Day 5 - OULTON BROAD TO THURNE 



Morning Over Oulton Broad

Today we are travelling back to the northern rivers, the ideal time to pass through Great Yarmouth is 4:35pm, so we had a leisurely morning. I went over to pay the station master for our nights mooring, he said that the water was included in the mooring fee. I had a walk through the park and bought some fresh rolls for lunch.

Leaving the Broad

As we filled the tank with water and had a final cup of tea, the yacht station started to fill with boats. We made our way out before Oulton Broad go too busy, the sun was out and shining as we retraced our way back upriver. At St Olaves we decided to have a tea break, as we didn't want to arrive at Breydon too early. With a bit of manoeuvring with managed to moor, the tide here was moving quite fast, and our bow thrusters failed to working.

No One On The River

The ideal time to go through Breydon Water was 4:35pm, but as we were heading for Thurne dike, we would have to leave earlier, or we would get there after 7:30. We set off and passed Castle Burgh, the last mooring before Breydon, it seemed very busy there.

Crossing Breydon Early

As we started crossing Breydon Water, a broads authority boat passed us, and shouted that a rope was trailing at the bow. I went to pull it up, but it was caught fast, the problem with the bow-thruster suddenly became apparent. I returned to the helm and continued the crossing. I decided to give the Wroxham pilot a call, who advised me to get to Wroxham by noon tomorrow, and he could take us under the bridge. Great no early morning tomorrow.



Racing Up The Bure

The passage through Great Yarmouth was smooth and uneventful, even though we were going through over an hour earlier than the recommended time. The journey back up the Bure was long, we only saw two other boats all the way up to Stracey Arms mill. I took advantage of this and hooked up the iPhone to the TV and had a sing-a-long to Florence and the Machine. Stokesby staithe was full, and by the time we got to Acle Bridge, we were back in the land of holiday makers. The last leg up to Thurne seemed to last for hours, but before long the familiar white windmill into view, it was just a few minutes past 6pm.

Passing Stokesby

Thurne Mill, Most Welcome Sight

With no free spaces left on the free mooring side, we were the only boat moored on the farm side. Happily paid the farmer his £4 when he came around, was glad to finally be there. I walked up to the pub to see if there was a pub quiz that night, and if so what time it started. The landlord asked if everybody was interested and they were, he said that we had came all the way from Suffolk to take part in the quiz. He seemed pretty impressed until one of the patrons reminded him that Suffolk was next door.

The Lion, A Home From Home

We went to dinner at 7:30, and ordered two steak and rib combos, you always get a good Norfolk portion at the Lion, but he out did himself, and it was delicious! The pub quiz was a lot of fun too, but we only came second this time. We needed Mandy and Janet at our table to get first place and win the box of chocolates. We agreed that it was a good night, as we returned to the boat by torchlight.