The November meeting At the
Wroxham Hotel on the River Bure
I arrived
with Angie at the Wroxham Hotel ideally situated on the River Bure at 11.40 am
Friday 04.11.05….it was a beautiful day and of course we were filled with
excitement. Annet (Surfrider) had sent a
text message to Angie to say they were in Maxine’s (Topaz) car and on there
way! This also meant that Jim (Topaz) had picked up Nigel and Brenda (Papillon)
from
We had arranged to pick up Phil and Julie
(Blue Lagoon) and Chris and Liz (Julie Anne) from Norwich train Station at
3.30pm so we hung around the hotel after checking in soaking up the views of
the River Bure.
Jim
and Maxine, along with Nigel, Brenda, Annet and Jaco all arrived (more or less!)
together at 1.15pm and we all met with open arms in the Hotel car park….
Jaco, Annet, Angie and I had a wander in to
Wroxham to have a quick look around and to grab a bite to eat as they were
hungry not having eaten since breakfast.
We then set off in 2 cars to pick up Chris,
Phil, Liz and Julie from the Train Station in
Will (Wheeler Dealer) arrived at around 4.45pm
and joined us at the bar for drinks and some nautical natter.
Next to arrive was Tony (Stargazer) having
been picked up from the station by Angie and Annet. This completed the numbers
able to attend on the Friday.
Everyone checked in without any problems and
soon we were all congregated in the bar area for drinks and more nautical
natter.
We had booked a meal in the Hotel for the Saturday
evening so we elected to go to the nearby Indian Restaurant for the Friday
meal.
The meal was a success although Tony
(Stargazer) did for once bite off more than he could chew having tasted Angie’s
Phal curry! Plenty of Cobra beer was consumed and we eventually headed back to
the hotel for more drinks until the wee hours of Saturday Morning.
At breakfast it was decided a boat trip was
in order so we promptly nipped round to George Sandersons boatyard to hire a
couple of their 12 seater launches.
We then rounded up the crews and set off down
the river To Horning (not before I was told off for attempting to leave without
having received the mandatory safety drill)...I did not think we needed this
as my track record only accounts for 1 sinking, Grounded on Breydon Water
and 6 breakdowns during the course of 5 seasons!
During our “cruise” the inevitable rivalry
set in and it wasn't long before Mssrs Schaatsenberg and Williams had the
engine hatch raised on the lead boat giving us an extra 500rpm (apologies
to Geo. Smith and Sons who on reading this may never let us near their yard.
let alone their hire boats!) the extra revs were enough to ensure we were
not overtaken by the gang in the second boat!
During our cruise we received a call from
Howie saying he and Jane had arrived at the hotel so we about turned to pick
him up in the hire boat.
We sailed back to the hotel with our 2nd
boat behind, stopped off at the quay to pick up Howie and headed under
We also noticed we were now only 1 hire
boat….the cowards in the (sorry crew) 2nd boat had not
followed us for this part of the journey.
Once under the bridge Howie took the helm of
the hire boat and after a sedate cruise along the river he brought us back
under Wroxham Bridge (well sort of…for some strange reason he started shouting
obscenities at the rest of the crew just as we drew under the bridge?) the video clip may help explain this outburst…..
We arrived back safely with boat intact and
headed straight to Horning in order to catch our pre-booked river cruise on
board the “Mississippi Steam Boat”. Here Andrew and Charlotte (Charlotte Lucy)
joined us. I found this cruise both relaxing and informative. A good couple
of hours well spent.
Unbeknown to all of us Steve, Pete and Barbara
(Aquaflyte) and Steve and Chris (Devocean) had sailed to the Hotel on Pete's
boat and upon finding no sign of us at all carried on down river towards Horning
for the fireworks display.. Apologies guys and thanks for being there!
We then went back to the Hotel and again the
bar became the focus of our attention, (Except for Phil who had developed
a taste for the gambling machines in Wroxham!)
Next up was the evening meal and we found
ourselves in our own dining room away from the rest of the guests in the Hotel!
(This must have been due to our previous evening in the bar?)
As soon as the speeches were made and the
food was consumed we headed back to …you guessed it. The bar!
At around 10pm a lovely young serving wench
from the hotel announced to us that Dave (Willdani Mist) had placed £70.00
behind the bar for all of us…a really wonderful gesture! Unfortunately Dave
could not make this meet but we nevertheless toasted him many, many times!
Again the drinking went on ‘till the early
hours and the evening was a very relaxed and happy one.
The next (Sunday) morning was a little subdued,
it was the end of a fantastic weekend, Angie and I stayed to see off and drop
off the Channel Islands Crew at the station in
Annet, Jaco, Nigel and Brenda decided to
take a trip on “Topaz” before being dropped off at
A great weekend with a lot of fun, new friendships
forged, beer and boating all thrown in…a great success…..thanks to you all…….let’s
do it again soon!
FHC.