Page published 14 October 2024
27 May 2024 - Background
A note from relatives in a Christmas card started it all. It said that they no longer used their mooring and we were welcome to use it for a while if we wanted some different days out. We took no notice at first. We enjoy the quietness of the reaches above Wroxham Bridge. Then we began thinking about the troubles we had over the winter and not being able to get beyond the Bridge until a fortnight ago. The mooring we were being offered was a quarter of the travelling time from home and was next door to Moonfleet Marine, in whom we have great confidence when it come to technical help and any boat maintenance we don't want to tackle ourselves.
We plucked up courage and asked if "the period" could, in effect, be indefinite, saying we'd be quite happy to to pay a rent similar to that we were paying currently. Any payment was rejected, but not our request for a protracted stay. The result was that we felt we couldn't refuse the offer and our plan was made to move to Wayford.
Departing Coltishall
It's 10:32, the boat is loaded, and we're about to set off for our new mooring.
We see the dredger has moved a further 100 yards upstream since our trip a fortnight ago.
We'd just passed Belaugh staithe and I managed to get this shot of it. I was curious. I knew I'd taken photos of three notices by the green, but most of my general views showed only two. Now I can make out where the third was! It's between the bench and the car furthest left.
We motored on down to and through Wroxham. I felt I had taken enough views of the landmarks on that part of the journey and didn't need more.
Horning
Meanwhile, after consulting with me about how long we'd take to get to Horning, Diana had been on-line to book a table at the New Inn. It wasn't till we reached the outskirts of Horning that I took up my phone and opened the camera app again.
We reached the outskirts of Horning at around 12:50. We'd been this way few enough times for me to feel it worth getting out the camera again.
It's 13:23 by the time we are sitting at a table in the New Inn.
Our food orders were served promptly.
Arriving at the New Inn all the available stern-on moorings appeared taken. I began to attempt to back into the boat dock, in which there was only one small boat, which was not proving easy. Luckily, the pub had a warden on duty and he told Diana that a boat on the point of leaving and we could use their space. That made life a lot easier!
It's always good to be able to keep an eye on your boat when at a pub mooring and this view reminded me of the one we'd had last year on our ill-fated Anniversary Trip, when we suffered electrical failures and an overheating engine.
Once moored we made our way inside and ordered drinks and food. I had one of my favourite dishes and Diana a pie. I just started eating mine before remembering to take photos to post on our family WhatsApp groups
I always wonder whether it's worth trying to take photos of sites that I really would have liked to have captured on a previous trip. For example, I didn't manage to take any when we moored at Ferry Marina to take on fuel. I resorted to images found on the Geograph site. Experience is beginning to tell me that you never pass at again in the same weather conditions or time of day and it would be easy to tell an inserted image take at a different time, so I'll be sticking with using Geograph for the foreseeable future.
It's 14:28 as we pass Ferry Marina, the location that I should have photographed while having our pump-out ten days ago.
The entrance to the dyke next to Ferry Marina, a near identical photograph to one I did take last time.
Up The Ant
It's 15:07 as we reach Ant Mouth and make the turn towards Wayford.
The cloud becomes thicker as we approach Ludham Bridge and a half-decker making its way down river.
By the time we've passed under Ludham Bridge the cloud is clearing again and we see the green mooring posts reserved for sailing craft that need space to moor and take down their masts.
The view aft from the Helm. You can just make out Neave's Drainage Mill in the distance.
As with the trip through Wroxham, I was feeling that I'd already taken too many views of the approach to Ludham Bridge so didn't bother this time. I'm guessing that the yacht we'd seen earlier had occupied the now vacant area of green mooring posts.
From time to time I think about photos that I need to take to illustrate the Hampton Safari site I'm slowly building. One of the issues that some owners have is seeing backwards and, obviously seeing backwards aids manoeuvring backwards
A good number of early safaris were built with no window facing aft. You can understand why that might be. Without the window you are left with a great place to hang a life ring, something that's compulsory to have on board a hire boat. It was also a surprise to discover that some builders fit twin outward opening aft doors and such doors are so narrow that there's no glass fitted in them.
With that in mind I thought I needed a shot of Singing the Blues' aft door. It's not so much the inward hinged single door with its window that stands out, but that a previous owner removed the door between the galley and aft cabin. With that door in place, especially if you have a duvet hanging over the edge of the bed, there is no chance of seeing anything of the window. But, as you see, with it removed your rearward vision is almost doubled.
With Turf Fen Mill in the foreground it's 15:47 and we are approaching How Hill.
The sun is out and I get a near perfect shot of Hathor, the pleasure wherry, on her mooring north of the How Hill moorings. I've managed to miss the top of her mast.
Again, there are plenty of images of the buildings you pass by while travelling through Irstead on other pages of the site. Here we are past the Irstead Shoals and just 100yds short of Barton Broad.
Barton and Beyond
The cropping applied to this photo gives the impression we're about to ram one of the channel marker posts as, at 16:14, we enter Barton Broad.
We reach the approach to Hunsett Mill at 16:47. Long gone are the days of it appearing on almost every Norfolk calendar or chocolate box.
The conversion is over ten years old now and it's beginning to look as poorly maintained as it did in the last days of its chocolate box fame. Perhaps it was intended that barns to the rear lose their stark blackness, but surely the doors to the old cottage deserve some stain by now.
Wayford
We reached the rather tumbledown "Greek Temple" at 17:03. It's colonnade and corrugated iron roof tells you you've reached Long Dyke. It's difficult to see the entrance from this angle. You turn to starboard immediately after the building.
Long Dyke is over 200yds in length and the mooring we've been offered is about three berths from the end. After we've unloaded everything and packed the car I return to take photographs of her on the new mooring
We discover that Singing the Blues is the just the right length to be swung round to face towards the mouth of the dyke without any risk of hitting the boats on the opposite bank.
At 17:27 we had packed the car and just before we left turned back to take a final photograph. Security, it seems, is a little downgraded currently. The padlock was still there, but the gate post had rotted.
Next: We visit Dilham and Barton Broad with our granddaughter.