Grendels Week Aboard Water Rail Featuring The Wooden Boat Show

[grendel]

I had one come in each side leaving me filling 2 spaces, so I have walked her across an extra half boat width, still a lot of boats eyeing the 3.3m gap and deciding its not big enough.

after a nice cool shower i feel like i need another already, balloon fenders from the front are protecting the stern from underriding the quay heading, the other is moving the high part of the stepped hull away from the next boat (it was about half an inch away with their fenders.

fridge has ice cubes now, so cold drink time i feel.

[grendel]

12 minutes and half a litre of water with 5 ice cubes is gone, and very nice it was too.

[LizG]

15 minutes ago, grendel said:

fridge has ice cubes now, so cold drink time i feel.

Luxury on a boat built in 1933!!!  Hope you are enjoying her even in the heat!

[grendel]

yes the roof is up, I have had one cool shower in the showers at Lodden, and I hung my towel to dry off the edge of the roof (stopping the sun coming in from the rear), its lovely with a little breeze in the cockpit.

[grendel]

well a relaxed day yesterday, with one very noisy boat departing quite late and Ranworth breeze arriving and being slotted in on the taxi rank position at the end, it was a tight gap, but with a bit of help from everyone we managed it, at some point yesterday we had moonlight shadow, and lightning was here overnight too, in fact when I was looking last night i struggled to see a hire boat on the lodden basin moorings, I carefully checked the electric before i turned in, still £1.50, so I had used 26p, mind you when I leave i will need to turn the fridge down a bit as i whacked it up full while I was on shore power.

my first coffee this morning went down the sink after i added the milk (cheese) to it, Yesterday I got a pint to see me through, just in case, well that was good planning, second coffee is fine. at the moment i am enjoying the cool bliss that today has brought, its high tide about 8.30, so no point in leaving before that or i will be punching the tide down the yare as well as up the waveney, Geldeston locks ( or the dyke) is the planned destination for today.

I will be topping the water before i start, (again) and grabbing a shower as soon as they open, then it will be away at about 8.30. While it is nice to be at a plugged in mooring, with all the facilities, I do also like the remote wild moorings where i can just sit and watch the world go by.

water filled, dew wiped down and bacon cooking, life doesnt get much better than this.

[grendel]

spotted it was 7.28 so headed over to the showers, these are on automatic locks, so as per norfolk time it was about 7.35 when they opened, had a quick shower this morning and left it running for the couple who were queued behind me, came back to finish my bacon butty and coffee. next to do the washing up, finish preparations to leave and then depart.

[BrundallNavy]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

 

I will be topping the water before i start, (again) and grabbing a shower as soon as they open, then it will be away at about 8.30. 

You were 2 minutes early 😋

[grendel]

phew that was a long hot day, 5 hours to get round to geldeston locks, well I just had to have a pint of Aspalls cider to celebrate that. in to hippersons to fill the diesel and empty the waste. when I arrived the quay was full- of canoes, and after executing a perfect reverse down into the dyke, the boat decided it wanted to be bow in, never mind perfectly moored, and now supping my cold pint (they can only carry on selling cold drinks until things warm up as the generator has packed up.) two other boats arrived behind me and have moored (enough canoists had departed) I may move later round to the dyke, as with the kids swimming and the other boats here now, its a tad noisy here.

on the way up from beccles I spotted a kingfisher fly up the river and land, hopefully I have pictures.

[grendel]

fed up of the noise at the locks it was out of the frying pan into the fire, I decided to moor up at the village visitor moorings, it had been peaceful last time i was here on lads week, well apart from all the paddle boarders down that stretch, I found their home base, a camp site had sprung up ofposite the visitor moorings, they had even thoughtfully installed a quay heading for the swimmers and paddle boarders, so at that point i was getting glares from all the parents whose kids were playing in the water, and all the paddle boarders ditto, despite the 3 mph limit, i was ghosting past at about half that, down to the single section of visitor quay heading, thankfully just out of earshot of the swimming location. now as i had spent some of the day without a top it will be a liberal spreading of alo vera over most bits of me.

at least the campsite seems quiet. time for coffee.

[grendel]

one of the kingfisher photos, cropped to show the kingfisher

[LizG]

2 hours ago, grendel said:

when I arrived the quay was full- of canoes, and after executing a perfect reverse down into the dyke, the boat decided it wanted to be bow in, never mind perfectly moored,

Did she have one of her special 'behaving bad moments'?  Decides to do the complete opposite to what you want to do, normally in front of a whole load of people and usually at a critical moment!

[grendel]

Just that Liz, I reversed in perfectly about 200m, and just as I about to step off, the bow swung around to face the opposite way, then she did a perfect come alongside stopping gently 1 foot off the quay heading, and it's not the first time she has decided she prefers to face the other way either, at least I know what she is capable of throwing my way now.

A couple of locals have shown me a great spot to get out of the water here, so a swim is on the cards shortly., I will use a rhond anchor and set up a mooring line as well, just to be on the safe side.

[grendel]

What a gorgeous swim, river only neck deep at its deepest, rhond anchor and rope do help in getting out despite the steps, and a gravel bank just near the steps only knee deep.

The water was gorgeously warm, so much so I was in there for a good 20 minutes half an hour or longer, definitely a new favourite mooring, and probably another swim early tomorrow too.

[YnysMon]

Any hints on where this perfect swim spot is?

I must admit it took me a few days to get used to Water Rail. She handles so very differently to Moonlight Shadow. By the end of our trip I was learning to do things ‘her way’. 

[grendel]

go down geldeston dyke toward the wherry, there is a section of wooden quay heading with a sign visitor moorings, turn and  moor there, now two clumps of vegetation are behind you (toward the village,) in the second the bank has eroded to form a person sized bay, this has mud steps at various heights that assist in getting out, a rhond anchor and rope help too as then you are not grabbing for clumps of grass to haul yourself out.

what 3 words tablets.stroke.daredevil, for the mooring

pixel.shadowing.renting for the swim step

[grendel]

of course you do need a boat that goes under Beccles bridge water rail would have got under today with the canopy up.

[grendel]

What a nice way to start the morning, a 20 minute swim here. Dried off and kettle is now on for coffee, slightly overcast, but the water was still plenty warm enough, I think I will stay here a bit longer, rather than the normal early start, and have a few more swimming sessions.

While I was swimming I found this chimney pot in the mud at the bottom with my feet.

[grendel]

well after browsing the forum over a coffee, I can hear the rumble of thunder in the distance, the morning still has not brightened up, all i have to do today is get myself nearer to oulton broad ready to finish my trip tomorrow sometime, I have left my safety rope in place at the swimming spot for now as I fully intend another swim before i leave, but it will be a leisurely breakfast and see what the day brings weather wise. if it rains that might be a nice time for another swim.

and oh so gently as i speak the patter of raindrops starts to make itself heard.

just done a tour of the boat making sure any rain ingress points are shut, but i wont bother putting the canopy sides on just yet.

[LizG]

35 minutes ago, grendel said:

just done a tour of the boat making sure any rain ingress points are shut, but i wont bother putting the canopy sides on just yet.

I'll let you find them!!!! Its been so dry she will definitely leak! If it chucks it down, watch the front top windows!  It can well up in the runners!

Guaranteed to pour down just as you want to go under Beccles but as you said yesterday it would have been possible with the canopy up!  We never took her under the old railway bridge at Geldeston - the cut needless to say wasn't there.

All sounds idyllic - the Broads at their best!

[grendel]

just had to get through the palavar of setting up a new sim as my data ran out, I had been expecting that, but it never comes at a good time. anyway the sun has broken through, so a second swim looms in my thoughts.

[grendel]

oops forgot to hit post on that last one, anyway, i had my swim, 40 minutes in the warm water, and then a cruiser turns up, and very nearly moored right on my step out of the water, anyhow, I retreated to the bank, and had a good chat with the couple, now its time for a coffee again. and maybe a bit of housekeeping, decks to sweep (as i dont have a mop aboard).

[grendel]

i departed geldeston at about 11.45 headed downstream, through the bridge, and headed down river, past the moorings, and to a set of wild ish moorings I had seen to one side before the waveney river centre., its got quay heading and the grass is trampled down, no- no mooring signs, and a couple of stumps carved with easter island heads, up with the canopy and clipped up my towel as a sunshade, now to rest out the heat of the day here supping cold drinks and starting to pack everything for heading home tomorrow. earlier i caught a couple of nasty flying things feeding off me, they got no mercy.

I have my ropes set so that i am a couple of foot off the bank, sitting nicely, mud weight has been deployed just in case.

[NeilB]

We stopped there nearly 2 weeks ago now, nice mooring.

 

[grendel]

thats the place, and even a decent place to swim, if you go to the end of the quay heading there is a handy metal step, of course I put down a rhond anchor and attached a safety rope to it, the mud just off the quay heading is quite deep and after the mud you are in quite deep water, but there is decent enough footing on that corner to get out (ably assisted by the rope if necessary) you may think me paranoid, but i wont enter the water unless I am certain I have a means to get out again safely, I know i weigh a lot and i also know how difficult it is to extract yourself from the water by your own efforts (after the candle dyke submarine incident) so nowadays I am wary of just jumping in and expecting to be able to get out again. so despite swimming like a fish (under the water most of the time) I take great care not to get myself so tired I cant get back out.

Just had Peters Joy head past, he says they are having a great week too.

[petersjoy]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

Just had Peters Joy head past, he says they are having a great week too.

Nice to see you Peter, sorry we didn't stop, yes we have had a great week, it's our honeymoon.

Two good days up at coltishall, Potter last night then a good run back to Beccles today.

The weather has been fantastic.

Just said to Elaine on the way back, had some admiring looks from other boats again, i dont think i would sell the boat even if someone offerd a silly price for it.