SwanR

I just looked on the Broads Authority website where the information was as vague as that which you already have. Maybe worth contacting them to ask?

Hubby has the match on the tv at the moment. Good luck to Doncaster. :)

My mother-in-law will be 100 this summer and she's already planning her own party!! She's booked the church hall, decided who she's inviting, and we're now helping her look at the menu options she's got from the caterers she has chosen!!

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this one and have now subscribed to his channel. I can see that some of his other videos have also been on the Broads. Maybe we should start a topic or an area where people can recommend YouTube channels they enjoy following, especially those related to boating of one sort or another.

Hope you're feeling better now Helen and are making it across to Anglesey for your holiday. :)

Wonderful photos and video clips. Looks amazing. We used to holiday at Caister but we never made it that little bit further north up the coast to Winterton.

Sounds wonderful Delilah ... well done Howard. :)

I will be sure to give this one a look. Thanks for sharing it. :)

That does seem to be the case. We quite like the fact that at least if you have to pay and have paid by phone you can extend your parking time from your phone if you're held up for any reason.

If you mean the car park that I think you do, we parked there last year and didn't mind paying. It's just a bit hit and miss with any pay-up-front car park as to guessing how long you might be. We didn't use the Swan, we walked down to the New Inn, wandered around the shops, then back to the car. Paying for parking is a fact of life in most places apart from retail parks and out of town shopping centres.

This is why I am wondering whether Ferry Marina allow people out on their own. Bronze Emblem is a great boat, so easy to handle, an absolute joy to be at the helm. And not being one of their new builds it's reasonable for cost.

We thought seriously about whether to buy a boat given how much we love the Broads and how many times we were hiring. But in the end, for various reasons, we bought a static caravan at Lowestoft. Gets us close to the Broads and there are lots of places to enjoy. It works for us and is a nice halfway between staying in Essex and actually moving.

Welcome Terri! Apart from the boat, which I can't help you with, have you just moved house to Norfolk? Would be interested to know as I would love to make that move at some point.

Welcome to the forum Red! I was going to suggest a particular boat until I was reminded by the posts above about not being able to solo helm from Richardson's. Does anyone know which yards do allow it now? Could be useful to have that knowledge somewhere. I've not needed to ask the question but given how much people generally like Summercraft and Bridgecraft, do they allow solo hirers, as smaller operations? Ferry Marina would have some smaller size boats as well as the luxury end of the market, but I don't know if they allow you to hire on your own.

What's a bonus?! I've never worked anywhere that pays one of those!

Hope you're feeling better and can take the time. A week off sick is not the same as a week's holiday and could be just what you need. I haven't booked most of my leave yet this year, where usually I would have it all organised by now. But of course the caravan is there whenever we want to use it once we get it opened up again in March sometime.

Looks as if the 2019 season has been set up without changing the url from the 2018 season so far. http://upp.hawkandowl.org/norwich-peregrines/norwich-cathedral-peregrine-live-web-cam-2018/ There is a news item that they are unable to restore the audio to this camera at present. http://hawkandowl.org/norwich-cathedral-peregrine-nest-camera-update-breeding-season-2019/

Well done Helen. Always lovely to have something to look forward to. And what a great time of year with such long daylight hours.

Welcome along Dave! I'm another fan of the ex-Swancraft boats. We're out on Swan Reflection next month and you will find a number of my holiday tales posted on the forum on both this boat and Brinks Sonnet. There are links to my videos there as well. Swan Reflection is only 31 feet so you might find it a little cramped for space but the other ex-Swancraft boats are longer. I never like to say bad things about a boat after someone has booked it for fear of spoiling their excitement but if you haven't chosen yet then ... in my own personal opinion I probably wouldn't hire Sonnet again. Swan Reflection is way easier to handle, just stays on course! Plus Sonnet has no draft proofing around the sliding roof so it's a colder boat - fine in June but chilly out of season. It's not about the yard, Barnes Brinkcraft themselves were perfectly fine. If you want more the luxury end then I would look at Ferry Marina. Great boats, great service and Horning is a great place to start and end your holiday. Bear in mind their prices are all inclusive so no extra to pay for fuel etc. But Richardson's are so competitive on price compared to a lot of other places. If you want to know anything else then just send me a message.

That's about 5 inches by 9 inches then, I reckon. Even all those many years ago I was only taught metric at school ... but I still find myself converting centimetres back to inches to visualise things.

That's a great idea Helen. We've not managed it yet. The last time we hired from Barnes Brinkcraft they were too worried about the possibility of heavy rain to take us through. They thought we might have got stuck the other side ... I guess we could have spent four days cruising up and down between Wroxham and Coltishall ... plenty of pub stops and no-one else getting through the Bridge!!

Hmmm ... well ... it takes me 45 minutes ... perhaps that includes a few minutes for deciding exactly where to moor and coming towards the bank extra slow with extreme precision ... or going round twice for my first mooring!!

They are amongst the YouTube channels I keep an eye on. Still enjoy watching other people's videos ... roll on spring. :)

How interesting! I had wondered what their show is like as so many of the Strictly pros are touring with their own productions. And most of them come to the Cliffs Pavilion at Southend, the closest venue to where I live. The live music always makes Strictly special so I'm sure having Lance Ellington there blended with the style of Anton and Erin.

Welcome to the forum Andydhewitt! A lot depends on whether you are an experienced boater or completely new. And also what time you get away from the boatyard. I remember our first year on the northern rivers hiring out of Wroxham, the 45 minutes to Salhouse Broad was far enough. Likely to be plenty of moorings in the Broad or on the spit on the main river. For me that was a good length of time to get a bit used to the boat handling, get my first mooring done without fighting for a space, and then get settled and unpacked. Bear in mind, you do have to pay to moor there but the money goes towards the upkeep of the Broad and nature reserve as I understand it. Now that we're more experienced we would usually go that bit further. Ranworth is two hours from Wroxham. The staithe may be full but there's usually room on the Island, although again, you have to pay for that mooring. But I like somewhere less crowded for my first go with a new boat!