(not) Carried Away By A Moonlight Shadow

[YnysMon]

Monday 6th July

Another poor night’s sleep, although going to bed early did compensate a little for early waking. If anything, the wind sounded worse than it did last night. I woke just before 2am as a really strong gust hammed the awning. During the next couple of hours several gusty spells hit us. There were times when the wind would drop for 10 or 15 minutes or so, then you would hear a hissing sound as the next gust whipped over the marshes before impacting a few seconds later. It was as though the wind was pausing to draw breath to blow even harder. It sounded as bad a storm Ciara back in February. Worse, actually. At least we were in Moonlight Shadow in February, and not under a canvas awning.

The boys and Graham were keen to sail this morning. I was less keen, at least while the gusts kept coming. We decided to go for a short walk as the wind was forecast to lessen late morning.

As we were setting off, I heard someone shout my name. It was Malcolm and his wife Debbie on their way up to the village having moored their boat ‘Norfolk Lady’ in Womack Dyke. It was lovely to see them, even if it was just a brief exchange.

Our walk took us on a circular route through Ludham marshes and back along the Bure and Womack Dyke.

Once we returned from our walk it took us some time to prepare the boat as we decided to put three reefs in the sail. Reefing reduces the area of the sail, to make it more manageable in strong winds. Each reef has to be set in turn, so that took a while. Whilst we were doing that, we noticed some others on Hunter’s boats were leaving the Yard under Torqueedo power, so we decided to do the same, to check what the wind was like on the main river before raising the sail. Initially, we found it was still gusty but by the time we got the Thurne Dyke the gusts seemed to be easing, so we raised our sail whilst underway and then tacked our way up the Bure against the westerly wind.

The plan had been to sail up the Bure as far as Salhouse and then use the Torqeedo from there and get under Wroxham Bridge. We were thinking it would be nice and sheltered up there. However, by the time we got near St Benet’s the wind had died down considerably and, whilst we were passing Ant Mouth, we took a spur of the minute decision to turn up the Ant. We ended up having to use the Torqeedo most of the way up the Ant, but that wasn’t really an issue.

We had to moor at a private mooring to take our mast down and caught a brief shower. (Rant: why, oh why, is there a really clearly signed de-masting area north of the bridge but apparently nowhere ‘official’ to de-mast south of it?)

The rain didn’t last long though. Once through the bridge we moored a bit further along and I braved visiting the shop (with my face mask on) to pick up some pasties for lunch. I wasn’t impressed with their Covid-19 precautions, although they did have signs up asking people to keep their distance and follow a ‘one-way’ system. I guess it’s more difficult for smaller shops, but I did think there were some measures they could have taken, like perhaps not selling Mr Whippy type ice-cream cones without using protective gloves, or not selling it at all. My son works for IKEA and there are a lot of items in their Bistro (the place that sells hot dogs) that they are not selling currently, such as ice-cream. We ate our pasties before continuing up the Ant, with lovely blue skies overhead.

Most of the wild moorings along the Ant were taken, though we did kick ourselves at passing a good wild mooring suitable for saileys (i.e. not overhung with trees) just north of Johnny Crowe’s staithe (if that’s what it’s called?). We waved at Malcolm and Debbie, who had found a perfect sunny wild mooring not for from Irstead.

Once on Barton Broad we picked up some wind and had a lovely sail to and fro across the Broad before making our way toward Barton Turf.

We were lucky to secure that last space on the staithe around 6pm as, after we arrived, several Richardson’s boats (presumably late Monday handovers?) came down toward the staithe looking for a mooring spot.

 

We had some tinned chilli with rice and tortilla chips this evening. We had thought to play some games afterward, but decided we were just too tired. Another early night beckoned.

[SwanR]

More great photos and interesting to read the perspective of someone looking to sail rather than just cruising. 

[YnysMon]

Tuesday 7th July

What a difference from yesterday morning! We woke to a beautifully calm, sunny morning, though it soon started to cloud over. We could have done with a bit more wind though. There wasn’t even enough to merit putting the sails up on Barton Broad, and that’s usually a place where you can get at least a bit of a breeze. First we get too much wind, then not enough!

After our porridge breakfast we set off using the Torqueedo (it’s getting rather a lot of use on this holiday already).

Crossing Barton Broad.

The Ant.

Going down the Ant we started to gather a bit of a convoy behind us. I guess we were going a bit slow – only 3mph. I spent most of the journey at the bow of the boat to take photos. As we passed a wild-moored boat they commented that it looked like I was strapped to the mast. LOL.

We stopped off at How Hill, initially to let people pass us, but Graham suggested that we have coffee, so we stopped there a bit longer whilst we brewed that. Graham is a coffee addict, so we had brought a caffetiere with us. Whilst the kettle was heating up, we fed a couple of swans and couple of ducks and watched other boats go by. This year, everyone who passed us on the How Hill stretch did so at a considerate speed, so that was pleasant. Rather than have to moor up again at Ludham Bridge, we decided to take our mast down before setting off from How Hill.

After we set off, I went to the bow of the boat again.

Alec joined me, deciding to take off his shoes to dangle his feet over the water.

I did warn him to bring his feet in if the river got busier and certainly before Ludham Bridge. He didn’t dangle his feet for long though, as a swan snuck up on him and almost got his toes, much to the amusement of the crew on a passing boat (and ours!).

Preparing to raise the mast again, after passing through Ludham Bridge.

It felt as though the wind was picking up again once we had got under Ludham Bridge, so we put the jib up (that's the small sail at the front of the boat). Once on the Bure we headed upstream into the wind so that we could raise the main sail, before turning back downstream. We then had quite a good sail down the Bure and up the Thurne.

We got as far as Cold Hall Farm, where there’s a belt of trees there that tends to steal the wind. I took the helm again whilst Graham and Harry took down the sail. It started to rain as we turned into Womack Dyke and whilst we were mooring.

It did stop raining for a while, so I dried the roof of the boat and the seats in the well with a cloth before we put the awning over, just to cut down a bit on the inevitable condensation. The rain then started again, and continued on and off (mostly on) the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had arrived back just before 2pm knowing that rain was forecast.

Graham popped up to the shop in the village whilst I baked some part-baked baguettes for our lunch. We had these with hot dogs served with sauerkraut and mustard.

The afternoon was spent reading, charging up the Torqueedo and our gadgets on the electric posts that are in the Yard (with waterproofs protecting our phones etc.) and generally relaxing. We had some wine/beer (tea for Graham) and snacks. We had a couple of minor mishaps. In passing from the well through our cabin to his forward cabin Harry knocked the LED light on the ceiling off its magnetic catch. It fell into his snack bowl and half his veg crisps ended up in the dog’s water bowl. I went to empty and refill the water bowl and managed to throw Seren’s dinner bowl overboard. Graham hadn’t warned me that he’d placed it nested underneath her water bowl. Fortunately, it landed the right way up and bobbed gently away from our boat toward another, where a fellow sailor rescued it for us.

Dinner was a rather strange corned beef hash. It had the usual onion, potato, carrot and corned beef but also beans and sausages…I had picked up the wrong tin of beans from the cupboard at home. It tasted okay though.

We had a game of exploding kittens and a cup of tea before another early night.

[Mouldy]

11 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

 . . . . . . . . . . . .  I had picked up the wrong tin of beans from the cupboard at home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Ham and beans for tea when you arrived home then, Helen??😉😁😁

[YnysMon]

Wednesday 8th July

It was still raining this morning when we woke. That type of ‘summer rain’ that just falls vertically from the sky because there’s no wind. No wind – humph!

We didn’t want to rush away this morning in any case as Graham wanted to visit a pharmacy to get something to treat the eyelid infection that he’d developed, so he went off in the car to Wroxham shortly after 8am.

Alec got up and enquired about breakfast, so between us we made scrambled eggs on toast, Alec keeping an eye on the toast under the grill whilst I scrambled the eggs. Good team work! A little while later Harry got up and made himself some coffee to go with a pain chocolat. Luckily there was enough coffee left in the caffetiere for Graham to have some with toast and jam on his return.

And it was still raining.

Around 10’ish we decided to don our waterproofs and get on our way regardless of the rain and lack of wind. We just took the soggy awning down, which hadn’t leaked, despite all that overnight rain, and stowed it in the forepeak. By the time we had done that it had stopped drizzling. Good timing! We then made our way down Womack Dyke and the Thurne on the Torqeedo.

By the time we were passing Thurne Dyke the wind was picking up and we raised the sail once we turned up the Bure. After that we had a lovely, though fairly slow, sail up almost as far as Horning.

The St Benedict’s (Horning church) staithe was unoccupied, so we moored there for lunch. The wooden surface is a bit slippery, but other than that is a lovely mooring. Wanting something quick, I just heated a tin of stewed steak and made up some instant mash.

We didn’t bother putting up our sails after lunch, as we were nearing a wooded section and had used the Torqeedo to help out in some sections above the Ranworth Dam turn-off before lunch.

As we passed through Horning the Ferry Inn appeared to be open, but with not very many boats moored and very few people sitting outside. I was pleased to see that the New Inn appeared to have reopened and had quite a few boats moored outside.

Salhouse moorings (the ones on the shore of the Broad) appeared to be busy.

Harry went to sit at the bow as we passed through the wooded banks of the Bure between Salhouse and Wroxham.

All the moorings along Wroxham Island were taken, so we couldn’t stop there to take our mast down.

Wroxham.

We moored briefly on the pilot’s moorings to take the mast down. It was getting late in the day anyway, and there was only about 6½‘ under the bridge. We had plenty of clearance anyway. Once we’d past the railway bridge we moored up again to put the mast back up, then we motored on up the Bure as far as Belaugh. This is such a lovely quiet section of the river. Harry was lucky enough to spot a kingfisher. 

I was a bit amazed at the number of boats we passed that were heading downriver, as it was getting on for 5pm. There had been some spaces on the Hoveton Viaduct moorings, but not that many. I wondered if Coltishall moorings were all taken. A Herbie Woods boat passed our mooring around 7pm, very considerately at tick-over, but also going downstream. I wonder where they all ended up?

 

I’ve been wanting to moor overnight at Belaugh parish staithe since a while. Another first. Luckily, it didn’t have overhanging trees, though there was a large tree just upriver from it, so we would have to take care when we left the mooring in the morning.

The church in Belaugh is spectacularly situated on a hill directly above the river and there's a steep path from the parish staithe up to it. It's a wonder that it's still sitting firmly on that hill as some of the gravestones look as though they are about to tumble down the hill. 

Dinner this evening was tinned haggis with mashed spuds (I managed to mash the spuds with a fork, not having a proper masher, but that worked out okay), carrots and instant gravy.

We thought we were pretty lucky with the weather today in that we didn't have any rain after setting off from the Yard, and considering how soggy it was yesterday afternoon, evening and overnight.

By the way, after being on the river for three days now, we have come to the conclusion that it's a bit quieter than it normally is the first week of July. I wonder if it will get busier as more boats get handed over on Friday?

[lakesailor]

Lovely write up thanks for sharing, never hired a hunters boat before as the quanting always put me off but now with the new motors Im getting very tempted 😀

[trambo]

27 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner this evening was tinned haggis with mashed spuds (I managed to mash the spuds with a fork, not having a proper masher, but that worked out okay), carrots and instant gravy.

 

That is mega-ace. Yum! 

[YnysMon]

Thursday 9th July

I woke just after 4 this morning, probably due to the sound of a downpour. Of course, I started to worry about river levels rising due to rain (the boys call me a worrier).

Belaugh mooring had been very peaceful overnight (apart from the rain noise), but by 7am there was a sound of early morning road traffic in the distance.

After a tea and toast breakfast we set off motoring our way back down river to Wroxham.

The early morning drizzle had dried up and the sun was making an attempt to come out (it failed). On one stretch, apparently in the middle of nowhere, I thought I could smell bacon. Yes, around the next bend there was a wild-moored boat. They offered to swap some bacon for some water. Not that we had much of the latter. The boat comes with just three jerrycans of water, two of which were empty this morning.

We moored again at the Hoveton Viaduct moorings to take the mast down. Harry and Alec went off to Roys whilst I put the kettle on for morning coffee. By the time the coffee was ready the boys had returned. Although cloudy, the day felt warm and it was very pleasant sitting there drinking our coffee.

I took it slowly under the bridges and moored in the dyke beside the pilot’s moorings to put our mast back up.

As we motored through Wroxham, it started to rain. We then had showers on and off for much of the day. Despite that, we put our sails up just before the entrance to Wroxham Broad. We caught a few puffs of wind as the passed the Broad, but not much on the stretch down to Salhouse. There was some more wind after that, though not a lot, at least until we got to the wooded section below Horning.

Wet dog...

...caught mid-shake.

Above Horning - with no wind in our sails.

Through Horning. Just a puff of wind here.

We stopped at Cockshoot Dyke at around 2.30’ish to make some lunch (pasta with pesto sauce). Before leaving the dyke, we had a short conversation with a chap on Goosander, who had come in to moor as we were preparing to depart.

We had better wind once we got near Horning Hall (just before Ant Mouth), but it started to rain again as we passed St Benet’s, and more persistently. So, although we were enjoying the sail and our waterproofs were doing their job, we were starting to feel a bit soggy by the time we were nearing Thurne Mouth. It had been fairly warm despite the showers for most of the day, but now, as it got on for 5pm, it was starting to feel chilly. As we approached the Thurne, we decided to sail back to the Yard rather than go down to Acle as we had planned.

We took our sails down just before getting to Womack Dyke and motored in just before 6pm. It took us a while to get the awning on and get ourselves and the well-area dry. We are fair-weather sailors; well we have been. Today was the first day we have sailed and had more than a brief shower or thunderstorm, which is pretty good going over five years of hiring.

We had tinned veg curry, tinned chickpea daal, hardboiled eggs and rice this evening for dinner, and then another early night.

Seren was tired out. She often chooses to sleep in her old puppy bed at home, so we brought that with us, mindful of the limited space on board. 

[YnysMon]

34 minutes ago, lakesailor said:

Lovely write up thanks for sharing, never hired a hunters boat before as the quanting always put me off but now with the new motors Im getting very tempted 😀

We recommend! Especially now that the electric quants have been fitted so several of the boats. The Hunter's boats are lovely to sail, very responsive, they turn on a pin. We also like that they are also forgiving to us - as we aren't very experienced sailors. 

[SwanR]

What a lovely family holiday. Seren looks to be having a very enjoyable time whatever the weather.

[YnysMon]

Friday 10th July

Our last day. Sob. But, the sun was out, and it looked to be a much better day for wind too.

We decided to do the trip down to Acle and back and to go home this evening rather than tomorrow morning, bearing in mind that the Yard will have to do extra cleaning and then fumigate each boat before handover to next week’s customers.

It was a very pleasant sail down to Acle. Just as we were about to set off the Wherry Albion went past, pushed along by a dinghy with an outboard. As we got on the main river, they were just raising the sail. What a lovely sight!

We actually persuaded Alec to take the tiller this morning and do some sailing. I don’t know why he’s been so reluctant to do so earlier in the week.

Sailing down the Thurne.

The majority of the Acle BA moorings were closed off, with works going on, but there was a stetch for a few boats on the upstream end. We moored at the Pedro’s moorings, paid the mooring fee and then went to Pedro’s for lunch, sitting at their outside tables (we were the only ones there). We all enjoyed our lunch very much. The mooring fee was taken off the bill.

After lunch we took Seren for a run along the footpath that runs toward Upton Dyke.

Harry was tending to fall behind. He was looking for four-leaf clovers, having found one last year on the opposite bank. He found three!

That brings his total tally of four-leaf clovers up to five, having found his first one when at school. Hope it brings him lots of luck!

Although we caught a very brief shower on the sail back up to the Yard, we didn’t get very wet and had a lovely sail.

Returning up Womack Dyke toward the Yard.

At the Yard other sailors, including Mel Giedroyc’s family, were packing up to go. They stopped to chat before leaving, and we exchanged some tales of where we had been. Mel’s daughters were thrilled to have seen so many seals and seal pups at Horsey.

Putting the awning on…with a passenger.

Just as we were about to leave the boat, we had another shower, but by then we had packed everything in the car and had completed putting the awning on the boat.

We had a good journey back to MK, arriving just after 8pm. Not bad, as we only left Ludham a few minutes to 6.

What a lovely week we have had. From one perspective, I guess the weather wasn’t ideal at times, but I think we can all say that it didn’t spoil our holiday. We had a really good time.

We have provisionally booked Lucent for next year. The first week of July 2021 was already booked, and the Yard are planning an anniversary week for the 2nd week of July, so we have booked for the third week of July. Hopefully that will still be before school holidays!

 

[SwanR]

Wonderful tale and photos Helen, as always. I expect your Friday departure was quite wise. We came home mid Saturday morning and the roads were very busy. It’s not our usual time to travel and I would avoid it in future. 

[stumpy]

We passed you on your way down to Acle around Upton Dyke, running well with a big bone on Lucents teeth! According to Garmin you were doing a good 5.5 mph!

[YnysMon]

18 minutes ago, stumpy said:

We passed you on your way down to Acle around Upton Dyke, running well with a big bone on Lucents teeth! According to Garmin you were doing a good 5.5 mph!

Just for a few moments probably! It’s amazing how quickly the boat speeds up when you get a decent gust of wind.

[NorfolkNog]

Loved reading your holiday tales Helen and the cracking photos - many thanks for sharing. 

Thanks also for your assistance  

I'm sometimes tempted to try this sailing lark but not sure if Mrs Nog would agree. 

[YnysMon]

Hi Mr NN. When things get back to normal you could perhaps try a taster 2 hour sail. Dave Whitworth and his Mrs did that a few years back and posted a vlog of their day.

 

 

[NorfolkNog]

Good idea Helen, thanks. My sister I and I did did try to sort something similar out for our Dad as he was a keen sailor. Sadly events over took us. I'll soften up Mrs Nog though. Tell her there's a gin cabinet on board 

[YnysMon]

Even better, take your own gin with you and surprise her with a mid-sail g&t.

[Mouldy]

9 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tell her there's a gin cabinet on board 

Needs to be on a gimbal so it doesn’t spill when it heels over in the breeze.😉😉

[YnysMon]

Watch this space , as tomorrow we are off on another Broads (but not Moonlight Shadow) jaunt for the extended weekend. Dave (JanetAnne) is letting us use his wooden cruiser ‘Water Rail’. Isn’t that super kind!

I must admit to be amused at his reply to my enquiry as to which boatyard we should aim for tomorrow...she’s moored at the end of a friend’s garden.

Keep an eye out for us if are out this weekend on the south side!

Helen
 

[marshman]

Liked the tale - sadly Albion is in fact Maud, the other black sailed trader remaining!! Hope you don't mind me pointing that out!!!!

[YnysMon]

Not at all. I didn't spot the name when we were passing her so searched on google for ‘Wherry’ and ‘Ludham’ before posting my tale. Are there two wherrys band in Ludham, or was google just misleading me?
Great to see a Wherry on the river.

[grendel]

albion is currently in womak water. well she was this morning.

[marshman]

Albion shares her wet shed with Maud, some would say a proper clinker built wherry! She was dragged out of Ranworth Broad, not Malthouse, and restored over a long period by Vincent Pargeter, the well known Norfolk/Suffolk millwright who sadly died a few years ago.

She is now run by his wife as a small charitable Trust - see here https://wherrymaudtrust.org/

Albion's own site is here - https://www.wherryalbion.com/

Sad to know but public sailings have been put on hold for this year for obvious reasons but Albion, and Maud too, will be out and about for Crew Training until the middle of September - cannot let the old gits lose their quanting skills!!!

( Sorry Ian - topic drift again!!!!!!! )

[YnysMon]

Might be topic drift Marshman, but very interesting nevertheless. This history of the Broads does enrich the forum’s threads, so thanks.