JennyMorgan

Carol, lot to be said for having a kayak on the cabin roof, ready for when you want to visit out of the way places. The smaller the boat the greater the fun!

It's all the incomers what does it!

Thanks for the reminder, Tim, that lead me to this one, apt back then and just as apt today:

Is that where he came from, the bounder? The self appointed jobsworth sort can also provide endless hours of fun, fun, fun as you photograph them photographing you. Also a good time to perfect one's own ludicrous goose step with extended first finger suitably placed under one's hooter, John Cleese style, know wot I mean, Jon! Problem comes when the self appointed isn't really self appointed, as is the case at Horsey.

You probably write in jest, MM, but when a prop fails, then I rather suspect that such a tactic is employed! However, it is up to the parish council to make its own rules and it's up to people using their moorings to respect those rules. If they don't like them then either joint the PCC and change them, or sod off. I am sure that the rules have been made with good intentions, even if none of us agree with them.

Unfortunately, in this day and age we are constantly being told that our conversations are being recorded 'for training' purposes etc, or that we are being photographed. I don't like it either but it's becoming the norm. In this case how is the 'ex cop' going to prove who it is that he's having a conversation with, silly old sod? I don't expect that his truncheon is as threatening as it was.

If people google Irstead Staithe & click on the location map then they will see a photo of a very large notice board saying no launching or retrieval of kayaks etc.. Another picture is of a well known user of 24hr moorings.

Just no surcharges down South, the income from the surcharges up North to pay for a bypass to Great Yarmouth.

Perhaps there should be different rates in the form of toll surcharges depending on when folk go through honeypots like Wroxham & Horning. Effectively tiered congestion charges, lot we can learn from London's traffic controls

No gusts at Whitlingham!

My daughter & I arrived at about half past ten to be met by an effusive John Packman & Cally Smith, both of which, despite our differences I'm always pleased to meet. Cally & her husband are keen sailors so our conversation was clearly biased in that direction. In J.P's case the discussion was more concerned with the supply of electricity & the cost of cards, exhaust pollution and residential boaters and did I want a coffee? Not the clamouring crowds of years gone by, the strategic timing of the meeting when people would either be working on their boats or actually out boating does seem to work most effectively. I don't know if any other stakeholders were there but clearly there were a few boaters there, but only a few. Forty or fifty people possibly, with about twenty of us attending JP's question and answer session. Of that twenty, including ourselves, my daughter & I counted only ten people in the audience who were not actually employed by or directly connected with the Authority. When it actually came to questions only two were forthcoming. One from me, JP's face said it all, he was probably expecting a political tirade regarding the truth of the NP issue, but no, it was about residential boating and I received a reasonable response with which there was no argument. The only other question concerned the tolls, both question & answer being somewhat predictable. My daughter & I enjoyed our visit, both of us being really surprised at how few people had turned up, even more surprised at how few of the few actually sat down to listen to Dr Packman. We had good chats with various staff & rangers, heard some interesting facts and honest opinions. Interesting chat about the use of electric outboards and the need to reduce engine vibration for operators. The Broads National Park message was predictably loud and clear but with so few people there it would have been both pointless and discourteous to have argued the issue. Dr Packman clearly believes his own propaganda and there are issues that I will be taking up with him in regard to his stated justification for using the title. For one thing the history of NP's in England according to Dr P is not entirely in line with my understanding of it, & I have documentation in that regard since my father was involved in the original consultation regarding the setup of the Broads Authority.. It's a nice spot to hold such a meeting, despite the car-parking charge. Plenty of large portions of delicious cakes for the gluttons amongst us. Dr Packman & I remain on courteous talking terms. I'm glad that I went.

Don't think that we'll be endangered whilst he needs our money! Perhaps there might be a further Broads related Countryfile program, including boats, I do know that some very informative letters were sent to the Countryfile team, there is a story there.

Not able to cruise on them both but there are two Suffolk Broads, mustn't forget Barnby. That aside the title Broads etc. does, by custom, include the rivers. I don't see this as an attempt to mislead, the Suffolk Broads, like its Norfolk cousin, is an area and it does include marshes, dykes, carrs, meres, ponds, rivers and broads, landlocked and otherwise.

Don't really know who we can blame for that, probably not the Authority though. I have a book called 'The Land of the Broads' which is a bit long winded, the title, not the book, and I suspect that it was our Victorian forebears that pretty soon changed that to Broadland which I have long thought the ideal marketing tag, certainly sums it all up. So, what are the options then? The Broads, been in use for hundreds of years, short, accurate and established. Broadland, been in use a since the railway companies latched onto Poppyland & Broadland and Norfolk caught the public imagination, seems pretty good to me. Next we have the almost laughable Magic Waterland, ho ho ho, what was wrong with Broadland? Norfolk Broads, fairly short, innacurate but manageable.. Norfolk & Suffolk Broads, accurate but bit of a mouthful. Broads National Park, inaccurate and a bit of a mouthful. Broads, a member of the National Parks Family, accurate but even more of a mouthful! Just a thought, The Broads, unique amongst Britain's national parks. Accurate, as it is the only member of the family that isn't actually a national park, doesn't have Sandford & is a navigation authority.

You can travel on parts of the Waveney with Norfolk on one side of you and Suffolk on the other. What makes me smile is that wherries are often referred to as Norfolk Wherries yet of the survivors, Albion & Ardea, both are Oulton Broad, Suffolk built.

Mention was made of the Suffolk Broads, very early on.

Did you all see Countryfile? Good advert for Carlton Marshes, an area that I can clearly see and enjoy from my bedroom windows, lucky me!

Thank you for that comment, we can now all draw our own conclusions!!

Diesel poisoning, in my case, has lead to exceptionally sore throats rather than headaches , either way It's not pleasant and it can be hard to avoid.

A Blue Robin Badge perchance?

Andrew, an opinion that needs a far wider audience than is available on this or any other Broads orientated forum. I personally think that the BA has been negligent on this one despite having a relevant byelaw with which it can act. I have made this point to the the Authority. The point was also made by one of the rangers who was drawn into the conversation that some boats, when on tick over, spew out near neat diesel. It was clear that the Authority is well aware of the problem. I don't intend to let it drop. Diesel fumes lay on the water and can be contained by the reed banks, most unpleasant for those of us in low boats such as dories, kayaks or rowing skiffs.

DNKS, unsurprisingly I agree with much that you have just written, but not all of it. Dr Packman is not all bad and without doubt he does deserve some credit. However I do think that the balance is not in his favour. He has taken advantage of a flawed system, more than anything it is the system that has allowed him to operate as he does that needs challenging.

Tut tut!!

I rather like this one! It shows a wherry probably holding the tide waiting for Lowestoft bridge to open, I suspect that the sail has been depowered to a point where the wherry is stationary. Could she have shot the bridge? Probably but that wouldn't have put a dumpling on the bridge keeper's plate!

My guess is that she's Olave. Back then a girlfriend's father owned her and Olave had a smaller than usual mainsail that came off a sailing cruiser. By the way, I wasn't interested in wherries then, my friend Sally, actually became a lifelong friend, worked for Penthouse and seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of well endowed and tempting lady friends that came to stay onboard at the weekend!