Silent Emblem

[snunn]

Sunday

Today were had intended to visit Mick sister who has now relocated to Suffolk from France ,however we both felt a bit jaded all that messing about the 2 previous days so we decide to move that until tomorrow.

Today we are just going to chill out here again weather is lovely I start doing the washing difficult to dry though as no washing line only an indoor airer which I quickly fill,phone the New Inn to see if they are doing Sunday lunch and book a table for 3 pm we walk down about 2 sit outside with a pint and a glass of wine watching the comings and goings till it was time for our table , food ok again not greatly impressed but I didn’t have to cook or clean up so that’s a huge bonus back at the cottage time for a film via the laptop fed the ducks on the deck outside and had a thoroughly lovely evening.

 

Monday

A drive to Great Glenham today to see Micks sister and here husband they have bought a project property which they are developing we were there in early July so will be interested in progress , lovely drive down went vis Beccles and then onto A 145 to the A12 to Saxmundham turned off there it’s about 4 miles east.

Lovely time had visiting all outside socially distanced progress on the house slow as still waiting final planning permission but out building looks like builders merchants Antony is concerned about getting stuff if we have another lockdown.

Drove back the same route again really nice drive back at cottage around 5 pm will cook a simple meal later , not sure about tomorrow there is now ironing and still more washing

I think Mick plans a quiet day fishing outside.

[snunn]

Tues 22nd.

Dawn bright and sunny supposed to be a lovely day today after tea and toast we decide to have a quiet one here Mick can fish and I will do some more washing and the ironing , not great holiday entertainment but after almost 3 weeks away it is necessary.

Popped out to get some shopping we have fresh salad and ham in fridge but short of wine again and milk and we needed maggots not for dinner I hope!

Once back I finished the wash unfortunately there is no drying space only the inside fold up airer so I put that out in the sun and loaded it with Micks t-shirts they dried so quick it was great the ironing was a disaster firstly the board is tiny it has the thinnest cover I’ve ever seen and the iron was filthy and spat out debris all over the thing I was ironing luckily I found a self clean option gave it a good clean then used it again much better but not great so I only ironed what was really needed the rest will go home clean but unironed.

I sat out with Mick he only caught toddlers perch and roach nothing else not many bites either it was lovely in the sun several boats left their moorings and at about 4:30 a day boat from Norfolk boat hire came down the dyke they were lost taking the boat back and didn’t know where to go ? Struggling to even turn it around and there is plenty of room lucky for them someone staying in another cottage gave then direction but whether they made it back by 5 who knows .

Had the Ham salad for dinner and a few glasses of wine felt lazy so left the washing up until tomorrow.

[snunn]

Weds 23rd.

A very lazy day today after a cooked breakfast Mick tried fishing but it started to pour with rain he kept trying but it didn’t give up just a few minutes here and there then it started again I just sat watching from inside happily reading my book we were going for a walk and a pub lunch but thought better of it as we felt no need to get wet when we have food here to eat.

Nothing caught and he said there were no bites so he gave up ,we have lamb chops in fridge from Ludham butchers so I’m going to do a roast with runner beans and carrots with chops and roast potatoes although I have loads of eggs ,Micks sister gave me a dozen from the farm next door to her I have no flour so no Yorkshire puds today.

We have been thinking about food for the weekend and as weather looks a bit colder we think we will make a homemade Chilli for Saturday we have rice with us ,think we may stay on mooring as high winds forecast and it’s our first ever trip on Lightning .

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

1 hour ago, snunn said:

Weds 23rd.

A very lazy day today after a cooked breakfast Mick tried fishing but it started to pour with rain he kept trying but it didn’t give up just a few minutes here and there then it started again I just sat watching from inside happily reading my book we were going for a walk and a pub lunch but thought better of it as we felt no need to get wet when we have food here to eat.

Nothing caught and he said there were no bites so he gave up ,we have lamb chops in fridge from Ludham butchers so I’m going to do a roast with runner beans and carrots with chops and roast potatoes although I have loads of eggs ,Micks sister gave me a dozen from the farm next door to her I have no flour so no Yorkshire puds today.

We have been thinking about food for the weekend and as weather looks a bit colder we think we will make a homemade Chilli for Saturday we have rice with us ,think we may stay on mooring as high winds forecast and it’s our first ever trip on Lightning .

Look after Lightning, we're aboard her 2 weeks later. Hopefully, we'll meet up at the AGM on zoom on the 17th. Enjoy your first week aboard. 

If you're concerned about the weather being extremely windy, our home mooring is very sheltered. 

[snunn]

We will Neil have no fear , look forward to meeting you too on the 17th. 
 

we will be back in Padstow then and hopefully it will be much quieter than when we left.

Susan

[YnysMon]

We’re on Moonlight Shadow this week and next. We’ve also decided that staying on our home mooring tomorrow and Saturday is the best option. I We were in Potter H this morning, Brundall this evening. We noticed that Lightning is back on her mooring too. 
 

[Guest Jayfire]

7 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

Brundall this evening

You didn't stay around the Thurne/Womack area today Helen? 

[YnysMon]

Nope. Spur of the moment decision to high tail it back south. The crew of Norfolk Lady had made the same decision about half an hour or so before us. Somehow waking up on Thurne Dyke Friday morning with a hoodie blowing from the north wasn’t appealing. 

[marshman]

Waking up with a "hoodie"?

Surely you mean a hoolie!!!!! Or perhaps you don't!!!!

[snunn]

Hi Helen

hopefully we can say hello tomorrow when we get to lightning 

terrible here in Horning just now obviously ok in the cottage but glad to be.

[snunn]

 

Thurs.24th.

 

Another very wet start to the day we had a lazy breakfast and it started to clear up so we were getting ready to go for a walk when it poured down waited a while and it suddenly cleared lovely walk around the lanes and through a couple of paths back to head of village .

Came back here Mick had a good couple of hours fishing whilst I started to sort out upstairs

Tonight we have a booking in the Bure Valley Fish restaurant for dinner we walk down it only takes about 15 mins and it’s not raining, meal was absolutely lovely I really enjoyed it ,good Covid precaution it never was rammed with tables anyway , not cheap but I think value the food and wine are first class I had garlic tiger prawns mick had scallops I then had whole lemon sole with more garlic Mick chose the Halibut dish , I then was a pig and had the chocolate brownie which was amazing,having had a gin and vodka tonic each we shared a bottle of white the bill was a little over £100.

About half way through our meal it started raining so we knew we had a soggy walk back in fact it was chucking it down we had our waterproof coats on hoods up torches ready raced back as quick as we could,once in we had a lovely nightcap before turning in.Was woken by Mick getting up then coming back to bed he thought it was getting up time but it was only 2:30 took me a while to get back to sleep.

Today we pack up resort all  bags as we have had 4 different stays need to just consolidate what we need now to take onboard lightning and pack the rest away, not sure looking at forecast I will need many shorts more like hot water bottle and hats!

[SwanR]

It’s certainly a foul day out there Friday morning. And looks set in for the day. Hope your day works out well whatever you end up doing. Indoor pursuits only here!

[YnysMon]

1 hour ago, snunn said:

hopefully we can say hello tomorrow when we get to lightning 

Yes, hope to see you when you get to Lightening. How exciting to be taking her out for the first time!

[Mouldy]

13 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Nope. Spur of the moment decision to high tail it back south. The crew of Norfolk Lady had made the same decision about half an hour or so before us. Somehow waking up on Thurne Dyke Friday morning with a hoodie blowing from the north wasn’t appealing. 

The wife has to be at work on Monday.  If they close Breydon due to the high winds over the weekend, getting back in time may have been an issue.  

[Guest Jayfire]

4 hours ago, Mouldy said:

The wife has to be at work on Monday.  If they close Breydon due to the high winds over the weekend, getting back in time may have been an issue.  

Sorry your plans got messed up Malcolm, but hopefully it means I'll be able to make it next time 

[Mouldy]

37 minutes ago, Jayfire said:

Sorry your plans got messed up Malcolm, but hopefully it means I'll be able to make it next time 

No probs mate.  What a week, though.  Brilliant sunshine and howling winds within the space of a couple of days.

[snunn]

Fri 25th.

What a day terrible so much wind and rain , the cottage is surrounded on three sides by water  and is very draughty in this wind , started cooking breakfast when the first of many power cuts happened luckily I had made a hot drink for us both,as everything is electric we had nothing no power no hot water no heating, finished our drinks and decided to head out and do the shopping for the coming week , we needed water , wine ,few snacks some milk and breakfast things, I had said I would make us a nice chilli for dinner on Saturday on Lightning and for tonight we are going to have steak and chips ,little did we know!

Went to leave the cottage and those of you who know the area will not be surprised to hear Ferry Road was flooded the pump was working hard luckily we only had about 10 feet of it to get though not sure how deep it was but over 3 inches maybe more ,found several more flooded bits of road on the way to Stalham,ran in the shop got our stuff headed back via Ludham to visit the butchers , got some great steaks and a couple of pasties for lunch.

Back at the cottage the power was back on so I quickly warmed the pasties and a hot drink no sooner had we eaten then off the power went again , this happened the rest of the afternoon getting chillier and chillier in the place, also how and I going to cook dinner ,oven chips and steak with no power?

Luck was on our side after sorting out all our various bags from this extended trip we packed our hold-all for the boat and with power managed to cook dinner,just as I started washing up having boiled the kettle it went again and didn’t come back on until about 2 am.

 

[snunn]

Sat 26th.

Up early quick tea and coffee it was still pouring with rain not quite so windy though it took a surprisingly long time to pack the car and sort the cottage out , we discovered that we were supposed to take our rubbish down towards the Marina Bar area Mick went out was quite sometime came back saying it was all flooded and ha had had to wade through it to get to bins ,not ideal in fact not really acceptable in my opinion.

We finally left just before 10am the time we had to go by ,owning a Holiday cottage ourselves which we have gained visit England 5 star gold accreditation for  I’m afraid I am rather judgmental about the ones we stay in , this one although great location was not in my opinion quite up to standard.

 

Left Horning road still flooded and set of to Brundall where we had arranged to meet Simon the chairman of the syndicate to give us our induction into Lightning.

Had a lovely few hours with him his enthusiasm is infectious gave a thorough hand over then left us to unpack , we made the decision the other day because of the weather to stay on the mooring tonight and possibly tomorrow will see what the weathers like.

All unpacked I cooked the chilli it was blindingly hot I had bought “hot” chillis in Tesco and used 2 not really thinking they would be hot, Mick as normal thought it needed more heat glad I had some guacamole and sour cream to cool me down, different cooking experience as it’s gas and I haven’t cooked by gas for years,I burnt the rice ! Well the bottom layer was like a crispy pancake , but being the man he is he ate it anyway .

Made up the beds I had bought the duvets already with the covers on same  as pillows so didn’t take long was cosy and warm aboard and we enjoyed our first evening ,I woke up at 2 am the wind was really gusting so the boat was making a lot of noise ,I got back to sleep and Mick treated me to tea in bed at about 6:30.

Not sure what the rest of the week holds just taking the boat out to get the feel of her we have a mooring and table book at surlingham ferry on Tuesday so many of you have recommended it apart from that we will see where we end up it’s really a getting to know the boat exercise more than anything else.

[SwanR]

So interesting to read this. We stayed in a cottage that was probably on that same row as where you have been last week. It was many years ago now but I came to a similar conclusion. Location, location, location ...

Hope the weather clears up a bit for you today. 

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

41 minutes ago, snunn said:

Sat 26th.

Up early quick tea and coffee it was still pouring with rain not quite so windy though it took a surprisingly long time to pack the car and sort the cottage out , we discovered that we were supposed to take our rubbish down towards the Marina Bar area Mick went out was quite sometime came back saying it was all flooded and ha had had to wade through it to get to bins ,not ideal in fact not really acceptable in my opinion.

We finally left just before 10am the time we had to go by ,owning a Holiday cottage ourselves which we have gained visit England 5 star gold accreditation for  I’m afraid I am rather judgmental about the ones we stay in , this one although great location was not in my opinion quite up to standard.

 

Left Horning road still flooded and set of to Brundall where we had arranged to meet Simon the chairman of the syndicate to give us our induction into Lightning.

Had a lovely few hours with him his enthusiasm is infectious gave a thorough hand over then left us to unpack , we made the decision the other day because of the weather to stay on the mooring tonight and possibly tomorrow will see what the weathers like.

All unpacked I cooked the chilli it was blindingly hot I had bought “hot” chillis in Tesco and used 2 not really thinking they would be hot, Mick as normal thought it needed more heat glad I had some guacamole and sour cream to cool me down, different cooking experience as it’s gas and I haven’t cooked by gas for years,I burnt the rice ! Well the bottom layer was like a crispy pancake , but being the man he is he ate it anyway .

Made up the beds I had bought the duvets already with the covers on same  as pillows so didn’t take long was cosy and warm aboard and we enjoyed our first evening ,I woke up at 2 am the wind was really gusting so the boat was making a lot of noise ,I got back to sleep and Mick treated me to tea in bed at about 6:30.

Not sure what the rest of the week holds just taking the boat out to get the feel of her we have a mooring and table book at surlingham ferry on Tuesday so many of you have recommended it apart from that we will see where we end up it’s really a getting to know the boat exercise more than anything else.

Feeling very envious of you now Sue, we've got another two weeks before we take Lightning out again, and we haven't used her since March. I really can't wait, as with the year we've had, we're desperate to get afloat and try to chill out. Have a great week, and enjoy yourselves. 

Ps, remember it's the AGM in 3 weeks, so have a good look around, see what like or don't like, and consider things to bring up there. 

[YnysMon]

Glad to hear that you are settling in on Lightening Sue. No doubt you’ll have noticed Moonlight Shadow moored up facing you further down the Dyke. Sorry we haven’t been to say hello, it’s been too wet to stand around outside. 

[vanessan]

Lovely picture of the local swimming pool complete with diving board and safety ladder. 😁

[snunn]

Sun27th.

So glad we stayed out yesterday it was very windy last night and through to this morning still raining not at all promising to clear today ,we are just going to chill out here,had a call from Simon asking if we could replace the Carbon Monoxide detector as he had forgotten to do it yesterday, we popped out in the car and found the large Tesco Extra in North Norwich had to queue a bit to get in still pouring with rain but got one and some kettle descaled which needed doing badly , also got some breakfast juice I had forgotten on Friday.

Came back to the boat put the heating on and just sat and relaxed planned a walk but never went out as weather failed to improve even though forecast said it would,ordered a curry for dinner delivered to the boat yard greatly enjoyed it ,watched a film before heading to bed , didn’t have the best nights sleep but was cosy and warm.

 

I forgot to mention an interesting little incident we watched on Friday whilst still in the cottage.

A very large probably 50foot old style broads boat was pulled onto the pontoon moorings in front of us by 2 guys ,they were soaked ,then they pulled in another boat not so big looked like a freedom hire boat stern to stern , a gentleman on the first boat and a lady on the second proceeded to empty the contents of one boat into the other, when done including a large container of diesel, the freedom boat was helped back out and left , the large boat was still there when we left on Saturday, it seemed a very strange thing todo on such a terrible day.

[LondonGuy]

A great read! So is Silent Emblem a good boat for virgin boaters like my wife and I?

[snunn]

Mon 28th.

So finally we are set to leave the boatyard at last it has almost stopped raining and the wind has definitely calmed down, see Helen has already left on Moonlight Shadow so after our breakfasts we too prepare to leave , a little daunting really as although we have boated for years and Mick owned his own boat on the Thames estuary this is a shared boat so responsible for all .

Mick glides her out slowly thanks again Helen you gave us more room to manoeuvre,once on the river Mick gave me the helm to get used to the boat , we happily cruised downstream from the outside steering position,although it was drizzling it wasn’t too bad we were well dressed for it.

Destination undecided as it’s about getting the feel of the boat and how she handles it was lovely though to be back out,headed on down past Rockland passed Cantley  almost on to Reedham when we decide to turn around and go back to Rockland if the pub is open we can eat there although we have food onboard.

We practiced some moorings along Fleet dyke just to get used to the boat in reality we have moored hundreds of times without issue apart from that last one recently at SW,on to the Staithe and low and behold the sun comes out tempted to carry on cruising ( must be a film) but the Staithe is empty so we stern moor in front of the electric post, went for a lovely walk down towards the village then back along to fleet dyke where we saw deer right in front of us on the footpath no camera though ! Mick hasn’t put the fishing gear onboard as weather was so bad on Saturday so when we get back to the boat we just chill and read for a bit , didn’t look like pub was open so we have our leftovers,watched a film through the laptop ,that was fun trying to get the lead into the HDMI slot on the tele lucky I have thin fingers and hands.

Again no plans for tomorrow will see where we end up boat behaving beautifully shame the weathers not.