Happy New Year!

Filed under: Hangover, Holiday, New Year, Norfolk, Normal For Norwich, Resolutions, Thursday, YouTube , Hangover, Holiday, New Year's Resolutions, Norwich, Recap, Thursday

Get Busy With The Fizzy!

Woo-hoo!  Soda stream are back and I love it!  We just got the new version and it’s fab!  The concentrates are all natural flavourings now, so we won’t be whizzing our tits off on E-numbers or colours, but the memory of happy sugar induced comatose lows and high tartrazine trips seem to flood back with this advert..

That’s fizzy…

Filed under: 1980s fashion, Addiction, Cold Turkey, England, Holiday, Normal For Norwich, Queer culture, comedy, disco, e, sodastream , 1980s, colour, e, England, fizzy, psst, sodastream, sugar, summer, trippy

Norfolk Shorts… The Director’s Cut

I was just tinkering with iMovie and thought that I would share some more footage from when we took a trip on the Norfolk Broads. It just reminds me how relaxing the Broads are.  The only real noise was from the breeze on the microphone on the camcorder.  This is How Hill, which is on the River Ant.

Filed under: Boating, Broadland, Broads, England, Holiday, Norfolk, Normal For Norwich, Norwich, Photography, Sonata 6, Waterways, art, still life , Boating, Britain, Broadland, Broads, Cruising, England, Holiday, Norfolk, Personal, Sailing, Sonata 6, Travel, Trip, UK, Vacation, Video Diary

Messing about on the river! Our Broads extravaganza!

We took a last minute break to go cruising down the Broads.  We set off on Tuesday and hired the “Sonata 6″ from Wroxham.  The Sonata 6 looked a little like a gay pedlo, but it came with a suitably camp roof that unsnapped and a back that folded down pneumatically (for those tricky low bridges).

Captains Log – Broads date 13 dot 5 dot 08… 14:45

We left Wroxham at 14:45 after our tutorial for using the boat and coping on the open waters.  A surly northern lad showed us how to go forward and back and how to tun the wheel and told us there had been complaints about not picking up television reception and running out of fresh water because of a leaky tap.  He went on to trip out the boat mud weight and called someone over with a hammer to fix it.  D took the “driving test” as I wasn’t up to performing under such pressure and after a big “U”-ey in the broad, we headed off at break neck speed… well, maybe 5mph anyway.

The weather was cloudy at first but still pleasant and warm and D saw a fab house that we could buy if we won the lottery.  I took the wheel – and for some reason, couldn’t seem to let go.

We arrived at Horning at 15:45 heading, according to D, East, East South.  His dad was a fisherman after all.

At 17:00, we stopped (moored) at St. Benet’s Abbey.  We both had a wee as the contained chemical toilet was a little on the small size.

17:20, arrived at a major water junction for Potter Heigham and Gt. Yarmouth.  Our boat was too tall to go near Potter Heigham bridge, so we swung a right down to Gt. Yarmouth.  We moored at 17:30, but couldn’t tell if we were allowed to stay there as there was no-one to pay.  To be honest, it had that ‘Hills have Eyes’ feel about the place, so to avoid being coshed over the head at night, we moved further down river to the Hermitage Restaurant and Bar.  D watched Emmerdale and we both got pissed on some rather nice Pinot Grigio we’d chilled in the mini bar.

After walking by the Hermitage (after stumbling down the non-lit spikey footpath down the side of a field to the pub), we realised that it was a fish speciality place.  We went further into town and settled into the Kings Head, which was more of a local’s pub.  The food was quite nice, but way too hot even after 20 minutes (since the oven went ping).  I liked the Old Speckled Hen ale much better.

23:00 Caught some crap telly and went to sleep (with one eye open in case of drifting).

Captains Log – Broads date 14 dot 5 dot 08… 10:00

Had no f@*cking sleep!  I made D some breakfast, but it all stuck to the non nonstick pan and his eggs turned out less desirable than I intended.  Mine came out okay, as I found another real non-stick pan under the sink.

Looked at the eye-spy activity booklet that the boatyard gave us.  D wrote my name with an arrow next to a Bearded tit.  Just for the record, I am not a bearded tit!

We crossed Breydon Water at about 12:00 and I was a complete bag of nerves.  It was something about the whole industrial feel that unnerved me, along with the prospect of possibly dying in the shipping lane.  We narrowly missed a 12 feet high marker when D tried to read the map, so I kept busy by fiddling with the ipod and fetching beers from the mini fridge.  We had a Titanicesque moment when another massive marker loomed up in front of us and D had to steer hard left, missing it by just a couple of inches.  My nerves had not improved by that point.

On the way to Beccles, D attempted another mooring and I wasn’t able to jump the 4 feet to shore from the stern.  D leaped up on the top of the boat, moored and then set off again.  I felt a little sea sick at that point!

We stopped at The Bell in St. Olaves for some lunch and D did a stern on mooring, much better than we both expected.  I couldn’t eat my ploughman’s lunch, and we headed off to Beccles at 15:00.

I realised that my anxiety was probably down to non-regularity, so visited the on-board amenities on route. Felt much better and took control of the boat for a bit.

In Beccles, after manoevering some really low bridges, D moored stern on at the Beccles Yacht club and did a fab job of it too.  Spoke to the harbour master and he sold us some tokens to the public showers.  Headed into town to have some beers, brought chips back to the boat and went to sleep.  

Captains Log – Broads date 15 dot 5 dot 08… 03:00

Woke up at 03:00 as the bilge pumps kicked in.  Woke up again, worried that we’d drifted off to sea and again when the weird Scottish family in the boat next door banged into us as they left at 07:00.

Went to Morrissons for beer, water and plasters and filled up with diesel at the boat yard opposite.  Headed back toward Gt. Yarmouth for 10:15 and caught slack water at Breydon Water.  This time the crossing was good and much quicker.  I still had the urge to cry and possibly find the foetal position, but D saved the day and no posts got in the way this time around.

We discussed how reading maps while sailing is dangerous.

We moored at Gt. Yarmouth, where the two harbour masters went into a full comedy double act and re-moored us and showed D how to do a proper knot.  The tip of the day was “the top rope is from the boat…” or at least something like that anyway!

Had a shower and went for a few drinks at Kings, after getting a burger at Fatso’s in town.  Got chips on the way back to the boat and went to bed.

Captains Log – Broads date 16 dot 5 dot 08… 10:00

Left after bacon (and faux bacon) sarnies.  The rain pissed down and came in through the overhead lights on deck and the port hole above the bed.  At least we both had good company in the rain.

Decided to travel up the River Ant.  It was lovely and exactly like you’d imagine the Broads to be like – all leafy and green.

We travelled up to Wayford Bridge and across Barton Broad and followed a guy that clearly hadn’t passed his boat driving test as he was zigzagging across the river.

The houses in Irstead were really lovely – and now on our list of places to live if the lottery numbers come up.  There were a lot of sailing boats tacking up stream to deal with.  They proved really difficult to pass safely.

Came back down and moored at The Swan in Horning.  The mooring was the best yet and we looked quite professional.  We fed the ducks and then ate at the restaurant.  The starters and dessert were nice, but we sent part of our mains back.  Drank loads of wine and sat on the deck lounge for a bit.  At 23:00 a Mississippi style paddle boat came out of the dark lit up with hundreds of coloured lights, playing Dixie music.  Nobody waved as they passed us.  They looked like they were on a works night out.

Captains Log – Broads date 17 dot 5 dot 08… 07:00

We got up, mopped down the boat and headed off towards wroxham in the pouring rain at 08:00.  Got to the boatyard with a couple of minutes to spare and D pulled his best stern mooring off to date.  Left looking like pros and even noticed when the yard tried to overcharge on diesel!

Our sun burn  tans have lasted so far (even with a bit of blistering here and there) and I am sure that the ground will stop moving eventually!

Filed under: Beer, Boating, Bridges, Broadland, Broads, Darren, England, Hangover, Holiday, Norfolk, Norwich, Photography, Photos, Sonata 6, Suffolk, Tree, Waterways, iPod touch, pubs