After another poor night, Diana and I were deeply engaged in discussing what type of boat we should buy when the girls awoke and frustrated the process. Breakfast was troubled until Daniel joined in and tried to mediate, but soon after Daniel and I were picked up by the Estate Agent to go and view Heronshaw and meet its present owner, where a deal was reached. For £110,000, we arranged for a number of things to form part of the sale and we were then briefed on the services and information necessary to care for this old building. After returning to The Lady, the girls were happy swimming, and so we looked at some other boats and then caught a taxi to Brundall, collected our Range Rover, and viewed some Broom Boats as well. We then cruised on, stopped to look round St Bennett’s Abbey and heard of England’s humiliating drubbing by Australia in the Test Match
I had a rather poor night, made uncomfortable by the heat and the confined dimensions in the sleeping bag in equal measure. Eventually, when we rose, Di and I were locked in conversation (almost argument) over what type of boat would suit us best and then the girls awoke and came to disturb and interrupter us, which made us angry. A troubled breakfast as a result until Daniel joined in and tried to mediate. Soon after, Mr Golden of the Broadland Estate Agency came by to pick me up to further view Heronshaw and meet its present owner, with Daniel joining me.
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We agreed on a range of things to be left for us, and also learnt all about services such as sewage, electricity and water which are in good order, as well as the access road. I agreed a price of £110,000 (£5,000 above the offer price of another client who wished to proceed and may well have offered more) but the agents wanted to go with us due to our cash holdings and ability and willingness to proceed without complications. Back to The Lady, where the girls had been having a nice swim, then coffee and time to view a few boats. We left the girls in The Lady and first looked at the Colvic 27 foot boat with an aft cabin similar to the Fairline Mirage. This was a fine boat of its type, but this size of boat really did not have enough space for our tastes. Then it was time to have lunch at Horning and drive over to revover our Range Rover at Brundall, which gave us a chance to look over the Broom Boats and visit that branch of the Norfolk Yacht Agency. We discussed Broom 35 and 37 designs and also other similar ones and left our details with a view to finding something in the winter. Home by taxi and then we set off down the Bure, after just having a last look along Horning river front and up Ropes Hill Dyke. We cruised on and moored up at St Bennett’s Abbey this lovely old monument is so accessible and open to the public that it makes you wonder why. The family played hide and seek around its ruins as I took some good video pictures as we then walked up to the site of the old chapel and then along the periphery of the Abbey walls. Where the hot weather and drought that led to the lines of an old foundation being brown in the grass. A bit of a clear up when we got back to the boat and then we wrote our journals and went early to bed in hope of a better night sleep. All I heard about today was the test match where Australia were again beating England by a humiliating margin after only two days play.