Springer’s Retreat On The Rivers

[kpnut]

Oh blow Malcolm. I’m so distracted with others on board! Yes we were heading down to Stracey Arms for a coffee and make our acquaintance with the peacock chicks etc. 

Neil B passed us, I just about noticed him at about Upton dyke before he went past. 
 

We would have bumped into each other at Womack as I was heading that way to fill with water, but stopped off at Bridgecraft instead seeing as there was a big gap to negotiate in the wind, which doesn’t seem to have eased off as much as I thought it was meant to today. 

And then back to moor for the night at St Benet’s so we can be off on a dog walk. 
I did read, on our return up towards Acle, that Breydon Water is closed to hire craft today, so perhaps that’s why it was so, so quiet down that way this morning. 

[Troyboy]

I wondered if Breydon would be closed to hire craft. I'm pleased I changed our plans. We are at Thurne dyke, I think that's what it's called. Going to the Lion for a meal tonight. Never been so here's hoping. 

[CambridgeCabby]

Breydon was reopened to all traffic @ 12:45 but was certainly very windy when we crossed this afternoon at 16:30ish 

[kpnut]

1 hour ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Breydon was reopened to all traffic @ 12:45 but was certainly very windy when we crossed this afternoon at 16:30ish

It didn’t seem to be closed for very long in the end. Was it closed yesterday when it was a great deal more windy? 

Have fun down south Simon. 2wks afloat is a good long spell. 

[Wussername]

On Breydon and the lower reaches of the Yare wind over tide can be a problem.

[kpnut]

2of us went for a walk to explore St Benets and then down the concrete track and left along the lane to the Dog Inn, having a look into Ken’s Veg shed as we passed. I really regretted not bring my money to buy a punnet of cherries.
Then back down the permissive path starting opposite the lay-by. 
 

The wind certainly took its time to die down in the evening/night but it was a peaceful enough night and again we woke to a lovely morning. 
 

Monday 17th July

We’ve had early rises these last few days and have benefited from glorious sunshine. It reminds me why I keep promising myself I’ll get up earlier when on my own, only to promptly decide not to. 
I was treated to a nice cup of tea before getting up, and after breakfast we walked along the causeway towards Ludham Bridge for a leg stretch. 
A beautiful cruise along to Hoveton Great Broad nature trail followed, with the river still being very quiet, I think, for the time of year. We then crossed into Salhouse Broad and mudweighted for lunch before moving over to the moorings, keeping an eye on the ever darkening clouds and rumbles of thunder. 
We then had a rather eventful hour or so, linking up with the 5b bus to Norwich railway station from the village. On the way, the heavens opened to a hailstorm (ow) and then heavy rain.
The bus timetable still says the Bell, rather than the Stag. if I hadn’t been there, my friends said they’d have been going on a search for another pub. Secondly, there are two bus stops, opposite and adjacent but the printed timetables at each stop are identical and don’t say which stop you need for Norwich. 
I worked out it was the adjacent one needed and then checked the bus company website for any updates etc, meaning to just find out how far away the bus was. There was a service update posted that said the bus stop was out of action, and there was a temporary one on Mill Road, by Mill Close. So Google maps helped me locate that. 
We set off for that stop, only to see the bus behind us taking its normal route and sailing past the bus stop we were originally standing at. 
Realising what the bus was about to do, (3 sides of a square in essence), I had to leg it to the top of Mill Road to hunt for the bus stop on Norwich Road. I managed to get there in time, stop the bus and ask him to wait for my friend who couldn’t run as she had a rucsac on her back. He moved the bus further up towards the junction to give her less distance to walk, causing a minor traffic jam in the process. 
The driver told me he’d only just been told to go back to his normal route. The company ought to have removed their service update at the same time. I tried ringing the office, but got a nice answerphone message saying I could email with feedback. Not much use for the poor sod who might be trying to catch the next bus!

We got rained on just as we arrived back at the mooring, but since then it’s been beautiful blue sky again. Typical early July weather. 

[SwanR]

That all sounds very chaotic with the buses. We were in Norwich this morning but had good fortune with the weather as we arrived home just before the thunder and subsequent hailstorm arrived. 

[YnysMon]

How customer friendly is that? Is someone deliberately trying to prove that buses aren’t viable by making it so confusing that people can’t find the right stop? 

[kpnut]

It was quite funny really, just logistically a bit of a panic. 

But I do know that without my slightly better knowledge of the village, Julie wouldn’t have made it to that bus. 
 

It seems parts of ‘British Business UK’ aren’t using common sense any more. Putting technology (eg use of apps, q codes, no-one to speak to etc) in place without thinking of the practical consequences. In this case, a lack of joined up thinking leading to the message not being changed for all parties involved. 

[grendel]

1 hour ago, kpnut said:

It seems parts of ‘British Business UK’ aren’t using common sense any more. Putting technology (eg use of apps, q codes, no-one to speak to etc) in place without thinking of the practical consequences

This is one of my pet peeves too, the fact they are assuming everyone has a smartphone and can access the app required to interact with the real world, and when they fail to even keep that updated that just makes it worse, I wonder how all these companies are managing in Horning at the moment with no mobile signal? I also wonder at the panic that would ensue if the whole of the countries mobile networks went down, only those with cash being able to pay for anything!

[kpnut]

11 hours ago, grendel said:

the fact they are assuming everyone has a smartphone and can access the app required to interact with the real world

I received an email today from BT,  telling me my landline will be changing to something called a digital voice sometime in the next twelve months. It needs plugging into the broadband router instead of the phone socket. 
It went on to explain that if there was a power cut or the broadband was down, I won’t be able to receive or make phone calls, even 999 ones and therefore I need to keep a mobile phone handy and fully charged. 

What nonsense sort of service is that???????

[Smoggy]

15 minutes ago, kpnut said:

I received an email today from BT,  telling me my landline will be changing to something called a digital voice sometime in the next twelve months. It needs plugging into the broadband router instead of the phone socket. 
It went on to explain that if there was a power cut or the broadband was down, I won’t be able to receive or make phone calls, even 999 ones and therefore I need to keep a mobile phone handy and fully charged. 

What nonsense sort of service is that???????

That is really crap! I'm glad my mum has a good personal alarm.

[ExSurveyor]

Most landlines are being phased out. Business systems are now mainly only internet based. Unless you have a plug in single handset you will lose telephone use in a power cut these days.

At work we kept a single plug in phone for use in power cuts.

Many landlines sit in the corner and are never used now unless it is a nuisance call. We only have one 87 year old friend who rings it now, everyone else phones our mobiles.

The ones who will be penalised are the elderly without internet. Hopefully they are making exceptions for these customers and it is a slow change over scheme.

[grendel]

I have things planned, most roadside fibre cabinets have a battery backup system that will keep them powered up for several hours (they really only use less than a light bulb) so in my home the broadband router is on an uninterruptible. power supply, that will keep that running for several hours too, as is my main data centre (actually I have 2 UPS's for that, this keeps my work computer, home computer, network adaptor and storage servers on line for those couple of hours, while everyone else suffers from a power cut, I can keep working or browsing the internet, at least as long as the fibre cabinet power supply remains live, longer term I can run a supply from my solar powered workshop to keep going. over the time I have had this system in place it has kept me running maybe 6 times through power cuts and interruptions.

[grendel]

32 minutes ago, ExSurveyor said:

The ones who will be penalised are the elderly without internet. Hopefully they are making exceptions for these customers and it is a slow change over scheme.

my parents have a box that plugs into the phone line and also has a power supply that runs their phone now, but I believe it transfers to mobile if the power goes out.

[Mouldy]

49 minutes ago, ExSurveyor said:

Most landlines are being phased out. Business systems are now mainly only internet based. Unless you have a plug in single handset you will lose telephone use in a power cut these days.

At work we kept a single plug in phone for use in power cuts.

Many landlines sit in the corner and are never used now unless it is a nuisance call. We only have one 87 year old friend who rings it now, everyone else phones our mobiles.

The ones who will be penalised are the elderly without internet. Hopefully they are making exceptions for these customers and it is a slow change over scheme.

We have an Internet based home phone and we’ve only given our number to family who may need to contact us.  Since we’ve had it, all we’ve received are ruddy nuisance calls, mostly from some geezer called John with a very foreign accent, trying to convince me that we’re entitled to a free survey and report on out home insulation.  As you can imagine, I’ve yet to succumb to their persuasive techniques! 

I suppose it makes a change from the accident I was allegedly involved in within the last five years.

[kpnut]

Tuesday 18th July

Well, that’s another enjoyably sociable trip sadly over.
Judith and I stopped in at Boulters for fuel on our way back from Salhouse to Stalham. We received a friendly wave from a boat before Horning but my apologies if it was from a fellow  forumite, I’m not sure who it was. With company on board, I seem to often be driving along facing away from the far side of the river, missing folk passing me in the other direction. That sounds awful, I am looking where I’m going and do see the boats, just don’t register who they are!

We stopped again at Ludham Bridge to walk down the mooring and over the bridge to see George at the boatyard. I’d promised him a pot of proper homemade strawberry jam for his girls to try. 
Ludham Bridge was surprisingly busy for a midweek late morning, especially considering the rivers are so quiet. I made a bit of a hash of mooring up to start with. It had been a last moment decision and I was facing the wrong way for the tide and not really focused on what I was doing. I ended up completely not where I wanted to be, so aborted that attempt, went upstream a bit and turned round and perfected the manoeuvre second time round. 

Other than that, a quiet cruise home in time for lunch and packing up Judith’s car.

For anyone needing to know, the dredger is working right on the bend going up towards Stalham Staithe, meaning the channel is very narrow at the moment. I do like the nasturtiums and tomatoes the operator is growing on board. Very cheerful and colourful they look. 
 

I spent part of the afternoon cleaning windows and scraping out the gutters and drain holes, then sorting out cupboards/shelves so as to better utilise the new shelving unit Tony built me. Generally getting the boat ready for my next visit, not long to wait, only next week. Time to pop home with the washing and see to the allotments. I’m going to try and persuade Tony to come for part of the next trip!

[NeilB]

6 minutes ago, kpnut said:

Tuesday 18th July
For anyone needing to know, the dredger is working right on the bend going up towards Stalham Staithe, meaning the channel is very narrow at the moment.

Glad I’m working away this week as I’m not sure my nerves could handle the dredger narrowing the channel and boats squeezing past mine!  In the office for 3 days and then at Fairline starting the engines on their new model for the first time - I hope!

[kpnut]

1 hour ago, Smoggy said:

That is really crap! I'm glad my mum has a good personal alarm.

The email also mentioned alarms/personal lifelines etc that might not work anymore. It said to check with your alarm provider. Back to the argument of having to keep up with technology or get thrown out with the rubbish.

I prefer using the landline where possible. I’d rather that all and sundry didn’t end up with my mobile phone number. Better to get the cold calls only at home on the landline, (not that we get many to be fair) rather than not being able to escape them on the mobile phone when out and about. I never get them on my mobile and I sort of assume it’s ‘cos I don’t often ring anyone other than personal calls from my mobile. 

[kpnut]

2 minutes ago, NeilB said:

Glad I’m working away this week as I’m not sure my nerves could handle the dredger narrowing the channel and boats squeezing past mine!

At least you won’t worry about what you can’t see Neil. This morning he wasn’t up quite as far as you. 
We reckoned he does about the same yardage a day as a hedge layer, not many!!!!!

[kpnut]

Wednesday 26th July. 
Back at the boat before 10am, after a 5.30 start. Not because I needed to be here early, just that I was already packed and woke up early. 
Put a second coat of varnish on the bathroom door frame as soon as I arrived, to give it the longest possible drying time before my friends arrive tomorrow. Also varnished the new cabinet seeing as the brush was wet. 
Im sure I did something else productive with my day, but can’t remember what it was!

Thursday 27th July. My new guests arrived at 11am which meant plenty of time for food shopping and water filling etc beforehand. 
This trip there are 4 of us, old school friends and they are a noisy, zany bunch. I’ll need to keep my wits about me and focus on what I’m doing. 
Last year we’d only got as far as Salhouse before receiving some sad news for one friend, so we started this trip with a long cruise from Stalham to Wroxham, just for the experience of going under the bridge. Suitably awed(!) we moored up at the viaduct and spent an hour wandering the town, Wherry café, then Roys of course. 
Bring a bit conscious that clearance under the bridge wasn’t great and the tide was rising, I hurried us along, we made our passage back through and finally moored at Wroxham Broad on the river moorings. A lovely space left, just for us it seemed, on the first bit of quay heading we came to. We soon had the lines tied - and then untied again as fast as an army of ants started marching up the bow line onto the boat!!!

We manoeuvred round another boat to moor up in front of them instead and enjoyed a rather noisy evening listening firstly to the commentary from the sailing races, and then the disco music from the clubhouse. I hadn’t realised it was Wroxham sailing club regatta week and tonight was their regatta party. No matter. By the sound of the snoring, it certainly hadn’t affected my guests. 

[kpnut]

Removed

[kpnut]

Removed cos I double posted by mistake!

Friday 28th July. 
I put the front canopy down overnight as we’d had a visit from a very ‘friendly’ heron the evening before. It got through a small pile of duck food that my friend had brought, but it started looking as if it was eyeing up my tomato plants. I really don’t think herons eat tomatoes, but you never know how it’s been brought up, so I was taking no risks and put them snugly back in their ‘greenhouse’ for the night. 

We moored up again at Salhouse for water and one of my guests did a bit of ‘tree hugging’, being enthralled by the hollowed out oak tree along the track to the carpark.

Another stop at Cockshoot Dyke for a walk to the boardwalk. Yet again, when I walk down to the birdhide, nothing seen on the Broad. I find it intriguing that the main rivers have far more wildfowl on them than a broad closed off years ago for conservation purposes.

Our final stop was Horning church mooring. After lunch we set off for a walk to Horning. Halfway along, Viv was slowing down. Being type 1 diabetic, she rechecked her sugar level which seemed to be dipping remarkably fast. Decision time - back to the boat (longer) or get to the shop for a can of coke and a visit to the cafe(shorter). She chewed on a glucose tablet while we carried on. Downing the can of coke and a sugary cup of coffee got her sugars back high enough to get back to the boat. Odd though, so she changed her insulin auto injector pump. As it turned out it had gone wrong and was continually dosing her with insulin when not required. It got me thinking about how life can be far from straightforward  

Sue and I had left the other two to walk back to the boat while we gave Finlay a longer run, over to Neave’s Mill on the river Ant. 
More bird feeding in the evening, those Horning area ducks have forgotten how to feed themselves I think, as they must be completely stuffed from holidaymakers food. I’m sure they also know the whereabouts of the kitchen sink water outlet on every design of boat is, knowing where the titbits will come from. 

Saturday 29th July  
Timing it to get to Ranwirth staithe at sometime soon before 10, I thought there would be room to moor, considering that the overnight charge changes to the daytime charge at 10am. I don’t moor there in summer when in my win but have decided that if my guests want to pay, I’ll go there and keep the receipt should they mess the BA have made if their introduced charges ever be sorted out  and refunds given. Both times I’ve gone in, I have expressed my disapproval so my feedback is logged. 

From a holidaymakers point of view though, with a nice walk, a cafe, a pub, a church and a boardwalk and visitor centre to access, I expect £5 for the day feels ok. 
 

With the first two on my list above completed, we missed the next and ventured up the church tower. I hadn’t realised Sue was very scared of heights so the first metal ladder was s feat in itself. I ‘spotted’ her up the second, wooden ladder and she did manage to get onto the roof, eventually enjoying looking at the view. Halfway down the metal ladder the bells went off -it was 12oclock! So we were treated to the full set. Minor trauma over, which a couple of whiskies for her once back at the boat sorted out.

A trip along the boardwalk to the visitor centre, where, amongst more educational type things, we found Ronaldo’s gooseberry icecream!!! Success😂

Also another tree to hug!

A lunch on the move up the Ant was called for as I wanted to be up at Gayes staithe or Neatishead early enough for a mooring, for our evening booking at the White Horse. We moored at Gayes staithe, I chatted to Griffs bro’ on Broad Ambition and also bumped into Turnoar when out on a walk later. 
I helped a crew of lads on a large hireboat to moor up next to us, their mantra for the rest of the week is hopefully ‘don’t turn the wheel’!!! As the helmsman needed constant reminding. We met them later in the pub, they rather surprisingly said they were off back to the boat to move off to their next destination. This was 8pm and I was too surprised to question where that might be. 
The meal at the White Horse was well received as usual. They do have a good gluten-free selection for those needing it, including a gluten-free beer. 

[kpnut]

Sunday 30th July

We had a very peaceful night at Gayes staithe and a leisurely start involving a circular walk towards Irstead. The ladies were suitably impressed by the public wc in the carpark up the road from the mooring. I have used the facilities there when camping in my car one wet November week before picking up my boat after having some work done on her and I can vouch that the man who services the wcs turns up very early and seems to take a lot of care. That is assuming it’s the same person two years on of course!

Just a short journey back to Stalham was required for two folk to disembark for their journey home. I thought to give the full boating experience I’d take them round to kingfisher quay at richardsons for a pumpout. They always do such a superb job there, for £15 single and I’ve recently been told you can now go any day of the week rather than just non handover days. From about 8.30am till 4.30pm (2.30pm on Sundays). 
The wind was picking up by the minute, so I hurriedly moored up in my home spot and we were soon saying goodbye to half the crew for their long journey back to the Sussex coast. They’ll be coming again I have no doubt😁

Sue and I did a quick hoover, bed change, and water fill and we were ready for the off again, this time just to How Hill. We passed NeilB as we were leaving Barton Broad. We were moored at How Hill for about 2pm, with a couple more spaces free. I decided we would walk to Ludham along the field paths and lanes rather than via the river route to Ludham Bridge. Not often I go wrong, but somehow we missed three footpaths (too much talking) and ended up doing a circle back round to How Hill, oops!

No matter though as it gave us the chance for a look round the formal gardens and the secret garden before trying out the cafe. The pieces of cake, for £3, are totally gigantic by the way. My waistline is pleased to say we didn’t succumb. 
On our return to the boat, about 4.45pm we found the moorings had emptied and we were one of very few boats. By bedtime only about 3 more boats had passed us and I reckon there were at least 9 spaces available overnight. Odd indeed for a Sunday night.

Monday 31st July

Even more odd next morning as the usual stream of boats heading for Richardsons just didn’t materialise. I think by the time we’d had breakfast and were readying to leave at about 8.45am, only 3 boats had passed. One was going very fast indeed, trying to meet his handover deadline no doubt.

We made our way up to Dilham and I realised I haven’t been there in the height of summer before, with the trees beside the river in full leaf making it feel narrower than it is. One other boat was in on our arrival (hi PaulN). One of my favourite walks is round by Dilham Hall Estate to Tonnage bridge and along the canal towards Honing. It was muddy after all the rain and I was grateful we’d worn our wellies. Points of interest - a herd of cows being sorted in a pen, with their calves standing in an orderly line outside as if in a neat queue, a small herd of bullocks in one of the water meadows who made an appearance as we went past by suddenly standing up and popping their heads over the long grass, a couple of fields with horses in who somehow were avoiding the ragwort flowering around them (very odd to keep horses anywhere near ragwort as it’s poisonous to them as it dies off), some beautiful kneelers in Dilham church showing local scenes etc, and numerous fields of forage maize already taller than us after all the warm, damp weather. 

We walked back down past the moorings to the Cross Keys. I’d heard good reports recently so thought we’d see for ourselves. We had a burger for our late lunch, very juicy, washed down with cider and the whole bill was very reasonable. Their whole menu looked very tempting. Served every lunch and evening, but Tuesday night  is pizzas only for anyone thinking of a visit. 
The rest of the day was spent talking as we never seem to run out of that activity! The last mooring space was taken at 9pm by a boat who admitted to being caught out and who were grateful for a space as dusk fell. 

[YnysMon]

6 hours ago, kpnut said:

some beautiful kneelers in Dilham church showing local scenes etc,

I love that kneeler in Dilham church. That's a church I haven't yet visited. Must make the effort next time we are there!