Monsoon Season

We had monsoon style rains again this morning for our run from Coltishall to Wroxham accompanied by thunder and lightning for good measure. This time thankfully we had the hoods up.

So we have had a morning in Wroxham while we waited for the hoods to dry out and the sun to come out before putting the hoods away for hopefully the last time this holiday. With the cupboards stocked it is time to move on.

Now we are waiting for our chance to lower the arch and head back through the bridge and down river again.

Another Bridge

Another Bridge to contend with today. This time Wroxham on our way up to Coltishall. Unfortunately the heavens opened when we had the canopies off and we got soaked.  But it has dried out now.

We have just returned from a lovely run up  to the lock in a lovely old Freeman 22 narrowbeam. 

Hopefully we are having a bbq later as we stocked up at the butchers in Wroxham earlier.

Gate Crasher

Naughty-Cal managed to gate crash a Freeman meet on Salhouse Broad last night. We had a very enjoyable evening with a group of very welcoming and friendly people.

A Change

There has been a definite change in the weather. We had heavy rain over night and today the wind is up with the skies threatening further heavy showers.

The wind is really blowing us around today making life difficult.

Under the Bridge

We decided to head North yesterday after a pint at Reedham and sticking in a splash of diesel at Goodchilds.

More Sunshine

It is another beautiful day on the Broads. This morning we have called in at Brundall on our way down river and are now moored at Reedham for the afternoon.

We will move on later when it cools down.

Oops

Someone's holiday didn't go quite to plan!

We passed this sorry sight this morning at the end of the river Chet. It wasn't there yesterday early afternoon so must have gone down later yesterday afternoon or early evening.

The Staithe

We had another cracking day yesterday settling for the evening at Loddon.

We are now heading towards Norwich.

Beat the Heat

We have made an early start today in a bid to keep cooler. By 6am Sydney had been walked and we were on our way down river towards Reedham Ferry.

We are now moored up having breakfast then it will be showers and a quick tidy up of the boat before time to retire to the pub  and shade from the worst of the heat.

Onwards

Today we have moved on and made it to Beccles. We have been lucky and grabbed the last space on the free BA 24 hour moorings.

Oulton Broad

We have had a day of shore break today with just the short hop to Oulton Broad this morning.

We had a lovely walk into Lowestoft. The town was packed with people enjoying the weather. Then we hopped on the water taxi back to the Broad for a few beers.

Curry tonight.

Up River

We had a few brilliant runs across Breydon Water yesterday when it had quietened down before heading to St Olaves for the evening.

Another early start this morning as we head to Oulton Broad.

On the Beach

We have had a lovely morning on the beach at Yarmouth with Sydney.

Heading South

We had a lovely meal at Pedro's at Acle last night. A great start to the holiday.

Sydney's holiday didn't start quite so well as he fell off the front of the boat within an hour of being launched. Still he learnt that he has to swim to the back of the boat to be plucked out again. He was a bit sulky about being tied up after that!

Today we are heading South. First with a stop in Yarmouth for a visit to the beach and a bit of shopping then on to Burgh Castle for a BBQ.

The Holiday Begins

We are back in the water on the Norfolk Broads.

First stop Stalham for some supplies.

On the Road

We are on the road.

We took the chance to have a quick scrub of the bottom to tidy her up a bit.

Early Start

It has been an early start to the day.

And Relax

We are officially on holiday.

With the boat loaded up and us showered and changed it is time to stroll around to Woodcocks for a bite to eat and a few beers before having an early night ready for our 6am pick up in the morning.

The alarm is set for 5am. That's early then for work!

Confirming Arrangements

With time steadily marching on we have been confirming the last of the arrangements for Friday's road trip to the Broads.

Yesterday I rang Sutton Staithe Marina to confirm the booking for the slipway and to double check that we can in fact buy our visitors licence from them. With this confirmed we are good to go on Friday morning.

The boat is ready we just need to stock up on a few items tomorrow morning but nothing major. We will do a big shop when we get to Stalham just around the corner from Sutton as there is a brilliant butchers in the main street and a miriad of other local shops to buy supplies.

Cooling Off

Sydney was really feeling the heat last weekend, much more so then the previous few hot weekends. So as we know he loves swimming so much we took him for a few swimming sessions in the slipway. He needs no encouragement now, he is in the water before we are even out of the dinghy!

He did also have a couple of unintended swimming sessions, one when he made a leap of faith from the boat as we were mooring up on our home berth. He misjudged that gap horribly wrong and the second off the dinghy when again he misjudged the gap between the pontoon but this time in spectacular style. He was never going to make the jump. Maybe he wanted another swim?

The thermometer on the Tridata was telling us that the water temperature in the marina was 26 degrees so not really a very cooling dip!

Ready

Naughty-Cal is now packed up and ready to head to Norfolk on Friday morning.

We got most of the little jobs finished, anything that is left is only minor and can be done as and when we get a few minutes tinkering time whilst we are out and about.

The most important job for the weekend was checking the engine and systems were all working as they should be with no leaks or other problems which we are glad to report was very much the case. She seems in very fine fettle for this point in the season.

Now we just need to get the next four days at work out of the way.

Another Fine Day

It was another fine day yesterday and after a quick pit stop at the marina we headed to Saxilby for a few beers.

Today it is back to the marina to do a few final jobs on the boat before the off next week.

Early Start

It is an early start for us this morning. Already we have cruised the length of the Fossdyke.

We met up last night with very good friends in the Swan at Torksey who were in passing on the Trent. But I have to be in Lincoln for 9.30am for a hair appointment so it was a 6.30am alarm and up and on our way.

Still the river is beautiful at this time in the morning m

Waters New

Despite having been to the Norfolk Broads many times now there are still parts that we have yet to see and visit, either in our own boat or on hire boats.

Take the River Wensum in Norwich for example. We have visited on the hire boats as far as the limit of navigation for hire boats goes at the yacht station, yet we have never taken Naughty-Cal up there. This year we plan to remedy that but not only go that far. In our own private boat we still have a section of river up stream of the yacht station to explore. A section of river we will never have seen before and it does look very pretty in places.

As we will have a whole two weeks to play with this year we will take our time and explore the less well known sections of the Broads system and the extremeties of the rivers and hopefully fill in some of the gaps of the places we have not yet visited.

Rediscovering Pastures Old

Since becoming Sydney's custodians we have been busy exploring Sheffield's green spaces. Last night it was the turn of the Bole Hills park, a place where Liam spent a lot of his youth as he lived just a stones throw away.

We had not visited for a long time and there were parts of this park that I had not seen before. Liam was in his element exploring his old stomping ground and seeing how it had changed over the years.The BMX track was where he had the most tales to tell.

Booking In

Whilst in Norfolk last year on the hire boat we discovered a brilliant restaurant by the riverside at Acle called Pedro's. It had not been open that long but the food was excellent and we had a really good time in there.

We were a little bit sad then that since getting Sydney and him still suffering terribly with separation anxiety that we would not be able to visit again.

So imagine our surprise when we found out that the place is super dog friendly. We were to put it politely over the moon and decided straight away to book in. So next Friday evening, the day that we are launched into the Broads at Sutton we will be heading straight for Pedro's to enjoy our first meal of the holiday.

Edging Closer

With a few more jobs crossed off the lost last weekend we are edging ever closer to our holiday on the Broads now.

Just one more weekend to go and one more batch of little jobs to tackle.

We have decided to leave Fabsiling the canopies until we get back from Norfolk. Whilst the Wet and Forget is doing a sterling job on the hoods it is no quick process. So we want to give it as much chance as possible to work before we reproof the hoods. There is no pressing need to reproof them just yet.

Other little jobs on the list include pulling out the stereo to get at the wiring to the USB charging socket in the saloon, this has a dodgy connection that needs some attention, checking the bilges for water, I can't imagine there will be any down there but we need to double check and lastly carrying out a set of engine checks to ensure that all is as it should be with the big green lump.

Oh no, sorry there is one last little job and that will be removing the hoods and packing them away neatly so as to take up as little room as possible and then fitting the tonneau cover ready for transport by road to Norfolk next Friday.

We are counting down the days now.

What Are You?

For the past twelve weeks there has been some deliberation as to what breed of dog Sydney is. The poodle part is pretty obvious, but poodle crossed with what?

We had initially thought poodle cross with jack russell, or jackapoo as they are commonly known, but comparing him with his best buddy jack threw up more questions then answers as although they look similar at first glance they really are not that alike at all.

A chance encounter with a lovely couple on the way to Woodcocks for dinner last night finally settled the argument. They had with them a beautiful six month old Schnoodle, a poodle cross minature schnauzer. Although she was a full chocolate brown version the similarities in shape and stature were immediately obvious. After a lengthy chat with them we came away certain that we now know what he is and a bit more clued up on the characteristics of the breed. Having also owned Schnauzers they were really very knowledgable. 

What a Day

Well what a day it was yesterday. Sunshine, good company and the small matter of a little football match.

It has been a long time since we have seen Saxilby this busy!

A Job Saved

Last night while we were sat having a beer and Sydney was playing with his best buddy Jack, we were thinking about this weekend's jobs. It suddenly dawned on us that we don't need to modify the VHF wiring as we won't be using it on the Broads. We can simply unplug it at the aerial and release the existing wire to give enough slack to fold the arch.

A job saved and a few bob saved.

Busy in the Sunshine

With the prospect of another glorious weekend afloat in store we were both like little kids again as we packed our gear and loaded up the car this morning.

But it isn't going to be all play this weekend, we do have a few jobs that have to be done if we are ever to be ready to head to the Broads.

We have to head to Morton Boats to pick up a few items of chandlery to modify the wiring for the VHF aerial so that we can fold the arch down fully again. This is the most important job of the weekend as this will scupper our holiday cruising plans if we can't get the arch down fully.

Other jobs we have to do are a full set of engine checks especially the weed filter, give the canopies a good rinse which will mean getting them out of their storage area and hanging them back on the boat so we will do this before we head to Morton Boats and hope that they are dry when we return, which I am sure they will be. The cabin roof also wants a good polish as do the sides and lastly the cupboards in the cabin all need a good clear out with anything we are not going to need being taken home to free up some space while we are away.

We will aim to get most of these jobs done during the mornings as it will just be far too hot come dinnertime to even consider working. 

No End in Sight

There seems to be no end in sight to this fabulous weather we have all been enjoying. Most, well pretty much all of the long term weather forecasts have the settled, sunny and warm weather sticking with the UK for at least the next month. Which would be great for us as it would see us through to the end of our trip to Norfolk.

Of course the dry weather brings with it it's own set of problems, mainly for us water supply and river level problems. Several of the canals are already running short of water and have restrictions applied. The rivers will start running low as well as they are not topped up by rainfall. 

So whilst the weather is nice it is bringing with it a few minor issues. But do we care?

No it's sunny.

The Proof

With the weeks passing by frighteningly quickly until we go away our minds have to go back to what little jobs we need to do before we head off.

The canopies seem to be an ongoing job. The Wet and Forget has started to do it's job quite nicely. By last weekend there was already a considerable improvement. This weekend we plan to hang the canopies back on the boat and give them a good hose down to remove some of the grime. Then when dry they can be packed away again. Then finally after another hose down next weekend then they will get a coat of Fabsil Gold to keep them waterproof and protected from the UV light.

While the hoods are on the boat drying we have got a trip to Morton Boats to do. We need to get another connector for the VHF aerial. Unfortunately when we did some modifications last summer to the wiring we forgot to leave enough slack to completely lower the arch which we will need to do in Norfolk. So we need another new connector and some new cable to modify it further, or more to the point put right what we did wrong last time!

Sunny on the Trent

We had a lovely sunny weekend on the Trent. Here are just a small selection of pictures from a cracking weekend.

Cruise to Saxilby on Friday evening.

The 6am alarm clock!

Onwards to Torksey

Life jacket on ready for the Trent.

Heading upstream.

A walk along the river bank to Church Laneham.

The church from which the village gets it's name.

The ski club having fun on the river.

All alone on the pontoon.

Heading back to Torksey

Almost back now.

Saying farewell to the butty.

Back on the ditch.

This little chap had a lucky escape. We found him swimming in the Fossdyke in a spot he couldn't get out. So we scooped him up and ferried him to the woods in Saxilby.

Time for a rest.

Late afternoon drinks at Harbour Lights.