Carried Away By A Moonlight Shadow...

[Gracie]

Congratulations Helen and Graham, have a lovely renewing of your vows  x

[Spray]

Congratulations on your 40 years. We celebrated ours 4 years ago when the family organised a  surprise afternoon tea for all of us at  guess where , The Woburn Coffee House !!

[YnysMon]

16 hours ago, Spray said:

Congratulations on your 40 years. We celebrated ours 4 years ago when the family organised a  surprise afternoon tea for all of us at  guess where , The Woburn Coffee House !!

I trust you can recommend!

[YnysMon]

So latest on our weekend is my cousins want to visit Althorp House. Checked out the website yesterday evening to find they had a 20% off deal, valid until midnight. So that's us booked to visit Althorp on Saturday. 

My best friend from school is joining us too, though she can't arrive until late Saturday afternoon (she now lives in Suffolk). I had two 'older' bridesmaids/matrons of honour at my wedding and no 'little' bridesmaids as we didn't have anyone close to us that had younger children. My cousin Sandra and my school friend. It's so lovely that they will both be able to join us this weekend.

[addicted]

Congratulations, Hope everything goes to plan and the day is enjoyed by all. Our 40th isn't for another 4 years.

 

Carole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spray]

Highly recommended   !

28  family members there and a complete surprise to  us being organised by our son and daughter.

A wonderful afternoon with enough young men there not to need the doggy bags !!

[YnysMon]

Trip 14

Friday 30th June

Younger son Alec, dogs Seren and Pozzick with us for this trip. The car, top-box and trailer were pretty stuffed as eldest son Harry had lent his paddle board to Alec for the week. We got on our way late morning, around 11’ish and stopped off at La Hogue Farm Shop café for lunch.

We did our usual shop in the Lidl near the Pozzick (Postwick) junction and then Thorpe Sainsbury’s before making our way to Horning, getting to the marina just before our 5pm pick up time.

We just took it easy this evening, staying in the marina, doing our unpacking and just generally settling down on the boat. Supper was a lazy option too: cheese and charcouterie with various pickles and fresh bread.

One puzzling thing. We couldn’t find the blind that covers the escape hatch in the forward cabin (the one Graham and I are using). We compromised by strapping Harry’s paddle board in it’s bag over the hatch, secured by bungee cords. It didn’t cover the hatch completely, but least we thought we’d be less likely to be woken up at dawn.

 

[YnysMon]

Saturday 1st July

We had a fairly relaxed morning, not leaving the marina until around 9am. The initial plan was to visit Latham’s, with a stop off at St Benet’s for a dog walk on the way.

 

Neither of these plans quite worked out. There were lots of bullocks in the St Benet’s field that were very interested in the dogs, so we didn’t take the dogs through the gate.

 

Graham returned to the boat at that point, as he can’t walk that far at present due to his leg/foot being swollen (after managing to drop a bag of cement on his foot...don't ask!). Alec and I took the dogs along the path that leads to Ludham Bridge to have a run, before returning to the boat.

 

Seren was very naughty and rushed off to the moorings before we managed to secure her on the lead, then proceeded to bark at and chase the boats that were going past. Alec did manage to catch her eventually.

 

On our way again...

 

Potter Heigham didn’t work out either, as there wasn’t a space on the BA moorings and a cursory glance into the Herbie Woods basin didn’t reveal any spaces. We weren’t too bothered to be honest. The main reason for a trip to Latham’s was to try to get a mat to cover the hatch, and we managed okay last night.

We thought we might stop at Acle, but all the BA moorings were full and we didn’t fancy the ‘other side’. Stokesby was also busy but there was plenty of room at Stracey Arms. We had some sandwiches for lunch, took the dogs out for a short run and visited the shop. I didn’t have cash unfortunately, and they only take card for purchases £15 and over, though will add any purchases from the café to ones from the shop. The lady owner was very friendly.

Apparently, the donkey's didn't want to leave their field this morning, neither did the goats, so there were only a few chickens and pea-hens (and some chicks) to see outside the shop. 

 

We set off mid-afternoon as we were aiming to get through Gt Yarmouth sometime after the 4pm forecast for slack water. Somewhere near the Runham wind-pumps we passed an NYA boat (Evita?) and recognised the guys that do the ‘Two Men in a Boat’ YouTube vlogs and exchanged waves.

As usual, we overestimated how long it would take and went under the bridges almost dead on 4, before the time we had hoped. No matter, we took our time over Breydon as usual and then turned up the river Waveney. Breydon was quite choppy, which Seren doesn't like. She always ends up half on the helm's lap when it's choppy. 

 

Graham had his poorly leg up much of today, with several 'ice pack' sessions to try to relieve it.

 

 

The St Olaves BA moorings were taken, but there was room for one at the pub at St Olaves. By the way, has anyone else noticed there's now a mooring available on the other side of the river from the pub, just before the New Cut. Never seen anyone actually moor there though. I'm sure it will come in handy during the peak season. 

 

There were no boats moored at Herringfleet, Somerlayton was full though, mostly with a group of yachts and other boats carelessly spaced out.

 

We could have continued on to Beccles but instead bagged the wild mooring about 15 minutes up river from the Waveney River Centre where there’s an ‘Easter Island’ carved head, getting there around 7pm. It's the same place that we stopped for our first night on Water Rail last September.

 

Another easy dinner this evening. Whilst we were cruising along I had cooked some new potatoes, boiled some eggs and steamed some asparagus. I had planned to serve these with a lentil salad, but I obviously rushed the Lidl shop yesterday and managed to pick up two tins of black beans instead of one tin of black beans and one of lentils. No matter, I just mixed the black beans with a sachet of pre-cooked Mediterranean grains, some french dressing and chopped parsley. That worked out well as an accompaniment to the potatoes, asparagus and eggs.

We had a wonderful moon-rise this evening, and heard a cuckoo in the distance. That’s unusual in July!

[YnysMon]

Sunday 2nd July

I had set the alarm for 5am this morning, as we wanted to get to Beccles for the low tide under the bridge. We needn’t have bothered to start off quite so early as we had plenty of room under the bridge when we got to Beccles. To make things worse, Pozzick had woken us up just before 4am. He did settle down again, but I didn’t manage to get back to sleep.

Anyway, we got up shortly before 5. It was a glorious morning with a clear sky. Shortly before setting off we heard the cuckoo again. The cruise up to Beccles was beautiful. Wonderful bird song, as is usual early morning, and several glimpses of kingfishers.

 

We had loads of room under Beccles Old Bridge. We had taken down our canopy as a precaution, but didn’t need to take down the windscreen.

 

The river above Beccles is beautiful and we took it slowly, but even so got to Geldeston dyke shortly after 7am.

I had started to feel quite cold after we had taken out canopy down. Despite the early morning sun the strong breeze felt quite chilly. Once we were moored up it started to warm up though. We had a warming drink and Alec and I tried to take the dogs for a walk. It wasn’t easy though as the path that leads downriver from the dyke was very overgrown. Also, there were quite a few canoeists and paddle boarders from the campsite opposite that Seren wanted to bark at, so the walk wasn’t as long as planned.

Mid-morning I made us a ‘second breakfast’ (first one was had rather early en route to Beccles) of sweetcorn fritters with spam for me and Alec and ‘pretend ham’ for Graham. After that Alec got the paddle board pumped up and went on his way downriver.

After Alec left the tiredness from having such an early morning hit me and I went for a nap, only waking when Alec returned about an hour and a half later. He’d had an enjoyable paddle down river and back.

Once the paddle board was deflated and strapped to Moonlight Shadow we got on our way, as we had plans to moor at the Lido moorings and go and do a shop for the things I’d forgotten on Friday, because I had stupidly left my carefully prepared menu plan and shopping list on the dining room table at home. DOH!

This plan almost went pear shaped too, as when we got to the Lido there were canoes tied up the length of the pontoon. After a bit of faffing about trying to phone the Canoeman (who said to phone the Lido) we were able to attract the attention of a young woman who was assisting some departing canoe hirers. At last we were able to moor up. Phew! It’s free to moor for a couple of hours, but I paid £5 to moor up for up to four hours, as low tide at Beccles wasn’t due until just after 7pm, and I thought we’d probably have to wait until 5pm or so.

 

Alec and I went off to do some shopping. As well as the things I’d forgotten (plus additions that we fancied) we were looking for a cheap mat to cover the hatch. We got that in a bargain store near Weatherspoons, got some cakes from Roys and the rest of our shop in Tesco before making our way back to the boat.

We waited until just after 4.30pm before setting off and managed to get through with 7 ½ ‘ on the board with both canopy and screen down. We moored briefly at the Yacht Station to fill with water before continuing on our way. It had clouded over by now but it wasn’t cold. Worlingham Staithe was free, so we moored up there for the night. Very peaceful too, though there were several fishermen around and about with cars parked just behind the moorings. Fortunately, they all left before sunset, so we had a very peaceful night.

 

[YnysMon]

Monday 3rd July

We had another early start this morning, though not quite so early as yesterday.

We set off around 6am, wanting to catch the last of the falling tide for at least part of our journey down the Waveney.

 

There was a mist rising at the margins of some of the reeds this morning,

 

This heron had flown off as we approached his perching spot. He landed on an island of reeds just ahead,

 

Alec got up a bit later than Graham and I. He usually brings the poncho he bought from Ecuador with him on the boat, Cosy!

 

When we got to the-mouth of Oulton Dyke there was a marked drop in our speed, which I was monitoring on the Aweigh App, so I guess the tide had turned. It was a bit of a slog down the rest of the Waveney against the tide. New Cut wasn’t so bad. I find the New Cut really boring, but at least we only had to pass one boat and of course we picked up the rising tide at the other end of the New Cut, so the Yare wasn’t a slog at all.

 

We got to our intended destination, Rockland St Mary’s Staithe, shortly after 10am and settled down for the day. Alec and I took the dogs for a walk and then Graham and I went to the pub for a drink and to pick up some wifi. I wanted to check my work email to see if the formal documentation for my impending retirement had come through on DocuSign. I was finding my phone signal was very patchy on the mooring.

After returning from the pub we lit the Cobb and I roasted some aubergine, courgette and red peppers and griddled some halloumi. We had those with a pouch of Mediterranean rice, some houmous and guacamole. It was a meal I’d been planning for the evening, but the weather forecast for later in the day didn’t look too good, so I though I ought to get the BBQ’ing done before the weather turned. The next couple of days are looking to be changeable too.

We did 'not a lot' for the rest of the day. No wonder people said I looked relaxed the weekend after we returned home!

Lots of fish to be seen beside the boat at Rockland.

[YnysMon]

Tuesday 4th July

Right, well, I have a confession here. I didn’t keep up with my diary of what we did each day from now on, so this account might be a bit depleted compared to the usual (some people, no doubt, will sigh a sigh of relief).

I also was very poor at taking photos for the rest of our trip. Sorry!

Today we set off around 8am from Rockland for Norwich.

 

We headed for the Commissioner's Cut, though we overshot that as Alec was on the helm and I was busy emailing people. We have a syndicate share for sale and I’d been contacted by an interested party, so was doing a lot of emailing as a go-between.

Alec turned us around before we got to the first Thorpe bridge, and we had plenty of room to moor at the Commissioner’s Cut. Graham’s leg is still giving him ‘jip’, so Alec and I took the dogs around Thorpe Marshes. We had a lovely walk, despite Alec being nervous about letting the dogs off their leads. During our walk he reminded me that when we had our previous rescue dog, Marvin (being a friendly character) had approached a bulldog. Bulldog wasn’t wanting to make friends and the young man (thug) in charge of the bulldog had actually thumped Alec! No wonder Alec has been a bit nervous about taking our dogs for a walk ever since.

We got to Norwich late morning and just paid the day mooring fee. Last July, when both sons were with us, we visited Norwich on a Monday, when the restaurant we wanted to visit was shut, so I had promised Alec that we would try to visit Norwich on this trip. We got to the Shikki Japanese restaurant in Tombland just after 12 and had a lovely lunch. I went for a bento box meal again, like I did in May when I went there with Harry, only this time with a variation. My bento box this time had sashimi and teriyaki salmon. Yum! Alec had a donburi (rice based) dish with eel, having tried eel when he went to stay with a friend in California last year.

After we’d had our meal, I ordered some snacky sushi dishes for Graham from their takeaway section. Whilst those were being prepared Alec and I had a visit to M&S. Can you believe it – he’d forgotten to pack enough spare socks for this trip!

Anyways, after picking up Graham’s sushi and returning to the boat, we had a re-think. I looked at some tide times on the Aweigh App and we thought it might be do-able to go north. Slack water at Yarmouth after 7pm, and maybe enough daylight to get up north.

On our way...

 

As we were heading out of Norwich at almost high-tide we were interested to see what 'Pozzick's bank' would look like at high water. There wasn't any bank to be seen. I wonder how he coped being stuck there for who knows how long? For those new to the forum, we rescued Pozzick, our Husky/GSD cross from this location last year, with the help of some kayakers. 

 

Well, we did manage to do the Breydon crossing, but by the time we were heading up the Bure the weather turned. It was very gloomy and rainy.

 

There were some mooring spots at Stracey Arms, but not at Stokesby or Acle (unsurprisingly) but we managed to get to the mouth of Upton Dyke by sunset (9.15pm) and there was a spot at the end just behind Goosander. Even better, the rain had stopped! It seemed the answer to our prayers. Mind you, at just after 3 next morning it didn’t seem so good. Rain lashing down and what sounded like a gale, despite the forecast ‘moderate’ winds.

[YnysMon]

Wednesday 5th July

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a very early wake up with the rain and the wind. At least the weather got better before it was time for us to start off. But before that, Upton Dyke is a really good place for a dog exercise.

 

We made our way up to the river Ant this morning. How can you do a cruise starting from the northern broads and not do the Ant?

Considering it’s July, there wasn’t that much clearance under Ludham Bridge…just over 8’. We got to Neatishead before 10.30, just as the last of the previous night’s moorers were leaving.

 

We relaxed with an ‘11’ses’ but had to leap up to close hatch and window as a shower passed overhead. After that it brightened up again. Mid-day we went to The White Horse, mainly because I wanted wifi to check my work email. I’ve agreed to a retirement package and am trying to keep an eye out for the legal document to come though for signing.

 

Seren is awful on the lead. When off it, she's as good as gold.

 

We just had drinks and bowls of peanuts at The White Horse.

We had some ice cream from the local shop.

 

When we got back to the boat I made us some quesadillas, filled with a salsa made from tomatoes, onion and red pepper, with a rice and black bean mixture from Saturday’s meal and cheese.

By late afternoon we were starting to wonder what to do tomorrow. There wasn’t anywhere we particularly wanted to visit tomorrow, so we did one of our sudden changes of plan and left Neatishead just before 4pm.

We had a delightful cruise down the Ant. I do like cruising late afternoon when most people have settled for the day. The showers from earlier on the day had dried up and it was mostly sunny with a gentle breeze.

 

We got to our home mooring shortly after 6pm and relaxed for the rest of the day. Dinner was the rest of the cheese, bread etc.

[YnysMon]

Thursday 6th July

I’m sure hirers will be shocked by this – we didn’t cruise anywhere today! This morning, we set off by car for Caister-on-Sea. Our favourite place for taking the dogs for a good run.

 

Pozzie just doesn't have the stamina.

 

Unlike Seren (our energizer bunny). 

 

On the way back, we stopped at The Tacons Farm Shop, Rollesby, where we got strawberries and cream and Alec got a a pie and a sausage roll. The strawberries were divine, properly ripe, not like the under-ripe rubbish you get in supermarkets.

Alec went for another paddle this afternoon. He was a bit longer than he intended, having 'missed' the entrance to the Marina on his way back, but he enjoyed it nevertheless. We had the strawbs and cream when Alec got back. 

 

This afternoon I hung some replacement curtains in the heads. Malcolm and his wife had bought a shower curtain and curtain heading tape earlier this year, and I had taken an age in cutting the shower curtain out and sewing it up into some new curtains. I got there eventually, though I think I’ve made an error with the depth of the hems, so the curtains are a tad long. I am taking the old curtains home and will use them as a pattern for an extra set. With the boat being used most of the year, the curtains and shower curtains do tend to get a bit mouldy after a time, so it’s good to have a spare set.

Graham spent his time this afternoon cleaning the exterior of the boat. Alec went for a shower at the Marina facilities.

Dinner this evening was the very easy ‘Aubergine and Red Pepper Biriyani’ recipe that I’ve used previously. Pre-cooked rice stirred into fried veg with some korma paste stirred in.

[YnysMon]

Friday 6th July

Just a morning of cleaning. With Alec to help we managed to get away from the boat just after 11am

Yesterday, whilst I was waiting to see the HPC Manager about coming over to measure MS up for a replacement cooker, I got chatting with another boater who was also waiting to see the Manager. He was wanting a pump-out, having found that Boulter’s pump-out machine was out of action. I asked about the possibility of a pump-out tomorrow morning – difficult due to Friday morning being their busy time with their hire fleet. However, the Manager kindly offered for their engineer to take the boat around to the fuel quay when doing our service in the afternoon (as an exception due to Boulter’s being out of action). I got the invoice mid-afternoon. HPC service continues to be excellent!

After leaving the boat we made our way to The White Horse Upton. They were just starting up their weekend beer festival. Although that was good to see, we just settled ourselves down in the main pub. Graham had their vegan chilli, Alec had their pie and chips and I had a crab salad.

Just after 2pm we were on our way home and got home around 5pm. I do like it when we get home in a reasonable time to unpack etc.

[SwanR]

Great write up Helen as always. Sounds like a lot of cruising for a week. I like early starts but not quite as early as some of your days. 

[NotDeadYet]

Thank you Helen. As we are unavoidably absent from Broads boating this year, it's especially enjoyable following your cruises. Your Beccles leg in placid conditions made us smile - the wind and rain was relentless for us last year! 

[YnysMon]

Next trip not until November. Too long!

[lakesailor]

Moonlight shadow looking good on salhouse broad on mudweight 

[YnysMon]

Always lovely to get a glimpse of Moonlight Shadow, even when it’s not us aboard.

[Troyboy]

Great write up and some lovely pictures. We are back on the broads on Friday. We are going south so you have whetted my appetite.

[Broads01]

Thanks for the write up, Helen, enjoyable as always. It's useful to know you can still moor at the Beccles swimming pool because when I passed there in April it didn't look as though you could.

[Andrewcook]

Hi Helen that's amazing Holiday photos have been taken. The Norfolk Air kept you all fit including Pozzic & Seren. As to going to Caister for the Beach Seren & Pozzic have their Holiday Fun Run Now all back home once again.  I would like to say to you all thank you for your time & trouble doing this Holiday Diary for all Forum Members   enjoy reading your Holiday tales. 

[YnysMon]

I'm pleased to report that another MS share sale was concluded recently, without the share being advertised other than being mentioned on this forum. We also have a name on our waiting list again. I think that's good news for Broads syndicates generally. It's not surprising I guess, given the way that the cost of hiring has inflated over the past few years. 

[Matt]

That’s good news. We haven’t had a share up for sale in Thunder for quite a while now but the big news is we are self managed from October…..

[Tempest]

8 minutes ago, Matt said:

That’s good news. We haven’t had a share up for sale in Thunder for quite a while now but the big news is we are self managed from October…..

I am sure you have made the right decision and if you need any support / advice by all means get in touch with me (I am treasurer of the Moonlight Shadow Syndicate) , @Mouldy (Chair of the syndicate) and @YnysMon (Helen who is the secretary)

We are more than happy to share ideas and even look to bring the syndicate boats together as a co-operative group of self run syndicates where we share best practice and support for each other (This may help with such things as insurance, mooring costs, access to the bridge pilot, upgrades, breakdown cover, and more). Just an idea but it may be an option in the future.

All the best