In 1972 I was 13, and I'd read the Swallows and Amazons books many times. Originally my favourite was Swallowdale, in which nothing very much happens. I think I enjoyed the security. But by '72, I most admired We Didn't Mean to go to Sea, which is probably Ransome's masterpiece, and involves an unintended trip across the English Channel in a gale. (Today, incidently, my favourite is Winter Holiday.) Unlike me, my parents didn't pretend they understood things they knew nothing about. So they weren't about to take me to sea in a boat, or even cross a lake under sail. But I finally persuaded them that our holiday of a lifetime could emulate my heros, with the help of a diesel engine.

The Norfold Broads are easily navigable ponds joined by easily navigable rivers that for years have been a major English tourist attraction. Ransome set two of his books on the Broads. In his day they were almost empty, and his prejudice for sail over steam was shared by both locals and tourists.

We rented our first Broads cruiser over Easter 1972 from Loddon and chugged up the Chet and Waverley Rivers to Breydon Water. Arriving at the wrong tide, in the midst of a localized force 8 gale, we tumbled over the furrowed water towards the seaside town of Great Yarmouth, following the double line of posts marking the navigable channel. By the time we'd traversed the four exhilarating miles, the tide was right and the wind was down, but we felt like old salts, deep-water sailors. In our two later Broads holidays, we always crossed Breydon at the right time and missed out on the excitement.