Springer’s Retreat On The Rivers

[CambridgeCabby]

Now gooseberry , that sounds delicious especially if it’s a bit tart .

one of my most favourite fruits , love gooseberry fool especially 

[kpnut]

I might remember to bring you a jar of gooseberry jam sometime Simon. 

The Ronaldo gooseberry icecream will be available again soon no doubt, as the season’s gooseberries are just about ready to harvest. How Hill and the Ramblers at Thurne stock it. 

[kpnut]

Gooseberry icecream due in next week🙂, according to the Big Shop at Womack staithe. 
 

Monday 10th July
The start of my next trip and one I was really looking forward to. I was in Wroxham for a dog leg stretch by late morning. Coming back to the carpark from the viaduct moorings I met Roy from our forum who stopped me as he’d recognised Finlay. We had a nice chat, great to meet you Roy. 
I’d gone up to the viaduct moorings to take a photo of how quiet it was, courtesy of the high water level meaning not much was getting through the bridge. 

I dropped my car off at my mooring and got the bus down to Ludham to meet Catherine and family (husband and 7 week old baby). They’ve been out for a 12 day trip.
It seems the boat had been spotted by Mouldy and Norfolk Lady is in one of Catherine’s photos Malcolm. 

After an icecream we moved off to have a look at Potter Heigham bridge, just for interest, and finally moored up on one of the Fleet Dyke wild moorings. 
At 7 wks old, the baby is just beginning to sleep longer through the night, so we had a good 6 hours, although it was extremely humid that night. 

[kpnut]

Tuesday 11th July

I fell into step with the holidaymakers. I had a good walk round the ‘short’ version of Upton marsh before the others stirred. Up to the end of Fleet Dyke, along the Bure to the pumping station, down the track to Marsh Rd, across the field footpath to the corner of Kingfisher Lane, along past the staithe and back to the moorings. Breakfast was underway when I got back and we later set off for Neatishead. 
Having my granddaughter on board certainly made me focus far more on her rather than the river. I could have been anywhere really! I enjoyed having a chauffeur. 
 

Neatishead was quiet when we arrived and we moored on the first on the right so we could use the bench etc. I gave the new parents a break by taking littl’un for a walk with the pram along to Gayes Staithe, up to the entrance to Barton Broad boardwalk and back along to Neatishead itself. Not one murmur. 
Then it was my turn to take the kayak out. It’s a whitewater kayak and very light on the bow, so took a bit of controlling but I soon got used to it. It was interesting going down a couple of little dykes you can’t take a boat down and I got a different perspective of the boats at Gayes staithe, being up close and personal with their hulls. 
I was treated to a meal at the White Horse, rounding off a lovely relaxing day. 

[kpnut]

Wednesday 12th July
Another quiet night (8 hours this time) and an pre breakfast walk for me and Finlay. We took our time leaving Neatishead, being one of the last to leave. We arrived back at Stalham soon after, waving to Mouldy as he made his way down the Ant, the car was packed (looked a bit of a jigsaw to get everything in) while I took the baby for a walk, and we then installed a tall shelving cabinet that Tony had made me at home. As usual, when I’d taken the measurements I’d forgotten about actually getting the thing in, so we did have to do a quick modification involving a saw! 

I’m very chuffed with myself for then borrowing next door’s drill and securing the unit in place, utilising the curtain pelmet and a block of wood behind it to clamp it tight. Tony had made me a bar with suction pads to attach to the back to hold it against the Formica and they worked a treat too. 
So a Christmas present of a drill is in the cards. 

It was sad to see the family leave after some lunch, but I had a lot to do to clean the boat, do the washing and shopping and get it ready for the next part of the trip. 

[MargeandParge]

On 01/07/2023 at 20:43, CambridgeCabby said:

Now gooseberry , that sounds delicious especially if it’s a bit tart .

one of my most favourite fruits , love gooseberry fool especially 

Our neighbour makes a superb gooseberry gin. Tried myself but  no where near her  she's got the monopoly . All we can do is sip applaud and respect at any chance we are given ..

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[Turnoar]

Sour fruit in ice cream is a delight for sure, I like rhubarb ice cream home made with some crumble in the mix, my favourite, but I fancy having a go at gooseberry now you’ve sown the seed.

[Lulu]

The rhubarb and ginger ice cream at Toad cottage was amazing. Cant wait to stop at How Hill again just for the ice cream 

[kpnut]

2 hours ago, MargeandParge said:

Our neighbour makes a superb gooseberry gin. Tried myself but  no where near her  she's got the monopoly . All we can do is sip applaud and respect at any chance we are given ..

Ha ha, I wasn’t going to recount this from last night, but now you’ve mentioned gooseberry gin I will. 
I borrowed my neighbour’s drill and a few other bits and bobs yesterday afternoon and his boat diy buddy also wired up my 12v lamp that I was converting from 240.
So we had a bit of a session last night as a thanks. First my gooseberry gin, then raspberry vodka and blackcurrant gin. Mopped up with cheese and biscuits. I won’t believe him if he says he doesn’t drink again!

 

Re icecream - I still think the gooseberry has the edge of their flavours. Really ‘fresh’ tasting. Rhubarb and ginger is my second favourite.
Like you Turnoar, I’m going to make some. My gosegogs will be ready to harvest when I get home after this trip. 

[Roy]

3 hours ago, kpnut said:

Gooseberry icecream due in next week🙂, according to the Big Shop at Womack staithe. 
 

Monday 10th July
The start of my next trip and one I was really looking forward to. I was in Wroxham for a dog leg stretch by late morning. Coming back to the carpark from the viaduct moorings I met Roy from our forum who stopped me as he’d recognised Finlay. We had a nice chat, great to meet you Roy. 
I’d gone up to the viaduct moorings to take a photo of how quiet it was, courtesy of the high water level meaning not much was getting through the bridge. 

I dropped my car off at my mooring and got the bus down to Ludham to meet Catherine and family (husband and 7 week old baby). They’ve been out for a 12 day trip.
It seems the boat had been spotted by Mouldy and Norfolk Lady is in one of Catherine’s photos Malcolm. 

After an icecream we moved off to have a look at Potter Heigham bridge, just for interest, and finally moored up on one of the Fleet Dyke wild moorings. 
At 7 wks old, the baby is just beginning to sleep longer through the night, so we had a good 6 hours, although it was extremely humid that night. 

It was nice to meet you to Kate hope you didn’t mind me saying hello. 

[kpnut]

8 hours ago, Roy said:

It was nice to meet you to Kate hope you didn’t mind me saying hello. 

That’s what this forum is all about for me Roy, feeling part of a community when spending  nearly half my year on the boat.

Thursday 13th

I had a date with Wroxham Bridge at low tide, which wasn’t till 5pm. After taking the boat round to kingfisher quay at Richardson’s for a pump out (always an excellent job done) off I went and arrived under the bridge exactly on time. It was 6’10” which is ample for me. I only hope I’ve judged it right to get back under the following late afternoon, with a wet day forecast. 
I had the pick of the moorings at the viaduct so tried to moor where there would be the least gnats on this rather damp, humid evening!

[kpnut]

Friday 14th July

The day has arrived to welcome a very old friend on board. In fact, there’ll be three of us for the weekend as my main boat buddy, who I used to hire with, is also coming. We’ve known each other since childhood and were all very active members of our local young farmers club back in the day, so probably spent about 16 hours a day together when not at work/school. 

My mission is to pootle up to Coltishall Lock to meet Julie off the bus from Norwich. Meeting her there allows the best intro to the Broads I can think of, with a cruise all the way back down to the vicinity of the Ant for an overnight wild mooring stop. She’ll get the beautiful stretch from coltishall to Wroxham, the bridge to go under (fingers crossed!), the big houses etc of The Bure, then the experience of a wild mooring. With only three days holiday, that will start it off nicely. 
Both our husbands have known each other even longer than we’ve been friends (they used to rightly say YFC was a good marriage bureau😂) but even that bond doesn’t seem to have encouraged them to tag along. Hermits???? Their loss!
 

[NeilB]

I'll be heading down the Ant after work today.  Keep an eye on the weather for Saturday night, looks to be a tad windy!  

[addicted]

We were moored inn Horning Staithe last Friday and didn't notice that the boat behind us was Springers Retreat until it pulled away We would have said hello  had we realised. Sorry. We did notice that one of the passengers was a very young baby though and we gave them a  wave as they departed.

 

Carole

[Mouldy]

17 hours ago, kpnut said:

It seems the boat had been spotted by Mouldy and Norfolk Lady is in one of Catherine’s photos Malcolm. 

Guilty as charged, Kate!  The wife was probably just finishing topping up the water.  The pressure there seemed much better than usual and filling up only took a few minutes instead of most of the morning.

Spotted you passing Cockshoot Dyke yesterday afternoon too.  One day we’ll meet up for a catch up.  We’re currently moored at Ranworth (having reluctantly paid my £5), where Jean (Swan R) has moored next to us in a dayboat with her family on a day out.  Good to have put a face to a name eventually and we’ve had a good chat.

It’s busier here now than when we arrived, but there are still spaces available at 12:25!

[kpnut]

1 hour ago, addicted said:

We were moored inn Horning Staithe last Friday and didn't notice that the boat behind us was Springers Retreat until it pulled away

Ooh, Catherine never told me about that stopping point! Hope little’un wasn’t too noisy. 

[kpnut]

1 hour ago, Mouldy said:

Spotted you passing Cockshoot Dyke yesterday afternoon too.

How did I miss you? I think I’m half asleep at the moment!

And Jean, hope your day out is panning out well. We’ll be going through the bridge at about 4pm so might see you towards Wroxham if you have the boat out till then. 

[addicted]

20 minutes ago, kpnut said:

Ooh, Catherine never told me about that stopping point! Hope little’un wasn’t too noisy. 

Not noisy at all. Adorable yes - in spades. Daughters never tell you everything - probably just as well they don't!

 

 

Carole

[SwanR]

Lovely to meet you today Malcolm. We had a good time and I’ll write something about that another day. 

Kate I hope you and your friend have a lovely time. We were due back by 3 with the boat. With the rain having set in we didn’t hang around once we were moored back up. What a grey wet afternoon and evening it turned into. 

[Troyboy]

Hi Kate,

We passed you this morning as you headed towards Stalham. We were on Richardsons Bella Maria. We exchanged waves.

 

 

 

[kpnut]

16 hours ago, Troyboy said:

We passed you this morning as you headed towards Stalham. We were on Richardsons Bella Maria. We exchanged waves

I think I recall but wish it registered in my mind better as I went past. I had known you were on that boat as I told Catherine last week to keep an eye out for you. 
Hope you’ve had a good time out. Has Vera got on ok?

[kpnut]

Friday 14th July cont.

Coltishall lock was empty when I arrived and I spent a bit of time with Finlay on some water training. Time soon came round to walk up to the bus stop where my friend Julie alighted after a successful but long journey from Hertfordshire. Tube into London, train to Norwich and bus to Coltishall. Very straightforward but with long waits between changes with public transport not knitting together well. So 5 hrs total. 
 

As she arrived at 2pm, the rain started and it got heavier as time went on. Bridge clearance, 2 hours before low tide was 6’10”. Because of the rain making things rather gloomy we got as far as Cockshoot dyke before I called it a day at a bit past 6pm. We were one of only three boats which seemed rather odd, but by 8.30pm it had filled up, with space for a couple more overnight. 

I wonder why hireboaters were leaving if so late to moor up, all coming from the Horning direction soI presume newly released. Maybe handovers are later than they used to be. 

[kpnut]

Saturday 15th July

After heavy rain till evening yesterday, we woke to a beautiful morning. We had a quick walk down the boardwalk to the birdhide where at least I saw some wildfowl on the broad for a change, albeit only swans and mallards. Strangely no youngsters of either species. 
We were away for 7am and had the river to ourselves for ages, apart from a duck who joined us on the stretch between Horning church mooring and Ranworth dam. I’m convinced it’s the same duck as came on our roof and peered down through the sunroof a couple of weeks ago as the behaviour was exactly the same. A very learned, and very successful behaviour by the looks of it. 
Not many folk were around as we went through Ludham bridge. We followed Ruby up river but at a far enough distance away that the occupants probably didn’t clock us. Finlay’s ears pricked up when I mentioned dog Delilah’s name though!

At some point I passed Troyboy and waved, but I only know that for definite ‘cos he’s told me (!). 
Rambling Rosie also came down past us and we exchanged a quick hello. 
 

We were moored at Stalham in good time for filling with water, doing the hoovering and having breakfast prior to Judith’s arrival and once she was unpacked and on board we were away again for about 10.30am. I was keen to be away pronto as the wind had already picked up considerably from earlier and my aim was the shelter of Fleet dyke. 
We did have a 40 minute stop at How Hill for a dog run and look in the cottage and wherry Hathor and the ice cream purchase to be stored for later. 
I confirmed with the ranger running the electric eel trip that the photo I’d scanned into my phone from a trip I did in 1979 was indeed him! 
 

Getting off the mooring proved more difficult than I’d like, with us being blown quite strongly upstream by the wind. Thinking about how I should have done that differently, that will be stored in my head for the future. 
We arrived at the first wild mooring on Fleet dyke and once moored, appreciated just how hunkered down into the bank we were, so we’ve had a peaceful night with the strong wind (forecast said average 45-50mph) certainly going on longer than forecast. 
After a latish lunch we set off on our walk round the marsh to Upton and back to Pilson Green. I think Finlay was grateful for a long walk. Sunny and dry all afternoon with none of the expected rain arriving. We did pass a few branches down. 
Passing both sets of EA moorings I got a bit distracted talking to folk I am acquainted with so the 2Js had a bit of a wait when they got back to the boat, waiting for me to turn up with the key. They’d enjoyed sitting on the stern out of the wind watching the river go by. 
 

[Troyboy]

Morning Kate,

Vera seems to love being on the boat. She is mesmerised by the river and the activities around it. Especially the ducks and geese. We were going southern broads but have decided to stay north. I'll give you a pip if we pass again. 

[Mouldy]

Fairly certain that you were spotted leaving Fleet Dyke this morning.  We left Cockshoot Dyke, having finally moored there yesterday after after looking at Salhouse and deciding it was just too crowded and we’re heading towards Womack Dyke.  We lost sight of you at the junction of The Thurne and The Bure, so assume that you were heading towards Stokesby.

The carvery at The Kings Arms was soooo good last Sunday, we’ve decided to try it again tonight, just to make sure! 😉