Day 6 - COLTISHALL TO SALHOUSE BROAD 

I remember waking up a few times in the night to a boom BOOM, which was the water hitting the hull of the boat, I could also hear the rain and the wind. When I awoke in the morning things had quietened down, but everywhere was soggy and the skies didn't look promising.

Leaving Coltishall

I walk across the green to the post office to get some milk, and as I passed the Kings Head I could see the other boaters from the staithe having breakfast. It certainly seemed a cheery place, and I will remember it for the next time we are in Coltishall.

Clouding Over

It still wasn't raining when we set off, and we made good time, although the skies were still very depressing. We moored up at Wroxham, and I called the Pilot. He sounded a bit doubtful. and asked me for the boats Air Draft, which has never happened before. When the pilot arrived he had 5 other guys with him, he said it was to weigh the boat down, as the water levels had risen in the night. It must have worked as getting under the bridge seemed easy.

Rain in Wroxham

I asked him if he could moor us up in the boat yard as we wanted to visit Wroxham and then go onto Wroxham Barns, but he said that the boatyard was full. By now the rain was pelting down, the wind had really picked up, the boat was being blown all over the river. We decided to push on downstream, and abandoned our planned visit to Wroxham.

The wind got worse just past Wroxham Broad, driving the rain into my face, luckily the boat had a dual cockpit and I had to steer the boat from inside. The rain was making visibility almost non existent, so once at Salhouse Broad, we decided to wait out the storm.

Trying to Moor at Salhouse

Going across the broad we noticed the strength of the wind, once out of the protection of the trees. Trying to moor stern on here was impossible, a lady and her daughter tried to tie us up stern on, but the wind caught the boat and pushed it round so that we could only moored alongside. As there weren't many boats moored here, we guessed it would be okay.

We had some tea and toast, and decided not to attempt the rivers in this storm. If the winds didn't quieten down, we would stay put for the night. I had a shower, and put on some clean dry clothes. I knew there was a shop in the village of Salhouse, which was about 30 minutes walk away.  In case we were there all night, I decided to have a walk and get some supplies. But before I had even reached the footpath in my new jeans, I slipped over and got covered in thick mud.

Muddy Banks At Salhouse

It took about 35 minutes, the footpath and road gave shelter from the wind and rain, and the lanes looked over some pretty fields. The shop however was very low on stock, and I ended up buying just milk, but I could have purchased a cuppa soup, a hairbrush or a newspaper. I passed a couple who were moored up near us, they were on the way to the Bell pub. They were already regretting leaving their boat, I think the pub was about another 10 minutes on from the shop.

Good Job I Wasn't Hungry

Walking down the footpath, I saw Tobi the Salhouse ranger, and he asked me if I was the one in charge of Glistening Horizon. He wanted to move the boat so that it was stern on, where we had moored the pilings were very weak. I told him that the wind was too strong to moor stern on, but he was welcome to try.

When we got back to the boat he tried to pull the boat into position, and I used the engine to help. We managed to get the boat off the pilings, but it certainly wasn't stern on, but
somewhere in the middle.

That night we didn't fancy the walk to the Fur and Feather for dinner, all we had in was toasted teacakes, which was nice with a cuppa. We settled down for the night with the wind still howling and the water slapping loudly against the hull.