vanessan

Dream on! Nice thought though.

There are quite a few areas along that coastline that are falling away. It must be horrendous to watch the cliffs recede knowing there is nothing you can do about it. Nature is so powerful and so very often scary. If 8 of those homes which have been declared uninhabitable are full time residential properties, everything will be lost when they eventually tumble. I wonder how many of them would be insured.

The smell of my dog when he’s all warm. Non-doggy folk probably wouldn’t understand that but a clean warm dog gives off a sort of a biscuity smell. Makes me just want to cuddle him! I wonder if it could be bottled as a male cologne?

I’m with you on this one Gracie. The first time the engine was started on any hire boat we were on was magic and used to make my heart race! I used to hate the final time the engine was started knowing it was for the final run and we were on our way back to the boatyard. I know the sound of a big serious engine (or engines) on a large boat will get most guys drooling but for me it has always been the low drumming of a diesel engine on an older boat, just the association I suppose.

Brundall Church Fen is fine but I’ll bet there are many visitors who have no idea what can be reached from those moorings. I would also bet that folks may be put off tramping through wet, muddy woods to go and do some shopping or get a takeaway. Brundall is like Wroxham and Horning in that there is a lack of visitor moorings and no where to put any new ones. However, that doesn’t stop anybody saying how nice it would be IF there were more moorings.

Mmmm, chocolate. I love the smell of chocolate! Went to the Cadbury’s factory many many years ago at Bourneville. They gave us a small glass of thick, warm, liquid chocolate to drink, it was absolute heaven in a glass.

“For me Brundall is just fine as it is with its laid back feel and decent amenities. It doesn’t make the most of the passing boat traffic but in essence it doesn’t need to really as the industry and villagers seem to keep things going well. We regularly frequent the Bistro and Yare plus there’s now an Indian in the village along with a really good Indian (Tamarind) only 5mins away. Very often we use the rail link into Norwich (fab city) for a mooch (pub crawl really!) so all in all it’s a great place to park the car and not have to use it while we are here.” But wouldn’t it be nice for boaters coming from elsewhere to be able to enjoy Brundall’s facilities as well?

The smell that always got me going in the old days on a boat was that of striking a match and lighting the gas first thing in the morning to make the tea. Sounds weird I expect but it was just something about it. Nowadays our boat gas stove (probably like most others?) has electronic ignition and it just isn’t the same.

You certainly have to pick your moment to go into Broom’s. Time it wrong and you’ve no hope!

I believe Broom’s visitor moorings are alongside the services dock, I think it is marked as such.

Beccles for me, a lovely market town. But you can’t hire boats (other than day boats) there anymore! A great shame as it has so much to offer. Brundall was always a good place to hire from but, as has been said, not a lot to offer near to the river and no decent visitor moorings. In our hiring days we had a number of boats from Brundall so the lack of facilities didn’t really bother us as it was onto the boat and away asap! Anyone remember Willowcraft Boatyard at Brundall? So many Brundall boatyards long gone.

The ‘first night on a boat’ thread got me thinking about the best and the worst boats we ever hired. I’m sure we have chatted on a similar thread in the past but now we have a lot of new members, it would be nice to hear their stories too. This is not about boatyards, just the boats themselves as we don’t want to get into trouble! I think probably the best boat we ever hired was one of the Connoisseurs, the 2-4 berth model with the super galley in the bow. Everything seemed just right. That style of boat definitely wouldn’t suit us now for various reasons but I loved it then. The worst boat was called Triumphant Lady from a yard now long gone at Somerleyton. It was a sedan style and the bow leaked right on to the v-shaped bed. The fill-in bit of the bed kept falling out and the whole boat could have done with a lot of tlc. Not the boat’s fault but I remember a rhond anchor coming adrift whilst moored overnight in Langley Dyke (no proper moorings in those days). My husband donned a short jacket (nowt else on) and went ashore to sort it out. I thought I was helping by shining a torch for him but all the thanks I got was ‘turn that b****y torch off’! Funny how white things look by torchlight Looking forward to hearing some of your best and worst but please be careful of naming boatyards and causing unintended offence.

I have only ever heard and read good things about Lana Hempsall, it was wrong when she got removed from the committee. Good she is returning.

Our first night was April 1982. We picked the boat up from Brundall (Sunday lunchtime) and after the trial run set off down the Yare and up the Chet. The Chedgrave Common moorings were empty so we managed to moor up there quite easily at the first attempt. I remember buying some eggs from one of the houses that are across the field behind the moorings. Funny the things you remember from long ago.

Robin, I really do take my hat off to you. Your responses to Ricardo’s various posts have been so well put and explain your thinking quite clearly. I hope he takes the time to read them and understand them as it is exchanges like these that can really help to diffuse a heated situation. Keep calm and carry on - I think that saying was made for you!

There used to be one in Maidstone, has that gone do you know? I think it was a police run facility, I went on it about 10 years ago.

We had a survey done on our boat before we bought it, mainly because our knowledge of boats was virtually nil apart from driving them on many holidays. The survey turned up a few things that we had to have done before the insurance company would play ball and cover us. Nothing very expensive but the survey did give us peace of mind. I guess this is the difference, if you have been around boats for many years you are probably more comfortable doing without a survey. Our survey also put a value somewhat in excess of the asking price so we were happy bunnies.

Very true but if these discussions were in a separate thread actually entitled ‘survey or not’ or similar, wouldn’t that be better? Doesn’t stop this thread continuing as intended.

Great write-up and pictures, everything (like tides and weather conditions) certainly seemed to go your way for the weekend. I think you might find September a tad busier but, who cares, you’ll be back on the Broads!

That’s a great time of year to be afloat, springtime always has so much to offer. Have a wonderful time and be sure to tell us all about it.

Well they were there!

http://upp.hawkandowl.org/norwich-peregrines/norwich-cathedral-peregrine-live-web-cam-2018/ Good pictures at the moment.

Welcome to the forum. When are you on Moon Voyager?

Is Jack going too?

I think we get quite a number of Germans hiring on the Broads, I have certainly come across a few. Those I have seen have excellent boat handling skills too.