Brinks Belmore | The Big Tour - Day 2 & 3


Yes this is confusing me too - its day three, but only the second video!  hang in their viewer it sorts itself out in the coming days.

But what of this third day on the river?  Well, we begin at Acle where I had been 'left to sleep' by Shiela - you see she does not understand what alcohol can do, since she sticks to the soft drinks but myself having had several pints in the Bridge Inn the evening before came back to the boat and began on the beer we have on board and now I seem a bit 'worse for wear'.  Quite unlike me and it must be the Norfolk air doing it.

We have been taking things easy anyway and I have not been concentrating so much on filming while I have Shiela with me, so today will be a cruise to Potter Heigham for a visit to Lathams - a top up of water - and then in the early afternoon leaving for Wroxham, where Shiela needs to catch a train back to London.

I was pleased that the rain and grey sky had finally given way to fluffy clouds, blue sky and sunshine however the wind was still gusty and with Belmore being a tall light boat with a planning hull kept one concentrating whenever underway. We arrived at Potter Heigham, turned near the bridge for we needed to use the water hose outside the Pilots office - once done, we moved the boat along and left for Lathams.

I noted that the single wheelie bin was full, this is early season goodness knows how this will be come summer. Please to report Lathams now have larger baskets, and after getting a mix of sensible food items and cleaning supplies it was then the junk food nibbles and cakes to finish off proceedings.  We did not stop for long here, and once back on the boat was soon ready to depart from Wroxham.
It was now a very nice day, and the sunshine made all the difference - not much to say or report on our journey to Wroxham, and not a lot of filming was done either but suffice to say a good time was had and the miles slipped by.  I had called Barnes Brinkcraft who would get an engineer with me to sort the throttle out which was very stiff indeed and making harder work than needed from moorings trying to move the throttle between ahead and astern - since it was Sunday I was not going to bother them today but would overnight in their yard and in the morning someone would pop along - as it turned out a chap came and attended later in the day and with some adjustment and oil it was smooth and perfect.

In Wroxham we walked about but by the time we were there, most of the 'Roy's Empire' was shut and you see what a sad, quiet place Wroxham is when the shoppers have departed - it makes me wonder again just what direction the Broads is going in, where more larger, expensive boats are produced attracting new boaters willing to spend on their accommodation but then faced with locations like Wroxham with so little to do in the evening.

We went back to the boat and collected Shiela's things, and it was then I was hit with the unhappy feeling she would be leaving and it was then just myself.  I am fine alone and indeed enjoy boating solo but when you have someone there to begin the journey and they go it is harder.  To the station we walked and before I knew it the train was there and a goodbye kiss and I was alone once more.  I walked back through Wroxham, and did a rather odd thing whereby I went to McDonalds for a Big Mac but then went to a fish shop for the drink and chips - and proper chips and a Mac go very nicely together.

I remembered that I had ended the  Blog for the day saying 'tomorrow we might go to Oulton Broad' and now I felt rather committed to it - 9 odd hours at the helm alone and looking at the map it seemed an awful long way - how might I do this without a stop? find out in the next episode.

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