by chris
Share
When we first aquired our Freeman 22 MKII and commenced cruising the Norfolk Broads, it quickly became clear that the Broads weren’t actually that big. It is perfectly feasible to ‘do’ every part of the Broads in three weeks. I now find that almost all pictures I’m now taking I have taken before and am effectively repeating myself. This did bother me for a short moment but this blog is really about moments and memories, a documentation of what happened last year even if it was largely no different from the year before. Perhaps however, over time it will show what has been lost or gained but it will always be better than sitting buried on a hard drive or lost in the noise of a mobile phone.
Autumn had well and truly arrived however our last chance to take a decent cruise before the onset of winter came with my daughter’s half term break. The idea was to make a run for the southern broads but with daylight hours diminishing and tides dictating we would have had to make landfall in the dark having crossed Breydon Water, we decided to stick to our home territory in the north. There was also a small matter of putting the flywheel and gearbox back together which has it’s own story here.
In the end, our week long cruise was truncated to five days. Still, better than no cruise at all !
Monday
With a silky smooth engine, we departed for the River Ant, aiming to get some of the way to Stalham to get some shopping in on the Tuesday. We managed to get to How Hill around dusk with a mooring opposite the windmill and quickly settled down for the evening, cat and all. There was some mobile reception, so managed to watch some canal boating adventure on Amazon Prime, one of the many such shows but wonderfully relaxing and non-taxing to watch.
Tuesday
Having never explored How Hill, we decided to have a little wander around. Toad Hall Cottage Museum was still open and was a small delight of Norfolk by-gone curiosities of Norfolk life. The book of Norfolk translation was fun. I love that a Ladybird is a ‘Bishy barnabee’. The tea rooms were shut for the season, so we decided to have a little walk around the area regardless, cat in backpack and enjoying sensory overload for a house cat. One particular treat was the How Hill Secret Garden, accessed by a short woodland walk. There was definitely some magic about this place and incredibly beautiful displaying autum colours from still vivid green to reds and golds. Well worth the walk and also a donation.
We hoped to make a circular walk back to where the boat was moored however a little Google-Earthing revealled we’d have gotten wet feet in the attempt, so retraced our steps taking in Boardman’s Mill and watching a weed cutter perform it’s duties clearing the channels opposite.
As it turned out, we had sufficient supplies to consider a different stop to Stalham given that free mooring space is scant and I don’t know whether it’s acceptable to moor at Richardsons Boatyard without making a reservation. To this end I decided to revisit the location from which we bought White Lady several years ago now.
Sutton Staithe is picturesque, has a pub, boatyard, services, free moorings and a live-aboard problem. It’s something people are loathe to talk about for fear of reprisals however I have had plenty of pleasant chats with people living aboard and have a ‘You do me no harm, I do you no harm’ approach to the subject. It does however put many visitors off visiting and undoubtedly hits trade for the local pub. Measures have been taken such as disconnecting power points to make the location less appealing to boat dwellers. Would I leave my boat there unattended? No, probably not, which is a shame.
Wedenesday
We wanted to have at least one ‘treat’ meal while we were on out limited cruise and the most consistent eating experience in recent years has been the Carvery at the Ludham Kings Arms (Which at the time of writing is on Wednesdays and Sundays). It’s pretty good value for money and reached by mooring at Womack Staithe. The trip is about three hours and the weather was dull, but not raining and was enjoyed with the canopy down. On arrival at Womak Staithe, it was clear everyone had the same idea as us and there was no space. I’m not sure if we’d have been charged had there have been but we retreated to the Womack Dyke free moorings making it a fifteen minute walk to the pub. Our plan was to return and then spend the night on the recently refurbished Womack Island free mooring but by the time we got back having deposited some boat rubbish back at Womack Staithe, there was also no space. As it was getting dark we returned to the Womack Dyke mooring and called it a night after a spot of unsuccessful dusk fishing.
Thursday
This was our big voyage day with the aim of making Coltishall for the evening. I then had a hankering for deliciously fattening cream-filled pastries from Lathams in Potter Heigham, a quirky supermarket full of things you never thought you needed but great for gifts and random things. What diverted my attention was an annexed cafe offering full english breakfasts. As it was depressingly dank and foggy heading up from Womack, I made a policy decision to give it a go and a very nice breakfast it was too and a fair bit better than other eateries shouting about their breakfasts served in scenic barns. Much to my partners disgust, I still grabbed a box of cream cakes ‘for the boat’ on the way through.
I wasn’t confident we’d have enough petrol left in the tank to complete our cruise so took the opportunity, jerry can in hand, to a fifteen minute walk up to the Murco petrol station to fill up. It turns out they didn’t supply the E5 fuel I generally insist on using for the boat but as I had some fuel stabilizer and ethanol fuel conditioner to hand I proceeded to fill up.
The fog started to clear around midday and we found ourselves cruising out of the River Thurne and up the River Bure in cloudless blue skies. A quick stop was made at our home berth in Ranworth to top up on water and onwards towards Wroxham. We passed our mechanic’s boat at the Horning Sailing Club, decked out in carved pumpkins for Halloween and proceeded through to Wroxham (or technically Hoveton). The water level guage on the approch indicated 2m, arguably just enough to get under the bridge with our screen up, but enough to make me sufficiently nervous to take the screen down.
We pulled up at the basin free visitor moorings and the girls went off to Roys to gather supplies for the next couple of nights dinner. I stayed aboard to fix the shockingly poor Chineese windscreen wipers which needed to have the assembly screws threadlocked in place. Removing the wiper arms resulted in me cutting my finger to the bone on some very poorly finished trims and bleeding everywhere. I wish there was a better alternative to this shoddy crap !
We departed Hoveton with the ambition to find a mooring at my favourite spot, Belaugh. Unfortunately a Freeman 23 from the local boatyard had been moored there and three or four fishing folk had set up camp for a night’s fishing. I didn’t have the heart to turf them off although I’d have been entitled to. Instead we burbled on to Coltishall, passing through at dusk and enjoying the most wonderful atmosphere with a still cloudless sky providing a perfect gradient of blue through to orange on the tree-lined horizon.
There wasn’t a soul moored at Coltishall, just a couple of workboats although it was far from peaceful as the BA decided tha a bit of tree surgery and wood chipping was a good thing to do at 21:00 along with ten or so flashing orange lights. In fact it’s quite a busy road alongside the village green which is marked off on the road’s edge by short posts. The effect of cars going past at night is reminiscent of the lighting in the fabled Dorian Gray Nightclub, one under Frankfurt Airport. Essentially, their only lighting were strobe lights.
Things did finally settle down and we turned in.
Friday
I forgot to mention that there were an awful lot of obstructions both on the riverbank and free floating on the way up to Coltishall, so this of course applied heading back downstream. Most fallen trees were marked with yellow posts however but we did wallop a partially submerged log which got my attention. Fishing has definitely replaced boating at this time in the season with countless pike floats to be found around every bend. We encountered one old hand rowing down the Bure with his dog and two pike rods trolling like a miniature Dutch beam trawler. Apparently trolling is permitted if under oar, not so if under power.
A stop at Hoveton was required to undertake some laundry, just over and the other side of the old bridge. I stayed at the boat to have a tidy and it also saved me from having to put up the canopy and secure the boat. As I had an hour to spare, I quickly extended my travel fishing rod, baited up with sweetcorn and promptly caught two lovely rudd. I got chatting with a local farm hand and labourer who spent the next half hour debating whether he was going to get his pike rod out on Saturday or Sunday. An hugely cheerful fellow dressed in shorts and a T-shirt (I had two fleeces on and thermal socks), set up an incredible rig ahead of a 48 hour piking session at the Hoveton moorings. He was equipped with a full fishing tent, camp bed, wireless bite detectors, the works. He had such enthusiasm and probably a great hoot to have around.
The girls returned and it was time to make a run for home at Ranworth. The sky was heavy and grey but no rain with good progress being made. On arrival it was time for a boat wash-down and ceramic waxing with some hopefully good wax-it-wet type product as I’m not sure when I’ll get to the boat and what the weather will be like when winter sets in. I’ve come to realise it’s far easier to keep the boat in a good state through the winter that to procrastinate and have a furious battle with green algae on the outside and black mildew inside in the spring.
That was our Autumn cruise and hopefully we’ll get a few weekends in through the winter too.
