Brinks Belmore TC - Day Five

There really is such a change of pace and scenery as you go up the Bure and once at Acle you certainly feel like the northern rivers have arrived.  Everything is much more sedate, the speed limits are lower, the currents weaker and rise and fall of tides far far less and everything is much more compact feeling.

Leaving Horizoncraft’s yard I had a clear plan and destination – Wroxham.  I needed to some basic things, something to eat, some toilet roll and some booze. It is always wise I have found to have some drinks for oneself and a bottle of wine or two ready for the spontaneous meetings one tends to have along the rivers and where away from the rivers you might exchange pleasantries and a chat, it is customary to take things far more sedately on the Broads and a conversation leads to an invitation onboard a boat and the wine bottle is opened and before one knows it the sun is setting and calls are being made for more drinks to be brought forth.

The rivers seemed so much quieter than what I had expected and last seen before leaving to head to the southern rivers – many of the boaters had departed for home now the Easter break was over, and it was now mainly families left afloat as the school holidays were still in full swing.

It was an uneventful cruise to Wroxham, save for some sailing boats close to St. Benet’s moorings that made for a good change of scene and meant some wheel and throttle adjustment rather than the constant chugging along to a destination. Shortly after this one passes the mouth of the river Ant and everything sort of fits into your mind where you are and how long you will have to go – Ranworth Dam arriving shortly on the left, then you will be heading towards Horning.  For me this is what makes the northern rivers unique in that you will be able to see and pass quite a few places within a relatively short space of time.

There was a large contingent of cruisers and sailing boats about as part of a group of many kids some sailing some on the cruisers and all the time their group leaders were on the radio relaying wind information one moment and then talking about who has the money to pay for food supplies. I’d be meeting them again later rather head on for that matter too.  For now though I was enjoying the good weather and looking forward to getting into Wroxham.

As I passed through Horning I found why you need your wits about you – a silent running electric day boat had come up and was in the process of overtaking me on my right hand side.  Being high up I had not seen the low boat and spied it actually through the lower down galley window charging up the inside, once past me they ‘undertook’ another boat and then went across his bows over to the right of the river and proceeded to zip past a sailing boat.  You don’t tend to get this on the southern rivers. 

It was not too long and the familiar sights of ‘Salhouse Hill’ (as I like to call it) came into view – you know that line of trees high up as you approach Salhouse Broad from the direction of Horning. Passing but not going into the Broad I continued on next would be Wroxham Broad, far more open and larger making one realise hose picturesque Salhouse is.

Now came to my mind the situation of mooring in Wroxham, I was pleased to see space in the yard at Barnes Brinkcraft and came into moor faffing about more than I needed to but the job was done in the end – I then popped into the office to see if someone could clear a small blockage to the gas jet on one of the cookers gas rings leading it to underperform.   I then walked off into Wroxham and the world that is Roys.

Coming back fed and with more supplies to last me probably the rest of the trip, I found an engineer had been onboard and sorted the hob. Unpacked the shopping and it was time to depart to my overnight destination – Ludham Bridge to meet with Alex and Lorna of Braveheart. I thought I would get something a little different and had also got some cocktails – you put the pouch in thefreezer compartment and squeeze out the contents as a slush – i can report they are bloody nice and being on offer in Roys very good value.

All was going to plan having left Wroxham, cruised past Salhouse when on the ‘straight to horning’ I again came across some of the sailing group and a couple of their support cruisers – talking calmly to the camera I suddenly paused ‘where is he going’ as the 42ft centre cockpit cruiser went further right (to their left) then turned to come straight at me.  It was not a close call by any means but I had concentrated on his course and as he had passed I found the cruiser had sort of ‘hidden’ the sailing boat that was hugging the right hand bank.  I decided the best course of action would be stop – then as nothing was behind me, reverse matching the sailing boats speed and controlling my course with the bow thrusters so I did not wander – it worked well and in a short time the sailing boat had begun to tack to my left and I could once more head forward along the right bank and stay out of trouble.

Through a busy Horning, past Ranwoth Dam and then to the mouth of the Ant – once on this much narrower river it really felt so much calmer.  The water was still and the sun was doing amazing things as its rays came through the clouds.  Before long I had arrived at Ludham Bridge, turned the boat and found Jason, Lorna and Alex waiting – funny how when you have people watching and giving instructions you tend to perform the worse moorings as if you’ve never done such before and are new to the game – the wind caught me, honest guv!