webntweb

Is that a navigator?

I thought it was a folding telescopic mast to save fuel on windy days.

If that is the same one that was in Lightning, and I presume it will be as they were built at roughly the same time, it had a peculiarity: It was 1600 watts but it only output in blocks of 400 watts, so if your item only needed say 100 watts it somehow drew 400 watts. We found this out because a cpap that only needed 70 watts would not work all night - an almost full battery would be flat by morning.

Haven't done Christmas, but 2009 we had a week on Moonlight Shadow commencing on Boxing Day. Weather was kind to us - lovely sunny days, cold crisp nights. Saw the new year in in the Waveney at Oulton Broad, a very enjoyable evening. Another evening was spent in the Woods End, just a few couples, the landlord and an open fire. Walking down the lane back to our mooring on the green, the beams from our torches were filled with the reflections of ice crystals in the air - magical. But the highlight of our week was when my friend spotted a Bittern walking through the reeds at the edge of the Yare near Rockland Broad. Very quiet on the rivers; three or four days we didn't see another boat moving.

Thanks for your answer. I did think perhaps the railway went underneath, but its a bit unusual for a road over railway bridge to be cast iron as they were usually brick, especially rural ones.

Excellent tale and photos of your trip on a wonderful historic boat. Brought back memories of holidays on similar wooden craft in the 50s and 60s, thanks. What/where is the cast iron bridge on your Dilham walk? My thinking is a M&GN railway bridge, but it seems to curve downward at either end . . . subsidence perhaps.

We met a coaster coming downstream towards us just above Carrow Bridge in 1963. I've told the story previously on here . . . suffice to say it was an interesting encounter!

I think that the turning point that Vaughan referred to is immediately upstream of Lady Julian Bridge on the bend just before the yacht station.

Filby? Is that St Mary's Thrigby?

There isn't a waterway that I've holidayed on that I wouldn't return to, plus many more that I would have liked to have cruised given the time/funds. Like Alan my first choice would be the canals, then the Broads (first holiday 1958), then followed by the French waterways, the Thames and the Fens. I've alway regretted not doing the river Barrow in Ireland Money no object for a Broads boat? We had a share in Lightning and loved the upper helm which made for easy mooring when just two of us and for the views over the river banks, but still able to pass under Wroxham, Beccles and Wayford . . . so "money no object for a Broads boat": a Broom Commodore Bridgemaster 43 ft (as Lightning) with hull lengthened by 3 foot and rear topsides by 2 foot, to give a wider rear deck; engine moved from centre of boat to under rear bed to enable a double or bunk beds to be built in engine's original position thus making boat a 10/11 berth to accomodate our tribe. Oh, just a couple of other things: electric flush toilets and some more ballast to give us a chance of squeezing under Potter.

When the OP takes this up with the yard he/she could ask them to check the previous hirers final bill which should show if they had been charged for their refuel.

With a station on their doorstep and the last train to Norwich about midnight seven days a week, they could potentially have access to a large client base if they get a reputation for more up market food.

When we hired Connoisseurs in France they had two fridges; one we used for general food, the other for wine and cheese - no matter which cheese you bought they stank and we didn't want cheese flavoured milk. Perhaps N758 had returned from France.

My son had booked a Woods boat about 2003 for early September. On the Monday before his holiday was due to start on the following Saturday, he received a phone call to say his boat had been holed and partially sunk over the weekend. It turned out to be at Brundall and Woods didn't think they could recover it and sort it out for the Saturday. They didn't have many boats not hired out and he didn't want any or the replacements they offered. They agreed to his money back and he told them that if they did manage to repair it he would be happy to accept it as late as Friday afternoon. They did manage to repatriate it, strip it more or less completely, clean it all out and refit with all new furnishings, beds and a complete new galley. He can't remember which boat it was, but it was one of the large ones. Perhaps they didn't have any boats in build at that time so could put a lot of their workforce on refitting it.

In which reach is the hump, or does it move over time with river flow/tides?

The sign on the floor next to the door gives directions to where Rosie Lee's has relocated.

Our six-year-old grandson was stung by a weever fish yesterday at Barmouth. Extremely painful. 111 wasn't much help so my son rang 999 and spoke to the coastguard who told him how to treat it - foot in very hot water for an hour or so, remove any spines with tweezers and then clean the area with soapy water. Do not cover the wound. According to the press there seems to be a lot more of these fish around this year and as they bury themselves in the sand at the water's edge they are in the perfect place for paddling youngsters to tread on them. All six of our grandchildren won't be paddling unless wearing their Jellies when they come with us to Skegness in a couple of weeks.

I think it was Blakes who for a short period (a year or two?) advertised all the boats in the brochure at a per berth price. Some people must have presumed they were going to be sharing the boat with strangers as they had quite a shock when they received the invoice for the balance for the complete boat.

Lucky Stream 1 & 2 were hired by C.B. Darby of Oulton Broad. Attached pic is from Craig's website.

Lovely pic of Swiftway 1 looking in pristine condition.

Vaughan, I thought it was Turners.

in 1984 I had a pumpout at Norbury Junction on the Shropshire Union. The hired narrowboat we were on had two toilets emptying into one holding tank. The chap doing the pumpout spotted this and said he would have to charge us for two pumpouts at £4 each as it was a large tank. At the time the Broads boatyards were charging between £2 or £3 for a pumpout. How does £8 in 1984 compare with todays prices.

The newspaper inks in the good old days of outside loos were mineral based and generally didn't transfer to your bum. H & S came along and newspaper inks became mainly vegetable (soy) based and would definitely transfer.

Possibly a well timed tip about keeping away from black cars, as I may be looking for a replacement soon as mine was rear ended yesterday while I was waiting to turn right - just an estate road with a 20mph speed limit. On the face of it damage doesn't look too bad - holed and cracked rear bumper, crease in tailgate, but the rear light assembly has definitely been pushed outward so possibly some hidden structural damage.

"Hemsby Broads Rescue said it was called to the stranded cruiser on Breydon Water in Norfolk at about midday".