A Sunny September Week on Magic Gem 2

[deebee29]

We set off at 7am. for Stalham on a fine September morning

 

After around  5 hours and a good uneventful journey we arrived at Richardson’s Marina at just after 12 pm. Although our pick up time wasn’t until 4 we wanted to check on the size of the fridge before going to Tesco.

 

We always travel early and always prefer to kill time in Norfolk instead of at home.

 

Anyway we were told that our boat was ready and we could get take our gear on board and get our familiarisation and trial run out of the way before the rush started then do our shopping and set off at our leisure.

 

We were shown the boat in great detail but didn’t need to have a trial run as the instructor was happy with our boating knowledge and the amount of boats we have hired over the years.

 

After collecting our shopping we set off on a very pleasant run down to Ludham Bridge where we had planned to spend the first night. We got a space before all the free moorings were taken, unpacked, made a meal (we tend to eat on board as mum who is 83 finds the meals in the pubs are usually too big for her ) then my brother & myself had a walk up to the Dog for a couple of pints,

 

as a bonus found it was warm enough to sit outside.

 

A great start to the week.......... To be continued

 

David

[Hockham Admiral]

That's a nice start, David, please keep them coming!

 

Any pics to share?

[JawsOrca]

Looking forward to these David! Sounds like you already had a good start with the boat being ready early..! Hoping you have lots of pictures to share.

[BroadScot]

I agree with young Alan and John. As Oliver would say....MORE please ta David.

 

 Iain

[deebee29]

Day 2 – Sunday

 

We woke to a fine morning and the plan for today was to have a cooked breakfast, always a treat on holiday, then a cruise up to Potter Higham for the customary visit to Lathams to find all the things we didn’t realise we needed    before heading down to Stracey Arms where we would be mooring overnight so we could set off at seven the following morning to catch slack water at Great Yarmouth, our intention being to head up to Gelderston Locks.

 

We had a very pleasant trip with warm sunshine and a light breeze – it seemed to suit the sailies we passed

.

That evening the sky turned an amazing colour and we saw the starlings that Loribear mentioned

(I know there is a name for this but am not sure what it is _ I’m sure someone will tell us.

I did get some video if I can figure how to post it

 

Another Great Day………..More tomorrow

 

David

[loribear]

 hi david they call it a murmuration of starlings,  when i want to put a video on here i put it on utube first then copy & then  paste it on here, hope this helps ,  have a nice hols. lori 

[deebee29]

Thats the name

Thanks Lori

Have to look into youtube, never put anything on there before

David

[loribear]

hi david i ususally put it on using my phablet, i click on the sign at the top of my pis section for sharing using wifi, then just put a title on & a description of your video, then you upload it & wait for it to go on utube, then click on your video & send to your own email address & then copy & paste on here, it's abit long winded but it's my way lol. lori  

[deebee29]

Thanks Lori

Have to look into youtube, never put anything on there before

David

H

Thanks Lori

Have to look into youtube, never put anything on there before

David

Thanks again

Sorry I meant to say I'll look into youtube............the way it came out looks like I asked you to look into it........ Typing on an iPad isn't always the most accurate....or is that me!!!

I will get the clip off the camera ans see what format it needs to be in

Watch this space

David

[deebee29]

Day 3 – Monday

Got up at 6 (in darkness) to be ready to set off for Yarmouth at 7, no time for a cooked breakfast today, looked out of the window and saw nothing----- stepped out into the front well and still saw nothing!!!  You couldn’t see a hand in front of your face------- THE FOG

 

Well we didn’t think they’d let anything cross Breydon Water in that so we decided to have breakfast after all and see what happened.

 

Nothing seemed to lift at all so we decided to abandon that plan (it was the only real plan we had made for the whole week as we usually take each day as it comes) - It seemed pointless trailing all the way to Yarmouth just to come back or to get there too late to cross.

 

We decided to head for Wroxham with the view to going through the bridge mooring up for the night and then heading up to Coltishall the next day.

 

While we were waiting for the mist to lift we did see a good number of boats heading towards Yarmouth, one in particular was going “Full Steam Ahead” with the lookout standing on the roof   (wish I’d had the camera to hand).

 

We took a gentle run up to Wroxham, stopping off at Cockshoot Broad for lunch, the day had brightened up by this time and was still quite warm.

Moored at Wroxham bridge (being careful not to mess up in sight of the webcam)  to wait for the Pilot who took us through to the other side where we moored for the night.

Had a look into Roy’s to stock up on a few things, then back to the boat to make a meal then out for a couple of pints in the evening.

 

There was a bit of rain later in the day but we managed to dodge the drops.

 

Another enjoyable day

 

David

PS. Not a great day for photos

[NeilB]

My mum also finds pub meals too large so she often has a starter as a main course. 

[deebee29]

Day 4 – Tuesday

 

Another warm, Sunny morning

Destination Coltishall for lunch, and what a picturesque stretch of river this is – we saw our first Kingfisher of the week (there would be many more) and the water is so clear you could see the fish.

 

The leaves were starting to turn on the trees and combined with the blue skies and the sunshine the scenery was stunning.

My brother & me had a walk up into the village while mum stayed on the boat and relaxed……..Mum is 83 and has been coming boating since the early 80’s and we all have so many happy memories of holidays when dad was alive.

She gets on the boat at the boatyard and rarely gets off again until we return to the boatyard the following week and loves every minute.

 

After lunch we set off back down to Wroxham and then back down to Cockshoot Broad for the night.

I always enjoy mooring here

 

there was some nice colour in the sky again tonight and a chance to take a few photos

 

 

more tomorrow

 

David

[Matt]

I'm quite a Cockshoot fan as well!

Lovely photos.

[deebee29]

ok I have tried uploading the videos of the starlings to youtube so here goes

 

apologies for the shakey out of focus picture but they were taken with an slr which isn't that easy to focus on a moving subject in low light.......... hope this workd

 

David

 

 

[deebee29]

Day 5 – Wednesday

 

We awoke to a cloudy but bright morning with signs of the sun breaking through the cloud – has all the makings of another fine day.

 

After a leisurely breakfast we set off towards South Walsham Broad for water before heading to How Hill for a coffee break.

 

The sun did indeed break through and it turned into another glorious day, we got to the boat yard just as another boat was arriving for a pump out so we moored on the end and topped up with water,

we decided while we were there we should get a pump out as well, had a pleasant chat with the couple from the boat before us and also one that followed us in (the second couple only live a few miles from us…..small world)

 

From There we headed to How Hill on what was now a beautiful day, it could have been July or August not 1^st October….. we had been very lucky with the weather so far.

 

After our break we travelled up to Neatishead where we managed to get a spacewithout any problems

we met a lady on her own boat and her very friendly black Labrador who thought we had just come to play  (the dog not the owner )  

then we helped a couple of boats to moor and passed some more time chatting……. I love that about being on the broads….. people talk to each other…… mostly.

 

After lunch my brother & I had a walk down to the boardwalk overlooking Barton Broad while mum relaxed with her puzzle book.

 

Later that evening we had a walk up to the White Horse which wasn’t open in April when we were last there. I was very impressed, very friendly atmosphere, good beer and very reasonably priced.

 

The pub was quite busy for a Wednesday evening. we sat out in the courtyard which was very pleasant & not cold at all.

 

Another really nice day

 

More tomorrow

David

[Hockham Admiral]

However do those Starlings formate like that without crashing....................?

 

Looking forward to the next installment, David!  

[JawsOrca]

Keep them coming David these are brilliant! You have taken some lovely pictures too! You should submit them for our NBN calendar

[BroadScot]

However do those Starlings formate like that without crashing....................?

 

Looking forward to the next installment, David!  

Hi John,

 

I have just caught up with this thread, and totally agree with your remarks.....just HOW do they do it?

 

Iain.

[Gracie]

Hi David

The pictures are stunning, love the one at Cockshoot.....one of our favourite mooring spots. Alan (Jaws) is so right, you should submit them for the NBN Calneder, no one else would need to apply Lol, thanks for posting them

Grace

[deebee29]

Thank you Grace, thats very kind of you to say that.

I'm looking for pictures to submit now.

Thanks to everyone else for your comments and likes as well, the next instalment will be uploaded later

David

[deebee29]

Day 6 – Thursday

 

Left Neatishead after breakfast towards St Bennets’ Abbey for lunch, calling in at Ludham Bridge for our coffee, we just got through the bridge and saw a cruiser heading towards us on the wrong side of the river, it seemed that he hadn’t realised that he had to lower his windscreen to get through the bridge but didn’t realise he still had to look where he was going

 

After a gentle “toot” on the horn he seemed to notice us and a collision was avoided……I had backed off well is advance but he kept coming.

 

St Bennets’ Abbey was very nice in the sunshine as we had a sandwich then a stroll along to the ruins.

 

From there we set off for Womack Dyke and moored at the very end space, we could have got in at the staithe but we like the peacefulness of the dyke.

 

We had a pleasant stroll along the river to Potter Higham while mum again got stuck into her puzzles. – The sky turned a bit dark when we were at Potter so we made a quick retreat back to the boat…….. rain didn’t come to much but it looked like there was some in the distance.

 

That evening we were treated to yet another wonderful sunset.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather

 

We went to bed with a little sadness that night knowing we only had one more day left      

 

More tomorrow

 

David

[Maxwellian]

Just had time to catch up. Great tale and some lovely photos.

[deebee29]

Day 7 – Friday

 

This morning we arose to a classic Broadland mist (Not like the fog from earlier in the week) but it wasn’t long before the sun started to break through.

 

There’s always a sadness on the last morning knowing that your holiday is almost over,

 

Today we were heading up to Dilham, never having taken a boat past Waford Bridge before in all the years we’ve been coming so didn’t really know what to expect other than it would be narrow.

 

After How Hill we saw so many Kingfishers we lost count (although one actually seemed to be flying down river with us) we also saw a couple of snakes swimming across the river.

 

Once though Wayford Bridge the river does indeed get very narrow but it’s well worth the trip and there’s a good turning basin at Dilham. We didn’t stop just turned then came back down.

 

Once through Wayford Bridge there was one of the new dual steer boats about to attempt to get through but it had way to much air draught even if the screens had been lowered (which they weren’t) and a family were frantically waving and shouting from the bankside that there was no way the boat would get through. Hopefully they realised before it was too late.

 

We decided that we would moor in Richardson’s Marina for the last night as we wanted to get an early start the next morning and got in at around 4. 20pm just in time to get the boat topped up and the paperwork sorted out before they closed up for the night. We were very surprised to get £66.00 back from our fuel deposit which I thought was great considering the distance we had covered over the week.

 

We left the yard at 7.50am on the Saturday morning and were home at around 1.00pm feeling happy and relaxed that we’d had such a good holiday but sad that that was it for this year.

 

And that concludes another fantastic holiday on the Broads.

 

I hope I haven’t bored you with these ramblings but it’s been a pleasure to re-live the week by committing it to writing and sharing it with you.

 

Thanks for your kind comments and likes throughout the telling of it

 

So until April………….

 

David

 

PS. I must comment on what a great company Richardson’s are to deal with, I know it’s been said many times before elsewhere but this is the first time we’ve used them.

 

The staff couldn’t have been more friendly & welcoming with nothing being a problem, they made mum feel really welcome and she has commented several times.

 

A credit to you Mr R if you happen to read this.

 

PPS. Sunday Morning (5th October) after looking through the brochure we picked up in Reception we booked Broadland Mercury for the same week next year…… we had already booked Silver Elegance for April Earlier in the year otherwise we would have booked 2 separate weeks.

[BroadScot]

Hi David,

 

Many thanks for taking the time to write such an excellent account of your holiday for us all to enjoy reading.    

 

 

Iain.

[deebee29]

My pleasure Iain

David