To Horning for a few days’ stay after driving via Nanny’s to return her car, now that Daniel has his own back after repair. On to Norfolk in the heat of early afternoon, enjoying the Range Rover’s air conditioning.
Amis had made good progress on the new dock, and I measured the depths and noted their use of the dredgings. The girls did some revision prior to their exams and rowed around in the dinghies. I watched the sun set tonight really pleased to be back in Norfolk
I was awake early this morning as the open curtains and windows brought me very close to the dawn chorus. I did not feel very well to start with after staying up late last night and drinking too much alcohol, but I soon felt better as Diana made me a nice cup of tea. Breakfast with the whole family - even Daniel was up on time - and then I worked my way through the range of chores so that I was soon ready to leave for Norfolk. I got the rest of the family to carry out a prodigious amount of luggage and then successfully loaded it all in the back of the Range Rover before we set off. Debbie joined Daniel in Mum's car and the rest were with me as we drove in convoy to Stanton.
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The day had started cool but was soon very warm; indeed, the sun's rays being so fierce that it would have been folly to stay out in them. We put Nanny's car back into her garage; having loaded her wheelchair and things back into it and then sat with her and chatted over a cup of tea. She seemed to have been a bit depressed, but we did our best to cheer her up and hope that she will soon be able to go and stay with Freda, once the new bed has arrived. On to Norfolk in the heat of early afternoon; five of us in the Range Rover now and the air conditioning keeping us all cool. The journey went well, and we were soon in Norwich to drop Daniel off at his flat where his own car was waiting for him. He showed us a good place for car spares on the way and I ordered a new exhaust box/tail pipe and two new tyres which I will get fitted next Wednesday on our way back.
Lunch at Wroxham and then we decided to make the Paxton Princess at Heronshaw our base for these few days and make day trips to the beach and nearby towns for shopping. Diana had left our bag of milk etc at home by accident and so we took The Jolly across to get some more from the village and the girls did some good shopping at the same time. Once back at Ropes Hill Dyke, I encouraged both girls to do some rowing in the dinghies which they managed very well. I had a good look at the progress of Amis and noted that they had finished all of the quay heading and rails and had securely tied it to the piles as well. I spent some time in the dinghy sounding the depths where they had been dredging. It varied from 3 to 4ft in the key places and I will try to get them to take some more out.
They had done well with the main dyke opposite our cut and had also backfilled the quay heading. Unfortunately, they had also smoothed out and used the stockpile of dredgings which I had hoped to use elsewhere on the plot but I was not there to stop them and so could not really complain. Some tidying before I joined the girls in the boat and updated my journal on the portable computer. Diana had spent some time making sure the girls did some revision on the boat this evening after their baths as they are supposed to do a lot this holiday before their exams. I watched the sun set tonight really pleased to be back in Norfolk and feeling confident that I will be able to make good progress on the new boat-shed this summer.