Julz

Im wondering if they have much of a problem with keeping their cellars dry like 'The Ferry' at Horning do, or as part of their extentions and alterations over the years, did they move from having a traditional cellar, once thought of as essential for keeping real ales in top condition before the days of advanced cooling systems, to a more raised ground floor beer store away from the risk of flooding? On chatting to the warden at the neighbouring Broadlands CC site, he told me that the water table there was only 2 inches below the surface, and they never needed to water the grass even in the height of a dry summer, and constant waterlogging was common during the winter months, forcing them to close. I know that most cellars were 'tanked' with pitch mastic to keep out dampness, but I would doubt that even this would tackle and be able to keep up with such problems in a regularly flooded area, it wouldnt be long before the bricks would start to perish and crumble, especially if they were not of the traditional 'slate blues' or 'engineering' bricks varieties as used to build the structures along the canals and inland man made waterways. That extention facard pictured above, looks rather 'art decco' in style to me, although its windowframes look as though they may be of metal construction, which were in vogue with the Building trade during the 50s and early 60s, and were Bu**ers at breaking the window panes in cold weather when the metal contracted, hence they soon fell out of favour and were replaced by the more traditional wooden frames Julz

I feel sorry for all the wildlife and lifestock caught up in the floods, some farms have been unexpectedly caught out, and have lost cattle when fields that are not normally prone to flooding, have unexpectedly had their water tables rise dramatically. Sheep are especially prone to drowning at this time of year, once their heavy winter fleeces become sodden, swimming to safety becomes just about impossible for many, hence thats why sadly their corpses can eventually sometimes be seen floating in the swollen rivers Julz

Wishing everyone a Wonderful New Year from us too Julz

Hi Clive, please may I book Moon Voyger on a C period for 7 nights at £149 ? I think you need to have words with your printer! We have been scanning a few of your boats for an early break to introduce our 5 year old grandaughter to living life afloat, but most of the boats we have chosen are booked solid for the early part of the season Looking for a newish boat with all mod cons, 2 adults plus 1 child, before the end of May, looked at Far Horizon, but only very early date available in March, Brrr! a bit too cold and possibly foggy then Julz

There used to be a raft race up at Mayfield near Ashbourne on Boxing day each year, but the twist was that all competitors had to jump into the river off the nearby bridge first to enter, which was quite some drop into the water, then swim/wade part of the course to collect their rafts, all to raise money for charity As far as im aware, there hasnt been an event this year after someone was injured during the last event jumping off the bridge, but in previous years, they have carried on the tradition even in freezing conditions with snow on the ground, a lot of people who took part were members of the emergency services and military, and some very well made craft were saved and entered back into the race year upon year. Julz

A lot of people around the Aston on trent, Barrow, Willington, and Stenson areas have been evacuated from their homes due to flooding, and those who had no alterative accomodation available with friends and family, had to bed down in a local community hall over Christmas and make do with hot drinks and sandwiches. Some people have been plain silly in trying to drive down flooded roads where 'road closed' signs were displayed, and ended up getting stuck in deep water and needing the emergency services to rescue them, putting further lives in danger Its not just those near the rivers that get flooded either, we live half way down a fairly steep road, with a small babbling brook at the bottom, which with the heavy rains of late has swelled to a gushing torrent with all the surface water pouring down, causing the busy road junction down that end to flood to about a foot deep at times. luckily the schools are closed otherwise it would have been a bigger problem as its their main access road Julz

I thought about you today Jonny, when I was roasting my whole topside of beef for dinner, im glad that you managed to get something sorted, and were not left to dine alone today, like you thought you would be. Indeed, no fun in that, and likewise we dished up a couple of extra plate fulls as 'takeaways' for a couple of local elderly people who can no longer cook for themselves Im sure your friends enjoyed your generosity, and had a Christmas to remember Julz

Well its going to be a fairly quiet one for us too with a newborn baby just home, but if your passing this way Jonny, your most welcome to a hot dinner and a drink or two, its not nice being on your own when everyone else is celebrating around you Julz

We use large cat litter trays of salt to keep the condensation out of the upholstry and carpets, but im not sure about using it in the water systems as it could corode the heater if left in contact for too long over Winter. In Spring we always flush through with a few gallons of water and Milton solution, but is just left in for a couple of hours before its all flushed through again with fresh. Some people recommend leaving the taps in the open position to allow for any expansion should a freeze occur, but I have known insects and spiders to take up residence in the system if they are able to crawl up the pipe from the pump inlet outside if the cap is not 100% secure, so im not going to encourage them from the inside as well! Julz

-4*C this morning in Derbyshire, rising to -2*C at lunchtime, very heavy frost over the past few nights with some freezing fog, but no snow yet. I bet some of the shallower backwaters like Womack are frozen over already, Im just keeping my fingers crossed that we have completely drained off our water systems, as I did get caught out a couple of seasons ago, and ended up paying out for a new shower tap where it had split under the washbasin. Julz

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year From Julz and Bill

As per a previous post last June, we were onboard a cruiseship coming out of the port of Mold in Norway, when an idiot of a yachtsman, complete with his young family onboard, did likewise to these pictures. Infact, when I first glanced at these, I thought it may have been the same inceident, the fore deck of our ship being the same colour, and the yacht being the same size and proximity, the only thing was the lack of screaming and very frightened children onboard the yacht as they sailed under the forepeak of an 11 deck high, 94ft beam cruiseship, whos horns were booming loudly, and crew were franticaly waving and shouting at the skipper from the side gantry of the bridge deck. Luckily we managed to avoid a serious collision with only a few feet to spare, the yacht at one point completely disapeared from the view of the vantage point of Crows nest bar above the bridge he came that close, but this yachtsman certainly took it to the word that 'power should give way to sail', even if it was the equvilent of a Mouse trying to take on a Lion of the boating world, a very scarey few mins indeed, for passengers and ships crew alike Julz

No, it isnt Hylander, it runs off 240v hook-up (shore-power) but according to the instructions, its designed to keep foods frozen for upto 12hrs during a power failure, so its happy to keep stuff frozen solid whilst in transit, we froze several packs of Norfolk gluten free bangers last Thursday to bring home for our daughter, the journey took 5hrs, and they were still frozen solid, along with a tub of Norfolk County Icecream when we arrived home last night. They also do a matching tabletop fridge, although I was a bit too late for the offer on that one last year, but maywell invest in one next January as a drinks fridge if they are reduced back down to that bargain price again. Argos do a similar model for around £80 for anyone who cannot afford to wait for the sales Julz

You could also look at the option of buying a Large 240v/12v coolbox from one of the big camping chain stores, it sure would work out a cheaper option than buying a marine fridge, and the latest models are very much improved in effiecentcy, and can be run of either 240v mains or the 12v system. A lot of people on the camping forums praise the Coleman branded stuff, one member i know of uses hers to transport fresh foods from home down to the South of France and still manages to arrive on site with her meals frozen from when she took them out of her freezer the night before, and thats from plugging into the car cigrette lighter socket. We did splash out on a Waeco toploader when we had our catering trailer, but sadly despite it being a well made bit of kit, it died on us in the third season of use when the electrics failed and a repair was just not economically viable. We now run a threeway Dometic fitted unit in our caravan, plus a 'curry's special' tabletop freezer which cost us £39 out of last winters sale, and holds a cavernous amount of frozen foods and can keep frozen from home to the broads on a 5 hrs journey without any sign of defrosting. Julz

A very nice little boat indeed, especially as a weekender or for pootling around the upper reaches of the broads The only downside for me would be the fact that its petrol driven, and therefore would need all its fuel carried on board in jerrycans or similar from the nearest petrol station, as far as im aware, there are no boatyards remaining on the broads where you can simply pull up and fill up like you can with a diesel boat, although maybe someone will prove me wrong? If the petrol issue doesnt bother you, and it has a decent BSC, then it looks like a real little bargain of a boat Julz

Probably not the cause in this case, but over the past few weeks we have seen people go off and leave dogs locked up inside their boat/caravan during the hotter days without anything much in the way of ventilation. The RSPCA had to be called to a caravan on the Sandringham estate recently where the owner had gone out for the day and left their small dog locked inside with all the windows closed. The poor animal was wimpering and scratching to get out for sometime before the wardens intervened and a rescue was launched by the RSPCA. Luckily this one was saved but very dehydrated and exhausted, others have not been so lucky Julz

Well it was a shame it wasnt the one that Bill Maxted lost, as it was of great sentimental value to him. I hope he eventually gets well again and is able to return to his yard, he was so kind to us a few years ago when the news came through that my baby grandson had died at home whist we were out on a hire boat, he offered to return the boat back to Brinkcraft from the south for us, and to take us back to the yard in his car to save time, he was also a mutual friend of a lady who my father worked for when I was a child living at Haddiscoe, and who recently sadly passed away at the ripe old age of 89yrs. I have often wondered of late what had happened to him to stop him posting Thanks guys for contacting Bill to ask Julz

I know of an old boatyard owner on the Chet who lost a boarding ladder made by his late father in last winters floods, it was washed away on a surge tide, and he couldnt find it depite extensive searches of the area, he was offering a bottle of something nice to anyone who could find it for him, he doesnt post on here, but he was once a prolific poster on another forum, although I havent seen him around on line for some time, you could try calling him on Riverine's number if hes still around there, as someone did say he hadnt been too well of late. Julz

The Accident at Wroxham bridge occured at around 2.30pm on bank holiday Saturday afternoon, and involved a 20yr old lad who was onboard Blue Horizon 3 as it was transiting the bridge, its not clear if they tried to do this without the bridge pilot onboard, or if it was a case of them not realising at the time that the lad was actually out on deck. He was seriously injured and the air ambulance was called, and an area of the Kings arms gardens screened off and used as a triage area to treat and stabilize the casualty, and treat his family for shock, before he was flown off to Adenbrookes hospital special trauma unit, where he is receiving treatment for serious head injuries. I just hope he makes a full recovery given the appropiate treatment and time to heal, Julz

I have been here for three weeks now, and not due home for another 7 days, its very busy at Ludham bridge too, lots of 'silly season' boating with little regard to any instuctions from the yards or colregs, some of the worst inceidents we have spotted have been from private boat owners who simply should know better, kids on the bows of their boats, legs dangling and without life jackets on whilst they are transiting the bridge from upstream at some considerable speed, and without knowing what may face them as they enter the downsteam bend outside the boatyard. It just makes me shudder to think what would happen if a dayboat suddenly left the boatyard moorings or an inexperianced hirer was to enter the space unexpectantly, instead of a clash of rubbing strakes, it would be the childrens legs that got injured in this act of foolishness. There have been a few boats stuck side ways on across the channel due to the high winds blowing across the marshes today and the inexperianced helms trying to 'fight the wheel' in order to stay on the straight, luckily plenty of help around to get them free, but it doesnt help when people blatently disregard the notices on the demasting moorings, and moor bow to stern tightly upto the mouth of the bridge whilst they nip to the shop or the pub, it caused a very close shave indeed today for one of the EW yachts who came to within inches of stiking the bridge. It will be even busier in the area tommorrow when the bank holiday hireboats are returning to the yards whilst the yachts from the Barton regatta will be heading downstream for home, many lashed to the side of a motorboat or towing behind and unable to reverse at the bridge, the fun and games will really start then Julz

We are heading down to the Broads for 3 weeks starting next Sunday, so will probably have a wander around Clive's yard to see Lady Linda Jonny, just a pity it rained before your last coat of Sadolin was dry on her woodwork, but its nothing a bit of elbow grease and sandpaper cant put right, and im sure she will make you a lovely boat once her refurbishment is finished I have just had a few days of boat spotting and envy on the Menai straights out of Conwy Marina, some seriously beautiful boats of all shapes and sizes down there, rag and stick, powerboats and work boats plus some serious bling! Just popped home to do the laundry and collect the post then were off again down to tour our favourite boating spots in the Uk, finishing late September up on the north Yorkshire coast with a visit to our friends with the Crab boat out of Bridlington Julz

Thanks for that information Rod We were cruising out of the fiord and into the open sea with our next destination of Tromso when this inceident happened, and it was still fairly restricted cruising to the point we could see land and shoreside buildings quite clearly on both the port and starboard bow, and a handfull of yachts playing in the distance on the estury, before the open seas. Most of these steered well clear of our big white ship, but the one in question continued to sail towards us, and then at the last moment decided to swing sharpe over from the port side, and cross our ships bows. He came so close that from the Crows Nest bar, which is situated directly over the bridge, we could not see if he had made it past or been hit until we spotted him imerge on the starboard side a couple of mins later, a very near miss indeed. The signal given was actually one long loud blast followed by frantic pipping, of which Bill says he counted seven of these in all. Theres a chance that the port Pilot may still have been onboard at the time, but other passengers out on deck at the time said that some of the bridge crew went out onto the side look out gantrys and offered the crew of the yacht some 'very friendly advice', they needed it, especially with several young children onboard the yacht at the time If the crew managed to capture the yachts registration details, and they do have a bridge camra installed, does this mean that the yachtsman will possibly receive a hefty fine for his stupidity? he came that close that i was thinking that he may have been drawn in by the ships 'undertow' the yacht was a sea going type, but only of about 30ft long. Julz

We have just returned from a couple of weeks afloat saltside, mainly in the North sea and Norwegian coastal waters, and became intrested in the various blasts on the ships horn and what they ment, anyone know what all of them mean? We had a very close encounter with a yacht across the bows of our ship as we left the port of Molde, which causes the skipper to let out one long blast followed by several short ones, and although I realise that normally power gives way to sail, a small yacht with kids onboard darting infornt of a large ship cruising at around 12notts, with just a few feet clearance to spare was foolish to say the least So I take it the one long blast and several short ones is a warning of impending danger? What do the other ships horn blasts used at sea mean? Julz

Hi Dave, no hard and fast rule regards mooring ropes, only to say keep an eye on them, keep them safely onboard and away from the propeler to avoid any expensive tangling, use the appropiate knots, and adjust as required as the tide rises and falls. This can be most noticeable the nearer you get to Gt Yarmouth, where the rise and fall of the tide can be several feet. The outlet to the sea at Lowestoft is somewhat protected from such drastic differences by Mutford Lock, but can still rise/fall around a metre in places, and around the Yacht station at certain states of the tide. Im unsure what your airdraft is on your hireboat, but you may face some restrictions at Reedham, Somerleyton, and St Olaves bridges, as well as the Vauxhall bridge at Gt Yarmouth, although that might be a bit out of your range if your planning to tour the Southern broads and as a novice, as its one part of the Broads where the rise and fall is at its greatest (needing ladder access at times) and the current is at its strongest. The hire yards do indeed give give advice on speeding and the consequences of not heeding to that advice, but unfortunately some people just dont listen, and in the case of the worst offenders, the boatyard is within its rights to reclaim the boat from its hirer early following an inceident, and without any refund of monies or compensation for doing so. Theres also a hefty fine which can be enforced by the authorities, and rangers and police do patrol the broads and use speed monitoring equipment where they suspect the restrictions are not being adhered to. Most of the time though the rangers are a happy bunch, and often a good source of local knowledge, help and advice, and are always happy to chat and share a joke and a cuppa! Im sure you will be fine, just remember to wear your life jackets when out on deck, and take your time and enjoy the beautiful scenery, take some basic provisions onboard as river side shops are few and far between on the southern rivers, and the best shopping areas are Norwich, Beccles and Lowestoft, but they still do entail a fair walk from the riverbank espacially if carrying heavy shopping. Loddon is a nice little village, but the approch down the Chet can be quite narrow and winding in places and stern on places at the staithe cannot be garaunteed, as they are popular with private boaters who use the shore power points. Julz

Hi Dave, the thing you will notice most between canal boat handling and the broads boats is that you have more tidal effect and underwater currents to contend with. I know there are areas of the canals where tidal rivers are part of the navigation system, but the entire broads is effected by the daily rise and fall of the tides, and you have to take into this into consideration when mooring and always come into moor against the tide, even if this means truning your boat around at a convienient place to do so. With stern on, its nothing like driving a car, theres the factor of tide, wind direction, and power onto the rudder to push the boat around into the desired position before gently going stern on. The throttle plays as much a part in this as the steering wheel does, and indeed its something that takes a few attempts to learn, and then on occasions even the most experianced boater will get it wrong, and have to go out and start again, its all part of the fun of boating! Im sure you will be fine once you get the hang of it, just take your time and as you said before, do things very slowly, its often best (and safer) just to drift stern onto a mooring once you lined up and about 6ft of the bankside, and dis-engage throttle to avoid any hard bumps that would bounce your boat or a possibly a crew member off the back and into the water. Theres also the option of mooring alongside if everything else fails, which in the upper reaches of the southern waterways probably wont be much different to what you have been used to with your narrowboat, as long as you remember to come into moor against the tide. Julz