Setting off for Norfolk with Steve Bloom, picking him and his 21ft Fairline up from Great Gransden and towing it to Wroxham where we launched it and he cruised to Horning and met me at Heronshaw. Horning was in flood at quite a high level, with melting snow everywhere and the moorings of Paxton Princess had pulled out of the boat dock in the gales and the gales had dislodged some tufts of Heronshaw's thatch. Steve joined me with his sleeping bag on the Paxton Princess and we took Steve's boat across to the Swan at Horning and had a nice meal in their restaurant and came back to the moorings for a pleasant brandy and chat until we retired
I had spoken to Steve Bloom late the previous night on the telephone and we decided that this was as good a day as any to set off for Norfolk. I hastily packed my bags and prepared the Range Rover and then went to collect him and his boat from Great Gransden at 10.15am. It was quite a cold morning but clear and still and we soon had his trailer hooked up and was ready to go. He has bought a 21ft Fairline with a 210 HP inboard petrol engine with out-drive for coastal cruising at speed. It was quite wide and heavy and, probably being rather unbalanced on the trailer, was rather difficult to tow. It weaved about from side-to-side unless we kept our speed down to 45mph. A long journey at that speed, but we broke for lunch halfway which made it all right. It was a good chance to chat to Steve who I had not seen for some time.
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We arrived at Wroxham in early afternoon and it was a simple matter for us to reverse the boat into the water on one of the best slipways there for a fee of £15. We dumped the trailer in their car park, and I drove off to Heronshaw as Steve cruised downstream to join me there an hour later. I was a bit un-prepared for what I found. Horning was in flood at quite a high level - even higher than I had seen it before. Then the moorings of Paxton Princess had pulled out of the boat dock in the gales, so that it was only properly secured by the front ropes. There was quite a bit of melting snow everywhere and so they must have had some pretty bad weather over the last couple of days, but it was the wind direction that had led to the water level being so high. Lastly, the gales had dislodged some tufts of Heronshaw's thatch, but an inspection inside revealed no trace of the weather getting in which was a relief.
Steve joined me at the moorings and stayed there overnight, bringing his sleeping bag into the Paxton Princess where the shore-power and Webasto heating made it nice and snug on a cold night. We had a cup of tea and then looked around the boat and bungalow and he was very impressed. We started to look at the boat engines to work out how I could change my fuel filters but were unsure how to proceed. In particular, if we had to bleed the system, it would have been nigh impossible to get access we thought. Then, we took Steve's boat across to the Swan at Horning and had a nice meal in their restaurant and came back to the moorings for a pleasant brandy and chat until we retired.