Water Rail Out And About - June 2021

[grendel]

while eating my cheese and bacon wraps and drinking a coffee that i just made, I decided to have beans on toast this morning for breakfast.

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, grendel said:

moored up watching the happy holidaymakers go by.

Do you not fish Peter, some good spots on the Ant...oh and what pastry do you use for your cheese & bacon wrap? They look very tasty.

[TeamElla]

5 hours ago, grendel said:

yes, just checked myself and read it at .41 at 2.15, so we now know that is 6 ft on the pilot gauge.

Well that blows my chart out of the water (for those that remember it). I have been thinking for some time that there is a about a 3 inch discrepancy on all entries (chart showing 3 inch greater clearance than actual at the bridge). Don't know where that error crept in 

Next issue will be checked first...

[Scotty]

46 minutes ago, grendel said:

Leisurely cruise today, down to the bridge to check water level (about 5'9") so i dont think its going to be a go this week, cruiseddown the thurne, into and back out of Womak, a few spaces there, then headed up the Bure and then turned up the Ant, past ludham bridge (there was over 8 foot at the bridge despite the downstream marker reading  7'9") a nice slow pootle up past how hill then found a nice water rail sized wild mooring on the left out of the main traffic, now moored up watching the happy holidaymakers go by.

Grendel I seem to recall you saying when the concrete is showing at Ludham Bridge there's 8ft of room to get under I'm only asking this because it's the first time hiring a boat with a air draft of 8ft6" what's the clearance at Ludham Bridge for this size of air draft sorry to ask many thanks scott 

[grendel]

30 minutes ago, Jemaki said:

Do you not fish Peter, some good spots on the Ant...oh and what pastry do you use for your cheese & bacon wrap? They look very tasty.

No, I don't fish, pastry is lidls ready rolled puff pastry

[CambridgeCabby]

If you can see the walkway under the bridge I pass through with about 3inches clearance so is 8ft 3

if in any doubt ring George at Ludham Bridge Boatyard 

01692 631011

[grendel]

9 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Grendel I seem to recall you saying when the concrete is showing at Ludham Bridge there's 8ft of room to get under I'm only asking this because it's the first time hiring a boat with a air draft of 8ft6" what's the clearance at Ludham Bridge for this size of air draft sorry to ask many thanks scott 

You would need to see the cills at least 6" above water level, if you hire from above ludham bridge it should have a good chance of getting through, though maybe at low water with that stated height.

[Scotty]

2 minutes ago, grendel said:

You would need to see the cills at least 6" above water level, if you hire from above ludham bridge it should have a good chance of getting through, though maybe at low water with that stated height.

Thank grendel much appreciated 

[grendel]

1 hour ago, CambridgeCabby said:

If you can see the walkway under the bridge I pass through with about 3inches clearance so is 8ft 3

if in any doubt ring George at Ludham Bridge Boatyard 

01692 631011

I measured it last year and at one side (ludham side) one corner is 8 ft from cill to bridge above.it really depends where the max height is, there is more room at the centre

[grendel]

Just chilling here, it's been a long time since I could spend just a few hours doing absolutely nothing.

[ranworthbreeze]

2 hours ago, grendel said:

while eating my cheese and bacon wraps and drinking a coffee that i just made, I decided to have beans on toast this morning for breakfast.

After reading your post I decided to make a couple of cheese & bacon wraps for lunch today.

[YnysMon]

Grendel's food posts make me feel hungry!

[grendel]

while I was sitting on the boat a butterfly flew across the river and settled on the arm of my t shirt, it was yellow and black and had a blue flash at the bottom of the wings, I am told this is a swallowtail butterfly, and one of the locations for them is How hill, so that certainly puts me in the correct spot today. it just sat there in the sun for a couple of minutes, daring me to try and reach for a camera. its colours were stunning and I really felt honoured to have had the experience.

[grendel]

for anyone not familiar, this is an image taken from the Norfolk Wildlife Trusts Website, to have one of these land on you is a true honour.  though the pictures dont really do it justice, the yellow was more vivid, and the blue was iridescent, and I was close enough to  it to see the proboscis curling and uncurling.

[YnysMon]

How lucky was that! The only time I've seen a Swallowtail was a very brief glance of one flying across Meadow Dyke when we did the Nature Boat Trip from Horsey. 

[grendel]

well the only tip I can give is wear a bright red tee shirt that says if you can read this I have capsized, and sit very still, somewhere near How Hill, it was huge, maybe nearly 3" wing tip to wing tip.

[FairTmiddlin]

30 minutes ago, grendel said:

though the pictures dont really do it justice, the yellow was more vivid, and the blue was iridescent, a

I don't think I have ever seen a photo, that does the Swallowtail in it's full glorious colour, justice.

[Lulu]

Not in Norfolk, but managed to take a photo of this last week in the garden. 
 

[ChrisB]

12 minutes ago, Lulu said:

Not in Norfolk, but managed to take a photo of this last week in the garden. 
 

It is a day flying Moth called a Cinnabar. If you see a simlar Moth with multiple spots it will be one of the 7 members of The Burnet family

[vanessan]

13 minutes ago, Lulu said:

Not in Norfolk, but managed to take a photo of this last week in the garden. 
 

That’s stunning - what is it?

Oops, just seen ChrisB’s reply! 

[grendel]

Good morning all, well I have done early morning yoga, and had a dip in the river so far this morning, the kettle is now on.

well the river is just a bit on the cold side, but not too bad, I do take stringent precautions,

one I usually swim at times of day when no boats are going to be out, and stay close to the boat, 

two, i prepare a safe means of entry and exit from the water, this time i had bought a swim ladder, 4 rung, useless from the deck of the boat, but when supported off a rhond anchor with the top rung about a foot down, perfect for the side of the Ant where the sides go straight down to the bottom at about shoulder level depth, that ans a second rope from the rhond anchor to assist egress does the trick.

sometimes i will lay out the mooring ropes along the outside of the boat as emergency hand holds, and i will quite often take a lifeline with me to pull myself back to shore if needed.

with proper safety precautions set in place I will then have a test to see that i can get in and out safely, one step at a time, and only then will i go have a swim, yes the water is cold, but I learned to swim in an outdoor unheated pool fed by river water, and we went weekly from May through the year, you would swim hard to stay warm, and when you turned blue it was time to come out. and have a cup of scaldingly hot chocolate from the vending machine. so I am used to swimming in cold water.

Last night i was charging the laptop with the inverter when the alarm went off, so it was time to check the alternator belt again, sure enough it had done more bedding in and had too much slack, allowing it to slip, so it was backed off again and retightened.

I think I just need to charge the laptop while under way.

Todays plan is to potter around the upper Ant, and look for a suitable mooring spot for tonight. i might even end up at a staithe somewhere rather than a wild mooring, who knows.

[YnysMon]

That was an early morning swim! I learned to swim in Holyhead. During school summer holidays we would go down to the beach every morning, unless it was raining. If we got there early enough we could watch the swimming pool being filled with sea water through a pump. Shame that the pool fell into disuse and got demolished.

[LizG]

16 hours ago, grendel said:

well the only tip I can give is wear a bright red tee shirt that says if you can read this I have capsized, and sit very still, somewhere near How Hill, it was huge, maybe nearly 3" wing tip to wing tip.

They nectar on pink flowers so were probably attracted to your red tee shirt

[Cheesey69]

Water Rail spotted at Stalham.  So that’s a tick ✔️ In my nerdy book of boat spotting. 

[grendel]

well at 8am I left my wild mooring and headed up to Stalham, unfortunately the staithe was full 2 cruisers and 3 sail boats, this was a good sign that the moorings are in normal usage though, reversed back down to the corner and there was a spot on the free moorings at Richardsons, so I grabbed it, then it was  off up to Tescos to get some shopping. 

After tescos it was off back downstream then a sharp right and up to Dilham, where a lot of boats were coming the other way, at the 24 hour moorings at Wayford bridge there were some free gaps, and when I arrived at Dilham, other than a couple of canoes, I was the only boat there. taking advantage of this I moored up at noon, and plugged into the electric post to give the house batteries a good charge, the sun is so hot, so I have put up the canopy for shade, I will overnight here and head back down the ant in the morning

Just helped a hire boat turn and moor up, its a shame the long straight section is full of canoes, so they had to moor across the corner.

As I was crossing Barton broad I spotted the rascal moored in Rascal corner, gave him a call on the radio but no answer.

Edited June 23, 2021 by grendel
Wayford not Ludham