Page published 17 September 2025
Sunday 22 June 2025 - Leaving Long Dyke
During Last Week's Cruise we discovered that the musicians we encountered at The Dog Inn were to return a week later. That was all the excuse we needed for another trip down river. This one was to be a little shorter that last weeks, but we still set out on the Sunday.
Once again a take a photograph as we proceed out of Long Dyke. This time we were one craft further down the dyke and it was 14:33.
At random intervals I take a picture of the instrument panel. There is an explanation
In case you wonder why I take these photos, it's to save them as a reference point should the trouble with the engine overheating we had in our early days with Singing the Blues ever develop again. The thought that is always in my mind is that the instruments will always be most lively at the start of any trip as the engine warms up. One of the things worth knowing is how quickly the instruments reach a stable working temperature and pressure and at what levels the gauges then show. This image was taken 14 minutes after setting out. Neither the water temperature has reached its typical 74° nor the oil pressure dropped to somewhere close to 40lb/in².
We pass Hunsett Mill at 14:52 but I've photographed that too many times already. Three minutes later and we join the main channel from Stalham. In another three mnutes we've reached the abandoned boat that's been sitting on the bank for a few years now.
By 15:25 we've cross Barton Broad and are passing the first of the gardens that you see. At this point the houses are too far back from the river to be seen.
Approaching Ludham Bridge
It's now thirty five minutes later and we've already passed How Hill, another place I've taken too many pictures of already, and we are approaching the drainage outfall at the upstream end of Horning Marshes.
It's now 16:10 and the marker post showing the height under Ludham Bridge comes into sight.
The upstream bridge height marker.
I've owned my Lumix FZ2000 camera for a few years now and I still don't feel I have a decent control over it. Today I find all its images have a distinct red tinge to them. In curating them for this report I have corrected this, but I really wish I knew why it's happened and what I should have done to get the right white balance in the first place.
As you'll note, I am writing the report a few months after the event and I don't recall the cloud cover being being as pronounced as these images suggest. I wonder if it can be partly attributed to a lot of the images being taken towards the south, and into the sun, but the lack of shadows suggests that's a failure of my memory rather than lighting conditions.
I always wonder how accurate the bridge height markers you see on the Broads are. I remember once looking at those on each side of Wroxham Bridge and concluding there was a couple of inches difference in the heights shown. The only time I recall photographing the distant marker on the other side of Ludham Bridge was in July Last Year.
We reached the moorings at Ludham around 16:20. One advantage of being a relatively short boat is that you can find a straight run of quay heading more easily. We opted to moor closer to the start of the moorings than the bridge. We also took the opportunity to turn and face upstream. That would make our departure to Wayford easier. At least this time we didn't need to worry about disturbing the neighbours as we weren't planning on an early start as we had Last Week.
Just before 16:25, in spite of it being a little late for typical Sunday opening, we were on our way to check out Bridge Stores.
The local ducks are not intimidated by people walking past. The green mooring posts indicate space reserved for yachts that will need to drop their masts to pass under the bridge.
The view upstream of Ludham Bridge. By this point I must have been aware of the destruction of Bridge Stores, but it seems it was such a shock that I didn't think to take any pictures!
This photo, from 2006, shows the stores and neighbouring two storey building both of which had been reduced to a pile of timber and plaster. It was a surprise to realise these were not brick buildings.
It was too early to proceed directly to The Dog Inn so, for the first time when mooring at Ludham Bridge, we crossed the road to take in the view downstream.
By 16:37 we were back on board...
...and Diana was busy on her phone catching up on her messages.
The Dog Inn
Once again, I failed to take any pictures of the exterior of The Dog Inn, so if you want to see one take a look at the report of our Previous Cruise. On arrival, although there were plenty of people eating outside, we went straight inside. There were already a guitar and washboard by the fireplace so I put my Dobro case down beside them and we went to find a vacant table and ordered our food.
It's an intriguing interior. The building has clearly been extended in various ways over the years, but it's had to tell whether some of the beams are structural or merely decorative additions.
Looking towards the bar you see timber that could be the remains of internal walls or recent additions designed to partition the space and make to feel more cosy.
I think we both opted for a Ploughman's Salad.
After we'd eaten came the bit that was the reason for our expedition. It wasn't quite what we had expected after last week but Diana and I were too busy joining in to take any photos. The guitarist from last week was there, who we learned later was named Pete, but not the bodhran player. The washboard that I'd seen stowed within the fire guard around the hearth turned out to belong to Pete's wife and she turned out to be a really excellent player, even doing a prolonged solo at one point.
By this time we had moved from our table to join an assortment of people sat nearer the fireplace. It became clear that most were regulars at these events. I retrieved my Dobro from its case ready to see what would happen next. There was an accordion player amongst those present, but apart from me I don't recall anyone else with an instrument
It turned out this was not to be the evening of banter and jollity, led by Pete, that we had both been expecting. Instead, after a number or two by Pete, his eyes went around the room as he asked who had something to offer the assembled throng next.
It wasn't just songs that were offered. There were recitations, some from memory and others read. Some sang, often accompanied. The quality was variable, as you might expect from an audience, the majority of whom appeared at least as old as us, and we were both born in the 1940s. But it was fun! You might get a flavour of it from posts I made on our family WhatsApp groups where I described one rather elderly contributor as being able neither to keep pitch or tempo.
I had only come prepared to join in with others as because, last week, there were a good proportion of Irish songs performed, I was expecting something a little more of what you might expect from a musical gathering in a Dublin pub. There had been at least a couple of rounds of the gathering before I was persuaded and bold enough to offer a song.
By the time the night was over I had played an old blues number, "Trouble in Mind" with a Dobro accompaniment, and something unaccompanied that I know as "The Padstow Drinking Song", which I learned from an LP recorded in the 1960s by Dave and Toni Arthur. At the end of the night we returned to Singing the Blues and played one of the games I had bought aboard.
Next: Playing games till after midnight and our Return to Wayford.