Springer’s Retreat On The Rivers

[kpnut]

8 hours ago, SwanR said:

And before I joined much social media. It meant that I didn’t read any stories about the tides and the rivers to put me off.

How true that is Jean.  The more you think you know, the more there is to worry about. The first time I came across to the south, with a hire boat, I didn’t think it was a big deal, just needed planning for the time through GY. And then, once I got Springers Retreat, and came again, I read far too much stuff and worried about every little thing. 

[kpnut]

45 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

17 days!!!!! How good is that!

Now that’s what I call celebrating retirement Helen. 

[YnysMon]

2 minutes ago, kpnut said:

Now that’s what I call celebrating retirement Helen. 

Err...I forgot to check my diary. I've realised that I'm supposed to be singing in Ely Cathedral on the weekend of 5th and 6th November - DOH!

At least we'll have a few extra days, 12 instead of 17, so that's still good.

[kpnut]

After a walk along from the moorings at Somerleyton to herringfleet mill, we had a very relaxing cruise down to Beccles. 
Before mooring at the yacht station we popped into Quayway boats for a pump out. Rather on the dear side, but what a lovely friendly and extremely helpful chap. I’ll stop there again. 
We ate a fairly early lunch, and are now sitting at the lido moorings waiting for the lido to open at 4pm for a swim. Good thing we stopped in at the church, they had some secondhand books for sale and we’ve killed a good 3/4 hour reading - very relaxing. 

[YnysMon]

I didn't realise the Lido was still open. I must check it out some time.

 

[kpnut]

11 hours ago, Lulu said:

One piece between two and could have got two more portions out of it! …Not on my watch

It really was exceedingly rich and sweet Sam. 

[kpnut]

2 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Err...I forgot to check my diary. I've realised that I'm supposed to be singing in Ely Cathedral on the weekend of 5th and 6th November - DOH!

It’s happened already. You’ve got yourself booked up too much😂

 

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

I didn't realise the Lido was still open. I must check it out some time.

The timetable is on their website. It’s heated till end of september then stays open for cold water swimming through winter. 
 

We had a good swim. It was £7 for up to about two hours I think. We managed 3/4 hour. Nice warm showers afterwards. There’s also a café.

This is the interior of the church, and the separate tower in the yard. 

[LizG]

If they are opening the tower at the weekend the view is superb!

[Mouldy]

12 hours ago, Lulu said:

…Not on my watch 😂

Not on my watch either, Sam - a fork or spoon, but not my watch! 😉. And yes, ignore the stories of sea monsters, the southern broads do exist and are worth coming down for!

[kpnut]

8 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

And yes, ignore the stories of sea monsters, the southern broads do exist and are worth coming down for!

Each time I come down south, I fall for the southern broads a bit more. I always vowed I wouldn’t pass Great Yarmouth without someone else on board, but having been three times now, am beginning to feel if I pick my day, I’ll be fine. Otherwise I have to wait till a friend has a long enough visit to the boat to make it worthwhile. So I’m formulating an idea of three weeks next summer sometime. We’ll see. 

[Spray]

Hopefully you may be able to fit in a cruise to The Locks Inn  at Geldeston  . My favourite pub !!

[kpnut]

That’s tomorrows itinerary. We have Judith’s (my crew member) sister and brother-in-law joining us in the morning for the weekend. Looking forward to a hilarious weekend, knowing Alun from old. 

[YnysMon]

4 hours ago, kpnut said:

Each time I come down south, I fall for the southern broads a bit more. I always vowed I wouldn’t pass Great Yarmouth without someone else on board, but having been three times now, am beginning to feel if I pick my day, I’ll be fine. Otherwise I have to wait till a friend has a long enough visit to the boat to make it worthwhile. So I’m formulating an idea of three weeks next summer sometime. We’ll see. 

You’ll be fine. There have been a few times when I’ve wondered whether the Breydon crossing would be a bit rough but have realised that, even if it’s windy, when you have a ‘following sea’ (wind and tide in the same direction) it’s a doddle. Just avoid foggy conditions (as in ‘Coot Club’)

 

5 hours ago, kpnut said:

t’s happened already. You’ve got yourself booked up too much

Err, well, maybe. It feels good to get back to what feels like pre-Covid life though.

Last week the conductor of the band I’ve returned to asked if Alec would be interested in returning. After some persuasion and trepidation Alec came long this evening, and he really enjoyed it. He’s on bass trombone, I’m on second trombone. Feels like old times. 

[Gracie]

I've always loved crossing Breydon, the boys, when they were much younger thought they were going out to sea. The choppier the better. I've never come across any Krakens or sea monsters either. I reckon it's just a myth started from those moored South to stop the hoards 

Enjoying your write up Kate, thank you x

[MauriceMynah]

3 hours ago, Gracie said:

I reckon it's just a myth started from those moored South to stop the hoards 

Nah, it IS those moored down south. The myth is the young lady monster, with mother and father being mythiths and mythter, plus of course their son marthter 

[grendel]

I think I have done more Breydon crossings solo than with someone else on board, including one when it was closed to Hire boats, one where I had engine issues and one where i was taking on water, all successfully completed and issues rectified, so I dont regard it as any more difficult than any other part of the broads.

[MauriceMynah]

Agreed Grendel it merely requires a little more attention. 

The yellow Post to watch out for and stay within the posts.

Timing needs to be thought out but for most Broads boats even that isn't greatly important, just means burning a bit more juice if you get it wrong. For the boats with higher airdraft, going South to North,  bridge clearance at Yarmouth is the only hurdle to really think about.

[YnysMon]

21 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Err...I forgot to check my diary. I've realised that I'm supposed to be singing in Ely Cathedral on the weekend of 5th and 6th November - DOH!

At least we'll have a few extra days, 12 instead of 17, so that's still good.

Good news. I checked with our choir admin person. The Ely trip is off! So that’s us sorted for an extended stay on MS. 

[MauriceMynah]

6 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

Good news. I checked with our choir admin person. The Ely trip is off! So that’s us sorted for an extended stay on MS. 

Now, that IS something to sing about.  :-)

[kpnut]

I’m fast coming to that conclusion Grendel. And MM.
 

After our swim at the lido and a very peaceful night at Beccles YS, we were up early to get to Morrisons and take the dog out before our guests arrived. 
We welcomed them with a coffee etc and set off for Geldeston at about 10.45am. 

And the day has got better and better! Firstly, beautiful sunshine, secondly space at the Locks Inn and thirdly, after a pint at the Locks, a nice walk up to the Wherry for lunch and ‘Wherryfest’ music festival. Very entertaining. 
To cap it all, the rugby will be on later (SA and Ireland) and I’ve already checked I have a good tv signal. 

I recommend the southern broads.😂

 

[kpnut]

And of course, it would have been rude not to stop for another drink at the Locks on the way back. 

And wow, what an exhausting game of rugby! (to watch). Thoroughly enjoyed that too. 

[kpnut]

We woke to another sunny morning, if a tad more breezy. 
We took another walk into Geldeston, partly because I wanted to check out the mooring possibilities up the other ‘arm’ into Geldeston. We walked down to Rowancraft but couldn’t really see any obvious moorings in the basin outside. There was one space on the quay heading but all the other boats looked private and as if they were on their own moorings. The track access round there looked a bit ‘private’ too.
We were about to give up, having noted that Rowancraft advertise fuel, water and pumpout facilities, then we spotted a public footpath going down the side of the river and past a low bridge that puzzled me as it had a barrier across saying ‘no entry’. So I was a bit bemused as to how the boats get up to Rowancraft until I saw another entrance into the marina a bit further down. There was a boat moored on the long stretch of grass we were walking past and a couple drinking their morning coffee. They confirmed this stretch of grass as open to all. So I’ll give that a go at some point in the future. I’ll also ring Rowancraft to find out the info about access and water/pumpouts etc. 

The Wherry pub had a bit of a ‘morning after the night before’ feel, with some staff clearing up the garden area after the music last night. We compared it with our past lives, collectively clearing up on Sunday mornings after Young Farmers’ Club events on Saturday nights, all those years ago. 

After a cooked breakfast as yet another treat, we returned to Beccles YS to drop off our guests. Halfway between high and low tide, there was plenty of clearance under the bridge at 8’5”.  A lovely weekend visit it’d been. 

We made use of the water pipe to fill up before setting off down an extremely quiet Waveney to our destination for the day at North Cove. About three boats passed the other way, but nothing in our direction. And since mooring up, I think we’ve seen only one boat go past. 
We tried out a new walk, up the track where the fishermen moor, and across the Beccles to Lowestoft railway line to North Cove and Barnby, stopping for a drink at the Swan at Barnby. Looks a nice menu, especially if you like fish, and it seemed quite a locals’ pub with a lot of folk greeting others as they came in. 

The walk back went down past the North Cove nature reserve which unfortunately doesn’t allow dogs so we continued down the public footpath to the Angles Way riverbank path and back to the boat. It was a really nice, and gentle walk with lovely views of the grazing meadows with very contented groups of cattle, probably no more than 3 miles max. 

The sun is now beginning to go down and the river looks wonderful. 

[Smoggy]

On 23/09/2023 at 08:25, Gracie said:

I've never come across any Krakens or sea monsters either. I reckon it's just a myth started from those moored South to stop the hoards 

Will you shut up just for once! It's terrible down south, the crossing is lethal, the pubs are awful, and the beer/wine is six times the price! Don't do it it's just not worth the risk, once past yarmouth all the rivers are uphill in both directions so it costs twice as much in diesel, there's even vampire wombles roaming.

It gets worse, people like me are there....(enjoying the peace and available moorings, alledgedly)

[YnysMon]

1 hour ago, kpnut said:

There was a boat moored on the long stretch of grass we were walking past and a couple drinking their morning coffee. They confirmed this stretch of grass as open to all. So I’ll give that a go at some point in the future.

Glad you’ve discovered Geldeston Dyke. The bank is a bit rough, and you need to take great care stepping off your boat as some bits that look like grass are just overhanging the Dyke (water), but we prefer it to the moorings at The Locks. 

[SwanR]

I’m so glad you’ve managed to moor at North Cove. I’ve only spent one night there but it stands out as one of the best moorings ever. Beautiful part of the river. It’s where I first heard cuckoos the year we were there, probably a June visit.