Theology was never my strong suit. I barely scraped an O-level in the compulsory Religious Studies. But I’m fairly sure I read somewhere in a text book that the Church of England is regarded as a ‘broad church’.

I just hadn’t realised it was a ‘Broads church’ too.

There we were, chugging along the River Bure in the lovely, tranquil Norfolk Broads on a sunny summer afternoon, when we saw a bishop on a boat.

Yep, standing at the bow of a traditional Broads wooden sailing wherry with his mitre and crook was the Bishop of Norwich, gently waving at his floating flock and the ‘congregation’ lining the banks. Not something you see every day.

I’m also fairly sure there’s something in the Bible about a ‘fisher of men’ but I was reasonably confident the bishop wasn’t on his way to try to hook some roach, bream or perch in these popular fishing waters.

(My witty old dad did suggest he was an ‘Angler-can’ bishop when I emailed him a picture).

Anyway, thanks to Google we soon discovered this was an annual trip the bishop makes for a service at the ruins of St Benet’s Abbey, near Horning.

Having left him behind in our smart and handsomely-equipped cruiser Fair Sovereign 4 – it had a Jacuzzi – we pressed on in search of our first overnight mooring.

My wife Deborah, daughter Alex and I had collected the boat from the Norfolk Broads Direct yard at Wroxham, north-east of Norwich. After comprehensive instruction from the yard’s handover man, Ally, we were let loose on the 220 miles of navigable waterways.

It’s a flat landscape but the big skies add a certain grandeur and, as Norfolk turkey tycoon Bernard Matthews might have said, it’s ‘bootiful’ in its own way.

We’d aimed to stop at Horning but the moorings at all three riverside pubs were chocka so moved on to the staithe – the local name for an inlet – at Thurne, dropped lucky and bagged a nice spot (£5 a night) by a white windmill.

To be honest, there’s not a lot here bar a pub selling decent real ales, reasonable food and with a small shop attached. But on this kind of holiday that’s pretty much all you really need, apart from topping up your water tank every so often.

We’d planned to self-cater for much of our week on the Fair Sovereign as there were excellent cooking facilities on board including a four-burner hob, grill, oven and microwave and a full-size fridge. It means you can always moor up at a spot miles from anywhere and not worry about finding food.

Indeed, old Broads cruising hands we encountered advised us to always have at least one meal on standby in case you have to moor in the middle of nowhere; and on the Broads there’s a fair bit of nowhere.

Day two dawned bright, but as we were so comfortable in our proper beds on board we failed to make the early start we’d planned and arrived way later than envisaged for a water stop at Womack Staithe, near Ludham, and some provisions at the excellent Thowers village store.

You are advised to top up your water tanks daily if you can; the yard will give you enough diesel for your trip.

Up the river we chugged at 4mph or 5mph as permitted, idly planning where our next stop should be.

We’d considered Acle Bridge with its jolly looking little thatched general store and barn of a pub, or Acle village itself, but the former looked full and the sign at the latter, warning of a narrow channel with little room to turn, was not a challenge we were ready for in a 40ft cruiser.

Which was why We ended up in the last mooring at Stokesby on the River Yare... oh­so­handily placed for the Ferry Inn, which again offered nice beers and what looked very palatable grub (with mooring at £5 a night).

An apocalyptic storm sent us scurrying from said beers at our riverside table back to the boat. It was so bad we acquired two other, smaller, craft tied on to us for the night as they abandoned their attempts to reach Great Yarmouth and wisely moored up, too.

I’d no idea what the protocol was for this, but it was foul weather and they clearly needed to tie up sharpish. The sign by the banks said double mooring was allowed (triple, who knows?) when the spot was full, so we dashed out to help them get secure.

Next morning both overnight acquaintances had gone, along with the bad weather.

There had been some very odd noises during the night as the boats settled in the tidal flow and stiff wind, so We decided against going to Yarmouth via Breydon Water, with its tides to consider, and turned back north for Potter Heigham.

We knew we couldn’t pass the road bridge there as Fair Sovereign’s 8ft 2in clearance was too much, but having moored for nothing in the local boatyard (they tend to be free with water and power, but lack that riverside charm) we hired a day boat for a couple of hours to explore further upriver to Hickling, the largest of the Broads.

When we’d initially picked up the Fair Sovereign we’d been given various guide books and a wildlife leaflet which encourages you to spot the Broads’ Big Five, namely kingfisher, swallowtail butterfly, marsh harrier, otter and bittern.

I’d read somewhere that Hickling was a good bet for spotting the latter but we drew a bittern blank.

The moorings area at Potter Heigham has a decent-looking chippy and a pub where the friendliness of the staff compensates for the ugly building. And don’t miss a wander round Lathams, a vast village store with an angling section featuring a remarkable amount of coloured maggots.

By now very confident in handling the Fair Sovereign (as if), we set off up the narrow River Ant and the low Ludham road bridge to Stalham, where I was keen to visit the Museum of the Broads. And so to ‘The Tree Incident on the Ant’.

We’d slipped under the Ludham bridge, ably helped by a nice lad from the local boatyard who kept a watchful eye, and cruised up the narrow, winding Ant to find a queue of boats trying to pass a couple of yachts tacking to and fro. We held back and waited, but one idiot in a cruiser tried to surge past them, only to shamefully cut them up, along with two boats coming the other way.

One of those managed to dodge this calamitous cruiser but the other was just about run off the river and forced under a low willow. In a moment of rich comedy-drama the branches swept various things off the deck – and very nearly one of the passengers snoozing by the stern.

We’d been ready to stop to throw a lifebelt but the surprised young man clung on gamely.

After a quick exploration of charming Sutton Broad and Sutton Staithe (kingfisher and swallowtail spotted) we moved on to Stalham, where, unable to find a riverside mooring, we stopped at the boatyard and headed to the museum.

There was a minor mutiny from the crew over how long we spent there. I thought it was very interesting learning about the geology of the Broads (they’re not natural, but flooded medieval peat diggings) and the flora and fauna.

I’m pretty sure the Captain’s word is final on such matters but the grumbling crew had to be compensated in the form of a drink at a pleasant nearby pub and a chocolate cake from a local shop.

We were away smartly the next morning to make sure we caught low tide at Ludham (tides decrease the further you get from Great Yarmouth) and slipped under the bridge with, oh, a gnat’s whisker to spare.

Our final stop was the highlight of the trip – Ranworth village at the end of Malthouse Broad. We nabbed the last slot at peak season – you’ll need to think about mooring up by noon in popular places or booking ahead where available.

That slot required a very tricky stern-on mooring, and I can only liken it to reversing an articulated lorry with bald tyres on a buttered ice rink. Still, thanks to the Sovereign’s bow thrusters (or bowel thrusters, as the crew renamed them) and some help from other holidaymakers, we got in.

Ranworth is a great spot for a free 24-hour stay as it has a wildlife centre, great pub and St Helen’s church. Don’t miss this – there are wonderful medieval frescoes and a 100ft tower with good views, reached by 89 spiral steps, two ladders and a trapdoor. Then, next day, we handed back the Sovereign at Wroxham in time for a wander round to see Roys, the self-styled World’s Largest Village Store and some tasty fish and chips.

Having spotted an otter near Wroxham to add to our ‘Big Five’ tally – which now also included a marsh harrier – we decided that, like the boating bishop, we’d had a wherry good time indeed.