Hello From the River

Hello folks ~ not too sure when this will reach you but I’ve had a good first day in my little boat. I left Horstead Mill at 11am & THANK YOU to everyone who came to see me off. I paddled up past the Rising Sun where I spotted my school friends having a little tipple. Then it was on through swan & heron country towards Wroxham. I bumped into little Jasmine Locke from the school one more time & nearly bumped into a few swans too! The swans are so friendly & were swimming all round my boat & peeping in ~ looking for food I think. I saw a heron & lots of funny water birds which had tufty hats on their heads & kept diving down & surfacing somewhere else. Half way to Wroxham I became aware that my boat was getting worringly smaller & I realised I was losing air. Feeling rather deflated I rowed on until I found somewhere to moor just before Wroxham. I pumped up my boat with the footpump & could hear a hissing sound of air escaping. On closer examination I discovered that one of the patches I had put over an earlier punture was leaking but I managed to re-seal it quite easily & my ship was sea worthy once more. Rowing through Wroxham was exciting ~ my first big Port! A gentleman waved & told me to keep rowing and smiling, he informed me I only had another 70 miles to go ~ he must have heard me on the radio. Lots more people kept waving & asking if I was the crazy lady who was rowing round Norfolk? At Wroxham Broad I stopped for a picnic in the company of geese ~ some of whome were nesting. Some lovely youngsters in passing boat offered me a drink (hic) or a tow ~ I politely declined both offers. I reached Salhouse Broad at 5pm, earlier than I had expected & decided to carry on rowing. I saw little deer next to the river peeping at me out of the woods & then at Horning I passed the ‘Southern Comfort’ boat on it’s way out for a party on the river. The big & faster boats made a big wash which was very exciting to row through ~ just like being on one of the water rides at Alton Towers ~ what fun! I moored up at Woodbastwick for the night & as I write this I have visitors ~ two geese have come to see if I have any leftovers from my tea & they are making hissy noises outside my boat. Night night from Mandy in her bivi bag floating on the river. Xxx ps will attach 3 x photos.

Just woken up on Sunday morning after a rainy but cosy night & once I’ve scrubbed me decks I’ll be setting sail for St Benet’s Abbey & Thurne.