Spring bank holiday

Phew it has been hot! We took our boat down to its new mooring on the Great River Ouse. Bit of a performance to launch it on the narrow concrete slip way but luckily the lock  keeper wandered over to check our river licence and gave us a hand. This is a new location for us and we are looking forward to exploring the river system.

A family of swans floated by and we saw several interesting birds including a great crested grebe with young. 

We went down the river a bit and turned into the River Wissey. Just as we were remarking what a nice narrow river with overgrown banks full of wild flowers and deciding to do a three point turn back to our new mooring when a great big full width motor boat loomed up. Quick turn into the reeds and we beetled off out the way.  It was a busy bank holiday on the river!

We were going to eat lunch at the pub but it did not open till 12 noon and past experience was that it takes ages to get served (plus nothing on offer less than £12 a plate) so we had a quick cool drink and some crisps and came home for a late lunch.  This was the first packet of crisps I have had in a year - what happened to the fat and/or taste?  I had heard the producers have reduced fat, salt, etc in these foods but not realized the results were so revolting!

At home I found some cheap prawns in the freezer my daughter in law had left after a recent visit and used these to flavour a risotto with our spinach and topped with some asparagus from the garden.

Plenty of lettuce in the poly tunnel and my husband has started to harvest some cucumbers from the greenhouse.  So we are deep into salads at present - no tomatoes ready yet.  The plants are about 18 /24 inches high and have flowers; so it won't be long!

Messing about waiting

Funny week we have been tackling a lot of small jobs as we can't get stuck into anything mentally. Our big purchase of a log cabin (which will be our craft space) will be here later this week. It is sort of exciting and stressful at the same time.  They are bringing a big crane and a build team.  We have made sure the drive is clear of rubbish, the base is ready and arranged for our car to be parked next door out of the way.  We even cut a bit of the tree at the top of the drive so it would get by without branches getting in the way.

Running out of jobs now and it is hot and windless. So my husband is checking the sails and rigging on his Drascombe lugger in the garden.  I have completed a dress for my grand daughter's 2nd birthday.

The pattern said 2 to 4 years - but she is a sturdy little thing and very tall. I have already made the neck larger by changing the round neck to a square and making the back opening twice the recommended size.  

Boat recovery

Marking the end of the year now with one of those things you have to do before winter sets in. As it has been mild we had not panicked too much about leaving our dingy in the boatyard on the Broads so choose the one bright day late last week to go and fetch it home. Work to be done on it and we are not sure we had chosen the right location so may take it elsewhere next year.

Great sunny dry weather and no problems at first. Then I looked across the marina to see "NO EXIT. BARRIER RAISED" on the river exit, I rushed over to the river side and the bridge where a nice fisherman said the Environment Agency had taken the boom down the day before. Phew. Set off calmly across to the opposite slip way where the nice man took £5 for use of the yard (much cheaper than our boatyard who want £150!) and gave us loads of advice as we had not recovered a boat since 1977.

As you can see all went well. Mostly due to the water level being so high we did not have to go down the slip way slope very far.

We left the swans in peace just as the rain clouds spat very cold wet at us.

Set off to try to get home by dark but the lights on the trailer failed and later we took a wrong turn which wasted 30 mins. Luckily we have a big drive area and we just left it all and went in for hot tea in front of the fire. All sorted next day and everything stored for the winter. Another end of year job done.

A nice day out

My husband has been selling some unwanted extras that came with our car - a dog guard and a rear step which had to come off when we had a tow bar fitted. On the profits we had a nice day out on The Broads.  We visited our boat at Potters Heighnam to bail out the rain but we have to sort the engine out before we can take her out. So we went on to Hinkling Broad to have lunch at the pub and explore the straithe. There was quite a wind by then so we were glad not to be sailing out on the Broad itself and contented our selves with a walk round the boat yards and the village mooring area.

The yards and moorings have several old boat houses some of which were thatched plus a bewildering set of cuts and dykes for moored boats. Chatted to someone repairing his dingy and to one of the boatyard owners but for a summer holiday period it was not crowded at all and seemed quite laid back.

Amused ourselves over lunch watching the "harbourmaster" (pub land lord) organizing the tourists in hired motor boats coming along side the quay owned by the pub.  His job was to make sure they were coming for lunch and not to go on the sailing club berths. He used a mixture of shouted advice mixed with a certain level of sarcasm - usually justified by the inept handing of the hire boats! We promised ourselves lunch there again when we are out sailing, but not in windy conditions in case we made a mess of things and incurred the wrath of the man in the high vis jacket!
By the afternoon the sky cleared, the wind dropped and the sun made the drive home rather hot. We are trying various B road routes home and got a bit lost - but we did get to see Bernard Matthews very large turkey processing factory down some side road in a little village somewhere in Norfolk!

Three river race on the Norfolk Broads

Went out for some free fun today.  We heard about an annual race of traditional sail boats on the Broads and decided to go and watch the fun of the boats shooting under the low stone bridges. I first heard of this many years ago when I first read Arthur Ransom's Coot Club! Apart from paying for car parking it was free to sit on the river bank and enjoy the fun.

We are buying a boat soon, a Drascombe lugger, that has a similar but much smaller rig. But we will not be trying to "shoot" at high speed under the bridges - these people drop the sails and mast about 50 feet from the stone bridges as the prizes go to the fastest round!! 

We wandered across Norfolk there and back via the B roads so we could get to know more of the small towns and villages plus visit the coast on the way home for a lung full of sea air and a paddle!

Beautiful evening and was still 16C at 6.30pm

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