Our 4 day break for my 50th! - UPDATED with more pics.

[Guest MJG]

Ok here's a quick round up of 4 week short break with Just Me, Jan and Dennis the JRT. We booked this to celebrate ny 50th on the 23rd,

Sunday

An easy drive down from the North East no problems what so ever. One wrong turn caused because I'd switched Sally Sat Nav off because I knew the way from Norwich to Horning - I didn't switched Sally back on and we were fine.

An overnight stop in the Moor Hen B&B in Horning. Very nice hosts and a nice place to stay. We'd booked a 'dog friendly' room which opened direct onto the garden/patio which was just perfect. Internal soundproofing could have been better but that was the only issue - everything else was perfect, including a very nice breakfast the next morning.

We spent a very nice couple of hours on the grass/patio in front of the Swan watching the world (and the boats) go by.

Monday

A not too early start as breakfast was served up to 10 which suited us fine. A few hours to kill before we picked up the boat at 2.30pm so we had lunch in the The Dog at Ludham - plain and simple grub but pretty good value none the less. A quick spin over to Ranworth staithe for a coffee and a nose about the Malsters to see if there was any developments on the planned opening - no body about but we have since sussed they are going to open very soon. Then on to Tesco at Blue Boar Lane to load up the supplies ie Gin/Vodka/wine (oh and a small number of food items) and then onto Norfolk Marine at Wroxham to purchase a life jacket for Dennis.

Arrive at Summercraft bang on 2.30pm and the boat is ready for us to load all our stuff on. Glitter Girl looked particularly well turned out, in fact the external paints looked as if they had just been done, there wasn't a mark on the hull. Internally the boat was spotless and a real credit to whoever cleans their boats. The handover was undertaken with the usual efficiency and I was allowed to take GG out without a trial run because of my previous experience - seasoned broads goer that I now am

On request Sue calls up the Wroxham Bridge pilot to let him know we are on our way as we want to spend the first night at Colishall. Pick up and drop off the pilot without him ending up in the drink and the bridge passage is very easy (well it was for the pilot!), We'd never been up here before and were very pleased with what we saw - a very nice stretch. We moor up not too near to the Rising Sun have a couple of snifters outside the pub and walk back to find swampy, and his partner along with around 6 dogs had moored next to us. As it turned out it proves one shouldn't pre judge because they were a canny couple and the dogs were extremely well behaved and very quiet.

Out comes my new shiny smokey Joe Weber BBQ and we cook tea and Jan and I sat chatting till bedtime.

Tuesday

We were determined this break to see places we hadn't been to before so it was now a tossup between Dilham through Wayford Bridge or to head through PH onto Horsey mere. Dilham won so off we set, lunch was taken at the Swan at Horning (chose to moor at the near empty staithe rather than provide the crowd at the Swan with free lunch-time entertainment).

A pretty decent lunch later we set off enjoying the sunshine and cruise to Dilham. This was for me one of the highlights of the week, the stretch just before you reach Dilham itself is beautiful - you feel as if you are the first person to travel along a previously unexplored tributary of the Amazon. Not quite sure what you do if a boats coming the other way mind. I was also chuffed that we had a boat low enough to get passed Wayford Bridge we had a 7ft air draft and the gauge was showing 7.6 - an easy passage.

We pressed on to the Staithe at Dilham and spent a very quiet (only one other boat) night there.

Wednesday

One of our favourite spots is Womack so this is were we decide to go to next. Concious mooring space at the staithe there is often tight we st off to be there by early afternoon - we needn't have worried there was loads of room and it was easy to make the stern on mooring because of all the space. A walk into Ludham to get some steaks at the excellent butchers in the village and the mandatory luchtime snifter in the Kings Arms and a walk back to the boat. Dennis is getting more confident now so he has some free time off the lead on the staithe and thoroughly enjoys himself. Spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing in the warm afternoon and evening sunshine.

Thursday

Yippee I'm 50 today!! - decide we'll suss out the score at PH and as it turns out when we get there the pilot confirms we can get under no problem - but after a bit of umming and arring we decide to pass as we'd have to go out and back in the same day as the boats due back at 9 in the morning. So instead we decide on the Bridge Inn at Acle for lunch - a good choice as ever. We'll leave above PH for another time. Travelling to the Bridge I get flagged to slow down by a BA ranger (See the thread 'speeding' for more info.) but just ignore him as I'm confident I wasn't. Mooring at Acle was a bit challenging due to the now quite gusty wind but with the assistance of a guy already ashore from a Silverline boat we moor up no problem with the minimum of fuss.

We'd already decided we weren't going to spend our last night in the yard which done before on longer breaks - it seems a waste of a night, and as it was my birthday we had a nice on board meal planned we wanted to find somewhere a bit special - which we did in the form of a very Cockshoot Dyke just downstream of Horning. Initially we moored on the upstream side but after I'd taken Dennis for a walk a I realised the downstream side was a top coat warmer as it was out the wind. So a quick change of sides and we were settled for a very quiet night after a very nice meal - the steaks we bought yesterday in Ludham.

Friday

Everybody glum this morning last day - up and away by 7.30 to make the solemn last journey to Summercraft's yard. It's however a beautiful and once we reach the tree'd sections of the Bure we get the canopy right back as they are protecting us from the wind. Pootle into SC's yard at 8.50. Jan packs up all our kit as we had travelled from Horning so 20 minutes later with car keys and my fuel deposit refund cheque in my hand we were away.

All in all a great 4 days - the weather was superb and the boat was great too. Very easy to handle - Jan's knees were playing up so most of the mooring and casting off was done on my own but it was easy with Glitter Girl as she is so easy to handle and manoeuvre. She had developed a very slight list by the end of the 4 days but as I confirmed with the yard this is caused by the loo filling and the diesel tank on the other side emptying - in fact I'd noticed a number of other boats of the same design doing the same, so nothing to worry about there.

Summercraft as ever provide really good service, that always helps to make the holiday better.

[Loops]

Nice tale, glad you enjoyed yourselves and that you had a great birthday

seems like you had a lovely week to be up there

[Dan]

Great tale, glad you had a good trip and birthday!

The boat looks very smart too... though never seen a Summercraft looking anything other than first class!

Cant wait 'til it's my turn for holiday!!

All the best

Dan

[Guest]

Hi MJG

great reed glad you enjoyed your break & your birthday

Jonny

[mbird]

Nice to hear you had a pleasant trip MJG. I have seen so many Summercraft boats out so far this year, and every one of them looks immaculate. In fact I think when you were at Womack, there were 2 or 3 other Summercraft boats there with you too weren't there?