An epic boat trip to York, here returning via the 'Boston Glory Hole'
An epic boat trip to York, here returning via the 'Boston Glory Hole'

This was a holiday month for us and had been mostly sunny and fine throughout for a third year running, but water was in short supply and some wind delayed our sea trips as we travelled to York and back via Wells. We enjoyed a spledid time cruising to York on an epic voyage. As we saw Mum in Stanton, on our return, we heard from Fred and Marie that something would soon have to take place for Mum to be accommodated at Redgrave as she might not be able to manage alone much longer.

The LibDems won the Eaton Socon by-election with Ross McKay. I was struggling to adjust from boating to office work and we took a few day trips out to the local towns of St Neots, Bedford and Cambridge and to see the St Neots Carnival. With Di at weightwatchers, Debbie horse-riding, and Daniel playing with his car, I was having a quiet time watching the World Athletics Championships on TV. I set up the croquet lawn and the family and friends enjoyed many fine matches.

Elsewhere, there was the inevitability of war in Yugoslavia between the Croats and the Serbs, the dramatic splitting up of the USSR with more former Soviet Republics declared their independence and Gorbachev eventually deposed and the risk of a Yeltzin Russian dictatorship

The month had been mostly sunny and fine throughout and so, for a third year running, we have had fine and warm weather whilst the water levels drop in the reservoirs and aquafers. There was a brief period of overnight rain and some showery spells, but the month ended with more hot and sunny days even though strong winds were affecting our off-shore boating trips. In each of these years, we were on the boat and enjoying it and this one was no exception. We started the month with our cruise from Hull to York and had that nasty experience with the bridge-keeper at Selby where the toll bridge was closed on us, the hydraulic steering failed and the boat almost perished before we got back into control!

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We enjoyed our stay in York and then the trip by canals to Lincoln and Boston before making the sea trip to Wells and then on to Yarmouth with more adventures on the way. A more detailed description of our epic boating month follows at the bottom of the summary and, in even more detail, day to day. We were back home from Horning - too soon for my taste - to Paxton to catch up with a mountain of correspondence and to congratulate my colleagues on winning the famous Eaton Socon bye-election where Ross McKay had won for the Liberal Democrats with a vote of over 800 compared with 100-odd for each of the Labour and Conservative candidates.

We had returned home from Horning to Paxton with the Range Rover packed solid with belongings and we first stopped off at the Norwich ring-road McDonalds for a take-away lunch and then at Mum’s in Stanton where we heard from Fred and Marie that something would soon have to take place for Mum to be accommodated at Redgrave. On to Paxton to deal with a literal mountain of mail and sorted out the urgent financial and telephone items for action. Our first day at home was a nightmare, getting my financial papers in initial order to be able to pay in cheques etc, settle bills and balance our investment accounts and then going to St Neots to implement them

We took a few day trips out to the local towns of St Neots, Bedford and Cambridge and to see the St Neots Carnival. I was struggling to adjust from boating to office work as we travelled to Cambridge for our normal Tuesday rendezvous with Di’s parents and did a few things. We were ‘at leisure’ visiting Cambridge where we scaled the church tower for a grand view of the City and I then had a lazy day, updating my journal and joining the family for a Little Chef lunch before going to Dad’s grave to renew the flowers and tend the plot. The trip to Bedford with Diana and Della began with a trip to Bedford library before relaxing in the afternoon and evening watching the test match acting as if my holiday was not yet completely over. A had a day of eye tests for the family and, after Daniel left with Angela for Norfolk, and Debbie went to a friend for a sleep-over, I took Diana and Della to see the St Neots Carnival Parade where my friends were on the reviewing stand.

There were more relaxing days, catching up with chores, tending the fish, birds and plants and swimming pool. Whilst the family were busy, with Di at weightwatchers, Debbie horse-riding, and Daniel playing with his car, I was having a quiet time watching the World Athletics Championships on TV and carried on with my press cuttings backlog whilst also continuing to water the Games Lawn. We had one trip back to Norfolk, with Bill and the family to dismantle the greenhouse there and bring it back on a trailer. We arrived around 9am after an early start and the day was very warm and the sun hot and so it was hard work for both of us. I took Diana to the cinema in Bedford, and we saw "Terminator II". We had been in holiday mood throughout but, with the new month ahead, I now had to get back to normal.  

An evening catching up with writing and preparing Norfolk before returning to Heronshaw to end the month for the odd day trip back. The news was quite appalling with kidnaps, murders and more Ulster bigotry. Our visit to Mum convinced us that Freda and Alf have to get on quicker with the house modifications as we are not sure how much longer she can last out on her own. No contact with Freda this month but we have arranged to go along with Mum soon and Diana has written to Freda asking her to get on with the work. I was often to be seen riding my bicycle around the village and made a visit to Ivy Bunnage by bicycle to deal with her problems. More catching up with chores and writing and pleased to have watered the lawn as there were no signs of the thunderstorms that were expected. I set up the croquet lawn after mowing it as it was recovering, and we enjoyed a couple of games.

The news was of Middle East peace moves with the spotlight on Israel now that the USA is putting pressure on them to negotiate with the Palestinians. The papers were talking of the inevitability of war in Yugoslavia and, locally, of the latest Pit Bull Terrier incident and the removal of the Rowntree name from the Kit Kat chocolate bar and its replacement with Nestles; a controversial move against the people of York. The shocking news one morning was of the attempted ousting of Michael Gorbachev from the Presidency of the Soviet Union by his deputy and other hard-line members of the Soviet regime. The elected President of Russia was holding out against the massed strength of the Soviet army with a few tanks coming over to his side The Freedom of the USSR was at stake as the overnight assault on the Russian Parliament building of President Boris Yeltsin failed.

Gorbachev made a public statement in the evening, an emotional one in an emotional atmosphere, telling of his detention and the aftermath. Gorbachev appeared before the Russian Parliament where Yeltsin and others tried to humiliate him. The Soviet peaceful revolution went on as Gorbachev surrendered to the inevitable and distanced himself from the Communist Party. My concerns were about increasing anarchy and the risk of a Yeltzin Russian dictatorship and I also had worries over the control of Soviet nuclear weapons in each of the former USSR republics. There were also the territorial claims of Yeltsin’s Russian Republic with regard to Russian-speaking areas of the Ukraine and other states as the West are now ready to recognise the independence of the Baltic States who were only taken over in the 1940's.

More former Soviet Republics declared their independence from the USSR as John Major visiting George Bush at his US holiday home to compare notes on the developments in Eastern Europe.  All but three of the Soviet states eventually wanted their independence and fighting continued in Yugoslavia with this country riven by the conflict between the Croats and the Serbs. I despair of these countries and fear worst the prospect of border disputes as Eastern Europe breaks up.

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Post Script: The ‘epic’ boating trip from Norfolk to York. The ‘fun’ began with our hair-raising voyage from Hull Marina to York through the thick Yorkshire Ouse muddy water, winding along the outside bends for depth in tidal water right up to Naburn. There a misunderstanding led to the swing bridge being closed on me and with steering failure we eventually spiralled until I got the mud weight and chain down to regain control, moor and fix the steering. Eventually we passed through the lock to moor in Naburn Marina and from Naburn we could easily make trips to  York City Centre where we moored at King’s Staithe.  

From there, we had morning drinks at the Danish Café and lunch at the Pizza Hut whist shopping for supplies and collecting Angela from York Railway Station. The steering seemed to be all right then, and we could also enjoy tea on the Paxton Princess bridge under the top canopy. In further excursions from Naburn, we cruised to spend more time in York, with the same mooring and morning and lunch venues each day. One afternoon, Daniel and Angela dropped off the girls at the library, Di insisted on shopping on her own and I walked up to York Minster, an uplifting experience that displays half of the medieval stained glass of England in its large windows.

I also walked up and down The Shambles again and bought a York walking stick mount which I nailed to the Paxton Princess flagstaff upon my return. On another cruise from Naburn to Kings Staithe again, we went into the old "motte and bailey" castle  and then to visit the Castle Museum where its exhibition was huge with special displays on the Civil War and fashions and customs throughout the ages. By this time, Daniel took Angela back to the railway station for the start of her journey back to Ware and I started planning the following week's cruises.

After our last visit to King’s Staithe, we took our cruise back down the Yorkshire Ouse making our way back downstream to Naburn Lock and then following another vessel through Selby lock to moor into the quiet basin of the Selby Canal, Getting Cadby Bridge to swing there by message on channel 9 was a triumph. When the children had been watching a video and Daniel had been telephoning Angela; the love of his life, I took Diana for a walk around Selby, it turned out to be a large market town with plenty of shopping facilities. I took the Canal Navigation through the Selby swing bridge and along the Selby Canal, the River Aire, the Aire and Calder Navigation, the New Junction Canal and finally the Stanforth and Keadley Canal which zigzag network took us from the Yorkshire Ouse to within striking distance of the River Trent whilst avoiding the tidal stretches. Then past Thorne to Lincoln via Keadby and through many and varied bridges called Wykewell, Moors, Maud's, Godknow and Vasin until the ebb tide finished on the River Trent when we cruised around the notorious bend called Trent Port, the bottom had a clay outcrop into the outside of the bend and, despite taking care and reading the charts closely, we went aground on it for a while.

It was a relief to be locked up safely from the Trent at Torksey into the Fossdyke & Witham Canal but we just pressed on along the new and different water course for our destination was Lincoln, mooring in the lagoon known as Brayford Pool in the centre. We enjoyed a lay day in Lincoln, visiting the Castle and trying some fishing for bream. Then from Lincoln through the "Glory Hole" and down the River Witham towards Boston. It took some five hours or so to get to Boston and then the sight of St Botulph's Church, "The Stump", was a welcoming sight when it came into view. The Grand Sluice lock-keeper who did not think much of our plans to go to Wells-next-the-Sea and thought that we would soon be getting north-westerlies and so we would stay a while Lay Day in Boston, checking out the Tourist Information, the library and book shops after which Daniel returned to join us at McDonalds for tea. Then we went to the cinema, at Daniel's suggestion, to watch a Hero Turtles film, which the whole family enjoyed.

Then the news back at the boat about the weather was not good for the voyage the next day. We therefore spent our last day in Boston, catching up with chores, finding new eating places and visiting the Boston Museum. We learned  all about the Pilgrim Fathers and much of the background that was behind the exodus of religious puritans that founded the bulk of the first American colony in Massachusetts that in turn was the origins of New England and the United States. The forecast is for south-westerly 4-5, falling to 3 later which will suit us fine. Another great trip through the Boston Grand Sluice and around the coast to Wells-next-the-Sea very slowly to cross the Wells bar as near to high tide as possible; then watching the Spring High Water and hoping the water would not flood the quay. Skipper Nigel on the Wallbrook dredger helped me in the notable absence of the harbourmaster. A day in Wells-next-the-Sea moored along the quay as not coasters were due to arrive. I bought a new VHF hand-held radio from the chandlery and I supervised the girls riding out from the local stables.

We went up to the harbour mouth and to the beach there in our dinghy and surveyed the channel buoys and entrance route as the holidaymakers fished for crabs and the fishing boats their welks as well. We spent another day in Wells-next-the-Sea taking the dinghy to the beach as before and then moving The Paxton Princess to a drying sand bank mooring to take a look at the stern gear at low tide. I collected the family from the beach, and after removing some debris from the port screw, I found the ‘spurs’ rope cutters damaged and did my best to repair them before the tide returned and we returned to moor at the harbour quay overnight. After hasty preparation, the sea trip from Wells-nest-the-Sea to Great Yarmouth started well following the Ma Freen out of the harbour but worsened as we rounded the Norfolk coast and ran into strengthening southerly winds and a fast-running tide off of the Cockle Shoal and then negotiated recent buoyage changes before putting into Great Yarmouth rather than Lowestoft and mooring alongside another vessel at the Town Hall Quay. Tea for the girls at McDonalds and rides at Joyland A ‘lay-day’ in Great Yarmouth after a fine breakfast at Tooks as I let the girls go to the seaside as I wrote up my Paxton Princess log, sketching the Wells entrance buoys accordingly.

They took a Landau ride along the front and then rode on the pleasure beach attractions before visiting the model village and a "Ghostbusters" event. We met up at the "Arnold Palmer" Crazy Golf course and we played a nice game together before walking back along the front for the last time and having tea at McDonalds. The culmination of our cruise with the final leg from Great Yarmouth to Horning,  stopping at Stokesby to buy a fine lobster salad from the fish shop there for tea before we had lunch in the riverside pub and resumed our trip. Despite the crew and vessel performing well in these new boating destinations, I had an argument with Di who has not liked this boating trip so far; saying that it was poorly planned and that we should have just stuck to the Great Ouse and the Norfolk Broads and so we slept apart that night!