Wildlife, great pubs…

THE crew scramble to their positions as I reverse the cruiser towards the bank.

My 12-year-old niece, Sophie, unties the dinghy and walks around the deck, towing it forward to tie on at the bows.

Ollie, my nine-year-old nephew, grabs a mooring rope and prepares to leap ashore as I nudge us backwards.

I’m attempting the dreaded stern-on mooring – a tricky manoeuvre because the boat is hard to steer in reverse.

A bit of a bump as we touch and Ollie steps on to the bank and ties a clove hitch knot around the mooring post to secure us.

Another well-drilled landing safely completed by the crew Glistening Light.

By the end of our time on the Norfolk Broads we’re a well-oiled machine.

We had picked our cruiser up from the Herbert Woods boatyard in Potter Heigham before setting off on our week-long adventure.

On day one, we chugged along the river Thurne at a stately 5mph.

Top speed in these parts is 6mph and it’s lovely to just dawdle along taking in the lovely landscape of reed beds, meadows full of cattle, old windmills and distant country church towers.

Glistening Light has a retractable canopy and, as the sun came out, we sat in the cabin with the top down is of