After the high winds of mid August, the end of the school holidays rolled in a little calmer. Our scheduled expedition two weeks before (during the high winds) never happened, partly because of the lumps of trees being torn off and partly because the ships dog was poorly owing to a short operation to get a grass seed out of his paw.

Having fixed the alternator and made the gearbox a little happier I was keen (in full Secret Water style) to do some exploration of the surrounding islands and channels.

We arrived the evening before armed with our new electric cold box and the ingredients for a nice spaghetti bolognese. So we put our Origo cooker through it’s paces properly for the first time. I must say it did the job brilliantly!

Rosie has sat idle for a few weeks, so now seemed like a good moment to check and top up oil levels (I’m getting the hang of doing this by feel now) so we did so without spilling any. Since the trip I’ve watched Mike Dunning’s helpful video and am relieved that our engine sounds much the same, but we have significantly less water coming out, so a future exercise will be to check the raw water intake filter.

We decided to aim for a nice lunch in Potter Heigham assuming there was mooring space for us.

We made it in good time, there were some amazing sailing boats and some very skilful sailors out, not as busy as some days but still very much enough to keep you on your toes.

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At martham we were treated to a bank full of some very nice little yachts, antother Westerly caught my eye along side a Jaguar 22.

The Cirrus does look like a sturdy little boat and I wonder if I’ll ever sail a Jaguar 22 again.

Once we arrived at Potter, we moored up where the (lucky) native boats usually drop masts for transiting the two bridges and since it was fairly quiet and there was lots of space we tucked in there and went ashore to explore.

I’d never moored up this side of the bridge before, there was an enjoyable short walk through the tall grasses and trees over to the old roman bridge and then across to the shops and eateries.

The Norada is the first place you see, but sadly it seems rather unloved and empty now. But not to worry, the rather smart and dog friendly Bridge Stones served us up some very nice lunch. Evie was presented with some of the best fish and chips I’ve seen in a long time.

After our food, we kitted ourselves out with our firs set of fishing gear. Two rods bought from the Lathams fishing shop and hurried back to Rosie Free to set off for our Island destination for some fishing.

After a great many birds-nests and no bites we opted to return to Horsey. The lure of the warm shower being more than that of the tiny island and impending rain. Rosie sped us home as the weather started to close in.

Evie did rather look the part in her new waterproofs and was enjoying the breeze and start of rain.

Next time, well, I’ve got some jobs to finally finish and then maybe a quick solo sail rather than a motor-only trip like this one.