It started with a rainbow …

Actually, it started before the rainbow, with a rain storm of enormous proportions, which followed us up the river and arrived as we moored at Thurne.

All was safely battened down and waterproof and I must congratulate the weather forecasters on a reasonably accurate forecast – they said the rain would come through at lunchtime and last for three hours – it came through around 3pm and lasted for around an hour and a half!  Pretty fair forecasting we thought.

As the weather front started to clear, with blue sky appearing, a glorious rainbow developed.  One of the occasions when I longed for a wide angle lens to snap the entire rainbow.

However, I wanted to catch as much as possible so the skipper started to open a window for me to poke the camera out but as we both moved to one side of the boat the water on the roof started to pour down the side so he rolled up a towel to catch it and enable me to keep the camera dry.  I stood in front of the navigator’s seat with the camera at the ready and he leaned over with the rolled towel.  Unfortunately, the folding back of the seat folded at that point and he fell forward enough to knock me off balance.  There was nothing I could grab and in a freaky accident I went backwards, not just on to the floor, but down the steps into the saloon of the boat!

Steps to saloon

Total shock was my first reaction, followed by concern for my camera and then pain from so many parts of my body that I didn’t know which to worry about first!  The skipper rushed down to try and get me up but I told him to leave me whilst I assessed any damage.  My initial thought was that I had cracked a back rib, followed by a dislocated shoulder and a ripped ear!  The skipper examined my ear closely and proclaimed “no blood” and my shoulder was moving in the socket so the rib was the main concern.  To cut a long story short, severe bruising was the only problem, thank goodness – I’ve discovered a few more bruises today, two days later, on legs and buttocks!

A decision was made to cut short our weekend and head for home, for a hot bath and medication, which was the right move, although we did miss a glorious day on Sunday!

I did recover enough to take a few snaps of the rainbow and, hallelujah, no damage to the camera - it landed on a seat cushion - which is where I should have landed!!

Rain cloud rolling away

Sunset after the storm

August Bank Holiday Weekend

The forecast said “there will be sunshine all day on Saturday” so we decided to go sailing!

The sunset on Friday night was good and the sunrise on Saturday morning was also good!

The plan was to cruise gently down the river in the motor boat, moor at the end of Upton Dyke, collect the sailing boat and maybe go for a sail down to Acle and back then tow the sailing boat alongside the motor boat, back to South Walsham.

When we got to Upton Dyke, the only mooring at the end was full with a large sailing boat which was intending to stay all weekend (maybe for the beer festival in the village pub) so plan B came into force.

This was to take the motor boat back to our mooring and drive to Upton to collect the sailing boat and, as the weather was looking good, to sail back to South Walsham.

All went according to plan, except we had to bale 15 buckets’ worth of water out of the sailing boat before we could sail, but we eventually took to the river together with two or three other sailing boats.

A lovely sail upriver for about half an hour when we noticed a huge black cloud behind us.  “Don’t worry” said the skipper, "it’s going the other way!"  When a few raindrops started to fall, we thought back to a few weeks’ previously when something similar had happened and the friend we were with decided to put on his full wet weather gear.  We were sceptical but followed suit, just before the heavens opened!

With this in mind, we donned our wet weather clothing, except I had forgotten to bring my waterproof trousers!  The skipper, who was wearing shorts, kindly said that I could wear his waterproof salopettes – rather too big for me but I went for it anyway!

A good move, as the cloud which was “going the other way” suddenly changed direction and decided to dump its contents on us.  The wind was still blowing so we gallantly carried on sailing and after about ten minutes the rain stopped, however the wind disappeared as well!  As the tide was against us, we were eventually going backwards and the other boats which had set off just after us gave up and turned round.  I felt this was a wise move but the skipper said “let’s go into the reeds and wait for the wind”.  By this time I was thinking longingly of wine rather than wind!

By this time there were black clouds all round us but we sat in a patch of sun for about 20 minutes when the reeds started stirring so we let go and began to sail again.  Unfortunately we sailed right under one of the black clouds which again kindly dumped on us and the wind got up to storm force (it felt like it!).  We were racing along and could have done with a couple of reefs – we overtook another half-decker at speed, went round the bend at Thurne Mouth to head up the Bure in a gale, hail, thunder and lightning but as quickly as the storm had started, it passed over and everything stopped, apart from the tide running out!!

Out came the paddle and, to cut a long story short, about an hour and a half later we arrived back at South Walsham, cold and with aching arms and shoulders.

I have to admit that we put the heating on in our motor boat and never was wine and chocolate so gratefully consumed as it was on Saturday evening!

NB - we had a lovely sail back to Upton on Sunday, in warm sunshine and a steady breeze, 

stopping for lunch at Thurne, so had a good memory to end the weekend.   

Although it was a long weekend, being August Bank Holiday (August? - really?) we took note of the forecast for Monday and stayed in the dry!!

Big Storms

After the Big Storm forecast overnight and today (27/28 October 2013) I started to think about other big storms I had experienced.

The most scary was probably the 1987 Hurricane which hit around this time of year (a bit earlier I think).  We lived in Norwich then and were suddenly woken early morning by our open window being blown off its catch and crashing wide open!  Being woken like that was frightening and disorientating and initially we didn’t realise what had happened.  We did realise quite quickly when we heard the noise, first by the wind in the huge oak tree in our garden and then by the noise in the house.

Our big concern was the oak tree as if it came down it would be straight on to our roof!  Clothes dragged on quickly and ran downstairs.  Our cat had come in through the catflap with her hair standing on end but because the wind was rattling and clattering the chimney lining she was petrified and tried to rush out again.  I had to grab her as I thought she’d be safer with me than outside.  The wind was so strong by now that she could have been blown away.

I can’t remember how long it lasted but was probably only a few minutes and was so hard to believe what was going on.  When it stopped we took stock and thank goodness there was no damage – the sturdy oak tree had remained standing.  We debated whether to go in to work and decided to have a go, obviously cautiously.  One of my staff rang to ask if I could pick her up as she was scared to drive.  There were one or two trees down on the journey across Norwich but only about six people made it in to work – many of them being stuck in the countryside because of blocked roads.

The following spring, we were in awe, as we travelled south, to see the line of fallen trees through the forest around the Newmarket area.

The next memorable storm was in November 1993!  We were on our boat for the weekend and having moored at Womack Staithe and gone for a walk, we decided to go to Ranworth for the night. We moored side on to the left of the dinghy dyke and settled down for the night.  We woke to strong winds on the Sunday which gradually increased during the day to force 9/10 (that’s what it felt like anyway!).  There were one or two incidents on the moorings of ropes being broken, boats crashing together with broken windows etc and when one boat tried to leave the moorings, even on full engine power they couldn’t pull away!

Although we should have been home that night, ready for work the next day, we knew there was no way we would get off the moorings.  The waves across Malthouse Broad were so strong that the water was coming through our hopper windows!  All the extra fenders we could find were put out, ropes checked and adjusted and we settled down to sit it out.  We were prepared for some night navigation if the wind dropped but it didn’t, keeping us pinned to the quay all night – we didn’t get a lot of sleep!  At 5am we decided the conditions had improved enough to allow us to get off the mooring and in a carefully planned manoeuvre we managed to get away!  Phew!

It was with some anticipation that I waited for the storm to hit today and having heard from family in Kent that it had been horrendous, I was quite concerned.  The media were hyping it up of course, with trains being cancelled and advice on travelling being given.  Everything moveable in the garden was put in the garage, all windows securely shut and we waited!  And waited, and waited …. around 9 am the rain started lashing down and the tall trees started bending and I thought “here it comes” but by the time I’d got my camera set to video, it had gone!  I’m sure we were very lucky in south Norfolk as I understand there has been some damage in the rest of the county, but it did turn into a bit of a non event.  Thank goodness!!

Lovely day for a walk!

I have been planning a riverside walk for next year's schedule for my walking group and decided to try it out on Saturday.
Having had some rain during the night and early morning I carefully listened to the forecast, studied the clouds and decided that 09.30 was a good starting time. Just in case I put a lightweight raincoat in my backpack and also a polythene bag for my camera.  Walking boots on and off I set.

The clouds made some interesting skies but nothing threatening.  I met a man walking his two beautiful alsatians and passed the time of day but no-one else was out and about.  They don't know what they're missing, I thought.

St Benet's Abbey ruins, with the base of the old mill appeared in the distance and I was enjoying the scenery.  A number of small brown birds were flitting about, singing loudly and I promised myself to try and identify them in future.  I was on the lookout for marsh harriers as I knew there was a nest on the other side of the river but no luck.
Reaching the main river, I turned right to follow its course and had gone about half a mile when my mobile rang.  Tempting not to answer but I did, only to hear the skipper saying "there is a huge thunderstorm with hail and heavy rain in Norwich".  Looking to the west I could see an enormous black cloud but it seemed to be moving slowly and I felt it could go south of where I was.  "Thanks for the warning" - and continued my walk.
I reached an old pumping station on the riverside which was where I had to turn inland, back towards the village.  The cows were still standing up and didn't appear to be concerned about possible rain so I confidently walked on, keeping a weather eye to the west.
 

When I glanced up after a few minutes, I suddenly realised the storm was heading straight for me!  What should I do?  The first thing was to put on my lightweight raincoat and wrap my entire backpack (camera included) in the plastic bag.
To walk on would be into the wind and all the rest of the rubbish but would complete the planned walk but to turn round and head back would probably mean I would miss the centre of the storm.  Being a wimp I turned back with thoughts of maybe getting into the lee of the pumping station to avoid the worst of it.

Walking fairly fast, trying to avoid potholes, I reached the pumping station only to realise it was fenced off!  The hail had started by then, stinging my face and the wind was ferocious.  All I could do was walk back along the riverside path until I found a large bush, where I stood, facing the river and the passing boats, hoping that the bush would give me slight protection.  By this time my trousers were soaked and sticking to my legs but my trusty lightweight raincoat (very old and never before used in anger!) seemed to be doing its job!  I got some strange looks from passing boats - luckily my raincoat is pink as if it had been black I think I would have looked a bit sinister, especially so close to St Benet's Abbey ruins.  Hmmm, maybe something for the future hahaha!!

I wasn't thinking along those lines at the time, concentrating on other things, hoping that the lightning wouldn't strike anywhere near and bracing myself for the thunder.  After what seemed hours, but in fact was only about 10 minutes, the rain eased off a bit so I started walking again only to find that my walking boots had filled with water which was squelching through my toes with every step!  Nothing I could do, just keep walking, wind and rain hitting me sideways but blue sky was getting steadily closer.
When the storm eventually passed, I rang the skipper to confirm I was ok and took a quick photo of the departing cloud.

This photo really doesn't show how ominous the cloud was when it was overhead but gives an idea of the size of the storm.
The plan now was to get back to the dry as soon as possible but I was mortified when a marsh harrier flew over me, low and leisurely, as if to say 'ha, you've put your camera away'.  #%$£&*!
Compensation came with a glorious sunset and the walk can wait for a calmer day.