Springer’s Retreat On The Rivers

[SwanR]

Wow! That confirms it. I’m never bothering with Breydon. Hire North or hire South and stay there. 🤭🤣

[NorfolkNog]

I've also crossed in worse conditions, including just before the Beast from the East struck a few years back 

I would guess, looking at the video, that there was possibly a following wind, it can be fun going the other way into the wind and waves. I would also delay going South to North slightly as the undertow effect can involve struggling a little up the Bure.

[Mouldy]

53 minutes ago, SwanR said:

Wow! That confirms it. I’m never bothering with Breydon. Hire North or hire South and stay there. 🤭🤣

I’ve seen Barton Broad worse than that!  I’ve attached a photo taken when we crossed Breydon on Moonlight Shadow in April 2019 (before we bought Norfolk Lady).  Benign and beautiful.

[NeilB]

9 hours ago, kpnut said:

I managed to load my little video of the outward journey across Breydon on Friday afternoon. Hope it works ok. 

 

Does not look too bad, need a few more waves over the bows!!

 

[Broads01]

15 hours ago, kpnut said:

I managed to load my little video of the outward journey across Breydon on Friday afternoon. Hope it works ok. 

IMG_7462.MOV 69.37 MB · 11 downloads  

 

Looks worse than I've encountered. I think I'd have been OK with it except I am prone to motion sickness and that's where I might have found it hard.

[YnysMon]

No more videos to put Jean off even more than she already is!

Seriously Jean, it’s a doddle if you plan to go across when there are suitable tides and a forecast fir reasonable weather. Go for it! 

[Smoggy]

37 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

No more videos to put Jean off even more than she already is!

Seriously Jean, it’s a doddle if you plan to go across when there are suitable tides and a forecast fir reasonable weather. Go for it! 

But do watch out for the sea monsters........

[grendel]

48 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

But do watch out for the sea monsters........

that was just me- I went for a swim.

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

that was just me- I went for a swim.

Been in the dinghy again then?

[kpnut]

Well well, I never knew that. So I could go across earlier then just tie up and wait. 
I’ll take more note next time over. Thanks. 

[kpnut]

10 hours ago, SwanR said:

Wow! That confirms it. I’m never bothering with Breydon. Hire North or hire South and stay there. 🤭🤣

I don’t want to be responsible for putting you off Jean. From the comments, it looks like it could have been worse 😂😂😂, but that was enough for me. 

[kpnut]

10 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

I've also crossed in worse conditions, including just before the Beast from the East struck a few years back 

I would guess, looking at the video, that there was possibly a following wind, it can be fun going the other way into the wind and waves

It was a north westerly wind, directly hitting the side. 
Going across Breydon in the buildup to the beast for the east would not be an experience to repeat!

[kpnut]

10 hours ago, Mouldy said:

I’ve attached a photo taken when we crossed Breydon on Moonlight Shadow in April 2019 (before we bought Norfolk Lady).  Benign and beautiful.

I’ll show Tony that to let him know what he missed!

[kpnut]

11 hours ago, NeilB said:

Does not look too bad, need a few more waves over the bows!!

My front well was slopping about in water. Good thing there’s a couple of drain holes. And the boat was covered in salt, I washed it off at Beccles. 

[kpnut]

4 hours ago, Broads01 said:

Looks worse than I've encountered. I think I'd have been OK with it except I am prone to motion sickness and that's where I might have found it hard.

I do have seasickness pills onboard, after a friend onboard suffered from it down the Ant in the warm sunshine one summer. 
Tony should have taken one. 

[kpnut]

Moving on ••••••

Why is Acle Bridge always so windy? I don’t think I’ve ever moored there without at least a breeze. This morning it was blowing directly into the Pedro’s bank which was where I was moored. An extra fender had been put out last night to stop the potential bumping. 

No breakfast as we were meeting Helen and son Harry with Moonlight Shadow for a breakfast in the Dunes cafe. That gave me plenty of free time to take the dogs for a run up the riverbank towards Upton dyke. 
I spotted MS coming and just about got over the bridge in time to catch a stern line from Harry. My, it was windy. 

Breakfast done and dusted, leaving the dogs onboard as I had mistakenly thought I couldn’t take them inside (it is dog friendly after all) and then we had maybe another hour on MS before going our separate ways. Thanks for coming all that way down to Acle, Helen. 

I anticipated it’d be awkward getting off the mooring in the wind but it was fine. 

We flew up the Bure and Thurne on the tide towards our destination of Womack, taking a detour up to Potter Heigham first as Tony hadn’t been there by river. We didn’t stop, turning by the bridge as the tide also turned, so we seemed to fly back down the Thurne, only feeling the engine work as I turned up Womack dyke. 

Womack staithe won the discussion between staithe and dyke moorings. The dogs had another walk with both of us this time, up the bridleway towards Fritton Lane, over the main road and back along the lane that runs parallel, to the village; a walk I’ve done many times. I sometimes think I know the broads footpaths better than mine at home. 
I filled my rucsac with shopping before we popped into the Kings Arms for a drink. It was very busy for a midweek late afternoon. We’d already decided we couldn’t do the carvery justice after our late breakfast. 

Greetings from Womack staithe.

Two private boats (both forum members but I won’t name the other as I haven’t seen him to ask) and the rest are hire boats. A turnaround from a few weeks ago when private boats were outnumbering the hire boats. The season is well underway. 

[YnysMon]

1 hour ago, kpnut said:

I spotted MS coming and just about got over the bridge in time to catch a stern line from Harry. My, it was windy.

We were so glad you were there to help out this morning. It wasn’t easy trying to moor on the BA side at Acle this morning with the wind pushing us off. I don’t think we’d have managed otherwise. It didn’t help that a squall hit when we were approaching and I’m sure you must have got very wet helping us out, so an extra thank you for that.

It was lovely meeting up with you and Tony.

[kpnut]

We had a very peaceful night at Womack staithe. The day dawned quite bright, but cold. Then it clouded over and looked a bit drizzly. By the time we cast off it was ok again. And that’s how it’s been all day really; can’t quite make its mind up!

Moonlight Shadow was behind us for part of the journey and they turned into HPC as the Southern Comfort past us both on her first trip of the day. 

First option - Horning staithe

Second option - Horning church

Third option - Fleet dyke  

No space at the staithe (well there was plenty of space but split in two by a boat!) so I thought I’d motor on to show Tony all the houses on the way out of the village, then turn round and try Horning church (that had one boat on when we’d been past and room for us too).
Coming round Swan corner I spotted the boat taking up all the room just leaving, so I made my intentions very clear to the boat that was approaching from the other direction by whizzing over the river (he was further away than me anyway and theoretically should have needed to turn round to moor against the incoming tide) and I shoved myself right up just overlapping the little dyke outside the closed Staithe and Willow cafe. 
That gave room for the other boat to also fit and I helped him in. So two boats moored where one boat had been! Good. 
I don’t know why, but I’ve felt very sleepy today. I could easily have just cosied down with a book but the dogs needed walking and we had a few jobs to do. So the day passed. I took the dogs out on my own; past the radar museum and over the fields towards the new radio mast on the Ludham road. On the lane of the way back, I even managed to have both dogs attached to just one hand, with loose leads - almost unheard of for spaniels, the hundreds and hundreds of hours are paying off very occasionally.

I bought some pears in Tidings newsagent to go with the last of the rhubarb from home in a crumble. Other than that, an unremarkable day, just very relaxing.  
 

My new TV aerial sitting nice and snug under the grp canopy in the front well.

I’ve been trialling it for the last few months and It’s picking up signals extremely well  I just need to tidy up the cabling when I have the right bits. It’s a    Moonraker 1000 Digi Pro, popular on the canals. Someone I know also bought one and it didn’t work though, so not a complete 100% recommendation. 
And a nice Horning sunset.

[SwanR]

Love that sunset. Hope you're both enjoying this trip. Tony is certainly getting some variety.

[YnysMon]

We caught the sunset too! A lovely end to a lovely day. 

[kpnut]

22 hours ago, SwanR said:

Love that sunset. Hope you're both enjoying this trip. Tony is certainly getting some variety.

Thanks Jean. Tony seems to have got in the swing of it all (apart from mooring up). The hot sunshine this afternoon went down very well indeed. 

[kpnut]

I had booked a fuel fill at Boulter’s for 11am this morning, purposely at that time so I could have a slow morning. I wanted to do bacon rolls for breakfast, another ploy to entice Tony back again another time! They were appreciated. 
I struck lucky at Boulter’s. No wind. I’d drawn Tony a map so he knew where I was heading when reversing in. He’s not keen at all on helping me manoeuvre the boat but giving him time for the info to sink in seemed to work.
I’m so used to mooring up on my own that I don’t give him enough notice so he’s still changing out of his slippers by the time I’m tied up and back inside!

Our destination was How Hill. The day was beautiful. We saw a marsh harrier, a kingfisher and a duck who hitched a ride - you’ve guessed it - between Horning church and Ranworth. 

How Hill had four boats in including us. By the time we came back from a walk along to view Buttle Marsh and across to Neaves Mill, we were down to just two of us, and we were cuddling up to each other, nose to nose, so I moved up to Luna’s Nook by the wherry mooring. 

Buttles Marsh looking across to Neaves Mill and a smart bit of riverbank just upstream! It looked good on our cruise past. I’ll be mooring there again shortly. 

I then took a walk round the secret garden to take photos and make notes for my daughter who’s establishing a pond and bog garden at the back of her house. The azaleas are just getting going, as are the ferns which are beginning to unfurl. 

I helped a family with two enthusiastic youngsters moor up for their first time (other than their handover). When they said they were looking forward to tea at the pub after a long drive to Norfolk, I had to disappoint them with the info that it’d be a bit of a walk! They thought they were at Ludham Bridge, so they set off again, making a good job of leaving and turning round. 
Tonight there’s 3 cruisers and 2 yachts moored and it’s perfectly peaceful. 

 

 

[kpnut]

The rain started bang on forecast at 7am, but it was really only a bit of drizzle. Still enough to make things more slippy though.
I took the dogs out before breakfast and did a bit of ‘maintenance’ on board; washing mud off the decks, and washing and resetting the fenders after all the ups and downs they had while on the Waveney. 
I showed Tony the little mooring at Wood End on the way over Barton Broad and waved to GarryN on Daisy Chain on his weekend out. 
We were soon back at Stalham and enjoyed a very sociable half hour at the pump out station, catching up with news from some of the lads on the yard. It was blooming cold though!

We spent the afternoon solving the leak on the freshwater pump, replacing a broken washer, and tightening up the casing. I learnt how easy it is to detach the pump for easy ‘getting at it’ and Tony got enthusiastic enough to decide he’s going to relocate it on his next trip so it doesn’t vibrate so much and make such a racket.
He also had a look at the bedside light that has a temperamental connection. It’s been like it ever since I bought the boat and I know at least one other light fitting in the saloon has the same problem. The wires were so taut that the crimping joint bits were coming adrift. He’ll have to do that next trip too as he needs new connector bits and his crimping pliers. Sorry for the non technical names!

So that’s another trip completed. My poor boat is full of dog hair which will have to be hoovered up in the morning after putting the dogs in the car. Charlie is a much muckier dog all round than Finlay, forever shaking his coat out, scratching the rug to get comfy and the walls seem to get splodges of something, I don’t like to think what, all over them. Thank goodness for the wipe clean walls on the boat. Having both dogs on board has  thankfully been a success and they seem to have dropped their competition to be the first to do everything. Charlie does love being out in the front well, but it’s just been too cold and windy to have the front door open much of the time on this trip. 

 

[Mouldy]

I was asked by a former Forum member to post a link to this video of a Breydon Crossing some 13 years ago.  It does look a tad rough:

https://youtu.be/sjR1wouuEZc?si=08gjjz0prDBFM-yg

 

[kpnut]

I think my crossing was more of a side wind making us roll rather than pitch. Both probably make the same banging noises!