SwanR

Really enjoying seeing all your photos Geoff - thank you for sharing them. I remember seeing the old lifeboat station at Tenby turned into a home on Grand Designs. And having done a bit of searching I have discovered that another very similar lifeboat station has just been up for sale at St David's, not that far away from Tenby really.

Enjoying your tale Biscuiteer. Incidentally when stern on mooring in strong winds a bow thruster makes no difference at all. We had a similar challenge at Beccles back in June. Got one rope on and tried to straighten up using the bow thruster but the wind was winning. Someone helped hubby pull us round a bit with the rope - job done.

Lovely photos Geoff. We were there about 20 years ago. Stayed a little to the east of where you were, at Amroth. Had a lovely self catering cottage, fantastic weather and one of the best family holidays ever. Who needs to go abroad when there are beautiful places like this to visit in Britain.

Lovely photos. Certainly has been a warm sunny day in Essex for a change.

My husband is also ex-RAF so I think he would find it fascinating to drive around to some of the same kind of places.

Have a great time Cheesey. Hope to hear how you got on when you're back ... not that you want to think about coming back before you've even left.

We were driving through Lincolnshire yesterday and are thinking about spending some time there at some point. Always good to have a recommendation so will bookmark Greetham Retreat for further investigation. http://www.greethamretreat.co.uk

Sounds wonderful, have a great time. I'm counting down ... 5 weeks and 5 days until we have just a short midweek break on the north. My favourite places on the south would be Langley Dyke (where hubby likes to fish), the River Chet to Pyes Mill (where hubby likes to fish), the River Waveney on the stretch from Oulton Dyke to Beccles and the River Yare from Brundall to Bramerton Common.

If the southern side is new to you then I wouldn't be in any hurry to go north. How long are you afloat for?

The weather is certainly a mixed bag this week and it was a shame that the Bank Holiday Monday was such a complete washout.

Wonderfully descriptive writing Andy. Sounds like a fabulous day and a beautiful spot to moor up.

Oh dear, I read that as 2 boats gone awol from Ludham on the marshes! Just shows how one's brain reads what it expects to see ... combined with getting old and not having put one's spectacles on yet this morning.

Sounds like a very pleasant way to spend a few hours. If only it wasn't going to be typical bank holiday weather today. Thanks for sharing your photos.

This is the exact point I always make to friends when I am telling them all the reasons why they should try a holiday on the Broads - you can spend as much or as little as you like depending what kind of boat you want, how many of you are going and when you go. We choose to have a boat with all mod cons and ideally one that is just for two. But we go outside the peak season which helps to reduce the hire charge slightly. I do feel for parents stuck with the current rules around taking children out of school which are more strict now than they were when my two were primary school age.

I like anything to do with words and language and am constantly bugged by the mistakes you find in the literature of professional organisations, never mind the cvs of people applying for jobs. I think a lot of people use spell check but don't then proof read their work to make sure the words are the right ones. Spelling mistakes do tend to jump out at me. The word I always have trouble remembering when to use is license and licence. Apparently license is the verb and licence is the noun.

What a wonderful holiday tale. I can visualise it so well from your wonderfully descriptive writing. Having just read the first few days all in a row I am eagerly awaiting the next instalment. Hope you enjoy the bank holiday weekend and that the traffic on the M25 isn't too horrendous.

I do enjoy this programme but I haven't got a clue who half this year's so called celebrities are or what they do. I really love the music and in my opinion the band are very underrated, especially Tommy Blaize ... what a voice!

Congrats on your news . Have a great time in Tenby - we stayed down that way some years ago and really enjoyed it ... another beautiful part of the world.

Ray that made me chuckle as well. We were in Chelmsford city centre this morning and it did seem busy - there was a long line of shuttle buses over to the Park. Interestingly I used to get a lot of leave requests from my team for the Friday and Monday of V but they don't seem to want to go any more. Hubby joined a local angling club recently so he knows exactly where his fishing gear is ... and it's somehow multiplying out there in the garage. As for Beanie Babies ... yes we have a whole stack of those along with other cuddly toys. I'm sure you can imagine our faces a few years ago when we got home from work to find our daughter reliving her childhood by taking over our living room floor so that you couldn't set foot in the room.

Thanks for clarifying that one Eric - much as Google will give me all the details of the hours and the service, do you think I could find cost stated anywhere?! I happily stand corrected.

Hi Ray, So far we haven't used the service but are hoping to perhaps next year. I have looked online and it would seem it could be as much as £10 each passage? I'm sure someone else will know. But paying an extra £20 or more to get through the Bridge and back is one of the reasons we haven't done it. About 20 years ago we took Gracious Girl through ourselves. On the return journey we decided there might not be sufficient headroom and moored on the Coltishall side of the Bridge instead and waited to come through on a lower tide the next day.

Welcome lakesailor. So far I am the complete opposite to your good self - only ever been on the Broads.

I see that the details of some of those who died have started to emerge. And the first three are all so young. A very tragic loss of life. Just hows how an ordinary day can change in a split second.

Having caught up on this thread I do have one suggestion to make. Foolish as it may be, the cost of the pilot is bound to be a factor in the decision of some hirers to try going through Wroxham Bridge themselves. I know it does feel like quite a lot of money when you've already paid quite a lot of money to hire the boat. And then had to pay extra for car parking in some cases, and as yet don't know how much of your fuel deposit you may or may not get back. However if all the yards could agree to add £20 to the cost of every week's hire and use this to fund the pilots then the service would appear free to holidaymakers and they might be more inclined to use it without any hesitation or second thought. Given not all hirers would even want to go through the bridge, it might not even need to be more than £15 per week's hire to cover the cost. I just think as a hirer that I wouldn't notice this small amount added on to the basic cost of my holiday where I would feel that the current fee could be quite a lot extra to find out of my spending money.

Sunday does tend to look rather chaotic on the webcam most weeks through July and August ... have a good day. I'll be sure to check back later for an update!