Mouldy

It does state that the moorings are not free and there is a QR code to take you to the website if you’ve not pre booked. There is also a phone number incase of issues arising.

It is a lovely mooring. It’s been one of our favourites on the southern rivers for a while. It was disappointing last year when the BA failed to renegotiate the lease, so we’re pleased that they are open once again, even though there is a cost involved. Don’t go for a walk along the opposite side to the moorings though. It’s private land at the end, so best to walk along the side the ‘temporary’ moorings are. I’m sure you’ll find a route to go somewhere from there 😉.

Sundays a week apart, Jean?

Frankly, I would agree with your suggestion. Thinking back to the video posted on YouTube of two ‘fishermen’ who were excessively aggressive towards someone attempting to moor at Irstead a couple of months ago, if that behaviour was displayed against a ranger, I can’t help thinking that it would be a good idea. That was not an isolated incident as I know that shareholders on Moonlight Shadow were given the same hostile treatment by the very same characters on the same day. We are recorded countless times a day in shops and towns all across the country which shouldn’t be a concern to any law abiding citizen. I cannot envisage that rangers carrying a body cam would be a concern to the vast majority of the people on the rivers today. If it helps to discourage some of the shameful behaviour that a minority of folk think is acceptable in today's society, or help with prosecution of the people concerned, then bring it on.

Is it just me, or is this year flying by? Due to other commitments, we were unable to go to Norfolk Lady for the entire Bank Holiday weekend, having made arrangements to visit family in Milton Keynes and Northampton on Saturday, but we had decided to go to the boat on Sunday, unless the weather was terrible. Much to my amazement and despite the weather forecast, Sunday morning wasn’t bad at all, so we bundled our things into the car and headed for Brundall, arriving just before 10:30. As we were only on board for one night, we decided not to go to far, but find a nice quiet mooring and have a lazy day. I suggested trying Langley Dyke, so once we’d loaded everything onto the boat, Deb got onto the website ( https://langleystaithe.co.uk ) and booked for one night. It still hurts that it’s no longer free, but we always liked it as a mooring so thought we’d spoil ourselves! The sun was out and we enjoyed a leisurely cruise along The Yare. I was surprised at how many boats were actually out - a mix of hire and private, but we were happy to see that no interloper had snuck into our pre booked spot at Langley when we arrived. Just two other boats were there, both private. We moored and after lunch of bacon rolls, I decided to clean out the rather green window channels. With one side done, we turned the boat on the ropes so it was easier to do the other side. It’s fair to say they needed doing and look a lot better for it (I think, anyway). Aside from new signage, Langley Dyke hasn’t changed a lot, but a tree at the very end appears to have been felled, making it a little more open, but the crows/ravens/rooks (delete as appropriate) are just as noisy as they ever were! We had a small roasted gammon joint for dinner, with new spuds and green beans, washed down with some wine. Most enjoyable it was too! We had a quiet evening watching an old episode of Vera on the TV. I can’t honestly say that I was paying much attention. My eyelids were heavy and I was glad of an early night. The forecast for Monday had been fairly grim, but once again they seem to have got it wrong. As the early mist lifted, the sun broke through and it was quite a pleasant morning. We had some breakfast, after Deb had taken Harley for her walk, before casting off and heading back to Brundall. I wanted to scrub the floor in the aft cockpit, so needed running water and a hose to sloosh it all out. It was a pleasant cruise back and once again, there were more boats out than I’d expected, this time mainly hire craft from northern yards. Obviously, the draw of the quieter rivers is strong, despite the sea monsters lurking on Breydon! Back at the yard, armed with some Flash and a scrubbing brush, I set about the cockpit, cleaning all of the gel coat too, taking care to rinse it thoroughly afterwards. With that done, we loaded up the car again and set off home. There was plenty of traffic heading along the A47 and a long queue, probably about a mile long, to turn onto the A11. Fortunately, we don’t use that exit and we made good progress home. We’ll be back on board this coming weekend, but depending on the weather, it may be spent in the yard. We’re meeting friends for dinner at Wayford Bridge in the evening, so will be travelling there by car from Brundall. We’re both looking forward to eventually getting a longer break on Norfolk Lady soon.

I’m fairly certain that it’s safe to mudweight outside the channel across most of the broad. You’ll find that much of the area you’ve marked at the Irstead end is now marked off for some environmental project, but the areas nearer to Gayes Staithe, you’ll often see craft mudweighted there too. It would be inadvisable to mudweight in the main channel, to be honest. Leave plenty of slack in your rope and I wouldn’t mudweight if it were windy. Having a dog on board means that it’s not an option open to us, but look to see where others have stopped. If you want an extra mooring rope, I’d just ask the boatyard personally. If there's a full complement on board, then it may not be necessary, but if there are too few, they should provide sufficient to secure the boat. As for length, our ropes are between 8 and 10 metres long.

Ooooooooooooh!

Utterly disgusting that the water authorities think that it’s acceptable to pour untreated sewage in such vast quantities into our rivers. When you look at the financial situation that Thames Water is in currently and demanding a 44% increase in charges to their customers, to make up for their disastrous financial situation and breakdowns in service, such as the one ongoing in Hastings, affecting 31,000 homes, one does wonder what the benefit of privatisation was to anyone other than shareholders and the boards of the various water authorities. Not a week goes by in our area without Anglian Water closing a road to fix yet another leak in an aging system, that appears unfit for purpose in the 21st century. Unbelievable! Do I sound like Victor Meldrew?

With you on that one! Gerald is hilarious and Kaleb is a star. I watched the first series with trepidation, but was instantly hooked. Cant help thinking that his local council don’t like Jezzer very much, though.

Nor do I, Ray. I can’t help thinking that some impressionable young adults (let’s call them), suffer from peer pressure and trends. Again, perhaps social media has much to answer for in this respect, where we can all be bombarded with posts on veganism, race, religion, sexuality, politics and more. The more I hear about today’s society, the more grateful I am to have been born when I was, so I can use life’s experience to take notice of what interests me and dismiss what doesn’t.

‘No mow May,’ Warren and as they probably couldn’t be bothered in April, it’ll look a bit shaggy until when they get round to it sometime in June . . . . . . . . . . . . or July. 🤨

As a devout fair weather motorcyclist, I choose my days to go for a ride very carefully. With four complete months of the year already gone, I thought that today would be a good day to get my bike out of winter hibernation. The forecast was good, no rain showing and warm temperatures. Happy days. I wasn’t sure where I was heading - just to get out after such a seemingly long, wet winter and spring would be a bonus. It had crossed my mind to head for Ranworth. A coffee at The Granary appealed, but I decided to nosy round some of the countryside near home. I took the scenic route, passing Bodney Camp, turning onto the A1065 towards Swaffham, before heading through Cockley Cley to Stoke Ferry. As I neared Mundford, the heavens opened. I wasn’t amused. I shortened my intended ride and headed back home. The rain stopped as I passed the Desert Rats memorial and when I arrived home, the wife told me it hadn’t rained there at all! Grrrrr! I’m not keen on getting wet when out on the bike and really don’t like having to clean it, but after lunch spent about two and a half hours bringing the old girl back to her pristine best. Better luck next time, perhaps.

I’d say that the river at Acle is considerably wider than at either Wroxham, outside the hotel and Barnes yard and at The New Inn, Horning, where stern mooring is permitted. It’s also a ruddy sight busier there too.

They are doubling up on the numbers of moorings available to make their figures look good. Double mooring is permitted at a number of their mooring sites. It was commonplace in the past, when there were more hirecraft on the rivers, but not done as much now for a number of reasons.

Hmmm. Sounds like three of the scabby yachts are the ones we saw moored there at Easter. I thought that because it was out of season, the BA were giving a bit of leeway to overstaying on their moorings, but it seems that they can’t even be bothered to intervene when their moorings are being abused. Maybe Tom @BroadsAuthority would like to comment on what’s happening on The Waveney between WRC and Beccles and what steps are being taken to prevent overstaying.

That’s why I won’t moor there. With the rise and fall, it can be difficult to protect one’s gel coat from damage. I’d much rather moor at North Cove.

Whichever fits their operating criteria the best, would be my guess!

What they’re supposed to do and actually do do appear to be two completely different things!

I was asked by a former Forum member to post a link to this video of a Breydon Crossing some 13 years ago. It does look a tad rough: https://youtu.be/sjR1wouuEZc?si=08gjjz0prDBFM-yg

In the EDP: https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/24276382.broads-group-claim-bure-hump-making-norfolk-flooding-worse/

They used to run the Horizon Craft fleet from the basin in front of what was Pedro’s restaurant, including much of the moorings on that side of the river upstream of Bridgecraft. It was leased to The Broads Boating Company whilst they were in business, but has been largely unused since their demise.

I’ve seen Barton Broad worse than that! I’ve attached a photo taken when we crossed Breydon on Moonlight Shadow in April 2019 (before we bought Norfolk Lady). Benign and beautiful.

Maybe not my favourite Quo track, but it does bear the hallmarks! 😉

Whoaaaaa! I take it your better half doesn’t read the Forum! 😉

I must have been Living on an Island, as I haven’t heard that one! 😂