SwanR

Interesting to read how you are getting on Robin. Reminds me of something that occurred to me some while back. Our main car has lots of these modern safety driving features - as many sensors and cameras as you could want and things that think for themselves. But if that's what you learn to drive in, and pass your test in, but then you get back into a little old car with none of this, are you really qualified to drive it. The car industry has built us a halfway house between manual and automatic but with no in between for driving licences.

Sounds wonderful. We've done a number of places on the Norfolk coast but not yet made it to Winterton. We also saw a seal close to shore at Lowestoft a couple of weeks ago.

Thank you for sharing about these trips. I have looked at narrowboats a number of times on the Hoseasons site but not felt the pull to give it a go.

Good luck Robin! I'm sure the week will fly by. I did an intensive driving course based in Leyton many years ago now. For me it was long enough to learn how to drive but not to be confident on the road - I had very little experience of even being a passenger having grown up using public transport all the time so I didn't have the road sense. It's great to hear that you're already finding this better than how you felt learning around north London. I look forward to hearing how you get on.

By chance we went to RHS Hyde Hall Gardens this morning and found these very large and stunning dahlias in their Global Garden. I think the note said that they came from Brazil and that the bulbs are edible, particularly used in salads.

I agree ... took some photos down there myself last weekend. :)

The use of space with the galley in the front etc. has been the way Ferry Marina have had new builds for some long while. We hired Silver Emblem probably around 2013 and that's the arrangement there as well. However they used to have fake curtains which restricted the view from the inside helm which I did find difficult. It was October but we wrapped up warm and helmed from outside all week. As for privacy, there was a curtain where you might normally expect a bedroom door so that might have afforded some screening from anyone in the saloon area. But it did mean that the aft cabin wasn't quite as warm and cosy as we have had on other boats.

I'm always puzzled that it only ever seems to be Wroxham, Potter Heigham and Beccles Old Bridge that seem to be mentioned as the ones that certain boats definitely won't go under when reading the information on hire boats. What about Wayford Bridge, the bridges at Thorpe and on the way into Norwich?

Sounds like you never stand still Griff! Those weeks afloat are certainly well deserved.

Our grass certainly took a hit during the very long very hot summer weeks this year. Some of it has grown back but some of it still looks completely dead. As for the flowers, we still have quite a lot of colour and quite a few plants still in bloom. It was as if the garden went into hibernation when it was so hot and woke up again once it cooled down a bit. It seems to have been a very good year for some of our roses. But I'm still having to water the garden some evenings, especially the patio pots and hydrangeas. Beautiful dahlia Ian, they are such lovely flowers and amazing colours. And sometimes you get an unexpected surprise when something comes through that you just don't remember putting there.

We saw the marquee as well Ian. And a very artistic looking pile of haystacks! They also had a cannon of some sort which they tested firing while we were walking. I wondered whether it is a licensed wedding venue or maybe they were just going to be having a reception or other celebration there.

That's just not true. It's all about choices.

Is there footpath access from these moorings back into Beccles? I wasn’t quite sure from the view from the opposite bank. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

I agree that it is the chance that you take with all holiday bookings. If you have the flexibility to book last minute, or to take whatever accommodation is left, then you may get some great offers. For me, with leave to book from work, and with only certain boat layouts that work for us, we've always tended to book well in advance to get what we want ... hence why I've started looking at possible options and prices for 2019. Unfortunately Barnes' fleet doesn't have much that interests us so we're not likely to be booking. Plus a bargain is only a bargain if you really needed whatever is on offer or really have that money to spare. To buy a holiday for £700 because it would be a whole week for the price of a short break, would still be £700 more than I intended to spend. Still sounds tempting ...!!

Annv and Helen you are both correct as described further in the photos I added once Chameleon had answered. They're private moorings but from across the river they looked to be well kept and a peaceful place to stop. There used to be a BA mooring somewhere on that side at one time, a bit further out of Beccles, but I think that disappeared. I've moored at both Worlingham for lunch and North Cove for overnight. I do love mooring at Beccles itself but love the Waveney and like to spend more than one day on that stretch of river when we've been on the southern side. Some years we've gone from Loddon to Beccles in one day ... and back up again the next day past Reedham and onto somewhere such as Langley Dyke. But I always think that after having survived the New Cut and the faster flowing areas around Somerleyton, I like to spend more than just one day enjoying the Waveney.

I do believe that Chameleon is right although I didn't really know the name of the place myself. I believe that it is Aldeby Hall Farm perhaps? We walked from Beccles Yacht Station along the riverbank last weekend and could see these moorings on the opposite side, not far up from the yacht club. I had thought that there was an honesty box over there and the possibility to moor. I have to say that it looked delightful and I would certainly pay to moor there overnight.

Where is this mooring sign? I'm sure that someone will get it quickly given all the experts on this forum but I'm curious to see.

I can't believe how incredibly rude some of you are being. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Perhaps you don't consider those of us prepared to pay for a bit of luxury on our holiday as proper boaters. But we're equally entitled to come on the Broads, bring our money to the local economy and have a wonderfully relaxing time. There's plenty of boats out there that I would never hire for various reasons, but I don't go around telling other people that they shouldn't choose them. The wonderful things about the Broads is that there is something for everyone, all ages and classes and styles of boats, basic, luxury and all points in between. And yes, I would even have one holiday instead of two if that was the way to save up enough to hire something that I aspire to one day sailing down the river.

I've enjoyed your write up too, and seeing your photos. :)

I absolutely love that. It is very similar in a number of ways to the Ferry Marina fleet. I would definitely consider booking it if I could find the pennies next year.

We were going to come down for a look but the roads around Lowestoft were jammed up. Managed to eventually get to within one mile of Oulton Broad but sat nav said that it would still take another 15 minutes and nothing was moving so we gave up and turned round! :( Hope everything goes well this afternoon.

That is what tends to cause me to click in the wrong place on occasion. Some pages and websites are much slower than others to load.

The sun came out and it warmed up nicely while we were walking around Lowestoft Harbour this morning.

Went there once about ten years ago when we stopped off at a few places along the north Norfolk coast. On my list to get back up there some time. :)

Where was this please Chris? Looks like a very tranquil place.