Page published 27 August 2025
Monday 12 May 2025 - The Pump Out
It was another bright morning. We didn't rush to rise as we wanted to make sure that there would be staff at the boatyard. Once we'd had breakfast, just before raising the mud weight, at 09:15, I took my first photo of the day. Whenever I drop the mud weight over the bows at South Walsham I think of the time we ran Out Of Fuel there. On that occasion we also had . It was to be the same this time.
This was the view we had after lunch on 1 October 2023 when the engine wouldn't start and we discivered we were out of fuel.
It turned out that it was Rod Russell that did the did our pump out and re-fuelling.
By 09:34 we were at the what I always think of as Bondon's Yard but, these days, is known as Marine-Tech. It turned out it was Rod Russell who served us. I found that out, as I began to talk to him, and mentioned how I was working on a web site recording the history of the Hampton Safari and had taken a photo of a Rare Example at the yard. He went on to explain that he had employed one of the main men from Hampton's yard and that was how he had obtained the mouldings. There is clearly much more to be learnt from Rod, but I didn't have the chance on this visit.
Fleet Dyke
Partly as a result of all the chatter, it took us some time to get going again and it was 10:19 when I took the next photo, half way up Fleet Dyke.
It was turning into a splendid day as we returned to the Bure.
You couldn't see much of them under their tarpaulins but we passed several stacks of cut reed as we passed down Fleet Dyke to the Bure.
Up The River Ant
There seemed little point in repeating the views I'd taken yesterday as we passed the short reach along the Bure by St Benet's Abbey before turning up the Ant, so the first view I took was of Neave's Mill.
The old Neave's Mill alongside the pumping station that replaced it.
How Hill is another of those landmarks that it's hard to resist taking photos of.
The moorings here are extensive but often quite empty in the late morning.
A little further upstream of How Hill you may not notice a sign by the bank.
It was 11:09 when I took a photograph of a notice I've never bothered to before. It's near the wrecks of what were Clayrack and Boardman's drainage mills. While there are plenty of notices across the Broads warning of the clearance available at a bridge that lies ahead, but this is the only notice I know giving advance warning of a lack of depth of water.
It's a pretty irrelevant notice for any hire boat skipper as they are all designed to draw so little that they would pass over the shoals with even the lowest water I've ever seen seen on the sign. It's a different matter for yachts though, especially those designed for coastal cruising as many, even those of less than 30ft length, can draw as much as four or five feet, not the three foot or less that most yachts designed for the Broads will draw.
You'll also note that the sign refers to "mid-channel". In the narrowest part of the river through Irstead, mid-channel is not available to a yacht, due to large overhanging trees. It's more than once, I've been sailing my old SeaHawk through Irstead to find a hire boat coming towards me was refusing to move over on seeing me approach. It was plain they were only looking at my hull and were thinking I had plenty of space to move over. It was only when they noticed me waving and pointing anxiously at the burgee at the top of my mast and the trees above when they finally recognised why I couldn't use that space nearer the bank.
Passing Through Irstead
There's a sharp right-angled turn before the reach where you see the impressive houses that front the river at Irstead.
I may be wrong, but I recall that it was a yard called "Top Craft" that built the unusual cruiser seen moored here.
I'm probably wrong but I recall that it was an Oulton Broad yard called something like "Top Craft" that built the cruiser that we saw moored at Irstead. They built a few of them which appeared in a mid-1960s Blakes Boating Holidays brochure. Although I liked their bold modern design, I always thought of them a more suitable for the backwaters of the Florida Keys as although not as tall as some, they had an exceptionally wide roof that overhung their side decks making it impossible for them to pass under the bridges at Wroxham and Potter Heigham. Not only that, I always thought their cabins as very exposed more like that of an inspection launch that you might see on the canals and more suitable as a day boat than for a week long holiday.
The Broads Authority Moorings at Irstead were under repair as we passed. I've learnt since that the timber was being replaced and a new path constructed.
Crossing Barton Broad
Without a boat or some other specific point of interest, I always find an open Broad difficult to photograph. The best you can expect is a thin line of green with different shades of blue above and below it. This time, it was 11:35, I choose to frame the scene with the boat's windows.
It's not much better on the narrower approach to Lime Kiln Dyke. There are a pair of channel markers and the green line is somewhat deeper.
Arriving At Neatishead
Eventually, by a boathouse, you see Gay's Staithe to the left and the entrance of Lime Kiln Dyke ahead.
At the entrance to the dyke you are faced with almost too many signs to read. I'm always surprised how many seem to choose to moor at Gay's Staithe when Neatishead Staithe is much closer to the village facilities.
I've taken a number of pictures on voyages to Neatishead. It's one of the narrower navigable parts of the Broads. I recall the River Chet being the same kind of width but much more open as are much of the southern rivers.
It was a glorious day and after mooring at the village staithe we ambled into the village to pick up a few supplies from the community shop and take advantage of the "Mardle Bench" installed outside the pub to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee.
After that we returned to Singing the Blues where we had a light lunch
After lunch Diana settled down to read her book and I used the time to take a photo of the boat, at 13:39, before cleaning all the cabin windows inside and out. The decks were given a bit of a jet wash as well. It had always been the intention to attempt to clean the decks and hull Last Month, but we didn't have the best tools with us and the distraction of cleaning the toilet meant we didn't make time to clean the outside and came away sooner than we had initially planned.
The Return to Wayford
It was 15:10 when we left our mooring at Neatishead Staithe and headed down Lime Kiln Dyke. Less than five minutes later we were passing a seemingly abandoned GRP yacht.
I remember seeing these "Cutlass" class craft in the Blakes or Hoseasons brochures in the late 1960s and was always intrigued by them. Unlike the slab sided Spindrift I , which I spent a week aboard in 1967 and proved to sail like a crab, I thought these boats looked to have much better potential. However, I still had doubts about the ease of dropping the mast as most yachts of this size that featured a cabin-top mast step relied on an awkward A-Frame and winch arrangement to lower the mast, something that was a lot more cumbersome than the traditional Broads yacht's lead counter-weighted mast.
I'm not sure how many years this yacht has been moored, seemingly abandoned, on the south bank of Barton Broad on the approach to Lime Kiln Dyke.
When aboard Just 17, my SeaHawk yacht I used to moor in the bay to the left of this picture. Since those days the pontoon and its moored dinghies have arrived.
It's 15:30 as we pass the liveaboard boat that I discussed in Yesterday's Report.
By 15:56 and we are only a short distance from Long Dyke.
Three minutes later se are at the unusual "Roman" chalet that identifies the entrance to Long Dyke.
The final picture of the cruise. This time it was taken immediately after making the turn into Long Dyke.
Overall, it was an enjoyable couple of days. The pump out seems to have cured all our toilet problems, though I still haven't done anything to tighten the joint that leaks when the toilet is back-filling.
Next: We have An Overnight Cruise to Ludham Bridge