Timbo

There are scripts in prep at the minute for a series of shorts as well as some of the ghost stories of the Broads. Dreeko the chap that did the voices for me is one of those Scottish chaps with a broad Glaswegian accent, he's a brilliant animator as well as one of the best voice artists I've heard.

Hi Steve and Deb, Is this the yard who are offering the boat for sale doing the inspection? I would advise getting an independent surveyor to do the inspection for you. As a price guide on delivery the yard to which the boat is being delivered to would probably require payment for putting the boat in the water. As for insurance here's a rough yard stick for you, my boat Royal Tudor is a 32 foot woodie and the insurance is £120 per year.

One of my favourite pastimes on the Broads is people watching...and listening. One of the things I have noticed is the change in regional accents within the broads system. For example Potter Heigham seems to be pork pie hat and jellied eel territory during the holiday season, where as in Wroxham its a bit more flat hat and whippets. What follows is a A true story of the Norfolk Broads...Now I can't remember if I was in Horning or Beccles...a pub or a cafe...what I do remember was the splendidly upper class couple and their conversation with the young waitress. I had thought about writing this story but...animation was the best way forward, so I made this film last year. Thanks go to Dreeko for voicing this film for me (many moons ago...a boat got in the way)!

Welcome from me as well Glimma, as I was born in Singapore and spent the first few years of my life there I'm very interested in the local boats too!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-29176102 Looks a nice woodie! Mind it would need a decent engine and would cost a bit in Tolls!

One early morning in 1972, at the age of six, I made the walk from Balby to Doncaster railway station with my family. Three vintage leather suitcases, complete with Orient Express labels, especially bought for the trip at an auction contained our luggage. The small attaché case from the luggage set I was carrying contained my prize possessions of a note book and pencil, test tubes, specimen cases for insects and a magnifying glass. You did know I'm a geek right? After what seemed like an eternity of rail travel we arrived in Brundall to collect our boat Captain XII only to be kept hanging about for several hours as there was a fault with the boats engine. I can remember Mum taking us for some tea at a cafe as I was getting hungry. When we returned Uncle Albert lost the plot and went down to where engineers were working on the boat with my Mum and my brother and I trailing in his wake. The engine would not start, the engineers had put a new engine into the boat...that wouldn't start, they had put the old engine back into the boat...that wouldn't start. Uncle Albert pushed his way onto the boat and took a look at the engine. Fiddled around for a second or two and told them to start the engine. It fired first time. Uncle Albert had only left the RN after twenty odd years as a Marine Engineer a couple of weeks earlier. And so began a lifelong (so far) love affair with the Norfolk Broads and boating in particular. Over the last forty years or so, I've gone boating, camping, even spent a weekend with Ted Ellis and his wife at their home before heading out and roughing it for a week with my schoolmate. I've had holidays and honeymoons and times good and bad...mostly good...rented and hired and now finally own a boat of my own, but central to my existence is my love of the Norfolk Broads.

Plans to employ a marksman to shoot a small bird living in a Tesco shop in Norfolk have been put on hold after criticism from TV star Chris Packham. Just watch out for the white stuff on top of the bread buns...it aint icing! Oh and while I'm at it...since when has Yarmouth been in Essex...come on BBC!

There's a gate? Is it meant to keep people out...or in? What time does it close and what's the combination to the lock?

A total refurb on my existing BMC 1.5 thank you very much...or if money is no object...a quick trip on a time machine to take a look and listen to Royal Tudor on her launch day. I have a suspicion...based on the air pumps still fitted and working...that RT had a petrol engine originally, but still I would fit a BMC. For me WD are the essentials of a boat...wood and diesel!

ooh thats a cracker Jill!

Griff got me pondering a bit about the awful feeling I used to have when leaving the hire boat behind and whether I still get that terrible feeling now that we have Royal Tudor. As usual I got to waffling so stuck it in the blog...now the question is...am I mad to feel this way?

Welcome from me too.There's quite a few of us Yellow Bellies about...not that we are common or anything!

Welcome and congratulations. I do feel for you as the only male member of the crew. Uncle Albert (my Dad) hired a boat for a two week cruise with his wife, her sister and her husband. The first night Uncle Albert was all ready to head to the pub when his in-laws all broke out jigsaw puzzles and the teapot. The second night, after stocking up on beers at Roys, Uncle Albert set out to do a spot of fishing from the boat leaving the in-laws to jigsaw. No sooner had he baited the swim and cast out than loud thumps and crashes emanated from the boat...the in-laws were all doing their exercise routines...squat thrusts, star jumps etc. Scared all the fish away!

Great picture! Is this anything to do with the railway we see advertised...or what looks like a little station of some sort on the waterside in Wroxham?

The poor attempts at DIY I can very much sympathise with. We are forever finding parts of Royal Tudor where someone has cobbled together a repair in the past that now with Brundall Navy's help and advice I'm realising would have been much easier and cheaper to repair properly and would not have resulted in such a big job in the future. I have to say that I'm feeling quite a buzz at the prospect of being able to do future jobs myself and looking forward to when I can take the boat on her first trip all restored and decked out.

When did this happen Polly? Is there a link anywhere? It must have caused a few red faces at the BA.

And a warm welcome from me too!

Wow more 'Johns' than Grand Central Station! A belated welcome from me as well! Timbo to friends and family, Tim when I'm good...TIMOTHY when I've done something wrong...and in one unfortunate incident a posh aunt of mine once called to me, in a crowded department store in her Joyce Grenfell voice, Timmy Darling! Do you know...even though I refused to answer no matter how many times she called me, everyone knew it was me...probably my puce face and the steam shooting out of my ears that gave me away?

To be honest...I wouldn't fit a new engine, I'd be on the look out for another BMC 1.5.

I too am plagued by TV from the wrong county...instead of that London though, here in Lincolnshire Proper it's either all about somewhere called 'Yorkshire'...or somewhere called 'Hull and Grimsby'. Both channels are all about flat hats and ferrets. Shifting the antenna it was somewhere called 'Midlands' which did occasionally have something on about the Lincoln area and a bit further south...but the presenters seemed to have problems with words like 'Tuesday' which seemed to come out 'Toosdi'. I no longer have Television...instead I've turned to Radio...however I've discovered something magical about that...after tea the whole of the UK merges into one place! And when it gets dark outside... the airwaves are full of middle aged lonely people or couples, who I can imagine wearing matching anoraks sitting on the sofa, phoning radio stations...its like a seance "is there anybody there".

Just a quick announcement that the Royal Tudor Blog is back up and running. Although, while away this last week the site came under attack yet again (we really need to find our kids something useful to do...like boating) and was temporarily down and as a result I lost much of the content I had been putting back up on the site recently. Although all of the links on the site are not yet back up and running I've started writing the blog again before I lose what small amount of information I can keep in my head. The first entry The Organist Entertains:Norfolk at Night starts off the new series and Royal Tudor's latest renovation saga and does contain some secrets about my sordid past. I will endeavour to keep my meanderings to the blog and a more straight forward documentary of the renovation to RT to the 'project' section here if that's OK?

I've met Juan ...he was a very nice chap!

Even when I have the crew on board RT I have to solo moor. Having said that there have been occasions when Uncle Albert has had a life and face saving moment of clarity and grabbed the wheel to perform a perfect mooring manoeuvre, but those moments of clarity are few and far between and there is now a constant battle to stop him 'slamming on a few extra revs' to 'help you' when I've left the wheel to hop ashore. Holly on the other hand has all the grace and athleticism of a concrete paving slab so expects you to deposit her no less than ten centimetres to step to the bank. She's still too timid to take the helm but I am sure she will be a brilliant helms-woman. In my experience most women are fantastic at steering and controlling the boat. Now this is in now way meant as sexist...but it's down to shopping trolleys. Boats steer like shopping trolley's...anyone watching me capering about Tesco will realise I'm practising mooring manoeuvres...honest! Having said that my other half took the wheel the last time we hired Glittering Light from Herbert Woods. "Turn to port." I said. The boat moves to starboard. "Turn to port" I said again. The boat moves further to starboard. "Turn left." I say a little panic creeping into my voice as we head for the bank. "Turn left" I say again. "Your other left!" Royal Tudor has quite a tall cockpit canopy so something I learned fairly early was if there is anything of a breeze about, drop the canopy. She's far more stream lined and manoeuvrable that way. Mooring warps are always laid down the boat sides and draped into the cockpit so I have both warps ready to hand for mooring from the centre. When I complete RT's latest round of renovation I will install additional cleats in the cockpit for the warps to hang from. I have two bow warps so I can have a complete set of bow and stern warps either side of the boat. When hiring I always ask the boatyard for an extra warp for the bow. I will never moor where the wind pushes me onto the bank. It's a pain in the buttocks trying to get off again. Because I solo moor I always make sure that I am tied from 'boat to bank to boat' so that I am stood on the boat when I untie. Although I have to say Royal Tudor's arrangement of mooring rings on the stern instead of cleats is awkward...and soon to be corrected with additional cleats placed on the stern. My biggest mooring calamities have been in Richardson's basin going for a pumpout. The wind there always catches me out and we end up pirouetting around the basin. I nearly ended up in the drink at Waveney River centre when I misjudged the difference between the strength of tide and wind blowing in the opposite direction and came in to moor pointing the wrong way. A mooring most under pressure was coming into Ranworth Island stern on for a forum meet with a large audience. Just as I turned about to come astern Uncle Albert decided to go and make himself some toast totally blocking off my view to the stern. We made it though! My best experience mooring was at Barton Turf coming in stern on for some water. I gently nosed Royal Tudor into the basin, spun the wheel to starboard and started the reverse and gently eased up to the quay where someone on the bank took the ropes. "My word you've done that a time or two!" exclaimed the chap on the bank. "To be honest it's the very first time I've got it right!" I grinned. The best tip I can give is to stop the boat opposite where you want to moor and give it a little while to watch what the wind and current do to the boat before you start trying to manoeuvre. The pennant on the bow of the boat is not just for decoration.