Belmore | The Big Tour

[LondonRascal]

Day Six (Part two)

Watch part two of day six of the Captain's Blog:

 

Sometimes you get in a muddle with times and distances – well I do anyway.  I arrived in Norwich a bit later than I had planned, spent longer looking around and shopping and got into a terrible panic that I would not be able to make it to Loddon before sunset.

However it is the journey that counts and it was a truly amazing April day – deep blue skies, not a cloud in sight and lovely and warm it also happened to be one of those days where I talked – a lot.

In many ways this, to me is what the Blog really is all about cruising, talking and sharing it all as if a couple of thousand people are along with me in the boat. While some might concentrate on the pretty, and make a story narrated after the event, I really like the ‘as it happens’ aspect of the Captain’s Blog and so I began to talk about boatyards having only the evening before learnt that Royalls would be shutting up in 2017.

From my point of view the journey towards Reedham really went very well, to begin I had an ebbing tide helping me along and I found the whole cruise really pass by very easily.  If you don’t mind me rabbiting on for a chunk of the video you might like this, if you rather enjoy the pretty scenes then you have some of those too. 

As it happened, I arrived at Loddon well before sunset so need not have worried.  I wanted to moor here since it is a very quiet and nice mooring and a great point to leave from tomorrow when I will be heading back to the north rivers.  

Upon my arrival I saw Thunder was moored and had a nice chat with the gentleman who was onboard at the time – then Ranworth Breeze arrived later and so I had tow syndicates either side of me, quite different boats showing what you can buy into should you wish and both looking immaculate.  

 

[Matt]

Good to see Mick was straight out looking for a rope!

[ranworthbreeze]

If I had been aboard Ranworth Breeze I would have taken the other rope.

You can not be too careful with these "blue fender" toting skippers

Regards

Alan

 

[ScrumpyCheddar]

Another awesome instalment from Robin big thumbs up again ..

It looks pretty narrow going down The River Chet to Loddon..

Would it be advisable not to go down in a biggish boat..

 

[LondonRascal]

Quote

It looks pretty narrow going down The River Chet to Loddon..

Would it be advisable not to go down in a biggish boat..

It is not that bad - indeed on my way back down the Chet a large fly bridge Broom was coming up it - but I would only like to do that at high water personally as it is still a shallow river.  Even in the basin where the staithe is, things tend to happen differently and slower almost you can just feel something is not quite the same response wise (same as Rockland) and that is all due to the shallow river.

[ScrumpyCheddar]

Thanks for that Robin.. 

[ranworthbreeze]

The benefit of having a upper helm is that you can see oncoming boats before they get to most of the bends. The pruning of the trees and bushes a few seasons ago has made the journey more pleasant.  Loddon is still one of my top 5 mooring locations.

Regards

Alan

[Boatyman]

When's the next episode of the captains blog?

Been waiting ages. Need my Captains Blog Fix.

[LondonRascal]

I've either been busy or struggling with upgrading my SSD drives so now I have a nice large boot disk on SSD for windows and a few terabyte standard drives for general storage then i got a case of man flu so nothing is lost its just taking longer than I would have liked..

[grendel]

how do you find the computers run with the SSD drives?. they made a world of difference with my laptop.

[Maxwellian]

Extremely well with my desktop. Transformed the startup.

[Boatyman]

AT LAST!!  Day 7 of the captains blog. Another great blog and a very interesting one. Thanks Robin. Loved it as ever. What Lovely weather u had. 

I'll volunteer to hold the camera 4 u if ya wanna make a film as you said.

Take care.

Andy.

 

[LondonRascal]

Day Seven (Part one)

Watch part two of day seven of the Captain's Blog:

 

As the morning went on other boaters had departed and the Staithe began to empty, what is rather odd is how tidal the river Chet is, and now being high water the stern of Belmore was well above the quay making it possible to simple ‘walk off’ an almost level platform.  Time for a top up of water and a walk into the village.

I popped into the small store and got some bits and had a wander and wondered what a place this may have been in the late 70’s and 80’s when of course there was a lot more boatyard’s here trading - but these days it seems to be smart homes and moorings, but if you wish to begin a holiday from this quiet and beautiful location Maffets and Princess Cruisers are two very nice yards to consider. 

I had a late breakfast and before long it was time to plan my day – I knew I had to go over Breydon, but where should I be headed? I ‘pencilled in’ Acle and thought it would be nice if I was able to pop into the Bridge Inn – now here is an honest point for you, I am only now as I write this half way through the edit of the second part of day 7 but I am not too certain where I ended up on this day because my notes are not with me at the moment. However, I question if I did indeed stay overnight at Acle, for upon arrival at Horizoncraft was told they were busy with boats being moved about so I could not stay long but had ‘special Rascal dispensation’ to stop long enough to go to the Bridge Inn. We will see where I actually ended up therefore in part 2.

Back to part 1 however, and despite it being a glorious warm sunny day, the forecast was for increasing cloud and rain – indeed once the cloud arrived it was a sudden change in weather, with lower temperature and very little sunshine. This was annoying because it ruled out some scenes I had planned to shoot at St. Benet's and had wanted a nice bright day with plenty of blue sky. 

I left Loddon behind and took a slow cruise down the Chet, when you reach the river yare the difference is immediate with the intimate and narrow river Chet giving way to far wider and more open landscape of the Yare.  Before long the Reedham Ferry came into sight, then Reedham Quay, under the swing bridge and were making good progress. By the time we were approaching the moorings at Polkeys Mill the tide was well and truly on the Ebb and doing about 6 MPH at 1,200 RPM.  This was all very good news – or was it?  I was very much early for the low water at Yarmouth and so the consideration I needed to have was would we have enough clearance under the bridges at Yarmouth.

For time being though, with no other traffic about I used the moorings at Polkeys Mill to do a ‘test mooring’.  I would not actually get off the boat or tie up, but I would be able to judge how things were going, how the boat handled and so on when you come into moor with the tide (something I might add is not at all recommended) but because I was on the left hand side of the boat meant that getting off the boat is faster and easier if you come into moor on that side.

I really do like Belmore (and Belmore TC’s) performance in this respect – but more especially with Belmore as she has a larger engine and I am sure slightly high pitched propeller as the torque and power are noticeable greater.  Add to this a pretty powerful thruster at the bow in a short, light boat and you can have complete confidence in doing things, in other boats would be a great deal harder. 

I then proceeded in towards the moorings at Berney Arms – ready should I need to moor – but also looking out for the damn advance height gauge for the bridges at Yarmouth.

[ScrumpyCheddar]

I love having my broads fix .. Thanks Robin ..

only 72 days to go until me and her in doors are afloat...

[LondonRascal]

Day Seven (Part two)

Watch part two of day seven of the Captain's Blog:

Having performed my ‘test’ mooring to see how the current was ebbing, and how the boat handled such conditions along with the thrust the bow thrusters produced it was time to head off over Breydon Water – far earlier than one should for it was some time after 1:00pm and low water was not until after 4:00pm but the advance gauge showed about 9ft was to expected at the bridges approaching Yarmouth Yacht Station.

A lovely bright day, with the tide ebbing fast and a head wind created a little chop but also got Belmore up to over 10 MPH – though I could not maintain high RPMs due to a scaled heat exchanger so much of the trip was done at about 1,900 RPM and went rather quickly that was until the yellow post, where as I turned to travel up the Bure that same helping ebb tide slammed into me and now 1,800 RPM gave me 4 MPH. 

It got better as the river got wider and I planned to stop at Acle to meet with Paul (Morning Swan) for a drink – but when I arrived the moorings were full and he was in the pub so it was into Horizon Craft where I was told I could not moor overnight due to them being very busy said in a lovely Norfolk manner but then being allowed to stay anyway to go to the pub which i duly did.

A couple of drinks later, or was it three – I was back out and underway once again this time to my final destination – St. Benet’s – yet as I passed the moorings, they were pretty empty so gambled a last minute change of plan to go to Ranworth Staithe. Unfortunately upon my arrival it was pretty full, and while I could have fitted in if a couple of boats moved a bit it was not worth the trouble and so I turned back to St. Benet’s.

Despite the lovely blue skies it had got more chilly as the afternoon wore on to evening so by the time I was mooring at St. Benet’s it was a good time to moor, close the boat up and put the heater on for though nice, it was April and the evenings sure got cold.

A long day at the wheel but a very nice one with great weather and now things could be more sedate being on the northern rivers and taking things more easy and less worry about currents and tides.

[riyadhcrew]

Just watched it Robin. Very good - as usual.

[Boatyman]

Day 7 PT2  another great blog. 

Robin, what was the white fluff near your top lip?? 

Very funny..

 

[grendel]

shssh you werent supposed to notice that 

[LondonRascal]

Ha, fluff - that is your finest Colombian to keep me going - or perhaps just some tissue where I had to blow my nose, as I say it is 'as it happens' so checking how I look is the least of my concerns lol 

[Maxwellian]

I found myself transfixed by it. Most amusing. Excellent blog Robin, I enjoy the chat.

[Boatyman]

Hahah. I thought at 1st it was a big ZIT!!  then I had an idea it was some fluff, hahah then thought tissue.

How true ----- " As it happens "

But a great blog Robin as ever.

I don't mind you talking at all, find what you say extremely interesting, plus love the music you choose too.

You are  " GOD " Of the Broads

A  font of knowledge.  The Historian about boats n boatyards. Broad happenings of past and present.

I wait in anticipation of the next episode.

Have a nice evening. 

Andy 

[VetChugger]

Just one thing to say apart from thanks Robin!

 

BEECHUM  or BEECHAM  if you are posh!

[Broads01]

Robin - this has been the best series you've ever done but can we have some more. No videos since June 23 and some of us are hungry for our Captains Blog fix!

[BroadAmbition]

He is currently on with editing / producing a special Captains Blog from the sea weekend.  This one will be particularly challenging for him as he is putting it together from 3 x different filming platforms.  Added to that he has got his hands full with work and some on going family matters that require his attention so he is somewhat under pressure.  He hopes to have it finished sometime this coming weekend.  If it is up to his normal self imposed high standards then I predict we are in for a treat and it will be worth waiting for

Griff

[ScrumpyCheddar]

Sounds Good already Griff...  I will send her in doors out to get some popcorn to have a cinema night in to watch lol.. 

mike