charlesa

Dear BoF, as per my post a while back please give the girls at Martham a call. They will be more than happy to help a solo hirer. Say Charles suggested them to you and take a Janet, Judith or Juliette, all centre cockpit. Make sure you bring a rope from each end up to the centre cockpit whilst under way and Bob's Your Uncle !!!!

I have just emailed Helen and Diane at Martham to ask whether they still allow solo hiring. They have checked their insurance and they will be continuing to welcome solo or single parent hirers, thank goodness https://www.marthamboats.com

What a charming film, thank you Carol. I love Princess of Light too !

When we took Juliette through at 5ft 10" I had folded the whole canopy down into the cockpit, and I'm glad we did !!

Lovely to read and mentally transport myself to the Broads having just struggled for 3.5 hours to get to work through the latest SWT Train strike. I am now serenely cruising round that lovely U from Thurne, past Oby and round to St Benet's.......... Oh bu**er, no I'm not, I'm in EC2 and stuck in front of a load of screens, Oh well ! Looking forward to the rest of your holiday Gramps. Best wishes Charles

Juliette, Martham, 5ft -10”, only just !

I would have thought Neatishead or Gay's Staithe ( v close to each other)would take you about half an hour from Richardson's. The dyke down to the mooring at Neatishead is quite narrow and the mooring has room for about 10-12 boats. There is a nice Community-run shop in the village and the pub is very popular so if I were you I'd book in advance: thewhitehorseinnneatishead.com/ If you happen to find that both these moorings are full then go back into Barton and turn right into the Ant. There are moorings for 2 boats at Irstead just after you leave Barton. A beautiful sheltered spot with a lovely thatched church but no shop/pub facilities ( the WH at Neatishead is a good 45 min walk). I gather that the fishing at Irstead can be very good. Failing that there are some lovely wild moorings on the way down from Irstead to How Hill but again no facilities and whether you want to be moored under trees in a 50 mph wind is another matter. Once you get beyond How Hill the trees disappear and you are into very windy territory ! Good luck Charles

I would head across Barton and turn right up to Neatishead staithe which is very sheltered and a five minute walk from the (very good) pub ! Don't leave it too late though as it is a very popular mooring. Womack Water is another relatively sheltered spot for another night. Have a fantastic time ! Best wishes Charles

I don't know about the effect of dredging on the clearance at PH bridge but what it would do is aid passage for some of the deeper keel yachts. I remember taking the 3 biggies America, Palace and Lapwing ( now owned by Martham Dev. as well) through Heigham Sound a few years ago and we only just made it with a full sail and engine to help as we were scraping along the bottom. Best wishes Charles

Hello Jeff, the windscreen dismantles into 3 pieces and was stored in one of the aft cabins. The sides fold outwards and down so are well out of the way. The canopy was folded right down into the cockpit. The hand rails were at greatest risk but Geoffrey the pilot knows precisely what he is doing ( he's from the boatyard) ! Best wishes Charles

Carol it's incredibly irritating bur Photobucket have pulled the plug on free hosting of third party photos so the same thing has happened on countless forums. I think that they are now demanding a large sum host. I'm not an IT specialist ( and that is an understatement !) so I am not sure what the solution is other than the poster of the photo to use a different conduit. Best wishes Charles

Hopefully this works, a video of taking Juliette 2 (not 8 as it says) through at 5ft 10" clearance. We did "touch" on the way through but only just !!

I have really good video footage of Geoffrey (Martham pilot) taking Juliette through at pace but it's on WhatsApp and I am not exactly Bill Gates so I don't know how to put it on here !! I'll ask one of my sons......

I think that if your air draft is 6ft or less then you are usually ok. We took Juliette through (with the Martham pilot) a couple of weeks ago at 5ft 10" which was, to say the least, close !! Of the larger hire boats based t'other side of the bridge my understanding is that the old Connoisseur cruisers are amongst the easiest/least difficult at ~ 6ft 6". Best wishes Charles

Thanks for that T, very interesting.

Or David hire both Silver Jubilee's from Martham Development, get under all the bridges including PH and have an absolute blast !! Just don't expect a high level of luxury..... Best wishes Charles

Hello David, I haven't hired for a large group for many years but I recall Griff of Broad's Ambition fame saying that he always hires 2 of the Jewel of Light class, also from Herbert Woods, for his group trips when he needs a decent number of individual berths: https://www.herbertwoods.co.uk/boating-holidays/our-boats/jewel-of-light.html I have just looked at the layout and it looks ideal for a 2 double/4 single configuration. It is a lot older than the boat that you have just booked but it might suit. Best wishes Charles

Lovely one of St Benet's Timbo. Any chance of a Bittern, preferably flying low over Heigham Sound !? In 45 years of coming to the Broads I have never seen one despite hours and hours of gazing over the reed beds and it hurts me !! Best wishes Charles

Morning all, Martham Dev. are happy to hire any of their boats to solo cruisers. I have solo hired all of their centre-cockpit cruisers apart from Silver Jubilee and they are all easy to manage ( in my opinion) as long as you have a degree of competence in handling a boat and, importantly, a reasonable degree of mobility. I hired Juliette a few weeks ago and this time I was actually very glad to have one of my sons with me as I had previously injured a foot and for the first time was rather pleased not to have to jump some distance down from the boat, particularly, as it turned out, at Womack. Best wishes Charles PS: Very enjoyable and knowledgeable Forum by the way so thank you team for that

Martham Development are happy to hire to one person. I have taken all the centre cockpit cruisers out on my own before and they handle very well and are easy to moor as long as you pre organise your ropes. http://www.marthamboats.com/

Chris it's a brilliant restaurant and it is right in the middle of the Somme battlefields, within a couple of miles of Thiepval, the Newfoundland Memorial Park, Beaumont-Hamel, Albert etc etc. If you want somewhere fantastic to stay then this is the place, about 2 miles away from the Auberge mentioned above.: http://www.beaumonthamelview.com/ Run my ex army Dave Platt and his wife Anita. A brilliant B&B, right on the Somme front line. He does superb battlefield tours in his ex MOD Land Rover (he does motorbike tours too) . I don't know where in North Norfolk you are but I will be in the Nelson at Horsey Monday evening or on Martham's Juliette at Horsey dyke if you happen to be near. Best wishes Charles

The Auberge de la vallee d'Ancre: http://www.auberge-ancre.fr/eng/ If anyone happens to be in the Somme region this place, in my opinion, is quite superb. Easily the best restaurant on the Somme although there isn't much competition in truth. 3 course menus for I think 25 and 29 euros. Fantastic food. No email bookings, phone only and their English is reluctant if you know what I mean ! I always come here when I'm on one of my WW1 visits. Just one warning: the wine is expensive !

In fact he has moved it forward and is loading it as we speak !!

Now that is a truly magnificent coincidence. I have literally this minute sent an email to HW thanking them for their PH Bridge live streaming webcam but asking whether they could ask Mr Tatham to move his van forward a bit. Just as I hit "send" a gentleman walked up to the van, got in and drove away !!!! Bingo.........

If anyone knows Mr J Tatham (as per the photo above), could they ask whether he would be kind enough to move his van forward by about 3 yards ?! It is there at the moment !!