Springer’s Retreat On The Rivers

[kpnut]

Thursday 13th April

First job of the day, after a bit of a lie-in, was taking Finlay for a good walk as he’d missed out yesterday. We braved the rather muddy path up the side of the dyke to the entrance to How Hill and round the edge of the nature reserve, passing the two old mills. I chatted to the ranger in his dinghy. He had what he called an aqua scope, like a reverse periscope for looking down into the water to investigate an obstruction that the Electric Eel boat had bumped into previously. He said there was ironwork down there and I’d seen him yesterday installing some yellow marker posts. 
I’d forgotten my dog whistle so was interested to find out how well Finlay responded to hand commands at distance. We went up into the parkland at How Hill where there’s plenty of rabbit scent to get him excited and I’m pleased to say I still had him under control. 
We carried on down the lane, finding the footpath sign about a third of mile down, and onto the little footbridge, over the field to the cottages you can see from the river. Then on round along the track that leads to the river and back up past the moorings. They were certainly busy. After a good chat to a private owner to ask about their canopy I rather liked (not that I’m changing mine!) and to hear about their total refit of their Bermuda 34, it was time to head back up the path. To say Finlay was muddy on our arrival at the boat was an understatement. He had to have a swim, but even then, came out silty and he still smells of the river now. 
Cruising down past the moorings at lunchtime, they were all full, mainly Richardson’s boats that I expect are due to be handed back in the morning. Ludham Bridge was fairly full too with moored boats but not a lot of river traffic, so a quick pass through. On my last time down a few days ago I had thought the approach to Ant mouth looks startlingly different now the bank work has been done, much more wild and windy!

[kpnut]

I chose to turn upstream at Ant mouth and thought I’d go as far as Horning church mooring. And back to St Benets if it wasn’t free. 
Well, it was free and apart from mistakenly thinking the tide would be stronger than the wind, turning to come in against the tide and struggling a bit with the wind behind me, I moored up nicely. I do love this spot. Finlay and I then had a wander along the lane to Horning. The path up from the mooring behind the church was wonderful. The rectory owner has built a stunning new boathouse and renewed his quay heading and to complete the job, has put down a deep layer of  bark chippings. So no mud here, while they’re new anyhow. 
Horning parish staithe was heaving, double moored in places and the queue for refreshments at the cafe with the kiosk never diminished. Nice to see them busy. 

We sat awhile, then wandered back along Lower Street. There are quite a few properties for sale. Looking later on rightmove, all I can say is ‘wow, Horning is expensive’!  Ok I suppose if moving from London but not from Yorkshire.
 

On to the Ferry pub as it’s the only one I’ve never been in. I did, much against my better judgement ask if they had any alcohol-free lager, still on this calorie counting, but perhaps a good thing, they didn’t so half a cider it was, sitting on the terrace outside in lovely sunshine, spoilt slightly by a gusty wind. 
I made a new friend!
He stayed ages, till some young girls walking along, shrieked in fright when they saw him and he flew off. 
I thought the interior of the pub felt rather soulless but others might disagree. 

On our return to the boat, we were treated to a beautiful evening. The wind died down, the sunset was beautiful and the ‘party boat’ came along with its pretty lights. 

[SwanR]

Sounds like another great day Kate. Bright and sunny this morning. Looking forward to seeing where you end up.  

[YnysMon]

What a beautiful day and sunset. Did you hear the party boat before you saw it? It passed around South Walsham Broad last year when we were mud weighted and was playing music incredibly loudly.

 

[kpnut]

49 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

Did you hear the party boat before you saw it?

The music was down low. There were very few folk aboard. So I spotted the fairy lights before hearing it. 

[LizG]

Its the Wednesday night Wroxham party boat one which you will know about!  The music is on a continuous reel so when its gets to Horning it is ALWAYS the same tune, it turns around and again as it returns its always the same.

[kpnut]

3 hours ago, SwanR said:

Looking forward to seeing where you end up

So am I Jean!

[kpnut]

48 minutes ago, LizG said:

Its the Wednesday night Wroxham party boat one which you will know about! 

And now you’re really confusing me with the dates. I’m sure it was Thursday yesterday. 🤔
I thought it was the one out of Horning. 

[NeilB]

3 hours ago, SwanR said:

 Looking forward to seeing where you end up.  

19 minutes ago, kpnut said:

So am I Jean!

I know where she is!! 

[Mouldy]

14 minutes ago, NeilB said:

I know where she is!! 

Stokesby?

[Lulu]

Can she resist the cakes ….

[LizG]

2 hours ago, LizG said:

Its the Wednesday night Wroxham party boat one which you will know about!  The music is on a continuous reel so when its gets to Horning it is ALWAYS the same tune, it turns around and again as it returns its always the same.

The Mississippi comes out of Horning - most evening events are private functions.  However, in the summer months NBN send out one of their party/trip boats with a weekly evening disco cruise with I believe the general party onboard - this is the really noisy one!!!  That tends to turn somewhere downstream of Horning!!!

[kpnut]

Arriving back from my dog walk and yes, I have a neighbour. Neil was busy polishing his boat. I couldn’t resist the pub for a glass of cider. I’ve earned it after a 6.5 mile walk. I might go in the shop, we’ll see how much effect the cider has first!!!!!!

[kpnut]

I did go in the shop and ogle at all the chocolate offerings, but persuaded myself that they’ll wait as a treat when I have friends on board. So I came away with a chunky slice of broccoli and Stilton quiche instead, verified by Neil when I returned to the boat. 
We had a good catch up until he needed to remove lots of white specks in the shower and after a 6.5 mile walk and a glass of cider, I needed to eat. 
And very nice it was too, half the quiche with lettuce from the allotment, other salad things and hummus. 
I’ve invited myself to a classical guitar recital in the village hall this evening, so won’t be quizzing. 
My walk took me to Fleggburgh and Filby Broad. It’s too complicated to describe in detail, but I thought it was one of the nicest walks I’ve done lately. Dry in most places, some fields, some marsh, some country lanes, a church, a pub ( I didn’t go in, although it looked very inviting - the Kings Head at Fleggburgh) and the last bit back along the riverbank. 
Musing to myself as I went through a network of fields on the outward leg, I thought it’s such a shame that what was once 7 fields is now one, with paths crisscrossing on narrow bits of turf. The agricultural policies since the war, designed to increase food production and provide cheap food have come back to bite us as we now expect that cheap food, but are now so reliant on imports to get it. In the meantime the wildlife value of these areas has gone downhill irreversibly. I was walking along the remnants of field margins, separated by long gone hedges. What was once hedges acting as wildlife corridors and teeming with birdsong is now sterile. It’s still pretty, but a shame. 

And other pictures I took. Lovely dry track across the marsh, Info boards, Filby Broad, Fleggburgh church. 

The colony of what I presume are terns, on the little islands on the Broad could be heard about half a mile away. 
Thrigby church tower can be seen in the distance. 

Fleggburgh church was locked, the key is available at the pub for anyone who wants to visit.
 

And back to farming, - it got me thinking about the fire that broke out at a dairy farm in the US, it was in the news this morning. 18000 dairy cows were killed. What on earth is a farm doing with 18000 cows? The average dairy herd in the UK is about 150 cows. I shudder to think what the welfare of the animals is like, and all in the name of cheap food. 

Rant over!!!

[NeilB]

I can confirm the only foodstuff Kate was carrying on her return was the aforementioned quiche….

I, on the other hand have retired to the pub! 

[MargeandParge]

Best to eat your fill at the pub then you won't get caught carrying any treats home.

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[MauriceMynah]

Very good "full English" to be had there.

[YnysMon]

3 hours ago, kpnut said:

So I came away with a chunky slice of broccoli and Stilton quiche instead, verified by Neil when I returned to the boat. 

I like the way your abstinence from cake needed Neil as a back up. 
On a more sobering note…good point about those cows in the US. The animal husbandry on large farms there leaves a lot to be desired. I recall driving to a ski resort north of LA and passing a field of mud with cows lined up against a fence to get at fodder dumped along the outside of the fence. It did not look good! The BBC’s article about it gave some staggering stats on how many farm animals had died in fires in the US over recent years, so it’s obviously not an isolated incident.

[kpnut]

3 hours ago, MauriceMynah said:

Very good "full English" to be had there

I know, I saw the board with it written on. Just too tempting all this eating! 

[kpnut]

The classical guitar recital was superb. By a young man with a very interesting history, including as a long term busker in Norwich. Completely self taught and a guitar maker as well. His name is Peter Turrell. 
I was made most welcome by the residents of Thurne and treated to another cider and buffet in the interval. They have a fantastic social club/village hall. Well worth keeping an eye on their website for other events. 
I did think, while chatting to Neil this morning before our respective departures that there’d be a string of locals ‘just passing’ the staithe to inspect my boat and check me out!

Finlay’s not that used to being left much on his own, and although he settles, he was probably not really relaxed. When I got back and let him out the back for a wee, instead of being cautious and looking both ways to work out where the bank is, he’d shot out, straight over the back into the river. Not what I needed at 10.30pm on a rainy night at Stokesby and not really the safest scenario. Good thing he’s a spaniel, a true water dog and not phased at all by being dragged out by his scruff. 
But now he has a collar on and it’ll be on permanently when on the boat from now on. I will add he does have a life jacket for the lower reaches of the rivers. 

[kpnut]

2 hours ago, kpnut said:

I was made most welcome by the residents of Thurne and

It was Stokesby of course, but you knew that😁

[YnysMon]

Sounds like a brilliant community and a wonderful evening until Findlay’s dunking. Hopefully it will make him even more cautious. Glad he was fine. The tide can be fairly swift even in Stokesby.

[kpnut]

What a stunning day. 
I left Stokesby soon after Neil had gone, and thought I’d head for Womack dyke as with the sunshine, I knew it would be a lovely afternoon and evening there.
Oby Mill looks even more sad than previous years, with the tarpaulin gone from the top, she’s now fully exposed to the elements  she won’t last long like that. 

Going past Boundary Farm and finding it free, that’s where I pulled in, the decision being made even easier on checking the wind forecast - dying right down over the course of the afternoon and nothing overnight. It’s forecast to be cold though, about 2C I think. 

I quite fancied popping into the Ramblers at Thurne as I’m after a picture for the boat. I’d intended to go down there by car on Monday. After checking it was open today, we set off in the opposite direction, down the river to South Oby dyke and following the paths round in the reverse direction to my walk in the winter. 
I was on the hunt for the fantastic view that Wussername and Vaughan had mentioned. I went up on the bank opposite the church as directed, but due to the newly ploughed field, any photo on my phone would have been mostly brown earth. A good camera with powerful lens would be able to cut all that out. The best shot I got was from the church wall. 

I went in the church again on the hunt for the peephole they, and Ynys Mon had written about. I couldn’t find it at first but went outside and found the other end of it, so went back in, into the vestry which was unlocked and no sign saying not to, and found it. Not that you can see St Benets, there’s a hedge round the churchyard blocking most of the view!

I also rather liked the wall lamps. They must look pretty when all lit.

I think Wussername had posed the question as to why so many churches are outside of the villages. I read something the other day saying it was because of the Black Death. When hamlets/villages were decimated, they rebuilt them away from the original ‘contaminated’ ground, leaving the church behind of course. I wonder how true that is. 

Rather than walking down the lane to the village, I went up the road (surprisingly busy) and across the fields, coming out by the much talked about phone box that is now a BA information centre. I actually quite liked it, can’t quite see how it cost the reputed £6000 to refurbish (as I understand it if was EU ringfenced grant money, not BA money) but for folk who don’t know much about the area, it would be informative. It still smells like all old red phone boxes though, not of the more obvious but less mentionable aroma, but that of all pervading cigarette smoke smell!

At first, I thought the wheel you turn to hear the bird calls was so noisy you couldn’t hear the birdsong, but then I realised you just turned it a bit and stopped, then the birdsong was as clear as you like. It could perhaps do with a bit more straightforward written instruction about that as I won’t be the only one caught out. Funnily enough, on my way back to the boat, I was then able to recognise oystercatchers, reed warblers and Cetti’s warblers which chuffed me to bits. I’m fact I’d heard the Cetti’s warblers yesterday and wondered what they were. 
And for anyone thinking that Thurne relies on boat tourists for business, look at the cars parked around the staithe area - far more numerous than boats. 

I couldn’t find a picture in Ramblers, although some of them are beautiful. I just can’t quite decide if I want a ‘river’ one, boats etc or a ‘walk’ one of a view I’ve come across on the marshes, but that no guests on board will recognise. I’ll go to Wroxham Barns in the week and see what they have. 

We wandered to the end of the dyke and sat on the bench by the mill for ages, with Finlay playing with another spaniel for a while. It felt such a shame to leave. The dyke was more or less deserted at about 3.30pm. It’s definitely quieter than last weekend!

Some girls were putting up extra info posters on the mooring charge signboards (to explain its £10 if they have to come and collect it from you). I did point out to them that small A4 posters might be difficult to read from a boat but they said they were just temporary. 

We walked back along the river, stopping to chat to the people I’d met at How Hill, who happen to moor at Bureside and had just arrived ‘home’. And then on to Boundary Farm mooring which has just been idyllic this afternoon.

I gave the decks and roof a wash, made friends with a duck who kept tapping on the window for food and otherwise, just did nothing apart from watching boats go by!

[kpnut]

11 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

The tide can be fairly swift even in Stokesby.

Yes Helen. I was very grateful that Neil’s boat was right behind, and Finlay was in the gap between where it would have been more still. I’m very annoyed with myself for letting it happen. There’s accidents and there’s carelessness and that fell into the latter category. 

[YnysMon]

Is the wildlife getting more cheeky? First Neil’s heron, then your duck.

Mind you we did pick up a passenger duck for quite a while whilst traversing Horning last year.