Springer’s Retreat On The Rivers

[kpnut]

Yes, I was looking forward to it after the buildup to it during the week, but knew I’d not enjoy today if I didn’t get some proper sleep. 

[YnysMon]

Have a wonderful week. If it gets too hot, just keep cruising!

We can’t wait…we’ll be on board MS from next Friday. 

[kpnut]

Might see you somewhere Helen, will keep an eye out. We don’t need to be back up the Ant till Sunday. 
When are you on Water Rail?

[YnysMon]

You probably won’t get even a glimpse of us next week. We are planning to set off Friday evening and moor up hopefully at Acle or Stacey Arms, as being good places for an early start next morning to Yarmouth (I’m ruling out Stokesby as impossible). On the other hand we might stay in Horning overnight and set off from there exceptionally early Saturday morning. 

We are on Water Rail from 12th September to the 23rd.  Planning to come north the first week, if all goes well. 

[kpnut]

Would be magical indeed on the river at such an early time, if you are able to be awake enough to enjoy it! 
May see you in sept then instead. 

[YnysMon]

1 hour ago, kpnut said:

May see you in sept then instead. 

Hopefully! Tentative plans for September involve coming up north asap in an attempt to get under ‘that bridge’, river levels permitting. We won’t stay up there more than a few days though, and if we can’t get under we’ll just have more time to explore other places…maybe even Wood End Staithe. 

[kpnut]

I have contemplated trying PH bridge this week, seeing as its high pressure and hasn’t rained properly for yonks, but have chosen wroxham bridge instead, seeing as I’m meeting mum off the train there tomorrow morning. Upstream of PH can wait for another trip. 

I took a slow meander back up to Richardson’s this morning for a pump out and to pick up my sister. Always a good job done there. 
Setting off again, our destination was anywhere between St Benedict’s Church mooring at Horning to Hoveton viaduct moorings. The Ant was very quiet, but that changed once on the Bure with dayboats zipping about and a couple of rather strange looking very large boats. I should have taken a picture. One at least, a blue one for what it’s worth, must moor at wroxham as it passed us again on its way back up there later in the afternoon. 
We settled on the moorings by Wroxham Broad and spent the rest of the day in the sun with a breeze just enough to cool us nicely, watching the boats. It wasn’t until it all quietened down after 6pm that we I realised just how noisy it had been before then!

I did notice that just below the surface there is an awful lot of weed along this stretch. Not sure if this photo shows it up very well. I suppose it’s the downside of having clearer water nowadays. 
 

Reminder to self-check the weed filter in the morning. 

 

[garryn]

8 minutes ago, kpnut said:

I have contemplated trying PH bridge this week, seeing as its high pressure and hasn’t rained properly for yonks, but have chosen wroxham bridge instead, seeing as I’m meeting mum off the train there tomorrow morning. Upstream of PH can wait for another trip. 

I took a slow meander back up to Richardson’s this morning for a pump out and to pick up my sister. Always a good job done there. 
Setting off again, our destination was anywhere between St Benedict’s Church mooring at Horning to Hoveton viaduct moorings. The Ant was very quiet, but that changed once on the Bure with dayboats zipping about and a couple of rather strange looking very large boats. I should have taken a picture. One at least, a blue one for what it’s worth, must moor at wroxham as it passed us again on its way back up there later in the afternoon. 
We settled on the moorings by Wroxham Broad and spent the rest of the day in the sun with a breeze just enough to cool us nicely, watching the boats. It wasn’t until it all quietened down after 6pm that we I realised just how noisy it had been before then!

I did notice that just below the surface there is an awful lot of weed along this stretch. Not sure if this photo shows it up very well. I suppose it’s the downside of having clearer water nowadays. 
 

Reminder to self-check the weed filter in the morning. 

 

There was over 7ft at  Wroxham when we went under on Friday and Saturday. Plenty of room for you to do it yourself and not use the pilot.

[SwanR]

I have noticed over the last couple of days that the Hoveton St John stern on moorings are often quite full. And the Viaduct mooring look to be quite well used at the moment as well, although I doubt they have completely filled up. There are definitely some boats that seem to do little other than move between the two.

[YnysMon]

Hmm, judging by the post about racing on Black Horse Broad having to be abandoned due to weed growth, I suspect that weed will be a problem anywhere near the head of navigation, where the water is clear. The BA were cutting weed above Belaugh in May, but with the warm weather it will probably grow back at pace!

Even if we can get above Potter in September we might give West Somerton a miss. The first time we ventured up the long dyke above Martham Ferry there a weed cutting machine in evidence, operating further up near Martham Broad. Before we got anywhere near that our rudder (this was on a sailey) got so clogged with weed we lost all steerage.

The next time we went up in that direction we did make it to West Somerton, but we also had a mishap on our way back. The weed cutting machine came to our rescue on that occasion. 

[Boatingman]

Hi Helen

We ventured to West Somerton on Monday on an electric day boat and it was pretty clear we meet a couple of Hunters yachts coming down

It is a lovely little stretch of river

Ray

[grendel]

i always try and avoid the viaduct moorings and go onto bridge broad and mudweight there in one of the bays given the option, I have a favorite bay round the corner, but even when I was there last there was quite a bit of marine vegetation on the bottom.

[kpnut]

9 hours ago, garryn said:

There was over 7ft at  Wroxham when we went under on Friday and Saturday. Plenty of room for you to do it yourself and not use the pilot.

I know Gary but I haven’t got the confidence yet. I’ll ask to do it myself with him standing next to me I think. 
 I hope there is room on one of those moorings for me Jean, otherwise my mums going to have a long walk from the railway station round to Castle staithe or Belaugh- only joking!!

Catherine went up to Coltishall last week and although had to check the weed filter each day it wasn’t too bad. 
 

and I’d love to mudweight Grendel, but the dog hasn’t learnt to wee on a mat, never even did as a pup, so he’s the problem. Next dog I get is going to be trained properly from the off!

Beautiful morning, already hot. 

[YnysMon]

1 hour ago, kpnut said:

and I’d love to mudweight Grendel, but the dog hasn’t learnt to wee on a mat, never even did as a pup, so he’s the problem. Next dog I get is going to be trained properly from the off!

We obviously also have that problem, as we have Seren. I’ve sometimes considered mudweighting this time of the year when we can take her for a late evening comfort break before heading for a Broad. I had been thinking of going to Black Horse broad Friday, but the recent reports of weed being a problem there has put me off. I suppose there’s Ranworth. 

[grendel]

helen, you could easily do the bridge broad as its literally only 5 minutes (or less) from hoveton viaduct, so an easy trip if Seren started showing signs of needing a comfort break.

[kpnut]

Maybe bridge broad is the place to practice. 
 

anyway,I’m pleased to report that I did the bridge, woohoo. I did have the pilot with me though and will use his services for confidence on the return this then I should be ok given reasonable clearance. 
Intriduckng my sister to the joys of Royland while we await mum’s train. 
More dayboats out than I expected for Monday still in term time (England and wales at least). And stern on moorings pretty full. But viaduct moorings we’re fairly free. And we managed a spot in the shade as we moored. Probably not when we get back. 

[JanetAnne]

If you have an aft or forward well you may find a piece of astro turf will help with canine ablutions  

[YnysMon]

46 minutes ago, kpnut said:

anyway,I’m pleased to report that I did the bridge, woohoo

Well done! Watch it coming back though, I found that a lot more difficult, so your idea of having the pilot tutor your return passage is a good. 

 

39 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

If you have an aft or forward well you may find a piece of astro turf will help with canine ablutions

That's a very helpful suggestion. We once had to moor up on an emergency pontoon and Seren just wouldn't 'go'. She hung on until the following morning when we were able to find a suitable bank to moor up at. 

[kpnut]

I left my tale with picking mum up from the train. It was rather surreal walking from the train, down the footpath to the viaduct moorings, straight onto the boat and bingo - right in the midst of a holiday in the space of 5 minutes!

After a salad lunch, I was keen to set off upstream. I was hoping for one of the staithes at Belaugh so we could visit the church, and was in luck with both, so chose the BA mooring. On the way we’d seen 3 kingfishers which was lovely for mum. 
Plenty of comings and going’s on the staithe with a couple having a quiet afternoon (until I came along and got chatting about allotments!), a fisherman and various people turning up to launch canoes. The church didn’t disappoint and had the bonus of being lovely and cool. 
 

A warm night and early sunrise saw me deciding to take Finlay for a walk round the lanes early on. I had soon realised yesterday that mum has certainly lost some agility since she came on the boat in July last year. Her walking pace is surprisingly slow, a big difference to last time I saw her as although I tend to walk quite fast, sometimes I used to be unable to keep up with her!

So if Finlay is going to get a decent walk, it’s going to have to be bolted on to the day’s activity with mum. 

We moved off up to Coltishall lock where we were moored on our own for most of the day. There are 2 other boats here now. 
My, it’s been busy here. Lovely to see the kids out near the mill, enjoying the water. My only hope is that they look out for each other’s safety while they play. On the lock side, a steady stream of paddle boarders and canoeists, one lady swimming, but the highlight of my day was when a gundog training class came to do some water training. 9 Labradors for an hour and a half or so perfecting their retrieve technique in the water and Finlay getting a free lesson in steadiness as he sat and watched with no whining etc for the whole time. He must have been wondering when it was his turn, - that came as soon as the other dogs had left. 
Lunch at the Recruiting Sergeant, highly recommended, was followed by a walk upstream from the bridge. But it soon got too overgrown with stingers for us with our shorts on, so we doubled back before reaching our destination, which had only been to the little bridge over the side dyke by Hautbois Activity Centre. 
Sheila and I took ourselves off for a walk with Finlay up the lane to the left of the mill. I’ve detailed that walk back in June, further back in the thread. The farm track was incredibly dusty and it was nice to cool down by walking through the mist of the irrigator on the potato field. 
Back at the boat, a few more dummy retrieves in the water  for Finlay to wash the dust off him, tea and bed, still seemingly as hot as it’s been during the day. 
 

 

 

[SwanR]

Sounds like a busy but successful day. Forecast is for a much cooler day tomorrow. 

[kpnut]

Tuesday started off beautifully sunny, but thankfully not as hot as recently. A leisurely start with a few housework jobs and then a cruise down to Wroxham. I’m sure the weed has grown in the couple of days we’ve been upstream of the bridge. I had to clear my prop just before reaching the Rising Sun as I noticed I had little acceleration, not that I needed any at that point!

I read somewhere that the weed cutter came about a week ago, but I might be wrong. Maybe it needed to cut a bit deeper as it’s more or less at the surface again now in places. 

On reaching Wroxham, I checked the weed filter but that had very little in, compared with the journey upstream, so maybe the floating stuff from the recent cutting activity has mainly dispersed by now. 
 

I moored up at the electric posts in order to give the batteries a good charge after all this gentle pootling about. It’s not among my favourite mooring spots I’m afraid and is surprisingly midgy, but the sunset over towards the boatyard on the Wroxham side was nice. The view of the motor homes parked by the water’s edge opposite the moorings reminded me of France where you often see campervans etc on the pollarded poplar-lined river bank. The only difference being that they often have lovely allocated pitches, demarcated by low hedges which look very tidy. 

While the battery charger was doing its stuff we decided on an afternoon out on the Bure Valley Railway, up to Aylsham. That was a fun journey and Aylsham seems an interesting town with large church and market place and a couple of nice old streets to explore. There was a noticeable number of independent shops there, pleasing to see. 

While clearing leaves from the sliding sunroof gutters I heard a ‘hello Kate’ and looked up see Jean (SwanR) who was taking x stroll along the moorings. Lovely to have a chat Jean and good that you saw your favourite boat moored up next to me!
 

The battery charger has done its thing by this morning and I can hear the fridge turning on and off again as it should. I shouldn’t have bought so much food and tried to run the cool box at the same time, just too much for the poor batteries when not going far! Lesson learned!!

Plan for today is to renegotiate the bridge and moor up at Fleet Dyke for a walk round Fairhaven Water Garden. Going right along there, missing out on a few other places specifically to give the engine a good run. 
 

[SwanR]

It was lovely to see you Kate. Good news that the fridge seems to be ok this morning. Very interesting to read your thoughts on Aylsham. Sounds worth a visit.

Enjoy that cruise to Fleet Dyke. Looks like being a lovely day to be out. 

[Roy]

Hi Kate thanks for writing your interesting holiday tales. 

You have been on one of my favourite days out on the Bure Valley Railway which loco pulled you ? We normally go from Aylsham to wroxham and explore wroxham and return makes a change not to drive. 

 

 

[YnysMon]

1 hour ago, kpnut said:

Plan for today is to renegotiate the bridge and moor up at Fleet Dyke for a walk round Fairhaven Water Garden.

Have a lovely day. It should be nice and shady in the gardens. Last time we were there we were very impressed with the cakes in their cafe.

[kpnut]

13 hours ago, Roy said:

You have been on one of my favourite days out on the Bure Valley Railway which loco pulled you ?

I’m so sorry Ray, I didn’t know they had names! But it was fun and I did think yesterday how nice it would be to go the other way round and spend a day by the river if you were on holiday in north Norfolk. 
I’d encourage you to have a trip to Aylsham Jean, would be a nice jolly out. 
 

Ok, firstly I got my days muddled up and called yesterday Tuesday when in fact it was of course Wednesday! It’s the boat that does that to you. As long as I get it right on Monday when I need to get mum back to the train. 
As Helen pointed out, lovely and shady in Fairhaven gardens. A bit fraught having to look out for tree roots waiting to trip mum up, and we didn’t try the cakes seeing as we’d had quite a large lunch before going there, but an enjoyable afternoon out none the less. 
 

The morning had begun with a food shop in Roy’s. Decidedly more aware of buying less to save having to use the cool box. The electric had done the trick and batteries are now well topped up and fridge very happy. It was good having a glass of chilled wine this evening instead of tepid from the bottle being stuck in a bucket of river water!

We are moored at Fleet Dyke, I’d say 3/4 full all the way along from the Broad end to the Bure junction. One wild mooring available. Rather disappointed that one of my favourite footpaths, round the marsh, is still extremely overgrown. It hasn’t been like this in previous years by this time of year, so not sure why this year is different. 
 

The main highlight of the day was the passage back through Wroxham bridge. The pilot talked me through very comprehensively, a thoroughly nice chap. And once through, promptly told me to do an about turn and go back and do another return journey and he’d stay onboard with me. As a freebie he said and it was certainly above the call of duty. He did desert me on the other side mind you, I’d like to think he felt I was competent enough! Anyway, pleased to say I feel I could do it again now and I’m pleased he advised going through a second time. 
 

I hadn’t realised you could fill with water and get a pump out at Bridge Broad boatyard. Such an easy stop off point. £1 for 6 minutes water, which we made use of, and a pump out is £15, times and days posted on the notice board. I didn’t use this service.