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Mouldy
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Posts posted by Mouldy
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8 hours ago, Paul said:
Tyres have come a long way since the days when the main choice was radial or cross-ply. With the difference in the performance of cars and especially the wheel sizes on offer matching the right tyre profile to your car is vital. There are a huge number of different rubber compounds used to give tyres different properties, depending if you want to get a Dacia Duster from A to B or your pride and joy around the Nordschleife. The best tyres are no longer made in Europe but in the Far East, especially in Japan and yes, sorry to upset you purists, China.
It’s true that several manufacturers from the far east are now supplying tyres to the west, whose performance closely matches the best of the established brands. Kumho and Hankook are based in South Korea and Toyo and Yokohama come from Japan.
Several of the best known tyre companies also have factories in China - Michelin, Goodyear, Pirelli to name but three, however there are still far too many Chinese tyre brands of questionable quality, without the technology to produce tyre compounds to match the leading brands. The tyre comparison tests show some of these to have poor road holding and abyssal braking performance, especially in the wet.
Even a Dacia Duster is more than capable of exceeding the UK speed limit and it is frightening to think that the car that is approaching you far too fast in poor weather conditions could be driving on tyres that take twice as far to stop in the wet as yours.
Sadly, the fact that there are just four relatively small contact patches keeping folk from very dangerous situations is forgotten by far too many people, who place cost over safety when choosing tyres. The vast majority of inferior quality tyres on the market in the UK are supplied from Chinese factories.
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11 minutes ago, Smoggy said:
Was anything mentioned mooring charge wise about an afternoon visit for drinks only?
No. Didn’t ask - it didn’t occur to me to be honest. I’m fairly certain that it will depend on spend, but give them a ring. Probably easiest.
The main reason for asking about moorings was to pass onto the members of the Moonlight Shadow syndicate, should they venture back down to the darkside, but thought the info would be useful to anyone reading on here.
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2 minutes ago, marshman said:
Sad to report that £20 is no longer outrageous for 2 large cod and chips - thats about what the Blofield one charges although its a tad under that! I have seen others in the City at a higher level!
As we all get older we fall into the same old trap of forgetting what things cost in the real world - I can show you plenty of eating houses, nice ones I admit, that now charge £35 for a decent steak and its quite easy to ratchet up a bill of say, £150 for two!
Its ok - I have noticed it too and whilst you can still get decent food for less than you might expect, as Ian will confirm, prices have risen steeply. For people who have access to two salaries, perhaps they are happy to pay, and indeed do, but it rather puts into perspective a £10 mooring charge.
In times of inflation we do perhaps need to readjust our base line.
I get all that MM, but our favoured chippy in nearby Watton charge £17 for the same meal for the two of us. Aside from the cost difference, the fish is larger and to us, better cooked. I’ve used the chip shop in Brundall regularly since we bought into Moonlight Shadow and still do now, as we moor our own boat there, too. I’ve also been to Blofield chippy in the past, but not recently, so I’m not aware of their current prices.
My late mum still used to refer to the cost of things in the shops, back in the days of pounds, shillings and pence, when we used to take her shopping before dementia took hold. Unlike her, I recognise that costs have increased, for gas, electricity and for ingredients and businesses have to cover those and still make a profit. I merely included the prices as a comparison between a take away meal and one in a pub, where it’s served to you and you don’t have to do the washing up afterwards.
I think for the extra few pounds, eating in the pub is good value against one from the chip shop. My opinion and one to which I’m entitled.
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1 hour ago, Smoggy said:
Moorings cost redeemable in pub is fine by me, will have to give it a go sometime.
I assume the moorings are useable now?
The ad in The Broadcaster says phone to book. Also, as mentioned, the mooring fee and how much they require you to spend to get it back, aren’t finalised. I suggest that a phone call to confirm would be the best course until they get it all resolved.
Now they’ve advertised the moorings, they need to get a wriggle on as the season starts in a few days and folk will read The Broadcaster in paper form or online and expect everything to be ready.
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We went up to Norfolk Lady on Friday night. On our last visit, we’d used the chip shop in Brundall for our meal on Friday night, however found that it had become very expensive, with two large cod and regular chips coming in at around £20.
We decided to give The White Heron a try. We hadn’t booked and arrived at about 18:45 to find it very busy, but with tables available. Whilst ordering, I was chatting to someone at the bar who said he worked for Broom in Business Development, so I asked about overnight moorings and costs. I was told that at present, the charge hadn’t been finalised, but they were thinking around £20 per night, redeemable against food but dependent on spend at the venue.
Again, the level of spend hasn’t been finalised. The ten moorings they’ve cleared are highlighted on the map below, but I was told that in the season, additional spaces would be available in the hire yard basin as an overspill. They will also be attended, because of the proximity of the moorings to some very expensive private craft!
As for the food, it was more than acceptable - fairly typical ‘pub grub’ to be honest. The wife had a lasagne, which was served with coleslaw (?) and garlic bread. I’d expected a side salad option, but there wasn’t one available even as a side order, but she said it was very tasty anyway and quite a generous portion. I opted for beer battered cod and chips. Again, a good size portion of fish, the batter was crispy and the chips chunky, with a choice of garden or mushy peas. The bill for food alone was £26.90, which we both thought was very fair for what we had.
As others have commented, the inside of the pub is unrecognisable from Yare days. The character has gone, but not sticking to the carpet is a welcome change. I think that many of us feared the worst when The Yare closed and that yet another pub on the southern rivers would be lost, but reincarnated, it appears that our fears were unfounded.
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2 minutes ago, Tempest said:
Will you still require to pay a mooring fee if the only reason you are landing is to top up with water?
If you have to go to the visitor centre to pay, I’d guess not. Who knows, until it happens. The BA need to define what constitutes a daytime mooring, as opposed to merely stopping to top up with water. Perhaps Tom Waterfall @BroadsAuthority would care to clarify?
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10 minutes ago, Chelsea14Ian said:
I don't think it's a question of cost,but a question of fairness. If and I hope not,they charge for moorings at Reedham and Ranworth. Which I think is not needed.BA are not strapped for cash.If it happens will they look at other free moorings and bring in a charge. Yes they would.
Imposing a charge at other moorings would surely require employing a ranger to collect them. I can’t see that happening. It’s obviously easy at Yarmouth, Norwich and Reedham, as there is already a BA presence there and with the visitor centre at Ranworth, it’s clearly a prime target.
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10 minutes ago, CeePee1952 said:
Just out of curiosity, when was the £2 charge for water introduced at Ranworth staithe? We topped up there last year in October and didn't pay for it
As far as I can remember, there’s been an honesty box for a donation for water for many years, with a suggested donation amount.
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24 minutes ago, Vaughan said:
Did any members attend this meeting? Is there any news of it?
Not sure if you’ll be able to access this, but worth a try:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1241492472602704/permalink/6048419441909959/
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12 minutes ago, Vaughan said:
Did any members attend this meeting? Is there any news of it?
I read something on FB - if I remember rightly, it was on the Reform the BA Group, if you can access it. I’d better not reproduce it. I remember what happened last time!
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9 hours ago, YnysMon said:
I have just read this exchange out to son Harry and he suggests grey for the headboards when we reupholster those. Is this grey obsession catching?
I sincerely hope not!
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1 hour ago, Vaughan said:
Maybe not this year but will it put them off coming back next year? I think yes.
If the economic situation doesn’t improve over the next few months, I don’t think mooring charges at Ranworth will prevent folk from visiting The Broads. Sadly, hire costs will need to reduce or a boating holiday will be beyond the reach of many. With cheap foreign holiday now an option, more people will revert back to a flyaway break, where sun is virtually guaranteed and ‘all inclusive’ means just that.
Ive already noticed that prices on caravan parks in the UK appear to have come down from the peaks following the pandemic. We stayed on a site near the Lizard in Cornwall in 2019, rebooked for the following year with just a modest price increase, which was postponed to 2021 due to the lockdown. The same holiday in the same mobile home had increased from £550 to £850 for 2022, but has come back down again for this year.
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10 hours ago, Chelsea14Ian said:
Perhaps they want to buy a new phone box.
I can think of a certain old police box that they could purchase, lock a different Doctor in and send him to do battle with some other dinosaurs!
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1 hour ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:
FF you won’t beat Michelin. Best tyre on the market always have and always will be . You won’t beat their secret recipe in there tyre technology.
Funny you say that about Yokohamas a set I had on my Old SD1 Vitesse nearly killed me when I wrapped it around a lovely old oak tree.. They had lost their grip and died. It had the silly tread pattern of dots on the outer quarter of the the tyre. Even rotational at the time. I was going to Change them when I got the car as I had a set brand new Avon CR228s Blue Orange compounds sat in the garage. Wish I did now as I loved that car 😢I had Yokos on my old Primera eGT and they were brilliant - stuck to the road like glue, but only lasted about 7000 miles. I’ve been using Goodyear F1 Asymmetric for quite a long time and find they are very good. They suit my car, last quite well and aren’t extortionately expensive.
To be fair, tyre choice is a very personal thing, I think. I won’t buy cheap Chinese tyres, or part worns. You never know how many kerbs they’ve been bumped up and down and whether the structure of the tyre is damaged.
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3 hours ago, Tempest said:
I especially like the contrasting grey cushions in the saloon which @Mouldy chose!
I didn't realise you were such a style guru.... 🤣😂
Some people say I have impeccable taste . . .
. But seriously, I thought some token touches of grey might make up for our choice of upholstery colour! 😉. I think it looks great!
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I don’t think that the imposition of mooring fees at Ranworth will affect trade there. Folk have been paying to moor at the Island for years. There’s no facilities, just an abundance of goose poo. I’ll stump up a fiver at the Staithe to moor during the day and assume that the fee includes the charge for water.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the BA are bang out of order, but will the average holidaymaker spoil their holiday for the sake of £5 or £10, when they’ve stumped up 2 or 3k to hire a boat? I think not.
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11 minutes ago, YnysMon said:
I feel the same way Malcolm. Not everything has gone smoothly for us since we moved, as boats tend to get some 'hiccups' now and again . . . . .
You can say that again!
12 minutes ago, YnysMon said:. . . . . . but HPC have certainly come up trumps for us so far.
Agree absolutely!
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1 hour ago, Mouldy said:
Flattery probably won’t get us a discount, Helen! 😉😂
But that said, I do feel that we are getting a far better service than the previous base for MS. Personal opinion only, obviously.
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12 hours ago, YnysMon said:
Well said Warren. I’ve been hugely impressed with how well Horning Pleasurecraft have looked after us too.
They are stars of the boating world.
Flattery probably won’t get us a discount, Helen! 😉😂
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3 minutes ago, Broads01 said:
I think "On the Marina" would be more accurate than "On the Yare". I'm pleased to see they're dog friendly though and I hope to give it a try. Are the visitor moorings close to the pub or where the hire base is?
If you remember driving past the pub, they’ve cleared a few in the marina immediately past the pub on the right hand side, so just along from what they describe as the ‘garden.’ There was no signage there last time we went past, but I can’t think of another reason why they’d have shifted boats in the marina other that to free up pub moorings.
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20 minutes ago, Meantime said:
That's interesting. I had my prop redressed last year whilst it was out of the water. It was stamped 16x14 RH. It's an Alpha 35ft, which I think is basically the Bounty hull.
Was the Alpha 35 essentially not the F B Wilds Bermuda hull?
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I picked up a copy of the latest Broadcaster yesterday evening and Broom have taken out a full page advert on the back page. Part of it is dedicated to their hire fleet and the other part is about The White Heron on the Yare. It does mention bookable visitor moorings and no mention of a charge to use them. It also mentions ‘pub garden with stunning views,’ which may stretch the imagination somewhat, but the availability of moorings should help bring some custom their way.
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11 minutes ago, Tempest said:
Hope you didn't have too much of that Whisky Cask Cider!! 🍺🍺🍺😂🤣
No mate! I was driving, so my pint of Tom Cat lasted all night! 😉
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Fairly certain that the reason the named YouTube channel uses that spot when it’s busy, is purely for incidents and accidents at the bridge that can be used for clickbait video titles. There are no other bottlenecks that I’m aware of, quite like Ludham Bridge, especially given that the largest hire yard on the network is situated at the end of the river. That bridge must be quite daunting for a novice crew in a 46ft hireboat.
We were talking to the current owners of Cerise Lady yesterday evening. They were in the pub where we’d met up with a couple of friends who are also out on the rivers this week.
. But seriously, I thought some token touches of grey might make up for our choice of upholstery colour! 
Norwich History
in Broads Chat
Posted
Norwich may have been home to a number of shoe factories in the past, but frankly pales into insignificance compared to Northampton, which was home to around 150 similar manufacturers. It is a fact that in the middle of the 19th century, about a third of the adult male population were engaged in the shoe making industry. Truly, a veritable load of cobblers!