DAY 3 - HORNING TO WROXHAM 



 

Horning - Early Morning

Was rocked awake, and thought to myself, that will be a speedboat, but then realised that with a speed limit of 6mph, that a speedboat was pretty unlikely. I went for a walk before breakfast, and saw a lady in the butcher making sausages, came back with 3 each, lunch sorted.



The Deli & Post Office at Horning

After breakfast I returned to the village with Janet, I left her at the Deli and popped in the post office, and got some money from a very cheerful post master, so much more pleasant than an ATM machine. Rejoined Janet in the Deli, and bought, bread, cheese and carrot cake. Walking back we both agreed that the owner had created the perfect village Deli, but we thought she might be so precise on how her shop was run, that she would be a nightmare to work for.

Salhouse Broad

We pushed off at 10am, as we had a tour booked at Salhouse for 11am, and our map indicated that it would take 40 minutes to reach the broad. We got moored on time and went to look for Toby the ranger. We found him, he being interviewed by the local TV news, about the murder yesterday. So we were taken by boat to the Hoveton Great Broad Nature Trail, by Holly his assistant. The trail took us about 90 minutes and included two great bird hides, and views over Hoveton Broad. I highly recommend this, if you are in the vicinity, it is free if your moor up yourself, or £3 per person for the ferry from Salhouse Broad.



Ice Cream Boat

On the way back, we spotted the Ice Cream Boat, and as the weather was now nothing short of HOT, we treated ourselves. I also bought Holly one too, and she was very grateful. The Ice Cream was delicious, and so novel to get it from a boat. While we all ate the cones, Holly gave us a tour of Salhouse Broad, which was great, as we saw, lots of baby Grebes with their parents.



Woodbastwick Green & Church

Salhouse Broad is the smallest and prettiest broad we saw, that the sun was so hot, children and parents were paddling and sunbathing. As suggested the couple we met at Ranworth yesterday, we decided to visit the village of Woodbastwick. Holly gave us directions, and we were there within 25 minutes.



The Garden at The Fur & Feather

We had a drink in the lovely gardens of the Fur and Feathers pub. Then had a look around the local brewery shop, Janet bought some souvenir beer for her son, and we continued down to the village green, with a well house in the middle. We visited the beautiful church, and made our way back to the boat, and made the most of the water hose to top up the water tank.




It was after 3pm when we left Salhouse Broad, and we were behind schedule, it, was about an hour to Wroxham, where we planned to get a pilot to take us under the bridge there, and then another 90 minutes to our ultimate destination, Coltishall.

Approaching Wroham Bridge

Wroxham looked familiar as we approached, we had been viewing the Wroxham Hotel webcam for weeks, to get an idea on the weather. Wasn't sure where to go for the pilot, there were a number of boats behind us, so I couldn't slow down, and before I knew it I was at the bridge. I had to pull over hard to stop the boat going through unpiloted, and was stuck at the side of the bridge, looking beached. I phoned the pilot who said it was no go for today, that he could get us under in the morning.


I had forgotten that it was Coltishall and NOT Wroxham that isn't tidal, so our plans were foiled, I turned the boat, went downstream, and returned back looking for a mooring. The two east end couples from the New Inn called to us, they were moored at the cafe, next to the hotel and we were soon moored next to them. I went into the cafe to pay for the nights mooring, £10 a night was a bit steep, but what could we do.

Had to rethink our plan for the week, was tempted to forget Coltishall, but decided there were other places we would rather miss, so we decided to pass under the bridge as soon as the pilot started work, moor on the other side, and do something around Wroxham in the morning, and continue up to Coltishall in the afternoon.



The Bridge Fish Restaurant

Plans made we sat on deck, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and watching the world go by, including other boats hoping to go under the bridge. That evening we decided to let our hair down in the capital of the broads, but unless you were called Roy there wasn't much to do. We had a tasty Fish Meze in The Bridge restaurant, crab, lobster, scampi, king prawns, it was delicious with great friendly service. Short walk back to the Mars, and we were soon fast asleep, after a long hot day on the broads.