grendel

please send my best wishes too.

Ask Ian what happens when you raise your head too soon at Ludham bridge, and that has a fairly smooth concrete structure. two of the really low bridges have pilots there to take you through, all hire boats should use them (some private boats do too) The only yard I know that dont advertise their boats Airdraft is Marthams, and by their rules, if they can get you under potter heigham bridge, then you are not going to be too high for any of the other bridges on the broads. The boatyards and bridge pilots know what individual boats need to get through Wroxham and Potter Heigham, for the rest of the bridges, trust to the figures provided by the height gauges and boatyards, they will ensure you get through a bridge safely, some bridges the shape of the boat vs the shape of the bridge make a difference to the heights shown, dont forget the bridge height shown may not be measured at the highest point of the bridge, most are the height at a certain width that your average boat can clear. ditto the air draft of a boat may not be the height to the heighest point, its more the height needed to get the top corners of the roof to clear certain bridges, thus the heights may not accurately reflect the height of the boat, this is why i think people state that the gauges are wrong, or the boat airdraft is wrong, its because each is measured for specific bridge clearances. unless you know the parameters used to arrive at the figures, its best not to second guess the boat and bridge owners.

and what would have been the maximum size previous to the white area given consideration for manouvering past another boat moored in the next bay out?, i am pretty sure you wouldnt get a much bigger boat into and out of that space given the width of the basin at that point.

while weight is not such an important criteria to measure fitness, i have found that i have lost half a stone already through my efforts, yesterdays exercise was nearly cancelled due to a delivery notification coming through with no timeslot mentioned, the notification was sent out at midday, meaning it would arrive sometime in the afternoon, fortunately it arrived in plenty of time so i could still get out. more path exploring today, the heath land at the top of the woods is covered in areas of gorse, vicious stuff with thorns, so i have taken to carrying a pair of leather gloves and secateurs with me to clear some of the paths as i go, nothing worse than the path ending with two gorse bushes that allow you to see a clear path ahead, but risk death from blood loss to get there, so snip snip and the path is clear again, i have given up on one path though as the gorse is so thick i cant see the path beyond, there are also paths lost due to fallen trees and scrub brush that are blocking the paths, i might slowly get to some of these too. yesterday was just a short route - just to the pond and back really, though I did trail blaze 2 new paths, one meant trimming the gorse back

I must be lucky as every time I have hired a boat i have got under potter heigham and wroxham bridges with no issues whatsoever, its just a matter of which boat you hire.

that said there are a lot of factors that influence the water levels, the best clearances are usually in the summer months.

i measured ludham bridge last year and there is 8 ft of clearance if the two side lips are visible (a bit more on the right going downstream)but from the concrete lip on the left side heading downstream to the bridge at that side is 8 foot

yes, thanks for the picture, I was the very first person to hire Jayne II as I took her to the wooden boat show 2 years ago, just 2 hours after she had been put in the water, i didnt find out until I got there that they had forgotten to put a stern fender on her, and its not like there are a lot to be able to borrow one from somewhere else either, then I had her for two weeks last summer (deferred from May)she is one of Marthams lowest boats, guaranteed to get under Potter Heigham even when their others cant. she is a beautiful boat to handle, and solo crew, as mooring up alongside can be managed from the helm, if you take the front windows out the side of the boat is just inches from the corner of the window, so an approach at about 30 degrees from the bank puts a mooring bollard within reach. a good boat for a couple as the bed is generous, and plenty long enough for a tall person. Do I like Jayne - yes, I have a soft spot for her even now I am in the Water Rail buddy sheme (i do like Water Rail too) maybe i just like short wooden boats

technically its not a mooring space as it blocks access to the corner mooring space you refer to as the taxi rank, one could only moor there by agreement to move with the occupant of that space, similar to mooring alongside another vessel, otherwise vessels could moor stern on at that section, and effectively block in several other boats, thus officially it is not a mooring space as the sign says stern mooring only i believe.

still appears to be room on the taxi rank for you there, and with the news that if you want to leave the ferry has to get out of your way, that cant be too bad.

today i decided would be the day i would explore the main paths at the other end of the woodland, so todays walk was considerably longer (over 3 miles), followed up by a nice healthy stir fry for tea.

they only dont need two boats if the BA boat is willing to ferry passengers to the NWT location, if the BA boat is purely a sight seeing trip boat, then the ferry will still be needed. it is probably just using the section of staithe as a pickup and dropoff point, otherwise it would block in whoever was moored in the corner, its probably seen that the space in question is theoretically unsuitable for a mooring as it blocks in whoever is in the corner space, in reality that corner is tricky to get into, and leave with a long boat anyway (he says in the hope that there will be space there for Water Rail. when he arrives) I think I would tend to go stern up to the end then haul her round and into the gap on her ropes.

well I was sporting an injury this morning, a thorn or splinter in my heel, was painful, so at lunch time i applied my age old remedy for splinters, a honey plaster, just a drip of honey on a standard plaster. by 3 pm the pain was a lot less, so I ventured for my walk, thinking I could turn round any time i liked, so with this thought in mind i then proceeded past the pond, intent on taking the next path headed across, well that was quite an additional walk, until I found a path, then it was back onto my original route, maybe adding another mile to todays walk in total, and the heel gave no problems, i did have a couple of thorns that made it all the way through the sole of my shoes and poked into my foot, fortunately I carry a swiss army knife, so these were prised from the bottom of my shoes for the remainder of the walk. one bramble did a lightning fast strike and made it through an opening in my sandal and managed to nip a chunk out of my foot, but even that didnt stop my enjoyment of my walk today, I returned tired and sore, but happy.

me neither Griff, I just know that to the pond and back is around 2 miles

todays walk was slightly extended, 2 1/2 hours, I like exploring off the beaten tracks, and today I went exploring the woods next to the stream that feeds the pond, I found a lovely secluded spot, with a small pool about 12" deep, ideal for paddling once the weather gets warmer, it has a lovely shaped tree for just sitting contemplating the world, its like being away from the rest of the world, and a wonderful place, clear a few dead branches away and the pool will be a great place to cool my feet mid walk (I did stick a toe in but its still very cold at this time of the year. maybe in the summer I can take my swimming trunks and have a sit down cool off in the water.

its a 12" rip.

they come with a pump that runs from a USB cord, but it takes forever with the largest bags, i tried the vacuum cleaner and it was way quicker, just dont let any cats near them. they do shrink down clothes into a much smaller space.

does anyone use the vacuum storage bags, I bought some yesterday to store some of my ex's clothes until she decides if she wants them or not, the problem I had was i got the first bag out, within 10 seconds one of my cats that just loves chewing plastic had put a couple of vampire punctures through the side of the bag, I patched this up and started loading up the jumbo bag (tone of room, and one of the other cats decided to squeeze past the bag, in the process putting his claws through the bag and ripping a huge hole, no sticking duct tape over that one, so... anyway, does anyone use the smaller bags when packing to go on board, for instance to reduce the size of stuff in their suitcase / travel bag?, or for storing linens over winter? Thanks

it seems to be the white painted area, I wonder if that section is not part of the 24 hour moorings, looks to still be space for a small boat there in the corner.

up near thorpe I can recall several boats that had been run up onto the bank of the river, maybe the recent high tides refloated one of these and took it downstream, if it had been run up the bank due to hull damage, then understandably it would then sink, just musing out loud so to speak. doing what the forum does best, speculating on a basis of no fact.

maybe the different markings are a convention adopted for inland waterways, as techically as soon as you pass uder haven bridge you are no longer in a harbour area, i dont know, but the yellow post has been the standard marking on the broads as long as i know.

today being Satuday and the fact I went shopping coupled with the fact it was raining, meant that yes, I went for my walk, got soaked through, but managed my 2 miles, clothes all into the washing machine, and a quick shower to warm up, i couldnt believe there were fishermen out at the pond fishing, but I suppose it takes all sorts.

personally if heading through Great Yarmouth North or south with an early or late tide time, I would either go through the bridge and moor up at GY then head further north in the morning with the tides, or if headed south, stop at GY and head over breydon early next day.

RIP Prince Phillip, Bless his royal cotton socks, if I can stand to attention like that at his age I will consider myself lucky

i see the local brewery are on the ball with their advertising.