SwanR

I have just seen news on Facebook that there has been a pair of peregrine falcons seen mating at Norwich Cathedral in the last few hours, believed to be the resident male and the new female.

Welcome aboard Rob. Which boat will you be out on? Ferry Marina are a great yard to hire from. We took Silver Emblem out when it was only our second time on the Broads. If you're nervous about getting your first mooring done then heading back through Horning to Salhouse Broad is a great idea and is what we did. Only about 45 minutes or so from your starting point but that gives you time to get used to handling the boat. And with the stern on moorings in the Broad as well as a long length of side-on moorings along the Spit, you have a lot of choice and a good chance of plenty of space to bring the boat in even when it's busy. You just need to remember that there's an overnight charge for mooring there but in my opinion it's well worth it. It's so lovely once you've done your first mooring, you can get unpacked, relax and really start to unwind and enjoy yourself. Plus if you moor stern-on you can get the dogs off the boat there with plenty of open space for them. Ranworth would be another option for that first night - the staithe is often full very early but the Island tends to be easier especially when you have less experience. That is also stern-on with an overnight charge but again great for getting the dogs off. Lots of options and many people would go further even on their first night ... but I still remember how thankful I was just to get that first mooring done and settled in.

Welcome everyone ... looking forward to reading your posts and finding out a bit about you all.

I think that a tearoom near the car park will be a great addition. It's quite a walk from where you moor just to get up to the road. Not everyone is fit and mobile enough to walk into the village. And it's a good step out up the hill to the Fur and Feathers. I know that the question is also whether there's enough trade to sustain all the local businesses but if they get this right it could be very popular.

Regularly seeing one of the peregrine falcons on this nest now.

The issue of security is exactly why I have always been reluctant to "check in" on Facebook everywhere I go. However I do keep my Facebook profile on private settings and stay connected to only a select and small group of people ... and then what do I do but join a forum and post more publicly!! The definition of the word "friend" needs rewriting where social media is involved. However our Facebook group definitely helped me out with advice when we were away last year ... and in asking for that help I couldn't really avoid the group knowing where I was!!

Good luck with your search ... I don't have a boat so I can't help you with the question but welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the updated link Alan.

This is exactly what we have done so far to make the most of the time we have up there. But with there being less hireboats based on the southern side now ... and us being a bit fussy about what meets our requirements (!) ... we may well look to take a ten night holiday and go over Breydon at some point. After watching so many videos of other people doing it, it doesn't feel quite as daunting as it used to. Wide open spaces are not my favourite places on the boat - I get a bit panicked if I feel like I don't know where I'm supposed to go ... so if the upper Ant wasn't so beautiful I might never have crossed Barton Broad either!

I think there are a lot of things about boating that you only learn through experience ... or by reading a forum like this and learning through other people's experience ... or by watching Robin's very informative videos. All hints and tips gratefully received.

That looks like fun ... could it rival the ice cream boat at Salhouse Broad?

Welcome along James,Ems and Jangles. And what a lovely introduction.

I stand corrected and happily accept that the attendants may well have been there given that I never tried to moor there myself. I just never saw any when I was passing by. Unlike Gus who is always in evidence at the New Inn.

Great result. Looking forward to seeing who they draw in the next round. I heard them interviewing someone at Lincoln this morning on the radio. I think he was organising getting the 8 official supporters' coaches away. It was only 6.30am and the coaches weren't leaving for another hour but there were tea and coffees and bacon rolls being served up at the club and already a good atmosphere. I'm sure there will be a lot of jubilant supporters in Lincoln tonight.

The conditions of the trial make for interesting reading. Whilst I didn't moor there on any occasions I never saw any attendants hanging around. Were there signs to clearly indicate where different lengths of boat could moor? And who was supposed to provide the white lights to hang on the bow? Academic now so those are rhetorical questions ... just very glad like everyone else that this won't be going any further.

Just took a couple of snaps from the webcam. This peregrine was having a good look round and tried settling down for a few seconds.

There was a camera for reversing on one of the boats we hired last year but it didn't really make much difference. Most of the time the light was too bright outside for it to show anything particularly useful.

Hello Wayne. Welcome along. I look forward to hearing how things progress.

it does come up with a message that you should have appropriate authorisation to listen to the radio transmissions for some reason. Do I click ok and carry on? No comment!

We've been doing a mixture of trips on the northern and southern Broads over the last five years as we like to hire on one side or the other and stay there - we haven't crossed Breydon Water yet. Last year though we stayed north and missed our favourite places on the Yare and the Waveney. I reckon perhaps we'll take a day boat out on the south this year when we're at the caravan one weekend.

Ah yes, I've done that as well Robin. Matching up all these resources at one time can make things very interesting. You can watch a ship on the webcam, see it's path on the map and listen to it on the radio to the harbourmaster all at the same time. I got interested in this when we made several trips via Wightlink from Portsmouth across to Fishbourne on the car ferries. And then I got very excited when I discovered that I have some ancestors that lived in Portsmouth near where the ferry terminals are now. Plus one of my ancestors was listed as serving on HMS Warrior in one of the old censuses. Fascinating stuff ... and all at our fingertips because we have the internet now. It really is amazing.

Wow, that's amazing, snow on the beach. That looks cold! Here's a link that's good for looking at the ships' positions around the Solent. http://www.john-ambler.com/ais/google.html And here's one for the AIS Marine Traffic - not sure what position this will load on but you can zoom out and move around or use one of the other tabs to search for any particular vessels you want to track. http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:1/centery:53/zoom:8 Here's a photo I just snapped from the webcam looking at the Hamptons.

The site I use is http://www.shetland.org/60n/webcams/and this particular shot is from the camera labelled Shetland Museum. I enjoy looking at somewhere so different to where I live. Plus of course the daylight hours are different that far north. But even when it's dark these cameras are still in colour so they're great to watch. Sometimes I even go as far as to use the AIS Marine Traffic website to zoom in on a map and figure out which vessel I can see moored up or moving around! Same goes for Portsmouth Harbour. I know ... you would think I might have something better to do with my time but having so much available online the time flies by and I find I've been on my computer longer than I intended! Thanks for the other links. I'm having a bit of trouble loading any pics on the Hamptons site but Blakeney looks as beautiful as ever.

So I am totally fascinated by being able to watch different places in real time via the multitude of webcams available online. If anyone has any favourites please do let me know. The one at the Abbey Road crossing can be very interesting. I like the one on HMS Warrior overlooking Portsmouth Harbour - love watching the ferries come and go. At 9 o'clock on a Sunday morning it is still so dull in Wroxham that Barnes' webcam is still in night vision! But it's looking very sunny up in Lerwick in the Shetlands - beautiful morning up there while it seems there is snow on the ground in Norwich.

Looking forward to hearing from all the newbies ... welcome along!