Sunday 10 October 2010

Family Day on the River

We woke this morning to beautiful blue skies - a perfect day for a pootle on the river. Important things had to be done first so Hamish and I went for his morning walk and the water and bridge looked lovely ...

As we returned we passed the day-boats all moored up and waiting for the visitors to come along and hire them ...

I wonder which one will be ours for today? Capri looked very tiny moored up with all the big cruisers from Herbert Woods ...

The boys arrived and promptly began making toast for their breakfast! I'd been feeling fine but suddenly realised that I had a tummy upset and rushed off to the land loos! Thank goodness for Immodium!! There was no way I was going to miss the trip today. We set off for the Broads Tours building and after paying for six hours hire we were shown our boat. Jamie immediately took his usual Captain's place at the wheel and we ventured out on to the river and under the bridges ...

Mike and Hamish settled down ...

and the boys had one eye on the river and one on their mobiles!

There was a group of canoeists out today and we kept seeing them on our travels ...

We were making for Horsey Mill as our first stop but unfortunately we got behind a privately owned cruiser who decided that dead slow was the speed to go! There was no way we could overtake them on the narrow river and with time ticking away we were very pleased when we reached Horsey Mere and could move along at a more respectable pace ...

We moored in the dyke ...

and then went for a stroll to look at the Mill ...

Having been delayed in getting here we decided to move on as we wanted to reach Hickling for lunch. A couple of black swans came to see us ...

and in no time at all we were on Hickling Broad with Sunday racing going on all around us ...

We wanted to moor near the end of the Pleasure Boat Inn staithe so we could watch the antics on the water but there was only one post handy. There was however a bunch of reeds which were duly used as a very effective mooring stake!

The dinghies began to return to the club for their lunch-break ...

We ate our picnic and had a wander around the boatyard before returning to find this fantastic yacht had moored up ...

The sailors began to prepare for afternoon racing ...

and then we set off amongst them again ...

Hamish was looking totally bored by us all watching the boats and settled down ...

We were soon on calmer water again ...

and in the distance we could see the offshore windfarm ...

Everyone was enjoying the beautiful weather ...

We passed this lovely yacht ...

and then turned up the Thurne heading for West Somerton ...

Last year when we had Crown Gem we came quite a long way up but were not too sure how wide it would be or if there was a turning place. It was nice to be in a little boat and know that we'd be okay but as it turned out we could have managed it last year as well ...

We were getting a bit worried now that we'd be back late so passing a flock of coots on Martham Broad ...

and Martham ferry ...

we arrived at the yard with ten minutes to spare! What a fabulous day and the Immodium worked! We said goodbye to the boys and set off in Capri hoping to find a mooring at Thurne dyke. I'd thought they might be waving from the bridge but there was no sign of them ...

I was totally amazed when there was a shout from the shore as we were moving downriver and there they were waving and taking photos of us ...

We arrived at the dyke to find a lovely spot right near the end by the windmill which is perfect for capturing sunsets ...

2 comments:

Jo Anne said...

WOW - lovely pictures x

jordiegirl said...

Lovely post. Oh, to live in that house by the broads - it would be wonderful.