Our houseboat came ready with a plastic rowboat, which we thought was brilliant because it meant the five of us could go out in our two canoes and the rowboat. Sadly, it was not to be. We merrily pumped up our canoes to find that one (the Platypus Princess) had developed a puncture between the end of our Snowdonia trip and the start of this one. It was a pretty bad leak, which is good really, because it meant we knew there was a problem before we set out in the water. I'm not sure I fancy sitting in a deflating canoe, knowing I have some way to paddle back. We think we developed the puncture at the end of our Llyn Cwellyn trip. What I didn't mention in that post is that our soothing paddle ended in a rather less soothing way. Whilst Simon and I were packing up the canoes on the walkway by the river, Eve tripped and ripped open her waterproof jacket, long-sleeved top and scrapped a substantial amount of skin off her right elbow. We discovered then that the walkway's non-slip surface was made of a layer of ground up glass. I grabbed the first aid kit and took her back to the car to get out of the rain and clean up her bloody arm. She was impressively brave and didn't make a peep, despite the fact she was in pain and there was a fair bit of blood - and not to mention she had just ruined a favourite top. Anyway, all that preamble was to explain that Simon ended up packing away the Platypus Princess by himself on a glass-speckled surface and I suspect that may have caused the damage. So, what did we do? We only discovered the puncture just as we were about to head out so we ended up abandoning the canoe and three people (Simon, Dawn and Jay) hopped in the rowboat, whilst Eve and I took the Green Dragon. ![]() We launched from the jetty by our houseboat and paddled west (right) along the river. It split a short way up and on the first day, we took the right fork which led north up the disused North Walsham and Dilham Canal. Looking at our OS map, we could see Honing Lock about 1.5 miles away and it seemed a good place to paddle to for lunch. Sadly, it was not to be! The canal was narrow and winding and there seemed to be something wrong with the rowboat that meant it was incredibly difficult to travel in a straight line. There was an awful lot of (good-natured) arguing in the boat as Dawn and Simon tried to navigate it up the canal, whilst Eve and I mostly drifted along in the canoe. Eventually, we abandoned all hope of reaching Honing Lock as we were moving too slowly and we found a spot by the riverside to stop for lunch instead. Suffice to say that Jay was a bit fed up of being in the row boat so, after lunch, he and Simon decided to walk along the canal towards Honing whilst Dawn had a go in the canoe with Eve. I thought I could deal with the rowboat by myself. Big mistake! I zigzagged up the canal, turned 360 (unintentionally) a few times, then decided to give up. I had travelled very little distance and basically lost Simon and Jay who were on foot. I decided to chain the rowboat to a fallen tree on the far side of the canal (so that it couldn't be stolen) and Dawn paddled me across to the other side. Eve likes to call it 'the rescue mission' and she filmed the whole event with a hilarious commentary. I might post it on YouTube one day. In the end, I walked along the canal until I caught up with Simon and Jay. Dawn and Eve found the canal impassable further ahead, so we decided to give up and head home. Dawn canoed Simon back to the rowboat and he nearly pitched them both into the water as he climbed into it. Fortunately, they stayed upright (or perhaps not so fortunate, as Eve was videoing and it surely would have made us some money on You've Been Framed!). ![]() So anyway, we didn't make it to our destination but it was a nice day out nevertheless. A couple of days later, after Dawn had left to catch her train home and we were happy that the Platypus Princess had been properly repaired (with a repair patch and lots of duct tape), we took both canoes out. This time, we opted for the left fork and paddled up to Dilham. The 1/2 mile stretch was much wider and actually better suited for a rowboat, even one that won't go straight, so it's a shame we didn't go that way the first time. All in all, I enjoyed canoeing in the Broads more this year than last. The little rivers and canals were much easier and more relaxing than when we paddled around Ranworth Broad last summer. Battling against the wash of the motorboats and the wind across the open broad was hard work and very much not relaxing! I'd pick a quiet river with just a few other canoeists and swans for company any day!
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