Carried Away By A Moonlight Shadow...

[YnysMon]

Wednesday 5th June – the eventful day

According to the Aweigh App the tides generally these last few days have been about an hour later than the tables I had downloaded previously, so we decided to return north a few days earlier than we had planned. The Aweigh App was forecasting low water at Yarmouth today for around 4pm, which is late enough when you still have to plug your way against the Bure. We started off from Beccles before the tide had turned as we wanted to stop off somewhere further down the Waveney for a lunch break and dog walk before continuing across Breydon. Given it was 2-3 hours before high tide when we set off, the water level looked worryingly high compared to the quay heading.

 

Before setting off we had breakfast. After getting up I had visited Lidl and got us some fresh croissants. We each had a plain and an almond croissant with coffee.

We took things steady as we weren’t in a hurry.

 

Shortly after passing Oulton Dyke we decided to drop our canopy, just in case there wasn’t enough room under Somerlayton Bridge. When Graham had got the canopy half way down we realised that we had forgotten to put the dogs’ lifejackets on, so Graham paused to do that. Whilst he was struggling to get Seren’s jacket on (she was sitting beside me) I got distracted by trying to help and we ended up with our bow in the reeds. Gosh, how quickly things can happen! I won’t hug the reeds on the Waveney quite as closely again for a start and will try not to get distracted by dogs in future. We weren’t even going that fast, certainly well within the speed limit. Goodness knows how far into the reeds we would have gone if we had been going faster!

Putting MS into reverse was completely ineffectual as was Graham trying to push off using the boat hook.

A guy on a hire boat tried to help us, but soon realised that he didn’t have enough experience to do so safely. No problem…good call. No use two boats getting into difficulty!

Graham then tried getting off the boat to push…that didn’t work either.

Meanwhile, I’d phoned our breakdown service, asking their advice on whether I should phone the BA or someone else. Although our breakdown insurance doesn’t cover this sort of thing, they said they would try to get someone to our aid. It was getting on for high water and, as we were diagonally into the reeds, I had visions of the boat tipping to one side as the tide dropped, and it can drop quite a lot shortly after the turn of the tide on the southern broads.

Whilst Graham was still in the reeds, a private yacht turned up and offered to help. He drew alongside and I asked him to wait whilst I got Graham back on board. This involved getting our rescue ladder out…thank goodness we had one, as otherwise I’d have had to make a loop in a rope of something to help Graham get back on board.

Unfortunately, the yacht didn’t have enough ‘oomph’ to shift us. Whilst he was trying to help, another syndicate boat (Silver Cloud) turned up, and also offered to help. Regal Star, a Barnes hire that had been moored near us in Beccles also hovered about. As the Silver Cloud crew and Graham were sorting out trying to tow us off, I had a call back from Boulter’s to say a tow boat from St Olaves was starting off. Thankfully, Silver Cloud did have enough ‘oomph’ and I was able to phone Boulter’s back a few minutes later to tell them we no longer needed rescuing. When we got back to Boulter’s the following week we went to check if we owed them a call out charge. We didn’t, so the rescue must fortunately have been aborted before we incurred costs.

Phew! That’s a phew on getting out of the reeds – a call out charge would have been a small matter in comparison.

Anyway, we were a bit traumatised after all that.

We followed Silver Cloud downriver and under the bridge. Getting under Somerlayton was a doddle, as we now had our canopy down. There was slightly over 8’ anyway so ironically, we would have been okay with the canopy up. We stopped at Somerlayton for a while, at least long enough for the dogs to have a good exercise before we continued on toward Breydon. We continued on before having lunch though, as we had wasted at least an hour faffing about trying to get off the reeds. Graham made us some sandwiches which we ate whilst underway.

We got through Great Yarmouth around low tide (again, just over 10’ on the gauge) and then plugged away against the still out-flowing tide up the Bure. We passed and waved at Silver Cloud's crew, moored up at Stokesby. As we were going through Stokesby we also caught up with Regal Star. She was travelling along fairly slowly, but we didn’t see the point of trying to overtake until we got to the 6mph section beyond Acle.

After that we just carried on until we got to our home mooring at Horning. We really enjoyed this evening cruise. On the stretch between Horning Hall and Ranworth Dam we passed Southern Comfort, and then the evening sky started to turn pink. Beautiful!

 

It was after 7.30pm by the time we got 'home'. Naturally, after the long cruising day and the stress we were both feeling tired, so Graham popped out in the car to get us a couple of ready meals to heat up in the microwave. We did check the menu of the local Chinese, but it’s very limited in vegetarian options.

[YnysMon]

Thursday 6th June

After yesterday’s ‘excitements’ we thought we’d take it easy today. Another member on the NBN forum had posted about going to view the reconstructed Spanish Galleon ‘Andalucia’ that was moored up in Yarmouth for a few days and, as it was a cloudy morning, we thought we’d be able to leave the dogs in the car to visit the Galleon. Of course, as usually happens, once we got to Gt Yarmouth the sun came out and there weren’t any spaces in the first couple of car parks (both off Howard St) that we visited that were shady. Luckily, there was a privately run (Euro Car Parks) site opposite the main Howard St car park that did have a couple of shady spaces, so we opted for that. It was £1.50 for two hours. It was also alongside one of Gt Yarmouth’s ‘rows’ (narrow passageways that run from the seafront to the harbourside) that took us down to the Harbour area near Haven Bridge. Very handy.

 

I like how there is still some fishing going on from the old Harbour.

 

We struck lucky in arriving at Andalucia in that there wasn’t a queue for tickets, though we did have to wait for a long stream of visitors to come down the gang plank before we could get on board. It can’t have been easy for people with limited mobility as there were a lot of ladders on board too.

 

Before we got on, Graham pointed to a lad who was on the foremost part of the ship (not sure what the technical term is), suggesting it wouldn’t be that difficult for me to get up there. (He’s just a tease…he knows how scared I am of heights.)

 

Andalucia was very interesting. It must be marvellous to actually experience sailing in her. For a fee (£++) you can join the voyage between the British ports that they are visiting or between the UK and Netherlands.

 

 

Near the Admiral's saloon there were plaques on the wall indicating which ports they had visited (mainly in the America's, but there was also one for Great Yarmouth and Cardiff. 

 

This chap was nearby...

 

Below decks...

 

As we were waiting to disembark, Graham asked the young man who was directing ‘traffic’ down the gang plank if he had been on board for long. He said he’d joined a fortnight ago in Belgium. I thought he didn’t sound Spanish!

After the Andalucia we had a short visit to the Library…I’ve found it’s a very handy place for a loo visit in Gt Yarmouth Harbour area and also they often have book sales. We got a couple of books plus a couple of DVDs.

We returned to the car and made our way to the North Dunes area of the seafront. Just north of the Venetian Waterways the roadside has free parking. We took the dogs down the wooden walkway that runs along from near the Munchies food cabin to the beach.

 

Unfortunately, not long after we got to the beach it started spitting with rain, and there was a very dark cloud looming overhead, so we ran back across the dunes and got back to the car in the nick of time. Almost as soon as we’d got the dogs and ourselves inside, and slammed the doors, the heavens opened.

I had thought that we’d have lunch in ‘The Cabin’, another food place near the Venetian Waterways that has very good reviews, but of course they are closed on Thursdays. Just our luck!

We made our way back to the boat instead, stopping off at ‘The Tacons’ Farm Shop in Rollesby on the way, where we bought some home-grown strawberries and Norfolk cream, plus a few other goodies.

Back at the boat, I made us another fry-up, which was consumed mid-afternoon, so we only needed a snack in the evening.

This afternoon Graham started prepping the wood edging on the shelf in the aft cabin, which he was planning to re-varnish.

[YnysMon]

Friday 7th June

Back to cruising.

We weren’t that early starting off this morning as Graham had first popped to a couple of Roy’s stores in the car for a few bits and bobs (food items and glue). Today’s idea was to go up the Ant and find a wild mooring.

As it was a fairly sunny morning, I had taken down the canopy whilst Graham was visiting Hoveton, so we didn’t need to worry about clearance under Ludham Bridge.

 

On our way...

 

As is usual near Horning, we picked up a couple of passengers.

 

In the event, although the marker board said 7¾’ clearance, the sills were visible, so we would have been good with the canopy up.

 

We stopped at How Hill where we had lunch.

 

I visited the secret gardens, which were regretfully just past their May bloom.

 

Then we both took the dogs for a walk along the path that runs south from the moorings.

 

It was well after 2pm by the time we got on our way again.

Amazingly, Johnny Crowe’s staithe was unoccupied, so we bagged that and chilled out for the rest of the day. One of the great things about that particular wild mooring is the footpath that leads from it, which links to a lane that in turn leads to Sharp Street. You could walk into Ludham from there or take a path that leads off the lane to the How Hill BA moorings. The footpath was still pretty boggy in places though and there are creeks either side, so we had to keep the dogs on the lead for the first part of the walk.

 

This evening we had roasted veggies (aubergine, red pepper, courgette, onion) with couscous, houmous and yogurt.

We are still hearing cuckoo and bittern calls from most of the places we have moored (including our home mooring).

[Andrewcook]

Hi Helen  and  Graham  Serene Posic.  I like your Dairy on your Trips on the Broads plus Photos you've  have taken as this Cheered me up to No end as I can now tell you Helen & Craham  that I had to a Emergency  Operation  plus being Intensive Carla's Sleep for Two and Half Days thankfully  out of there into High Dapendence ward for a week now Home thank god I hope to be coming to Norfolk in September  not on the Broads but a  very nice Caravan for one week next Year on the Broads You all have nice time on your Travels 

[YnysMon]

Thanks Andrew. Hope you have a speedy recovery after your hospital stay. Enjoy your trip to Norfolk in September. Hopefully September will be drier than June! 

[Andrewcook]

I pray that the weather improves while you all are there and beyond for September 

[YnysMon]

Well, that’s our plans for visiting Graham’s Dad tomorrow out of the window. He had been in St Andrew’s hospital in Northampton. Graham had a call this afternoon to let us know Dad got transferred to a hospital in Anglesey yesterday.

You’d have thought they could have let us know in advance.

 

[Andrewcook]

I'm very sorry to know Graham's Dad is not well at this time I wish him all the best on his Speedy recovery.

[YnysMon]

Saturday 8th June

 

We didn’t have much planned for today, apart from a trip to Neatishead to offload the recycling items we had amassed during our first week.

Before that we took the dogs for another walk along the lane. There were deer in the fields adjoining the lane and wild roses and honeysuckle in the hedgerows, as well as the call of cuckoos. A bittern had been heard earlier on, around dawn. Delightful.

 

The cruise along the Ant was gorgeous as always. Whilst at Neatishead we had a nice chat with a couple on a private boat, then we set off back down the Ant, unsure about where to head to. We took our time, and luckily there weren’t any other boats following us, so we were able to pootle along without collecting on convoy. We wanted to be somewhere not too far from the Thurne so that we could easily cruise there in the morning.

As it happened, we ended up back on our home mooring, It’s just too handy and too central. I don’t know why I say that. It’s just somewhere we find very comfortable to be. Electric and wifi on tap, the car is handy if we want to pop anywhere. Particularly good if the weather isn’t great.

 

We had a beautiful sunset this evening and the evening started out peaceful.

 

However, later we could hear the thump-thump of music. It sounded like there was a rave going on somewhere. It wasn’t that close though, so didn’t keep us awake. I could still hear it when I got up for a loo visit at 2.30am though.

[YnysMon]

Sunday 9th June

From here on my ‘diary’ will probably be a bit slim…I didn’t get around to writing it up. Hey, I’m on holiday!

The plan for today was to meet up with our friend Kate (Kpnut) for a Sunday lunch at The Lion in Thurne. Luckily, when we got there Kate had bagged a mooring on the end near the Mill and there was just about enough room for us to moor alongside. Bonus…the Mill was open and the sails were turning.

 

 

We took the dogs for a walk northward along the riverbank as far as the bit opposite the mouth of Womack Dyke and back, after which we made our way to the pub for our lunch.

Slightly disappointed when we got there to find they don’t offer a Sunday roast. I chose the nearest thing to a Sunday roast that I could find on the specials menu, which was a pork chop (a huge one) with mash, broccoli and a blue cheese sauce. It was enjoyable, but I couldn’t taste any blue cheese in the sauce and the chop was very peppery. Graham and Kate both had a vegetarian pasta dish. Huge portions!

After lunch Kate joined us on board MS and we had a good natter. Late afternoon we cast off both boats, Kate on her way to Boundary Farm and we back to the river Ant, having in mind another wild mooring. On the way we passed a wherry.

 

 

Probably because we were just a bit dozy and overly ‘picky’ we passed a few vacant wild moorings. The one we’ve frequented most (just below Irstead) had a couple of swans in residence, so we didn’t want to disturb them. We ended up at Paddy’s Lane, on the very far end from Barton Turf. Very peaceful it was too.

 

 

[YnysMon]

Monday 10th June

Well it was peaceful until the early morning when the rain started lashing down and the wind picked up. Graham had checked the weather forecast. It didn’t look good, and was promising stronger winds for the afternoon, so we decided to head back to our home mooring again.

As we crossed Barton Broad, with the northerly wind behind us, I was glad we were heading in the direction of Irstead, as it would have been very choppy had we been heading for Stalham. Several Richardsons’s boats were heading in that direction at quite a pace. It was around 8.45, so maybe they had left it a bit late to get back to the boatyard at the end of their holidays.

I took the photo below to illustrate the difference Rain-X makes. Only the left side of the screen was treated, which has the effect of making the rain drops form into 'blobs'. The right hand side was more difficult to see through, being more blurred. 

 

It was a miserable morning, with poor visibility, so we took our time. We got back to Horning late morning. Graham popped to Roy’s for a few bits and bobs, including lasagne sheets. This afternoon I used the leftover veggies that I’d roasted a few days ago, adding them to an onion and tomato sauce. This was the filling for a lasagne, which was topped with a soya milk bechamel and vegan ‘parmesan’. Once prepared, the lasagne was put aside to be cooked in the evening.

 

Late afternoon the sun came out again. We took the dogs to Ludham Bridge for a walk.

When we returned from our walk, we realised that we’d gone along the path that’s supposed to be closed whilst work is done to correct a ‘leak’. There were signs that they’d started work on clearing the reeds in the area they’ll be working on but as they had finished their working day, we didn’t have a problem using the footpath toward How Hill. We didn’t go that far, only to the point opposite Neave’s Mill.

The weather this evening was lovely and by sunset we had a lovely clear sky.

 

The lasagne turned out well.

 

[YnysMon]

Tuesday 11th June

We thought we’d go to Potter today, to visit Latham’s. We did occasionally see the sun today, but generally there was a lot of cloud and several showers.

 

When we got to Potter the BA moorings were full…I’d forgotten that a section of the quay heading was being repaired, so that cut down on the number of moorings available. A cursory glace into Herbert Woods basin didn’t entice us in, as it looked fairly busy, so we chugged back down the Thurne.

 

We ended up on the BA moorings at Acle where we found a electric sockets that had just over £1 credit. That was good – we felt a bit chilly when the sun disappeared behind the increasing clouds, so put the radiator on a low setting.

 

For lunch we had the remains of the lasagne reheated, with garlic bread and dressed salad.

We took the dogs for a walk. It started raining shortly after we had set off, so I returned to the boat, as I only had on wellies, a raincoat and linen trousers, whereas Graham had sensibly put on wellies, a waterproof coat and waterproof trousers. As I departed back to the boat I heard Graham's parting shot...'lightweight!'. 

We just hunkered down for the rest of the day. Graham put the final coat on the shelf-trim that he’d been working on and started prepping the wood trim surrounding the access hatch that we have in our main heads.

 

In the evening we had a visit from a swan family which had fairly young fluffy cygnets.

[Broads01]

I'm interested to know what technique the Silver Cloud crew used to pull you afloat?

[YnysMon]

Wednesday 12th June

Before leaving Acle, the dogs had another walk along the northern bank.

 

The rain then set in, so we just went back to Horning yet again.

At Horning, even the ducks looked fed up with the rain.

 

For lunch we had freshly baked baguettes (the long-life kind) with a filling of Quorn sweet chilli ‘chicken’ fillets in a coronation sauce (mayo, curry paste and mango chutney), cucumber and red onion.

We didn’t do much today, apart from visit Latham’s and the Ludham butcher’s by car. The rain wasn’t exactly unrelenting, we did have a few breaks between showers, but generally it was pretty miserable.

Sometimes you can have too much love.

[YnysMon]

6 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

I'm interested to know what technique the Silver Cloud crew used to pull you afloat?

First we tried lashing MS to the side of their boat. That didn't work. Then we tried lashing stern to stern (not too closely and keeping an eye on any slack in the rope), which is what did work. 

[YnysMon]

Thursday 13th June

At last – a sunny day, and it was a lot warmer. I actually took my jumper off and put on some sandals!

 

We had a slow pootle up to Wroxham, taking our time and having detours into all the Broads on the way: Hoveton Little Broad, Salhouse, Wroxham.

I think this is the point where Hoveton Little Broad links with the Great Broad.

 

I wasn’t able to visit the Horning Great Broad board walk as there were ‘no mooring’ signs and a handwritten sign indicating that the nature reserve was flooded.

A corner of Wroxham Broad.

 

When we got to Wroxham we just turned around and pootled back downriver. I’d intended to moor up on one of the Wroxham Island moorings, but they had been taken by the time we came back downriver. We carried on to Salhouse instead and mud weighted.

I made us a fry-up, but it wasn’t the usual. I made sweet potato rosti, which was grated sweet potato bound with beaten egg and seasoned with Italian herbs (the recipe said sage, but we happened to have Italian dried herb mix that someone else had left on board). We had these with mushrooms, wilted spinach and fried halloumi. I also had tomatoes, which Graham turned down.

 

Whilst we were at Salhouse one of the wherries turned up and mud weighted not far from us.

 

After we’d had our lunch, they set off again, so we followed suit, and tailed after them for the first part of the cruise back downriver.

We had booked a 9am slot for Boulter’s tomorrow morning, but as we were approaching Horning we decided that we might as well get our re-fuel and pump-out done this afternoon, so save time tomorrow morning. It meant that we had the inconvenience of having to use the ‘facilities’ in HPC this evening and in the morning, but we thought that was preferable to having to go to Boulter’s tomorrow.

Getting into Boulter’s was even more of a squeeze than is usual, and it’s never easy at the best of times. There were boats moored inside the basin either side of the entrance. The photo I took makes it look worse than it was though, as there was a boat going past along the dyke at the time. 

[YnysMon]

Friday 14th June

The usual boring final morning of packing up and cleaning the boat. Graham managed to clean the exterior despite the rain. Of course, once he’d done that the sun came out.

We were very pleased to report on our turnaround sheet that we’d not experienced any issues with the boat. The people who had been on the week before us had reported an issue with the inverter batteries, but that had been investigated the afternoon before we picked up the boat and one battery was found to have died. As that had been replaced, we had no problems.

We went to Ranworth for lunch, whether we went to The Maltster’s or The Granary would depend on whether there was a shady parking spot. There was an ideal one in the corner of the car park opposite The Maltster’s, so we left the dogs in the car and went to The Granary (they don’t allow dogs, whereas The Maltster’s does).

Graham had a brie and cranberry baguette whilst I had beef salad. We thought the prices were very reasonable. Their cakes looked lovely too, and they had an excellent selection. All the ones I looked at were £2.95, which I think is very keenly priced nowadays. So many places seem to be charging over £4 for huge portions of cake that are far too large for me.

Although the sun was out, the weather still looked dicey.

 

We had a good journey home, though I noticed that the traffic in the opposite direction was pretty heavy.

[SwanR]

Enjoyed your write up and seeing all your photos Helen. The Granary is indeed very good value. We often go there at the weekend for scones and coffee which come in £3 or £4 cheaper than most other places around here. 

[YnysMon]

14 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Well, that’s our plans for visiting Graham’s Dad tomorrow out of the window. He had been in St Andrew’s hospital in Northampton. Graham had a call this afternoon to let us know Dad got transferred to a hospital in Anglesey yesterday.

You’d have thought they could have let us know in advance.

 

Found out this morning that Dad’s social worker hadn’t been informed about moving him to Anglesey either. I think that’s pretty bad.

[ExSurveyor]

Why transfer him back to Anglesey if he is now living nearer you. It does beggar belief. Two unnecessary long journeys he could well of done without.

[Broads01]

Thanks for your write up and photos Helen, always enjoyable. 

[YnysMon]

Whilst I was writing up my diary I forgot that I'd done a few recordings of bird song with the Marlin App. I thought some of you might be interested in the birds it picked up at various locations. The ones done whilst we travelled up and down the Chet were the most impressive, but I did leave my phone on the roof and record for a longer period. 

Hardley Cross/lower Chet, 3rd June, whilst on a walk before 9am

Reed bunting, reed warbler, sedge warbler, marsh harrier, skylark, collard dove

The mid- to upper Chet, 3rd June mid-morning

Wren, blackbird, goldfinch, jackdaw, reed warbler, reed bunting, sedge warbler, black headed gull, barn swallow, willow warbler, greenfinch, chiffchaff, Cetti’s warbler, blue tit, great tit, linnet

Mid-way down the Chet 4th June around 6.30am

Cuckoo, blue tit, blackbird, Cetti’s warbler, wren, curlew, reed bunting

Johnny Crowe’s staithe evening of 7th June

Greenfinch, cuckoo, chiffchaff, reed warbler, black-headed gull, reed bunting

I also heard a bittern, but the recording didn't pick that up.

Johnny Crowe’s Staithe 8th June. 5.25am

Sedge warbler, wren, wood pigeon, Cetti’s warbler, blue tit, reed bunting, grey heron

Barton turf 9th June

Cuckoo, chiffchaff, blackcap, blackbird, robin, wood pigeon

[kpnut]

On 16/06/2024 at 14:00, YnysMon said:

Whilst he was struggling to get Seren’s jacket on (she was sitting beside me) I got distracted by trying to help and we ended up with our bow in the reeds. Gosh, how quickly things can happen! I won’t hug the reeds on the Waveney quite as closely again for a start and will try not to get distracted by dogs in future. We weren’t even going that fast, certainly well within the speed limit. Goodness knows how far into the reeds we would have gone if we had been going faster!

This sounds more like the sort of pickle I’d get myself into than you Helen. What an adventure to get back out!