Sunlit Horizon 2 - 'Lads Week' 2012 - Day three

It became apparent that I was not being able to keep up with my usual ‘Captain’s Blogs’ because whilst on the southern rivers there are great distances to cover and we were covering a lot of them in short spaces of time.  I don’t mind this but it meant that if one was going along all day what could you really say or film?  

Because of this I took the decision to stop doing a 'daily video' so the video that accompanies this will not just over day three'

Instead began to shoot small sections to camera along the way – so this is more day three and day four parts.

Perhaps not enough of these were filmed and indeed not enough notes taken about where we were or what we were doing – but this began to give the feeling of freedom and also oddness.

You see if you look at previous tales I have written up, they are long detailed accounts backed up with long videos of what I did and went on that particular day – in so doing this it can detract from being away on a boat thinking about what to film, what to say to camera and so on.  Here I was just having a great time but feeling as if I’d let down some of the viewers my channel.  So what did happen on day three?

It began at somerleyton Staithe

where after a good night at the Dukes Head was had the mooring had begun slower than expected due to Jewel of Light 2 suffering from a mid-breakfast cooking disaster – they ran out of gas.  Both bottles were empty so Herbert Woods dispatched a chap to bring new bottles, in the meantime Jewel 2 nicked a cylinder from Jewel 3 which goes to show how being in the company of others can be helpful.  

Once breakfast was had it was time for the off and screens and canopies down to squeeze under Somerleyton Railway Bridge – which as we departed and rounded the corner found to have actually swung open and once through here had a boat transfer as a chap from Jewel 2 came aboard to help with the screen and canopy winding due to a lot rain clouds around and me not being able to do both in quick time – this would proved to be something I’d have to do later anyway.

Destination today was Geldeston Locks for the pub there in the evening – The Locks Inn.  Along the way it was decided to stop off at the Waveney River Centre for supplies, stretch of the legs and for those who wishes a visit to the      Waveney Inn. I passed on this instead cleaning up the boat, going to the shop and having a general relaxing morning.  

Once everyone was aboard their respective boats it was time to press on for Beccles, much of this was all being planned on tidal flow and approximate low water for getting under Beccles old bridge but we could not actually wait until actual low water for there would not be sufficient time to reach the Locks Inn before sunset, this began to be a theme of making the best of what you had with the tides and as a ‘northern river lover’ I began to build a list of things in my mind that made the southern rivers less appealing.  You have more distances between places, there seems less informal moorings, less tree and you have to be mindful of the rise and fall of the river once moored and going with the tide to help with fuel use.  

I prefer the get up and go to ‘Horning in the morning’ without a lot of thought to tides and the like.  I am however from London, thus by definition a right lazy sod and surly in the eyes of most of the Yorkshire Lads around me ‘a right southern softy’ – but least I had Yorkshire Tea onboard to counter this.

As we got closer to Beccles so the scenery changed and began to think to myself this was actually truly lovely country, if this could be so beautiful it made the longer reed lined parts worth it – but it continued to get better.  Even the water seemed to change from a muddish colour to a deep navy taking colour from the now blue sky peppered with white fluffy clouds.  Even teh wind had eased and with the cockpit roof down was one of the most lovely stretches of river and journey’s I had had – so this was why people liked the southern rivers I thought.

On arrival into Beccles we stopped at the Yacht Station to wait for the tide to go out and us be able to get under the old bridge.  With 4 boats arriving one after the other we put on a good show as we took our turns to moor stern on here, seemingly knowing what to do and when with great chorography – the fisherman commenting after to me ‘that was a good bit of mooring’.  Then it began to rain.

I walked into Beccles, and what a lovely small town this is and how I thought must be for the other halves to live in a large old town house and have their Broom moored in Brundell and all be lovely with life.  Back in relative I popped into QD Stores and had a looksie about the other shops, who on a Sunday in the main remained closed contrary to the modern world where everything seems to need to be on hand 7 days a week.  Beccles feels so gentle, old and peaceful – I could have explored its many streets but with the rain now beating down it was back to the boat.

Jewel of Light 3 had been plagued since day one with an injector issue on the engine, and no lad worth their salt would just sit by and not do anything and so it was that with tools supplied from Broad Ambition work had been going on to rectify the fault.  It was however getting worse and the return line leaked diesel which as you can image did not smell too nice. Herbert Woods came to see what they could do, which in the end was tighten up some bits which merely did nothing more than hold off the inevitable requirement for more work to be done.

Meantime I was free of any mechanical defects – even the canopy I had been told on takeover which was prone to coming off the runners – was behaving itself and the boat was running smooth and faultlessly.  

A long discussion was had over how high the boats air drafts were, we all ignored the plaques on the dashboards opting to use Broad Ambition as a guide to height and it was decided caution would be the better side of valour and despite the rain take all the canopies and screens down. I got bags out and covered the TV, dashboard and then blankets over the upholstery as they would be easier to try and than thick foam seating.  Then we were off.

As it happened it was as well we did take the precautions but in the rush I forgot to ask for someone to be onboard and now the other side of the old bridge with the rain increasing I had to act like a Monkey and leap about the boat pulling the windscreen from its folded position up and then wind the canopy up at which point the Monkey changed to a Mercat as I did 5 winds then stuck my head up, looked and corrected the steering then down, 5 more winds and head up again.  Once everything was up I noticed just how much water was down dripping from all the surfaces and thank goodness for the bags over the important things, and blankets over the seating.  

About 5 minutes after the canopy was raised I could now see nothing whatsoever – at all. Not only was there rain where it should not be – inside the boat, it was on the inside of the windscreen, and joined with all the windows completely misting up. Thank goodness for this boats design feature of the sliding side hatch above the helm seat, with waterproof and hat on I stuck my head out and braved the rain and was thankful of Broad Ambition putting on her navigation lights and followed the white light of her stern through the gloom.

It proved again good to have brought the PMR radios, for not long along the winding river Broad Ambition came on the radio to say around the next corner was a dinghy in the middle of the river and a ‘bath tub’ boat going slow.  This sort of ‘helping each other’ was the theme of the adventure and gave those following great help to know what was approaching and what action to take.  Still I suppose having a couple of RN lads about the place you would expect things to go smoothly and communications to be tight – if urm, they had their radios on

And so in falling light the locks at Geldstone appeared with just enough room was us to moor – the two Jewel of Lights double mooring and the rain, oh the rain continued to fall.  It was shortly after this that Griff and Macy dog came aboard to inform me I had been invited for a roast aboard Broad Ambition.  How kind.  How lovely a meal was had prepared by Brian who even made a starter of Duck Paté – oo er! We then watched a few episodes of ‘Still Game’ which is  a Scottish comedy series and one I had not seen – but was actually very good.  And then it was time to join the rest in the pub, a few ales were had before back to Sunlit Horizon II and an early start planned for the morning.