JennyMorgan

Dave, quite right but I'm not sure that it is a once in a blue moon occurrence, just that it hit the headlines this time. I do think that a turn right only sign for hire craft exiting the Bure wouldn't go amiss though, in English & Norfolk. 'Tarn yew roight roight hair bor', read slowly, in a sing song manner with a rise at the end of it.

Or even a gravel lake? For those who don't know our Broads are, or were, medieval peat diggings. On the other hand the Whitlingham Redundant Gravel Pits are just that, they are NOT broads! It might only be an annoyance to us locals but this watering down of the area's identity, our heritage, by the Doctor is growing tiresome. The Broads are The Broads, they are not lakes, nor are they a national park, once again they are The Broads, they are what makes the area what it is.

Or just 'The Broads'. Apparently the good Doctor has taken to referring to our Broads as Lakes, unfortunately forgetting that The Broads is The Broads, unique in Britain, our heritage.

Nice ones, Dave, especially the brown one! Over the years several hire boats have headed off to the sea, one famously arrived at Southend! A couple of years ago we were at the Gt Yarmouth Maritime Festival and a hire boat went through bridge, heading for the sea, with a BA Ranger in hot pursuit! I wonder just how often it happens.

Stuart, come South! Have now had four bream over eight pounds despite fishing for roach at the time! To be fair though, very mixed reports across the Broads.

Aldeby

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/british-breaks/norfolk-broads-boating-holiday-leave-6125514

Surely Matt couldn't have been so heartless as to murder my poor old ginger cock!

The cockerel is dead, perhaps eight hens was just too much of a good thing!

If anyone is having doubts, or sitting on the fence, then consider this. The public Broads are dredged using our tolls to pay for it, a private Broad is to be dredged using heritage lottery funds.

If ever a Broads village needed a 'proper' pub then it's Potter Heigham. Wetherspoons would be better than nothing, indeed we use their pub in Beccles and whilst not exceptional it is very acceptable. Fingers crossed for Potter!

From the Chairman of the Norfolk & Suffolk Boating Association, NSBA, membership of which I heartily recommend: The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded Natural England (NE) just under £2 million pounds for a project to improve water quality in Hoveton Great Broad (HGB) whose ecological condition has been neglected for over a century. The HLF grant was awarded despite the opposition of the NSBA and others. The detailed reasons for the NSBA's opposition were communicated to the HLF and NE on a number of occasions, alas without success. NE told HLF that opposition to the project was on the part of ‘a small vocal minority'. As you will have seen in the NSBA Newsletter and elsewhere, the objections to the public funding of the HGB project via HLF funding have the following basis. HGB was closed to public use in around 1890 by the landowner. Up till then it had been open to navigation. There remains a question mark over this action because the Broad was and remains tidal, a fact admitted by NE. Tidal waters should be open to navigation. This large expenditure of public money for private benefit resulted in calls for access to the Broad to be opened up. The only access which the project will provide will be a privately run, guided, commercial canoe trail along drainage dykes in the nearby marshes at limited times. The proposed trail will culminate in a short boardwalk and viewing platform on the bank of HGB. This falls far short of adequate public access by boat to HGB. The NSBA considers that the expenditure of just under £2 million of public money merits greater opportunity for the public to enjoy the benefits of their investment. An online petition has been started to urge the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to apply pressure to the HLF to require full public access from the river as a pre-condition to HLF funding: http://thegreenbook.us10.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=58e5e311cee15697eff61d572&id=65151d62bf&e=3af50450dd Many NSBA members have already signed the petition. If you have not done so, it would be enormously helpful if you would. It takes less than a minute. Kind regards Richard Card Chairman, NSBA

The Southern Rivers, in my opinion, are blessed with many miles of 'wilderness' moorings along many stretches of river bank. Okay, so Beccles, when full, can be a problem but if you moor to the South shore anywhere between Burgh St Peters and Beccles there is a good footpath to Beccles. You may not be able to moor where you want to but there is no shortage of moorings, so long as you have a pair of rond anchors and a mudweight!

The BA have tried it on, there is no legislation to uphold the mooring restrictions at that point. Noisy though, but mooring there saves you a tenner.

Could this effect the Broads? Cutting grants to members of the National Parks Family would be only too easy for a cash strapped government.The end result of that could mean that about 75% authority's income would be from boats, but would 75% of the BA's activities then be navigation based? Could be an interesting few months ahead!

Polly, not that it matters one iota but I thought it was 5000 so as to match a recent fox hunting petition. Whatever, the more the merrier!

Re syndicates, not altogether a happy history on the Broads. One was a money laundering affair run from a jail in Yorkshire, another was a get rich quickly scheme that turned sour and another was a grand deceit in order to get an individual out of debt.

The ale is excellent, well worth fighting for, even by a very nice foreigner!

Local MPs have been made aware of the Authority's shortcomings but, unfortunately, on a national basis, it is a very minor issue. Re cruising grounds, in my motor boat days Holland was only a 100 miles away, I don't think that it has moved much since then! Re the Broads, big boats are far too limited in my opinion, no fault of the Authority though. The Brundall Trundle has its drawbacks but where else?

Senator, Packman is no fool, he needs boats, he needs tolls. His national parks grant has been slashed so he's relying on his 40% plus cut of the tolls to support his empire ambitions. I have no doubts that he'll push big boats to the limit, the limit being the point where boats start to leave the Broads, a dangerous tactic in my opinion. At the moment, so I'm told, the BA is considering using cubic capacity to decide a boat's toll, obviously aimed at milking the Brundall Navy!

Seen from my shed this evening. From now until the end of September we tend to get not only good sunsets but also good lighting.

Ohhhhhhhh dear, confusing lights! Whilst I do exactly as you do when fishing I am mindful of the confusion factor, wouldn't want navigators thinking my green light was a starboard one! Don't you fellows use blue lights now?

Spot lights, used prudently, are one thing, headlights are another, especially when they come in a bank of three!

Before anyone asks, well, they might, Waveney Forest is here: http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/wood/19489/waveney-forest/

Exciting or what! A few excellent pubs too. Actually there are several trees, especially around the Waveney Forest area!