Hello
Welcome to my very first blog. It has been a long time coming and I have finally embraced it with open arms. In this very special first blog I have chosen to share the story of the rowing boats that have arrived on our jetty, just in time for the summer season.
It was about 3 weeks ago…a lazy Sunday…the day after a very special friends wedding on the Norfolk Broads (which we had the pleasure of escourting the Groom and his best man to the Church on the edge of the River in Horning on board Lola).
The goal was simple. To get two rowing boats and a kayak from Barton Broad to Ludham Bridge (and my calculation was that it would be around 2 hours with an ideal team of 5), and from Ludham Bridge, Lola would tow them the rest of the way back to Wroxham Broad (another 2 hours).
6 turned up on the day, bottles of squash and tuna sandwiches and chocolate sponge…. no tow bar though…the cars had all been left at the wedding from the previous day…we managed to adapt the wheel barrow and made the steep roll down to Barton Staithe. 3 times. 3 in one boat, 2 in the other, and 1 in the Kayak – off we set. 40 minutes later – we hadn’t even made the Broad (and for those familiar with this stretch of water – we should have made it in ten!). My co-rower was not on form this particular morning but soldiered on until we could soldier on no more. Whoops a daisy – we were rowing so hard that one of the rollocks fell over board – and with the wind picking up over Barton – and still 2 hours of rowing to go we needed a plan. Rob decided that he could find it so got amongst the sludge in his smalls and tried to find it …and after 20 minutes, he gave up and headed back to find another set at the Staithe. We didn’t waste the opportunity to start tucking into the tuna sandwiches…
Rob returned with the new set of rollocks and whilst we bobbed in the water he found some fresh reed to tie them on tight this time!
We made it across the Broad – providing entertainment to our passers by as we sang rounds of ’row, row, row your boat’. We sat amongst the swans to finish the picnic at How Hill and then got serious as we had time to make up and Luna 2 (we were in Luna 1 - I named them as I wanted to be able to paddle out to see the moon on the Broad) had made some progess so we needed to catch them up.
I won’t bore you with much more detail – but the paddle took us over 4 hours, we were dizzy from our lack of coordination and stomachs hurting from laughing so much but the most fun I have had in a long time. Come and try it for yourself….I have since invested in some blankets and trimmed the oars down to stop them knocking so all should be smooth cruising now. I have also put together some little maps and even a card to identify some of the wildlife. I would finally suggest a good brew at Broad House www.broadhousehotel.co.uk to finish the trip.
Enjoy…its wonderfully peaceful and great excercise too.
