Diary

Cooking On The Norfolk Broads

Or

How To make Dinner without Blowing The Bloody Boat Up.

A complete guide on cooking on a small boat

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Thursday June 24

Breakfast – Full English
Lunch - Rolls
Dinner – BBQ Steak

Overnight we hardly noticed the wind, except to look out and see trees on the other bank bending over. The wind was starting to moderate so we decided to head to Beccles. Bonnie had noticed on the map that they had a large supermarket there, and we badly needed to restock.

Normally my kids eat enough to keep your average Gerbil in good health, except without eating the green stuff. Well on this trip they seemed to eat everything in view, sometimes including the packaging as well I think.

By the time we got to Beccles the moorings were open and we had no problem finding a space. It was a bit of a walk to the market, but luckily the kids had bought their backpacks along. When we got back to the boat and stowed everything Bonnie asked me how high the boat was with the mast down. About seven-feet. She then pointed out the depth indicator for Beccles Bridge, currently there was seven-foot headroom under the bridge – I had forgotten to check the tide!

We somehow managed to get through the bridge and headed for the real purpose of the trip, as far as I was concerned. The Geldston Locks Inn. I visited this place about 25 years ago when it was just a house in the middle of nowhere. They had no electricity; candles and gas lamps lit the place. They also had the best beer on the Broads, gravity fed straight from the barrel. To let customers know they were open they would place a lit candle in the front windows.

We arrived at Geldston mid afternoon, and I was dashing across the grass before the kids had finished mooring up the boat. After a very pleasant couple of pints and a chat with the staff Bonnie suggested that I start getting the dinner ready.

While in Wroxham we had picked up a small, briefcase type BBQ from Roy’s. Some assembly required. Which was no real problem as I had had the foresight to bring along a screwdriver. Of course when I started to put the BBQ together we couldn’t find the damned thing. But as luck would have it Bonnie had her Swiss army knife with her.

Once assembled, slightly loose but useable we got the charcoal burning. This is the point where the wind that had been almost calm, by the standards of the last couple of days, started to pick up again.

The designers of this BBQ had thoughtfully included a windbreak in the design. Nice idea, but in these conditions it acted more like a sail, so Bonnie had everyone standing around the windward side to keep the damn thing from blowing away. So dinner took longer to finish that I had planned, but no problem it was only eight thirty, and I could her the pub calling me.

Well I guess my hearing was playing tricks on me. The pub was closed!!

The next morning we got to meet a lovely couple who owned a fantastic little yacht, pretty much built and designed by themselves. You really do meet the nicest people sailing on the Broads.

Comments

From - LizzieT Posted On 10 Oct 2004

My dad (Richard T) is a really good chef even though he almost set fire to our kicthen when he was trying to mke yorkshore pudding.

From - roy abrahams Posted On 20 Aug 2004

hallo out there just a quick comment i moved to norfolk in 1969 just to be near the broads and my wife and i will be having our 52nd holiday on the broads this xmas our 4th xmas on a boat its just brill its just a shame to see so many boat yards closing many of them old friends over the years if you have took the time to read this thank you and keep on boating

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