Springer’s Retreat On The Rivers

[kpnut]

Saturday 11th November

It was certainly a colder night last night. I couldn’t go stargazing as there was a bright light just at the end of the mooring by the boat.
And I woke to a beautifully bright morning. I was in no hurry, yet again, to get off, so Finlay and I went for a little wander. I had intended to go up to the church but thought there might be preparations for  a memorial service and didn’t want to be in the way. 

For once, I made a perfect job of leaving Stokesby mooring 😂. 

I slowly made my way up the Bure, passing Helen and a Graham on Moonlight Shadow upstream of Upton Dyke. There’s a strand line of river debris about 5ft from the bank edge at the river end of Upton Dyke. But the quay heading, what there is of it, is just about visible again. I’m trying it out tomorrow. 

On my way past the chalets before Potter Heigham, I was very much cheered to spy an elderly man in a day boat coming down towards me, looking smart and splendid in black suit and medals. Good on him and a lovely way to travel home from a service. 

Mooring up at Potter Heigham was a complete repeat of two weeks ago. The water’s still over the quay heading (this was an hour after high tide). This time, knowing the water’s really not going to go down very far by low tide, I tied some of the fenders to the mooring posts to keep them exactly where I wanted them. 
Finlay was a bit confused as he got off, not knowing which way to go as the aft well had water in every direction. 

I spent my money in Lathams; buying tinsel, a Christmas pudding and some chocolate treats for my kids(?) stockings. Sorry to upset Mouldy with this news, but it’ll please Gracie.
It was a 10% discount day and it was heaving with people - the carpark was full. 

There’s no water left in the carpark or in Herbert Woods apart from a few puddles. 

Finlay and I walked along on the Martham bank to both Martham boatyards. This is the muddiest walk we’ve had so far on this trip.

In places, the water is still pouring INTO the fields from the concrete path behind the chalets. 

And the path behind Phoenix boatyard has been eroded away just before you go under the new bridge.

 

[SwanR]

Great to see your photos Kate. And to see you're still making the best of all this water everywhere. I wandered into Hoveton this morning. Still places that are flooded around the back of the precinct and over Granary Staithe. The water is receding slowly down at NBD and along the main road but still really wet. And still a bit flooded if one tried to walk via the park from the village to the Viaduct moorings.

[YnysMon]

See you tomorrow Kate, provided you manage to moor up at Upton!

[kpnut]

1 hour ago, SwanR said:

I wandered into Hoveton this morning. Still places that are flooded around the back of the precinct and over Granary Staithe. The water is receding slowly down at NBD and along the main road but still really wet. And still a bit flooded if one tried to walk via the park from the village to the Viaduct moorings.

I’m hoping to moor up in Horning again sometime next week and walk into Hoveton/Wroxham for a look round. No point trying to moor up there. I certainly won’t get under the bridge anytime soon, much to my annoyance. 

[kpnut]

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

See you tomorrow Kate, provided you manage to moor up at Upton!

I’m sure it’ll be ok unless the grass is so soggy that it just won’t hold a rhond anchor. 

I bought some fishing weights and a bit of fishing line today and am going to try attaching them to the bottom of the fenders when I moor up to keep them in the water instead of floating.
Only problem is the fact I don’t want them dangling when cruising along as they’ll knock the paintwork, and it’ll be difficult trying to undo fishing line knots, so I’ll probably have to put new line on each time I use them. Which hopefully will only be a very few times each year. 🤞

[Broads01]

21 minutes ago, kpnut said:

I’m hoping to moor up in Horning again sometime next week and walk into Hoveton/Wroxham for a look round. No point trying to moor up there. I certainly won’t get under the bridge anytime soon, much to my annoyance. 

I remember Malcom saying private craft can moor at Barnes Brinkcraft for a modest fee but I don't know if there's any space there now their season has finished.

[kpnut]

I could try Barnes, but I don’t mind the walk at all. I only realised the other day how near the two are by the footpaths/lanes. 
I also didn’t realise just how close the Neatishead area is by walking from Horning so that’s on the cards sometime. Or vice versa. 

[YnysMon]

59 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

I remember Malcom saying private craft can moor at Barnes Brinkcraft for a modest fee but I don't know if there's any space there now their season has finished.

It's not that modest! They were charging over £7 over an year ago for just a couple of hours in the daytime. 

[kpnut]

A thought - I’m at Thurne mouth, coming out of the Thurne and down the Bure. There’s a small vegetation island floating upstream onthe tide. It’s come round the bend and is carrying on up the Bure. 
I wonder what proportion of the water carries on up the Bure and how much turns into the Thurne. 

[vanessan]

I really enjoy your posts Kate, lots of useful information re walks etc. Finlay must be the most walked (and happy) dog around!

[Troyboy]

It's great to see Finlay enjoying the broads. I've never realised how the broads could get flooded as they have recently. Thanks for the pictures Kate. Keep them coming. 

[kpnut]

Sunday 12th November

Helen reported in her Moonlight Shadow thread that is was frosty this morning, but I woke too late for that. I just love lying in bed in the boat looking out of the window. A different view every day. 
I eventually got up to let the dog out, he again had to land in a lake of water as he jumped off. And had to cock his leg while the other three were paddling. Poor thing. 

My fenders tied to the mooring posts so they could do their job.

The cruise down to Upton was just magical. One of those slightly misty, but brightly sunny and perfectly calm mornings.

It only started clouding over once I was moored up at the river end of Upton dyke. We were still paddling about! But it has receded since with the tide. No doubt it’ll come back up by the time Finlay has to go out this evening. 🙁

We had an extremely muddy walk, round the riverbank to the black Upton Mill. The building work of the new side building is coming along nicely and there’s a big pile of Celotex which’ll make it nice and cosy once finished.

And then down their track which was in a right state. I would think driving the works van down there to do the building work every day must be fun, sliding and bumping about.

I found, for the first time, going off to the left at the cattlegrid off the marsh, the footpath going along the dyke side back to the boatyard campsite. That again was very muddy.
So, with a lunch date with Helen and Graham in the White Horse, Finlay had a swim to clean off, I collected a waterproof jacket as an insurance policy, and we made our way to the pub. I knew Helen and Graham were already there as I’d called across to them as they walked up the other side of the dyke from their mooring at Acle. 
We had a lovely catch up over a roast dinner. Thankyou so very much Helen and Graham.

We all walked back down to Acle, the three dogs very much enjoying their freedom. I then wandered back again in the fading light, taking a photo of Moonlight Shadow as they went past.

And a last observation - there are nearly as many swans in Upton as in Wroxham😂, all out grazing on the newly emerging winter corn in the field. 

[kpnut]

7 hours ago, vanessan said:

Finlay must be the most walked (and happy) dog around!

Ha ha. I added up the mileage from this trip last night. Nearly 70 miles for me, so that must be at least 200 miles for Finlay, most of which are covered at speed. No wonder he never puts on weight!

[SwanR]

Love hearing about your day Kate and seeing your photos. 

[YnysMon]

Thanks Kate. I really enjoyed our catch up and the walk back to Acle. 

[kpnut]

Monday 13th November

The next storm, Debi?, should be rolling in this morning, forcing me out of my bed earlier than I would have liked. The rain had woken me about 6am but although heavy in bursts, it seemed to stop in between. So in a lull, I let the dog out and went for a short walk up the dyke and back.  
Pnmy return, the wind was already picking up so I decided to leave soon ish, worrying that the wind would push the boat higher onto the grass. I had tied a spare fender to the mooring post in the middle of the boat to stop the short post jabbing in to the hull and wasn’t sure what might happen once I removed the fender. So without breakfast, I decided to be off before the wind got worse.
I needn’t have worried unduly of course, but I did leave hurriedly, with rhond anchors still mixed up with mooring lines. The nice thing about there being no other boats on the river is that I could then bob along in the water for a minute or so while sorting out the lines. 
I only went round as far as South Walsham and chose the EA bend moorings, the Broad end of which I reckoned would be most sheltered. There was just one other boat at the other end.
Keeping one post up from the willow tree (just in case!)! I had the immense pleasure of mooring up against a new, non slippy quay heading with the fenders already set in just the right places and able to do the job they’re designed for. What a luxury - first time in over two weeks! 

I then ate a leisurely breakfast before having a good look at the map to see where we could walk that would a) not entail walking round the marsh as I’d done that last week and b) would be somewhere new to me, at least in part. 

By this time, the forecast sun had also arrived and it was turning into a lovely day. Cold in the wind, but very warm in the sheltered spots. I decided to leave my waterproof coat behind, but had plenty of layers on against the wind. The wind had definitely reached the speed it was forecast, buffeting me about where there were gaps in the hedge that let it through. We headed down the moorings toward Fleet Lane and across the field on the path to the left opposite the carpark on the bend. Then right, up the lane and left along to the farm with the fishing ponds. The path around the back (it skirts Upton Broad NWT land, the reserve not allowing dogs) follows the edge of the wood and is always muddy. I resigned myself to it and just plodded through, with Finlay emerging at the end more black than white after going into a deep ditch at one point. 
Three quarters of the way along this path, not far after the footbridge, there is a non-distinct path leading straight on following a field margin, where the main path takes a sharp left turn. Having never been up there, we followed it and it soon came to the road. We turned left and at the crossroads soon after, we turned right up the nicely named Hanging Hill. Halfway along that lane, more or less opposite Upton church in the distance, is a track to the right. Making a mental note to visit Upton church on my next wander round the area, we took the track along to meet the road (from Acle to South Walsham). Having seen that it rather busy, I was relieved to not have to walk on it as there is also another quiet lane going to the right, marked ‘to the marshes’. It’s Mill Lane and I wanted to see the white smock mill that’s along there, hoping they be a signboard with information about the mill as there seems none on the internet. Unfortunately I had no luck. But I did remember to take a photo, the first one of my walk as it was too much bother taking any previously as I was wearing gloves to keep the windchill off. 

At the next junction, there’s a path going diagonally to the left across a couple of fields, emerging at Pilson Green. We walked down to the pond where I thought better of letting Finlay swim to clean himself up. it doesn’t seem the sort of pond that folk would appreciate dogs jumping into! Too ornamental and probably silty and filthy anyway. Instead of walking down the lane straight back to the Broad, we walked up past the bus shelter towards the school and across the field to the lane that leads to Kingfisher Lane behind the houses that surround the Broad. 
A swim at the rather choppy parish staithe to clean up did the job nicely

and we made our way back to the boat. A good walk of about 4.5 miles. 
Relaxing in the boat later with a cup of tea, I realised just how sheltered this mooring is, as the wind that really was blowing very hard outside, and putting willow leaves all over the decks and wells, didn’t affect the movement of the boat at all. I did have a creaking fender overnight though. Grrh, and that was after the wind had dropped to a more acceptable speed by about 10pm.

[vanessan]

The Fleet Dyke moorings are really good now they’ve been refurbished and do provide a modicum of shelter on stormy days. Nice area too. Love that picture of the smock mill, the Broad looks a bit choppy! 

[kpnut]

9 minutes ago, vanessan said:

The Fleet Dyke moorings are really good now they’ve been refurbished

I don’t even know when they were done. The EA just very quietly for on with it it seems to me.

In all their newfound splendour in the sunshine this morning. 

 

 

[kpnut]

Tuesday 14th November

What a calm start after yesterday afternoon’s wind. I always find it strange how the wind can just stop within a few minutes. In this case, it was sometime between 9 and 10pm last night. 
Plan for the day was a good long cruise to top up batteries and hot water. And ending up in Horning. 
We set off towards Wroxham. Hardly any boat traffic apart from plenty of fishermen, more than I’ve seen on the river for a long while. Perhaps they like this stretch best. 
There was space to moor, had I so wished, at Horning staithe, and that would have fulfilled the battery and water job by plugging into the electric, but I did want to go up further.

There was nothing moored at Salhouse as I went past, nor on the Wroxham Broad moorings. They are dry now (as in not flooded, I’m sure they are still soggy) but I could see where some of the bark has been washed away. 
I went up to the bridge, it was reading about 5’9”. At least you can see the number 6 on the gauge for the first time in more than a couple of weeks. 

I liked this garden as I went past, full of autumn colour

And I love this decorative ironwork swan or goose sculpture. 

Perhaps Tony needs to start selling his swans in Wroxham, seeing as lots of folk seem to have ornaments of various sorts in their gardens.

Sorry if I’ve put that on here before, can’t remember if I did. The video should show it going round  if it doesn’t, keep clicking if and it will eventually. 

We pootled back to Salhouse, disturbing a very large flock of geese who have made the river their own.

(This was about a third of them).
We moored up all on our own and went for a good walk. Well, Finlay had a run!

There was a surprising number of people doing just the same, and every one of the groups/couples had a dog. Dogs are good for your health, get you out and about!

For information; the water is now off till the spring, the rubbish skips are still accessible, and there was no mooring charge. In fact the ranger’s hut has gone for the winter. 

All that was left was a cruise up to Horning to moor up at Boulter’s ready for an early morning date with the WC pipe being re-routed to remove the three S bends in it. And I managed to get in there -again with no disasters!

Ferry Marina has now started pumping water back into the river. The pump wasn’t there a few hours earlier when I went upstream. In fact, the water in the pub carpark hadn’t shifted at all since last Wednesday. The shed door was still half underwater. 

[kpnut]

Wednesday 15th November

What a strange day I’ve had. 
1). At Boulters the wc pipe re-routing job was reassessed as needing more thought before launching into it. So that’s on hold. Saved me some money though. They are so helpful, lots of questions answered very cheerily. 
 

2). Moored up on Horning staithe, to walk to Hoveton.
After looking at the map I decided on a potential route and we set off. Up to Ropes Hill, across the field, along Long Lane, where I found a welcome permissive path behind Bewilderwood running alongside the road. Long Lane is a lovely lane, beech woods adjoining and quiet.

A third of the way along Long Lane there’s a path running across a field of turnips, although most looked like overgrown radish! It then goes through a wood to pass Hill Farm. And on to Camgate Road. This is where it went pear shaped as I’d planned to take the next track, marked at Camgate, back south through a wood, across a meadow, past The Grange and back onto Long Lane. A long detour, just because!!!

I’d thought earlier that if there was a flaw in my plan, this path would be it as experience tells me that a path skirting something that sounds ‘posh’ is often curiously missing, and this was the case. Clearly marked on the OS map, but non-existent and as I resigned myself to returning the way I came, I even asked a dog walker who’d lived on that track for over 30 years and she didn’t know of a path. Oh well. That was an hour ‘wasted’. 

3). Once in the town, I realised there was nothing much to do, partly because I’d arrived an hour later than intended, so only had two hours before it got dark and my boat was in Horning. There are things to do of course, but either closed now or I didn’t have time.
So I looked up the bus times for my return, they go hourly, and decided to have a wander at my leisure and catch whichever bus was there once finished. 
The park area is still very muddy and rundown, not really a very good advert for the ‘Capital of the Broads’. The NBD carpark area is now free of water. 

4). Of course, I couldn’t then go for an indoor ‘window shop’ in Roys as I had Finlay with me. A young lady making a window display at the back of the shop fetched me a book I wanted and held Finlay while I went in to pay. 

5). Then to the bus stop where I and another lady waited, and waited, and waited, till I re-read the timetable to see the awaited bus doesn’t run on school days. I’d been looking forward to a nice bus ride back to Horning via Stalham, Sutton, Catfield, Ludham and Ludham Bridge. Same price as the following bus which goes the other way round, visiting Horning first. 
So with an hour to wait for the next bus, I should have gone indoors somewhere, even McDonalds would have done me, but I’d bought a hot Turkey roll from ‘Oh Crumbs’ to eat on the bus, so couldn’t really go in anywhere to eat it.

We sat on the bench outside Roys doing so and getting more and more cold with each passing minute. I took a couple of photos of the Christmas displays for Gracie and posted them on her ‘bring nice’ thread. 

I should have just walked back to Horning but the quick way along the main road would be too busy and I didn’t want to risk being along there once dark, with no path.
 

6). The bus came and this one was first stop Horning, or so we all thought. 
It went sailing over the two mini roundabouts, rather than turning right. A minute later a couple of ladies called to the driver that he was going the wrong way. He then had the last laugh by driving right round the big roundabout past the industrial estate where Boulter’s chandlery is located. He turned right round, not once, twice or even three times. He drove round that roundabout four times, asking if the ladies were feeling sick yet and leaving us all guessing which way he’d decide to go. It turns out, the ladies were all his regulars, one was his wife. Anyway, he turned back down towards Roys and turned left at the mini roundabouts, back on course. 

7). I then proceeded to notice that there’s a good tarmac pavement all the way to Horning, so I could easily have walked back that short way in the time I’d been sitting getting frozen cold, and probably arrived about the same time as the bus.  
 

All in all, a day of not being on the boat and not achieving anything really. But we walked a good 6 miles so the dog is flaked out and full of turkey trimmings the man in ‘Oh Crumbs’ had given him. 
I won’t bother to walk from Horning to Hoveton again, although Long Lane really is rather nice. 

[Broads01]

I'm enjoying your daily tales, Kate. I have to say, walking from Horning to Hoveton in preference to cruising there by river is something I shall never do so so take it as a compliment I enjoyed reading about it .

[kpnut]

6 hours ago, Broads01 said:

I have to say, walking from Horning to Hoveton in preference to cruising there by river is something I shall never do so so take it as a compliment I enjoyed reading about it .

Too right. It only came into my head because of the problem with not being able to get under the bridge at the moment and thus limited moorings. I’ve vowed ‘never again’. It took longer than by boat. (would be shorter if walking along the main road but what’s the fun in that). 
 

When I took the boat the other day, there was no room at Barnes and Hotel Wroxham wanted £10 between 10am and 4pm. I could have moored on the granary staithe I suppose, but it feels really cheeky to do that. 
 

[NorfolkNog]

2 hours ago, kpnut said:

I could have moored on the granary staithe I suppose, but it feels really cheeky to do that. 

We usually manage to moor in Faircraft Loynes yard during the winter. The yard staff are very helpful and we've only been turned away a couple of times when there is literally no room. On those occassions we were advised to moor at the Granary Staithe and did so without any problem. I dont think it's an issue out of season and coupled with high river levels it shouldn't be a problem. 

[NorfolkNog]

....this was in February, as Faircraft Loynes yard was full. We moored overnight with no issues but moored as close as we could to the Hotel so there would have been space behind us if needed.

 

Edit: 

Should add of course that Faircraft Loynes don't allow private moorings so that is not an option in itself.

[YnysMon]

That sounded like quite the walk Kate!