Friday 15 October 2010

Last Morning on Capri

We were up at 7am this morning ...

We'd packed a lot of our stuff into the RV last night but we still had food to sort and the bed to strip. It was parked up next to us and so loading it didn't take too long ...

I took Hamish for a walk around the yard and it was very peaceful so early ...

There was smoke coming from a chimney on a narrow boat so there were obviously some live-aboards ...

At 8am the staff begin the task of checking everyone off their boats and our fuel was checked to see how much we'd used of our £100 deposit.

We had a refund of about £71 but £50 of it went straight back to them as we booked our holiday for next April on Broadland Neptune again with the boys! The usual pattern of events on the last morning is a drive to Potter Heigham and breakfast at the cafe by the river. This time we had to change our plans as the cafe had closed only a week ago and the owners relocated to Ludham Bridge where they'll be opening next spring. We drove over Wroxham Bridge ...

and went to Tesco for breakfast and a top-up of food for the weekend. Then it was back on the road and heading for Buckinghamshire for a couple of nights. On the way we passed the Imperial War Museum Duxford ...

and after stopping briefly at Luton for lunch we were soon arriving at the Caravan Club site of Wyatts Covert at Denham Green. We set ourselves up on a pitch but the television reception was terrible and we couldn't get the satellite system to work! I deperately wanted to watch Strictly and after much fiddling with the aerial we finally found BBC1 and BBC2 so I said there was no way that the RV was moving now until we left the site on Sunday!!

Thursday 14 October 2010

Ranworth to Stalham

Unfortunately it's our last day today. Somebody arrived in a dinghy to buy his morning milk and a yacht had tied up last night but it appears that no-one had slept on board ...

Hamish reminded us that we needed to fill up with water before leaving ...

and then it was time to go ...

As we approached Ludham bridge we could see that there was plenty of room for us as we only need 6ft 7in ...

under and out the other side ...

There is a lot of work going on here and new moorings are being built ...

We were soon within sight of How Hill ...

and then in Irstead with this lovely house on the market ...

How much? Only £785,000!! After crossing Barton broad we moored at Gay's Staithe for lunch ...

What has Hamish spotted now?

More swans ...

For the final part of the journey we went back across Barton Broad ...

and up to Barton Turf where it looked quite busy at the staithe ...

Passing this lovely old cruiser ...

and before we knew it we were back at Richardson's yard in Stalham ...

Hamish was obviously exhausted!

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Salhouse to Ranworth

Another overcast morning ...

Hamish and I went for a walk and he made a new friend ...

Looking back down to the water ...

I love this Broad ...

It was soon time to move on and as always I was sorry to leave this peaceful place behind ...

So motoring back downriver towards Horning we saw swans take flight ...

and a large construction next to the Sailing Club ...

It will be interesting to see what it looks like next spring when we return. These yachts were not out on hire at the moment ...

This is the finished house which we photographed back in April ...

What a difference after a few month's work ...

We were soon within sight of Ranworth ...

and luckily there was plenty of room for us on the Staithe ...

Hamish was looking forward to a walk and so we set off on the loop which takes us up to the church ...

This is just outside ...

and walking back down the little track ...

we could see the top of the church tower where we have climbed to in the past for the fabulous view of the Broad and surrounding countryside ...

Crossing a small bridge at the end of our walk I saw this chap standing as if a statue ...

Even with people passing quite close by he never moved and wasn't a bit afraid of them. We were now back by the Maltsters pub ...

with this lovely sign of the village opposite ...

Back to Capri and the Southern Comfort came past on one of her trips ...

We had planned to move on to St Benet's Abbey for the night but it began to drizzle with rain and became quite windy so the decision was made to stay put here. We had a lazy afternoon and in the evening we had a meal at the pub which was very enjoyable and it was dog-friendly which was great.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Cockshoot Dyke to Salhouse Broad

No bright blue skies this morning just a glimpse of it amongst the clouds. A few locals came to see us hoping for breakfast and of course I gave them some!

We left Cockshoot and in no time at all had arrived at Ferry Marina as it was pump-out day ...

It's always recommended that you have a pump-out halfway through your week and it's a very straightforward procedure costing about £10. Off on our travels again and as we passed the Ferry Inn it was lovely to see it open for business again ...

We motored on to Wroxham as we needed a top-up of food from Roys but our usual mooring basin was full of cruisers and there was no room for even our little Capri. I'd spotted a gap on the Barnes Brinkcraft yard when we came up and so we headed back away from the town and luckily the space was still free ...

Our original plan had been to go under Wroxham bridge and moor there before going on to Coltishall for the night. However nothing was getting under any bridges this week as the rivers were high and so we'd abandoned the idea but still needed to moor somewhere to shop. I popped into Reception and asked if it was okay to stay for an hour and the girl on the desk said it was fine. With the cupboards and fridge re-stocked we left Wroxham behind passing a heron in a garden ...

and a lovely new boathouse ...

We went into Wroxham Broad just to have a look not stay ...

past the Clubhouse ...

and around a yacht called Silver Arrow which we'd hired in 1974 ...

We had taken a group of boys for a week's sailing - Mike taught at a boarding school and ran the Naval Section of the CCF ...

We left the Broad and went outside to the free moorings for lunch. A wherry came past ...

and the Queen of the Broads ...

It was soon time to move on down to our chosen spot for the night - Salhouse Broad ...