The girls went swimming in an outside pool
The girls went swimming in an outside pool

From Great Yarmouth to Beccles to moor by the swimming pool pontoons after a noisy and unsettled night but the girls had slept well, and Helen was enjoying her stay on the boat and being useful. Daniel telephoned us today and reported that all was well at home. United Nations endorses the use of force if necessary, to carry out a naval blockade against Iraq.

I had an unsettled night as there was a lot of harbour noise and waves and I had not done a very good job of mooring the boat so that the gunwales were banging on the quay until I re-positioned the fenders in the early hours and got some sleep. Della was in with us at 7.00am and eventually Diana got up to make the morning drinks. The girls had settled much better in their beds last night and had worked out how to sleep together without problems. We had some discussion about going around the coast via Wells again but the tide was all wrong and we had the Jolly in tow which would have got in the way. We therefore set off inland as originally planned and had the first of the flood tide at 9.00am.

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Helen was enjoying her experience on the boat and was becoming useful by being keen to take the wheel if closely supervised by me. It was a fine, warm and close morning and so I folded down the windscreens and everything else to keep us cool. We went so well with the tide that we went past the Waveney Inn (our intended stopping point) and went on to Beccles Yacht Station. I had telephoned ahead to leave a message for the harbourmaster but it had not been received and so we were in some doubt whether we would be given a decent mooring. We eventually tied up and then took the Jolly to moor closer into town at the swimming pool pontoons, before taking the short walk to Tooks for a nice lunch. The girls went swimming as I went back to the boat to watch the rest of the Test Match and read my newspaper.

England were batting to save this test and had started badly but captain Gooch was just about holding things together. We all spent the evening watching a video of our first trip to Norfolk in 1987 on "The Lady" which was interesting. Dusk was falling and everything was getting damp and so I shut the boat up then and caught up on my journal. Daniel telephoned us today and reported that all was well. After this warm, sunny day it became noticeably cooler in the evening. United Nations endorses the use of force if necessary, to carry out a naval blockade against Iraq.