Messing about in Boats

Norfolk Wherries, Hunter's Yard, Ludham. www.huntersyard.co.uk

One of the discussion forums I visit regularly, Ship of Fools, has a thread about Fantasy Holidays going on at the moment. There are people who want to visit all sorts of exotic locations around the world, from Machu Picchu to the Faroe Islands to view a total eclipse.
The picture above shows what my fantasy holiday would be - and I don't even have to leave the country to do it. In fact, it would involve returning to one of my favourite English cities, Norwich, on the way to the Norfolk Broads.
I want to sail in a Norfolk wherry.
I discovered them when I lived in Norwich, and fell in love with a perfect working cargo boat. They have a shallow draught, so they can sail in just anything above a heavy dew (as the saying goes) and they have the wonderful ability to drop their masts, while sailing along, to shoot under bridges, and then raise the mast on the other side without pausing for breath.
They also featured in Arthur Ransome's books about the Broads, The Coot Club and The Big Six. Though Arthur Ransome is most famous for writing children's stories set in the Lake District, he also took his characters to other places, among them the Broads. Coot Club is an early story about bird conservation - the trouble starts when the children cast off a motor boat which is preventing a coot from returning to its nest, thus saving the chicks and annoying the "Hullaballoos" who are holidaying on the motor boat. Later in the story, two characters, twins nicknamed Port and Starboard, sail around the Broads by hitching a ride on every single different type of boat that used the Broads in the 1930s, including a wherry.
When I was writing Like Father, Like Daughter, I needed to get my characters from one place to another quite quickly, so I put them on a wherry on a big river. As it's my fantasy world, I see no reason why I can't have a 19th century boat in a mostly medieval environment!

So I want to spend some time following in the wake of Port and Starboard, in the height of summer when the meadowsweet will be thick among the reeds, with The Coot Club and The Big Six to re-read.
I think I'll draw the line at attempting to smoke eels in the cabin chimney, though!



There's another sort of boat I'd like to mess about on, too. This is Bodrum Harbour, in Turkey, with the Crusader Castle (built by the Knights of St John) in the background. The picture is taken from Bookable Holidays.com.
As a holiday rep, I used to visit the harbour every Tuesday with a ferry load of holiday makers. They usually headed off to the market for bargains while I wandered round the castle - which has the largest tower built by the English outside England - and stroll along the sea front looking at the yachts and gulets. A gulet is the traditional sailing boat of the area, and they are still built locally in the traditional way. I used to have fantasies about chartering a gulet and cruising around the Greek islands - preferably one big enough for me to imagine myself as Maureen O'Hara in swashbuckling mode! A boat, sundrenched sea, Greek food, and lots of archaeology - perfect!