5. A Stinky Day

Wroxham to Ranworth Broad

With the weather on our side (its too hot, aargh, drive under the trees - various children in turn) we departed, late (you can see a theme developing) for Wroxham Boat Hire having packed tons of food as that seems to be the standard prerequisite for keeping children mostly happy when on the water.  The children were resplendent in their own life jackets courtesy of an Amazon delivery the night before.  There was a bit of mucking around as the first boat rental place, in the premium spot, turned out to be very inflexible.  Four hours was £65 at a smaller place which I did not feel was too bad. 

Stock snap.  The boats name is Red

Having endured the briefing we set off with Roman driving much to the surprise of those on the shore but not to those on board.  A strict bell count was kept on my phone timer to ensure that each able-seaman did not get more than their ten minute rota on the wheel.

We were very keen to get to Ranworth Broad which is where my Grandad, Dr Heath, kept his yacht in the late 1930's however the rental company assured us that we could not get nearly that far.

All concentration

The trip was fantastic, the boats little two cylinder diesel engine could just do the five mph limit so was kept pegged the whole time and chugged away happily, and quietly.  There was plenty of room to move about and the mid mounted engine cover made a very serviceable table for the à la carte dining.

The river twists and turns with mostly duffers like us in rentals making the passage.  Our first deviation off the River Bure was to poke our nose into the beautiful Wroxham Broad before keeping going.  Our tank range was limited so we stopped briefly at Horning for a restroom.

Departing Horning we were in open country which really gave us the Norfolk Broads experience.  The main difference from the historic photos is that trees now line the banks pretty much ruining the brands for sailing.  Traditionally there were no trees at all.  We pressed on and made it to Ranworth Broad but disappointingly it is now closed as a bird sanctuary so we couldn't explore.

Pleased to say that we made it back, cutting the port corners where able, skirted through Wroxham Broad as WikiLocal (invaluable) showed it had two entrances and returned the boat eight minutes early.  On the way home we called into Ranworth Broad's neighbour Malthouse Broad by car which was fun to see it from the other end as well as giving us the chance to purchase The Big Six & Coot Club locally.

Audrey - Photo by Fyfe

Houses in Horning - photo by Fyfe

There are quite a few large tour boats