By Mrs Joyce Chesney, Stockton on Tees
We were just beginning the second week of our Broads holiday and having spent the first week on the Southern Rivers, we crossed Breydon to meet up with two lots of friends at Ranworth to spend the night.
As we moored up, it was just spitting with rain, but we all settled in for a good night with lots of laughter, good food and a little alcohol. [Well OK, rather a lot of alcohol, actually!] One of the nicest things about boating is to hear the rain on the roof of the boat when you are safely moored for the night and snug under the duvet. But this night the rain did not stop, it was still tanking down when we arose the next day and we did not go far that day as the rain continued to fall.
Apparently between 50 and 60 mm fell on 11th 12th and 13th of October and nearly 4 inches was measured at Woodbastwick over a 48 hour period. It had been a wet autumn already and the rivers were flowing strongly even before this exceptional rainfall. I believe the rain stopped after three days and we carried on cruising and found the rivers very quiet in places. Some boats had returned to their boatyards and hirers had chosen to end their holidays early.
We used CB Radio to get information about river heights and bridge heights [This was in the days before mobile phones.] and telephoned ahead to see if it was safe to moor. Womack was OK, although water lapped the quay heading and climbing off a high boat could be a problem.
Our Swiss friends had a boat from a boatyard up the River Ant and being a high craft, it was impossible to get it back there under Ludham Bridge, by the Friday the height under Ludham Bridge was limited, we might have got our boat under but not theirs. So they had to end their holiday at Womack and unpacked their boat and were transported by road back to their car in Stalham. We said our goodbyes to them there and we left ourselves to return to our boatyard in Wroxham.
The scenes through Horning were unbelievable. The car park at the Ferry Inn was completely under water. It was impossible to see where the river was supposed to end and the staithe begin. At the Swan Hotel the picnic tables were being used by Anglers who were sitting on beer crates on the tables, surrounded by water, merrily fishing away!
On reaching our boatyard we found that was flooded also and guess what? I had not brought my wellies! We did moor with difficulty and a friend loaned me her boots to get to the village where the local store was doing a wonderful trade in Wellington Boots! Many craft were caught on the wrong side of bridges and yards were helping each other out in turning boats round for new hirers on Saturday.
We made new friends during that holiday, the flooding problems brought out the spirit of the Blitz and everyone helped when needed.
Joyce Chesney 2009