really good run today or yesterday, so we decided to prioritise them and take them to Caister-on-Sea beach (our favourite). The beach was relatively quiet, and although it was still drizzling, we only got damp not wet-through, and the dogs seemed to really enjoy it. Success!

Back at the Yard, Graham went for a shower whilst I chilled out with the dogs.

We had a vegan Mac’n’Cheese’ this evening before turning in at a reasonable hour.

By the way, eldest son Harry messaged today to say he'd been given leave for next week, so that completely upended our plans for going south this week as Harry wants to go south next week.

[YnysMon]

Sunday 7th May

We both woke before 6 this morning but didn’t rush to get away from the Marina. We took our time and appreciated hearing our first cuckoos of the season. We didn’t start off until around 8, having first topped up with water. The river seemed fairly quiet, and although the morning was dry, it was cloudy. Cockshoot Dyke seemed mostly full and once we passed Ranworth Dam the first boats appeared going in the opposite direction.

We turned up the Ant and had plenty of clearance under Ludham Bridge. The sun started to come out fitfully.

Neil (NeilB) had posted to let us know that the river levels were fairly low, and we had a reasonable chance of getting up to Dilham. I was still dithering whether to try for Wood End Staithe or Dilham right until the last minute. I actually turned past the green posts toward Wood End before chickening out. I couldn’t remember how much longer Moonlight Shadow is than Water Rail and, as there hadn’t been that much space to turn Water Rail near the staithe last year, I decided not to try. Dilham was back on the cards!

When we got to Weyford Bridge there was 7¼‘ on the gauge. We moored at the BA moorings just before the bridge and I went off to the Farm Shop for a few bits and pieces, including fresh scones and cheese straws.

Whilst I was away, Graham overheard some boaters who had just returned under the bridge reporting some antisocial behaviour from a boat that was moored at Dilham (creating a noise late at night etc.) I presume they must have been reporting that to someone from Broads Beat or a ranger. 

When I got back we dropped the roof and made our way under the bridge.

However, when we were about half way to Dilham we met a guy (again not sure if he was Broads Beat or a ranger) in a rib who told us that the staithe would be full by the time we got there, so we turned around in the widest section that we could find and returned down the Ant. Probably just as well if there was someone behaving antisocially up at Dilham.

Our first thought was to seek a wild mooring below Irstead, but decided to moor up temporarily in Paddy’s Lane to put our windscreen back up before crossing Barton (we could feel the breeze strengthen as we got nearer the Broad). The mooring right at the far end of Paddy’s Lane was free, and once we had moored up we decided we couldn’t do any better, so that was us done cruising for the day.

It was around midday by now, and those scones were calling us. Very nice they were too, though Graham was disappointed I hadn’t bought any cream. Next time!

We had a lazy sort of afternoon, with the afternoon turning out hot and sunny. We had a light lunch of baked large mushrooms on toast around 2pm. I had a few bacon rashers with mine, picked up in the farm shop. The bacon was good quality but didn’t taste a patch on Ludham butcher’s bacon.

By 2.30 or so it was getting hotter and hotter. Initially I used my pashmina to cover my head and shoulders to protect them from the sun, and poor ol' Pozzick was sheltering from the sun in the passage way between the front heads and bunk room (Seren can cope with heat better than Pozzick, not having such a thick coat), so we soon decided to bring the canopy back up and put the fore and aft screens down, as that had worked very well last year when we had the heatwave.

We thought it would be good to have an earlier supper this evening. I put some new potatoes on to boil just before 6pm. Shortly after I did so we heard loud music, and one of the largest, tallest cruisers on hire came down the dyke toward us. About halfway down the dyke they turned around and somehow, they managed to secure themselves to some trees – not exactly a wild mooring, more a wild tie-up-to-anything. The music was still blaring though. Given they had a quantity of glasses on the table up top, our guess was that they wouldn’t be the quietest of neighbours, so we decided to depart. I had a word with the people moored up behind us who also wanted to find somewhere else but weren’t sure where to go. I made some suggestions and both boats got underway. Part way across Barton Broad Graham saw them divert toward Limekiln Dyke and, as we moored up ourselves not long after, we guessed they’d found a mooring either at Gaye’s Staithe or Neatishead Staithe.

We ended up on the wild mooring just below Irstead that we’d used last July. It was very peaceful, even taking into consideration the bittern that started up calling shortly after we got there and continued overnight.

Once we were settled, I started off supper again. Boiled new potatoes, some tinned green lentils warmed up and dressed with french dressing and freshly chopped parsley, steamed asparagus, and semi-hard-boiled egg. This was a fairly light supper, but that suited us, especially as we ended up going to bed fairly early.

What with the unexpected evening cruise we missed the coronation concert. Something to watch on catch up when we get back home as I gather it was good.