Mandybstorm

Hi Keith, Thank you we had a great time apart from the toilet issue (see my other post). Lisa inspired me with her vodka, I now have some sloe gin and blackberry vodka under the stairs ready for Christmas. We are coming to the AGM provided we can get a dog sitter for the day. It will be nice to see you again and to meet some of the others. Mandy x

Many thanks for the jackets clive! Hope you had a good holiday and that your very charming brother didn't drink the wine before you got back! X

Ah womack staithe yes that was it. 1st visit this year but we will return i think. Handy to have the village shop which was very well stocked and reasonably priced. We really should of kicked up more of a fuss about the loo's but after nearly a full day wasted at the yard trying to get it sorted out we kind of gave up. Most of the boats were out with it being school hols so no hope of swapping boats. It was probably the last time we would be hiring for a while after buying our share in moonlight shadow so we just got on with it and had a good time despite the stinky loo! The good weather helped i think. Only 1 day of rain which happened to be while we were the wrong side of the bridge at dilham staithe! I did think about putting in an official complaint with hoseasons but i had visions of receiving a voucher off a future holiday that we would not use. We filled in a feedback form at the boatyard which highlighted the problems so hopefully they will be sorted out. Awful as it may sound things like the stinky loo's become something to be remembered for years by the kids! They never remember the nice bits only the gross bits or mini disasters ect...

Hi All, we had a very enjoyable week on the broads the first week in September. We hired Fair countess 4. We have had a Countess before around 8 years ago which was great but we did encounter a few problems this time. The front loo was a nightmare. It kept filling up and overflowing into the shower tray every night. It stank putrid as did the rear toilet as well. We returned to the boat yard on the 2nd day for the engineer to fix the problem but he could find no fault. However as soon as we set off again it overflowed again during the night despite being in the correct locked position. We gave up using it and merely drained it and washed everything down each morning! Not ideal but we didn't want to lose another days holiday stuck at the boatyard. The rear toilet really, really smelt. It was a case of get in and out as quick as you can! Other than that the boat was fine. We visited a new place this year DILHAM! Very nice place but maybe not in a 40ft by 12ft boat! Oh what fun we had! I don't think I've ever held my breath for so long! Ha ha you live and learn as they say! It was a really nice mooring though and electric points to. We also tried another new mooring whose name evades me at the moment. It had a grassy village green area, with a small red brick shop, café, art gallery and fishing tackle place. I also think they did t shirt printing there. It was a short walk into the village which had a butchers, pub and grocery store. There was a small toilet block and bins provided but I didn't see electric points. Does this ring a bell with anyone as I really can't remember where we were? We couldn't get in at chedgrave so travelled down to Cantley where we were very surprised to moor up in front of Moonlight Shadow. We met Keith and Lisa who were on her that week and joined them onboard for a chat and another quick look round her. I partook in Lisa's Blackberry Vodka which was very good indeed and has inspired me on my return home. I currently have sloe gin and blackberry vodka doing its thing in the cubby hole! Ready in time for Christmas I hope. Big thanks to you both for your hospitality, see you at the AGM. We are back down on the 25th October for our first time out on Moonlight Shadow so getting excited. Slowly getting a boat kit together in the spare room which is looking scarily large! As the weather may not be great I think I need to plan our trip around moorings with electric which is something we have never done before. We normally just go with the flow! Any recommendations for moorings with electric but also good exercise areas for dogs down south are welcome. Not sure whether to cross Breydon and go up north in late October? Anyway I should be at work so I better sign off for now!!

Got him a junior licence from the PO but do we need any other sort of permit to fish on the broads? Also what are the rules on putting fish back or can we eat them?

Thank you howard. Regarding the water i presume some of the water filling facilities close down for the winter. Is there anyway of finding out which ones are still working before we go? We usually stay at the quieter, grassy, free moorings as these are better for the dogs but in the dead of winter i suppose everywhere will be quiet! St benets chedgrave gays staithe and salhouse are usual haunts for us. If we want to use shore powerfor a heater we will have to rethink our stops. Xx

Loving the thought of that howard! So long as it snows once we are onboard otherwise we will never get there in our ford focus. It is totally unusable in the snow! I sold my freelander a couple of days before we got around 3 feet of snow! We live on an unadopted road at one of the highest points in matlock. When it snows it always drifts and we are usually stuck for at least three weeks!

We have just found out that we will be on Moonlight Shadow for Christmas. Yipee! Is anyone else daft enough to do the same? Any advice or ideas welcome! I'm a veggie anyway but the rest of the family aren't. Sorry folks but turkey is out of the question, gammon may be on the menu along with lots of roast veggies. We normally spend Christmas in Egypt so this year will certainly be different. The relatives will never find us :naughty: Tinsel and a miniature Christmas tree is now on the shopping list and I musn't forget to let Santa know!

My son had his 13th birthday today and knowing about our recent boatshare purchase someone has bought him a fishing rod. A 3m robson green float rod? Now we have not the slightest clue about fishing! So I need to know everything!!! We need a licence from Post Office I believe but other than that we know nothing. how much do they cost? Advice on bait, whether you have to put your catch back, good places to fish on the broads, what you can eat and what is not a good idea to eat. Are there certain dates you can not fish at all? Thanks everyone

10 days and counting until we come down for a week on Fair Countess. As it stands at the moment, Chris, myself, son aged 13, son aged 19 and 2 dogs but if past experience is anything to go by this may change at the last minute! Unpredictable teenagers who may get a better offer than spending a week with us boring oldies. Wrote my list of things to pack last night so now it's getting exciting. I'm a list person, if it isn't on the list it doesn't get in the car! I have been working 7 day weeks for a while now so I am well and truly ready to get away! I have stopped answering my phone at the moment as I know it will be people wanting me to work. I shouldn't complain I suppose but boy will it be nice just to be able to flop out and relax.

:DThanks for all the great replies! As a newbie it's good to get the opinions of a diverse bunch of people.

What type of bedding do you take with you? Interested whether people use fitted bottom sheets or flat sheets tucked in? Sleeping bags or duvets?

How are things going with the reduced refuse collection on the broads? Coming down soon and was wondering how things are going with all the extra people around in the school holidays

Oooo very good, that was quick work! I'm off to the members area now then to have a look. Thanks to all the mods. X

Hi keith , we are coming down on the 30th too as we are booked onto fair countess 4. We will give you a shout if we see you!

The keys for Moonlight Shadow have arrived this morning! Exciting stuff. Need to get a floating key fob now. No log on for the website yet though so we can't start trying to rearrange our weeks yet. Will try and sort that out on Monday.

Sent you a pm clive!

We are now in need of some lifejackets! Does anyone have some old ones for sale or can offer advice on where and what type to purchase? 2 adults above 10 stone(enough said please ) 1 slim build teenager and one 13 year old to cater for. Thankyou x

Never a dull moment in this household! We were due to come down on the 30th for a week on silver spirit. Leaving the poochies behind but bringing teenagers with us. Anyway a last minute drama involving said teenagers has meant the holiday was in danger of being cancelled! A phone call to Hoseasons was no help at all. This was then followed by a rather disgruntled email being sent to their customer services department. Hey presto this grabbed their attention and I was contacted by Fiona who was unbelievably helpful and went massively out of her way to help us. The outcome being that we are still coming but on Fair Countess with the poochies in tow but one less teenager. We last had fair countess in 2008 and from the pictures it looks as though she has had a revamp. It will be a little strange to be without a bow thruster again so if you see us struggling to get into a mooring try not to laugh too much! A very stressful couple of days but I can now relax and breath! grr kids!!!

Oh right, many thanks i will have a look at that then. Booked our quota of hols on the broads this year but will keep that in mind for the future.

Very good, we all sat down to watch, which is a rare event now the kids are older. Love the look of the broadsman boats , how i wish they would have one that took dogs! Been with them before but always restricted to the older more basic boats due to the hounds. Showed the broads off well i thought. Counting down the days until 30 aug now!

Hi everyone, we went to sawley on sunday afternoon and spent a few hours at the marina. We managed to persuade one of the hire companies to show us round a narrow boat that wasn't out. It had everything you could need but it really was 'narrow'! It was a 6 berth and a little dated but laid out well. We will give it a go next year as they say don't knock it until you've tried it. I envisage that we will fall over the dogs a few times during the week though as in some sections of the boat there was only room for one to walk through. Had a look round the boats for sale section where there were boats of all types for sale. If only! There were a couple of river cruiser type boats that were very nice. The hire boat chap rolled his eyes when we said we had only holidayed on the broads before!!! Very nice day, ice cream by the canal, hot sunshine and plenty of boats going by. X

Thanks alan for a very comprehensive reply. Some very helpful information there. There would just be the three of us, 2 adults one 12 year old and the two hounds of course. Older son very rarely holidays with us unless we are going somewhere hot, exotic and expensive! I think we would enjoy it. It would maybe take us a short time to get used to the locks and the steering of such a long boat. We already have another week on the broads booked so it will have to wait until next year. Silver spirit at the very end of aug/ 1st week sept. I will start reading up on the different routes and hire companies though. Mostly countryside with not too many obstacles to navigate for our first attempt i think! At first glance brecon looks good but only had a glimpse so far. Will have to sit and study whilst hubby watching football.

Just wondering how many people on here have tried narrow boating and what your opinions of it are compared to broads boating. We have not tried it yet mainly because it seems a little more expensive and this may sound trivial but because we love the sliding roofs of the broads boats. The fact that you can uncover the boats and sit in comfort out in the open watching nature all around you. The narrowboats seems to be very enclosed with no comfortable seating open to the elements. On the other hand i would imagine that you are also grounded in unpleasant weather unless someone is willing to brave the elements to drive in the pouring rain. Is it free to moor up or similar to the broads where you can choose to pay or not? What are the loos like? I seem to of heard more people complaining of smelly loos. One person i spoke to also likened it to sleeping in a coffin! We will have to give it a go i think purely out of curiosity. We are so much closer to the canal system here in matlock. It takes us between 4 & 5 hours to get down to the broads which can be a tad gruelling with dogs and kids. Would love to hear other peoples opinions and experiences of the canals!

Ha ha very good. So that,s why my labrador was going bonkers digging at the molehills, she was trying to get into the news!