A walk to Acle Cottage, Market and Church after securing a repair to Daniel’s boat engine and then on to Stokesby to have a look around at the charming thatched Church and shopping at the two village shops after securing a tricky mooring along the boggy water front. Then back using the falling tide to moor at Yarmouth Marina where we could leave the boats and take a taxi to the Marina Centre swimming pool with its exciting wave machine after which the girls uses a play area and I treated the family to dinner at Nicki’s Family Restaurant. The 14 dead victims of the Hungerford gunmen may well be joined by a 15th, The US naval build up in the Gulf goes on and the latest money supply figures were received with something near to panic in the City and share prices entered free fall.
Slept well during an uninterrupted night. The boaters passing or moorings were well settled by bedtime. Di was awake first this morning and brought me tea and got us going on time. We were moored right in front of the Horizon boatyard at Acle Bridge and soon the men arrived and we were able to ask for help with Daniel's engine. We had breakfast and then the engineer assisted us to trace the trouble to a faulty spark plug. Once replaced, the boat ran fine and Daniel looked very pleased and relieved. We left the boats in the yard and walked to Acle for the market, stopping on the way at Acle Cottage for morning coffee. An interesting place that has a number of old implements and objects on the walls, so that one of the assistants dubbed it ‘Acle Cottage Museum’.
The owner tells of the second market further along the road, where you can get antique things and so we set off in search of both. A fine, sunny, warm, if windy day, but we enjoyed the look round, but did not buy much. Nice to see such a virile and vital market, as there are not so many good markets in Norfolk as in Huntingdonshire. We arranged to meet at the gates of Acle church and I arrived back early enough to have a look inside the old building, which has a fine carved screen and bell tower. By taxi back to The Lady, then on for a short cruise to Stokesby for lunch. We had some trouble stopping, as the moorings were full and the tide & wind tricky for mooring in the rough, but we did it and used Daniel's boat to get to the pub for lunch. A good meal, if a bit slow again, but it gave Daniel and I a chance for a game of darts and I beat him 2 to nil. After, we gave Daniel the chore of looking after the girls in the playground on the village green, while Di and I walked around the village. Some nice old cottages around the green and the inevitable row of council houses on the outskirts. As always they are dated 1926 to 1930 – then in the pre-war years, as the 1930s anti-public works ethos deepened the recession. We had to walk round to find the path to the church and when we did we found it a nice thatched design, with a tower, but in need of renovation. All the carpets were thread bare and some windows were broken. Then a little shopping at the two village stores to buy our milk and bread, before gathering the children from the playing field and setting off for Yarmouth on the falling tide. Stokesby moorings are a poor affair – just room for three boats opposite the village green and the rest at £1 a time along a peaty and boggy river front. No water available either and the nearer you get to tidal Yarmouth, the worse the facilities seem to be. We fought a fierce breeze and moderate tide when arriving later in Yarmouth at low water and landed and moored at the marina, as far away from the centre as possible. No mooring bollards and a silty shallow depth here and so we had to moor with hooks, but we should be safe from the hire craft here. Before we left the boat, one of the attendants was along collecting our £3.50. He recognised us and was surprised to see us return after all of my criticism last time. We took the long walk down to The Bosun’s Locker pub and telephoned for a taxi, which soon arrived to take us to the marina centre swimming pool. This was a lot less crowded than last time and no sessions were in progress and so we enjoyed our swim. The creation of large waves by the machine is always exciting, but Debbie got too near them today and frightened herself. Then the girls played for a while in Jolly Jacks play area, before we walked along the front to Nicki’s Family Restaurant for our dinner. It is like eating with a family there, as the service is intimate and the waitresses are always making friends with the children and playing tricks. Della has her favourite high chair, with a recess for her glass and a row of coloured beads in an abacus. Then a taxi back to the Yarmouth Marina, which took us right along the track to our boat and saved us a long, dark and chilly walk in our beach clothes. To bed to sleep well after the exertions of an active day. The news today was of the death of the fifth septuplet – leaving only two surviving babies left, both in intensive care. The 14 dead victims of the Hungerford gunmen may well be joined by a 15th, as a woman’s condition is deteriorating in hospital and two more people are on the critical list. The US naval build up in the Gulf goes on and Iran denies laying mines in the international waters and claims that their presence suited US policies of needing a reason to build up their forces there. The latest money supply figures were received with something near to panic in the City and share prices entered free fall. More warm and humid weather is forecast.