SwanR

I thought this was quite an interesting piece on The Guardian's website yesterday. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/east-anglia/suffolk/articles/ness-point-most-eastery-point-lowestoft-reasons-to-visit/ Ness Point is just along from our caravan so we have walked down there a number of times already. The Euroscope is interesting but unremarkable as being really a large circle on the ground, it's not something you can capture very well in a photo. But I can vouch for there being an amazingly tall wind turbine there which I presume is Gulliver referred to in the article. Sounds as if there is some development planned. It also lists eight places to visit in the area of which I fully intend at some point to find the transport museum and Somerleyton House as I've never been to either one.

I like supporting local businesses instead of buying from large chains. We need a few bits and pieces for outside the caravan. Rather than buying them down here and transporting them up with us, does anyone know of any recommended garden centres in the the Lowestoft / Oulton Broad / Great Yarmouth kind of area please?

Does anyone know of any local events in the area over the Easter weekend? I'm going to be around and about although not on a boat so very happy to hear about any ideas for places to visit.

I've had a number of holidays afloat in mid-October. Great time to be out on the rivers. Just have to make sure that you're moored up before sunset.

We must be doing something right given that there's a lot of content you can access without signing up for an account. Welcome to everyone ... look forward to hearing about your boating tales through the coming season.

Welcome along Meg. It's whatever works for you when it comes to boating ... I steer as well when we're mooring and hubby does the ropes. Which yard are you hiring from? Do you always go to the same place?

Thanks for the link. I'll have to bookmark that.

My favourite on the northern side is the Wayford Bridge Inn. Closely followed by the New Inn at Horning where they have someone who will help you to moor. Both very different locations. What we tend to do now is to head for a mooring near a pub late morning and eat out at lunchtime. That avoids the scramble for moorings at the most popular places for eating out in the evening and staying overnight. We prefer a quieter mooring for overnight and this allows us to combine both. Ranworth has the Maltsters pub, a shop and other facilities so is extremely popular but worth a visit if you can get moored up. We've been several times over the last few years but still have places we haven't tried. So it really is a case of seeing which direction you fancy each day and making your mind up as you go. There are plenty of maps and other publications or websites that will give you lots of information as to where there are moorings, places to fill up your water and pubs or restaurants to eat out. So I would say it's good to have a few ideas ... but be prepared to change them! We will all be interested to hear how you got on and where you ended up once you've been and come back.

I enjoyed watching this first day of your recent trip Robin. And may I say I thought you handled everything so well, your words were very moving and you got things spot on. No-one should judge you for being there. I expect the interlude served you well and was very fitting given how much your Dad had loved boating. Sometimes the timing just works out that way. When my Mum passed away five years ago I already had a weekend away booked which happened to be almost straight after the funeral. That worked for me ... and everyone handles loss and grief in their own way ... and that's how it should be. Looking forward to coming along for the rest of your trip. And if anyone is reading this before watching the video ... have the tissues handy.

I agree with Vaughan completely. There are many lovely places to see on the northern side - we've done midweek breaks several times and might typically do something like: Day 1 Wroxham to Ranworth - you never know what time you're going to get away from the boatyard Day 2 Ranworth to Acle and then back up to Womack Dyke Day 3 Womack Dyke to Potter Heigham then back to somewhere up the Ant - How Hill, Paddy's Lane or Sutton Staithe depending how far you want to go Day 4 Back to Salhouse Broad ready for a 45 minute run into Wroxham the next morning I realise that you have already booked Acle for your first night so there are many variations on this theme, and lovely places to moor that I haven't mentioned. Everyone will have their favourites.

I'm always amazed that this bridge isn't flagged as one to watch out for in the hire boat brochures and websites. There's not many moorings before you reach the bridge so it's easy to get caught out if it's busy and the moorings are full. We found that some years ago ... and it felt a very long slow cruise back down the Ant to Paddy's Lane. However if you do manage to moor here I would highly recommend the food at the Wayford Bridge Inn.

We've eaten there a few times and the food has always been excellent. Might drive over there when we're at the caravan one weekend so that's a good reminder to make sure we book a table in advance.

The weather looks glorious in Wroxham again today, perhaps a little breezy but beautiful sunshine now.

Many thanks for all the detail Robin. It's so interesting to get the viewpoint of someone who has already taken the boat out.

How beautiful. Looks like a lovely evening.

Now we know the season's underway ... there are Richardson's boats moored up on the main river outside Barnes Brinkcraft. Been a long time since I've seen that. Grace I read somewhere else that you are watching Ant and Dec ... I hope that's with one eye on the webcam!!

Indeed. It was simpler when all schools had two weeks with Easter in the middle but they wanted to try to even out the length of the spring and summer terms with Easter moving around ... but now they all do different things and then their half terms are in different places as well. My work is with schools all over the country so it keeps us on our toes. Checking out the webcam just now I saw Royall Satin being prepared on the riverfront outside Barnes ... that is going to be one to get used to this season.

Well some parts of the country start their Easter school holidays today and are having two weeks before Easter then going back on the day after Easter Monday. Other parts of the country have another week at school then two weeks off with the Easter weekend in the middle. So ... it's time to get back to watching the webcams. Barnes Brinkcraft look quite busy moving some boats around and generally looking like they are getting ready for people to arrive.

Really enjoyed watching this. Barnes are certainly putting some innovative technology on their boats. There's one thing I am curious to know. Is this designed to be a forward steer boat or more like a centre cockpit given the raised helm seat? The windows looked small and therefore the view looked quite restricted. I'm used to a forward steer boat having much deeper windows and that looked more like the view from the inside helm on a flybridge cruiser. When I have hired a centre cockpit boat there is nothing like getting the canopy back and standing at the helm. Can you really do that on this boat if you put the roof back? Is the steering wheel at a comfortable height for that? And how was the view from inside when moored up?

This is exactly our problem and I know I have said it a number of times on posts previously. We're always on the lookout for really nice two berth boats and with Swan Reflection now on the northern rivers we haven't found anything on the south side that we really want to hire. I had hoped that Silver Coral might fit the bill but ... disappointingly both of these boatyards have chosen to put the bed the wrong way round. Hubby is 6'4 and it's one thing we can't compromise on. Such a shame. So if we were to hire a new boat from anywhere it would probably be one of the Ferry Marina fleet. The only yard where we've seen this is Richardson's. We've also hired from Swan Craft (when they were there), NBD, Ferry Marina and Barnes Brinkcraft. But it was only when hiring from Richardson's last year that we noticed a "price list" in the Skipper's Manual. One year we lost a fender on Barton Broad ... don't ask! ... and Barnes didn't charge us for that even though we told them about it as soon as it happened and when we arrived back at the yard.

Lovely to see your photos ... thanks for sharing.

Morning Londonlad and welcome on board. We had three boats last year as well but are weaning ourselves off it a little this year due to needing funds diverted in other directions. Have a great time at Easter ... it's not very far off now.

There's a phone like that in our reception area where I work. I had wondered what it was ... now I know.

I can only echo what everyone else has said. I grew up in London, worked in London and remember the days of the IRA attacks and how it felt to just get on with it because one never knew where they might strike next. The wars we fight today are different than those of other generations. Our brave policemen and policewomen put themselves in harms way. And innocent people get caught up in a fight that is nothing to do with them. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been affected by what happened today.

Ah ok. Good to know. I had thought that it wouldn't survive without being incubated straight away ... never took biology at school!