After a very wet and stormy night and a chance to get a few things from the Brundall Riverside shop, we left Brundall in a full northerly gale to navigate with difficulty the two swing bridges at Reedham and Somerleyton to eventually arrive at Oulton Broad in mid-afternoon, having had lunch on the way.
With no films in in Lowestoft, we came back to the boat after tea at McDonalds to watch a video. The water rose strongly with the northerly wind and tide, near capsizing our tightly moored boat until I slackened the ropes. John Major completed the shuffling of his cabinet, and the contest began for leader and deputy leader of the Labour Party
A wet and windy night and stormy when we woke up to see what sort of day it was. The wind was tearing at the mast and aerial and it transpired that we had picked a good and sheltered mooring on what turned out to be the worst day we had ever spent on the Broads. A little time shopping in the riverside shop at Brundall and then we were ready to set off. The boat was very difficult to control with the canopy catching the strong wind and we saw waves actually breaking along the longer stretches of the Yare which funnelled the gale-force north winds. There were boats moored up on some of these reaches being bounced about by the waves with their crew quite worried about the whole experience.
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The worst problem for us was the two swing bridges at Reedham and Somerleyton where the bridge-keepers decided for no apparently-good reason to keep us waiting for 15-20mins at each. It is very difficult to keep the boat on station under those conditions. We pressed on and eventually arrived at Oulton Broad in mid-afternoon, having had lunch on the way. The harbourmaster found us a side-on mooring spot and I brought the boat in parallel to the gale, it meeting the stage with quite a force on all fenders. The power was hooked up and we rested and took stock of the situation.
The plan was to take the bus to Lowestoft to do some shopping and then to have tea at MacDonalds but there were no films on for us to watch afterwards and so we came back to the boat and watched a video called "Look Who's Talking II" which was quite good but a bit old for Della. I examined some new charts that I had bought today and then, as the girls went to bed, we realised that the boat was listing and the mooring ropes were too tight as the water level rose with the northerly wind and tide.
Then the port bilge-pump started to siphon back, the outlet being under water, and so I really had to adjust the moorings and let the side up or we would have sunk. It was midnight by the time high tide came and I had sorted everything out, but the family had been asleep for a couple of hours by then. The news was of the election aftermath as John Major completed the shuffling of his cabinet and the contest began for leader and deputy leader of the Labour Party. Several other sad stories of violence and accidents.