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(not) Carried Away By A Moonlight Shadow


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Yep!!  We bumped into Helen and her family as they were leaving Hunters yard (on foot) yesterday morning.  My assumption that the yacht flying the Welsh flag that I’d spotted on Saturday evening was correct.  
We saw her again heading up the Ant under power yesterday afternoon after we’d found a lovely wild mooring between How Hill and Irstead and again earlier this morning heading back down the Ant, again under power.

No hiding on here!!😁😁

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Sorry I've been trying not to use mobile the last day or so as to conserve battery
We had too much wind Sunday and also Monday morning, we waited until midday before setting off.
To be fair Malcolm, you were moored in a particularly wooded stretch (lovely mooring by the way). I don't think you spotted us motoring past this morning before 9. Winds were very light today, though we did manage to sail most of the way down the Bure and up the Thurne back to the Yard. Reasons for going back to the Yard: rain forecast for the rest of the day, need to get plugged into the 'lekky' to recharge mobiles etc., but also, we are thinking of getting under 'the bridge' tomorrow, and the Yard isn't that far from Potter.

Mind you, the rivers seem quite high. We might not get under.

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Sorry I've been trying not to use mobile the last day or so as to conserve battery
We had too much wind Sunday and also Monday morning, we waited until midday before setting off.
To be fair Malcolm, you were moored in a particularly wooded stretch (lovely mooring by the way). I don't think you spotted us motoring past this morning before 9. Winds were very light today, though we did manage to sail most of the way down the Bure and up the Thurne back to the Yard. Reasons for going back to the Yard: rain forecast for the rest of the day, need to get plugged into the 'lekky' to recharge mobiles etc., but also, we are thinking of getting under 'the bridge' tomorrow, and the Yard isn't that far from Potter.

Mind you, the rivers seem quite high. We might not get under.

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This rain has killed the wind off somewhat!

Enjoy going the other side of the bridge. I miss it.


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1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

 . . . . . . . . . . . .I don't think you spotted us motoring past this morning before 9.

Oh yes I did . . . . . . . . . . . . but just a glimpse of the stern of Lucent as you headed back down the Ant.

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

Mind you, the rivers seem quite high. We might not get under. emoji53.png

Might have to lower the mast before trying.😉😉😉😉😉

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

(lovely mooring by the way).

Thank you, it was.  Even did a bit of fishing and caught a couple.  And when I say fishing, I mean a very cheap rod and reel, with bread as bait.  I’m no John Wilson, btw!!

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

To be fair Malcolm, you were moored in a particularly wooded stretch . . . . . . .

No criticism intended.  Yours was the third from Hunters that went past while we were moored yesterday afternoon, all under power.

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No worries Malcolm. I knew you were just kidding.
Meanwhile...rain, rain go away, come again another...oh no! Looks like a few showers are forecast for the rest of the week!

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Today started out soggy but dried up as we were setting off, good timing . We decided not to go under 'that bridge', but we did go under a different bridge.
Guess where we are?

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We got as far as Belaugh yesterday evening.
Today was a bit soggy! We were intending to wild moor near Acle this evening, but we were starting to feel a bit cold as well as wet as we neared Thurne Mouth, so we have ended up mooring at Hunter's Yard again instead.

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Saturday 4th July

Thank goodness that I switched our holiday from June 27th to 4th July! We also switched from booking Lustre, the boat that we hired last year, to Lucent. That worked out pretty well too. Lucent is the only boat in the fleet to have been built relatively recently (all the others were built in the 1930s/40s). She was completed in 2007. Though built on the same lines externally as Luna she has longer berths than the others, so a better for Graham and Harry who are both over 6'. There’s a dedication plaque on her to the late Graham Cooper, the master craftsman who led the team that built her.

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She has also been fitted with an ‘electric quant’, a Torqueedo electric motor, for this season. We had a Torqueedo on Lustre last year and found it really helpful, especially for going under bridges. Lucent also has the gas locker on the stern rather than in the well, which makes the well roomier (the well is the area behind the cabin where you steer the boat from).

The Yard had put some new protocols in place to ensure social distancing was maintained. Handovers were with timed slots and a reception area was set out in the main shed, rather than the office manager’s office, the toilets were available during office hours only and only one person or family to use them at a time, showers were unavailable.

We left home just after 11am, having booked a 3pm handover slot, and managed to get to Hoveton shortly before 1pm, having had a good journey with no traffic hold-ups. Whilst the traffic was much heavier than it had been during the full lockdown, it was lighter than it normally is on a July Saturday (all our holidays with Hunter’s Yard have been taken at the beginning of July).

We went to the Station Smokehouse for a take-away lunch, which we ate sitting at one of the tables that they have next to their small car park. Graham had a burger with chilli on it, I had a burger with guacamole, Alec had ribs and Harry had brisket. All very yummy and good-sized portions (too big for me anyway).

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By the time we had eaten our lunch it was getting on for 2pm, a bit early to go to the Yard, so we took a detour to How Hill so that our dog Seren could have some exercise. From the How Hill staithe we walked northward just behind the bank of the Ant, passing Boardman’s and Clayrack Drainage Mills.

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We turned around just beyond this lift bridge.

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We saw/heard a few Richardson’s boats passing down the Ant but very little traffic passing the other way. I would have liked to have gone further, but we turned around mindful of our 3pm handover. As we were returning, we got a glimpse of a fox in the reed bed just north of the How Hill staithe. Harry also spotted this during our walk. We assumed it was some sort of larvae, anyone know what it is? It was at least 2" long and had legs.

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Lucent, on her home mooring.

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Due to the late pick-up time we decided to stay in the Yard for the night, as it was getting on for 5pm by the time we had stowed all our gear on board and started sorting it out. After unpacking everything (my food stores only just about fitted in the available storage space – the drawers that are under the seating in the well) we had a cuppa and then Graham and I took Seren for a walk along the bank of Womack Dyke toward the bank of the Thurne to check out how busy it was.

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There were only five boats moored along the Womack Dyke BA moorings, despite it being nearly 6pm, all of which were private boats apart from one, which was a Hunter’s boat.

Although most pubs seem to be reopening, at least for take-aways, I had planned out meals and shopped with the idea of minimising visits to pubs/shops. This meant planning the meals mostly around non-perishable goods, as the Hunter’s boats have no fridge or running water. Dinner this evening was a can of stewed steak with potatoes and carrots.

After dinner I went for a stroll up Horsefen Lane as far as Womack staithe, leaving Graham and Harry to do the washing up.

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There were approximately ten boats moored on the BA moorings, with plenty of space between them. It clearly wasn’t as busy as it would normally be.

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When I got back, Harry reported that he couldn’t get the loo pump handle to work. Graham couldn’t shift it either, so we called the Yard’s emergency out-of-hours number. Ian, the Yard foreman, kindly came out to our rescue and got it working again. I guess it had jammed up due to lack of use.

The family on Luna (another of the 4-berth boats in the fleet) had decided to stay overnight in Womack Dyke too, returning to the Yard to do their washing-up. They had set off but had found the wind on the main river very strong and gusty. We had a few chats with them over the course of the week. A friendly family with two teenage daughters. One of the daughters was very taken with Seren. The mother turned out to be Mel Giedroyc (Mel from Mel and Sue/BBC version of Bake Off), but you would never know that she was any sort of ‘celebrity’ from her behaviour. We thought the whole family were lovely. (Malcolm, did you notice that they were moored a couple of boats ahead of you when you were moored on Womack Dyke on Sunday?)

After Seren’s evening constitutional we turned in for an early night whilst it was still light. The boys took the foreward cabin with Seren's bed between their bunks.

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Sunday 5th July

A beautifully sunny morning, but we had strong winds again today, with the forecast predicting gusts of up to 39mph. The boat stayed on her mooring. We weren’t the only ones, other sailors decided to stay put too.

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I didn’t have the best night’s sleep, but kept waking up due to the noise of the wind, the creaking of the boat and flapping of the awning. Several of the bungee cords around the awning came loose in the night, which didn’t help with the flapping. I couldn’t get back to sleep at all after 3am. Graham woke just after 6 and we had a cuppa before he took Seren for a walk just before 7. We sat in bed reading until after 8, had another cuppa and I made us a spam, eggy bread and baked bean breakfast.

We then set out for a walk to St Benet’s, passing up through the village and down Staithe Road and Hall Common Road.  It was a lovely walk, very sunny and remarkably warm. It would have been scorching hot if it hadn’t been for the wind. There were lots of insects and butterflies in the hedgerows along the road down to St Benet’s. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many butterflies in one area before. Sometimes you would find three or four just on one thistle head.

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The river and the St Benet’s moorings seemed fairly busy, but not madly so.

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After walking to the cross (which appears to have developed a list away from the gatehouse) and back, we went along the footpath toward the bank of the Ant and up toward Ludham Bridge. This path was a little trickier for maintaining social distancing, as it was fairly narrow. We stepped off the path into the reeds whenever anyone came in the opposite direction. The Ludham Bridge moorings didn’t look that busy, and there weren’t that many boats passing under the bridge either. Maybe we hit a quiet time.

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We walked back to Ludham along Hall Common Road, passing Ludham Hall on the way and making a visit to Throwers (which has changed hands since last year). We were feeling pretty hungry by the time we got back to the boat at 3pm, as we hadn’t yet had lunch. I made us a small portion of pasta with presto sauce to tide us over until dinner.

We had a relaxing late afternoon and evening on board, just reading and whiling away the time. I boiled some eggs and baked some part-baked rolls to go with the ham and egg salad that I’d planned for dinner. We ended up just having egg salad though, as I discovered that I’d left the ham that I’d bought in the fridge at home. Doh!

We had another early night, tired out from last night’s sleep deprivation and our longish walk.

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Wonderful to see your photos and start to read about your adventures Helen. Ironic that after all this time of not being allowed to be out, the weather kept you in the yard when you should have been sailing. I was trying to remember what we did on Sunday. Most of the day was spent sitting on the deck at our caravan. The wind kept the temperature down a little which was the only reason I could sit in the sun that long. We certainly weren't going to try to put the parasol up! :default_rofl:

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Yes Jean, it was a bit frustrating, but we really enjoyed the walk and I had been wanting to explore the route to St Benet's from Ludham for a while. I also needed the exercise!

Where would your parasol have landed up if it had sailed away? Lowestoft, Oulton Broad, Lake Lothing?

:default_smile:

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