SwanR

I forgot about them!!

Go for it! Talk to no-one. Stay offline. No radio or tv. No contact with the outside world. Keep your phones turned off. How would you even know what is announced?! If you’re in the middle of nowhere on a boat ....

There were some lovely skies this evening. You have to make the most of those moments.

Always good to see you on the forum Robin. I hope that all is well in your world. I still remember you hoping to one day become an owner back in your hiring days.

Great tale. And wow, what a long distance covered in a short break. I’m sure there must have been some choice words at times. But you seem to have managed to remain positive and enjoyed your trip nonetheless.

We only used it once or twice but it seemed to hold perfectly fine.

I don’t know the answer to that. Certainly not on Sonnet as it hangs out of the front of the boat not over the bow from the deck. The engineer had to pull the fridge out to get to the workings because of where it’s been built in.

We had an electric mud weight on Sonnet. Hard to tell how much chain to let out on that one. And we ended up with it refusing to come back up. We had to haul it back up manually and get to a mooring where the yard could come out. Took them a while to pull things apart, untangle it all and get it back working!

Enjoyed reading your tale and seeing your photos. St Benet's is a good mooring especially once the river is still when the boats have all moored up for the night. As for whether to spend that last night in the yard ... if we're on a short break then I agree, four nights isn't many when there are so many lovely places to choose from. However if we're out for a week then we often do moor in the yard on the last night. Just something we like about having a lazier last morning, a quiet breakfast with no pressure to get going. And we often get a fair amount of our stuff off the boat and into the car the evening before. But each to their own.

We’ve never hooked up to shore power at Beccles and always moored on the town side. 😂😂😂

Lovely photos and write up. I haven’t moored at Beccles for a few years now so would be completely out of date on their charges. But I agree that it’s a lovely place to go.

By all accounts there are a lot of regular boaters now joined by all the staycationers, many of whom enjoyed the Broads so much that they are coming back next year. Personally I prefer the quieter days and emptier moorings but to get that means going out of season which also tends to mean colder weather and darker evenings on board ... early nights snuggled down in a sleeping bag with a hot water bottle! I don't cope well with feeling cold!!! Still not sure if I can convince myself that I would truly enjoy the winter afloat but who knows ... never say never.

All the best to you both Ian. I'm sure Marina must be glad you're home. You sound as if you're staying positive and looking forwards ... counts for so much.

It is a beautiful sunny morning. Hope you have a better day without needing the Chuckle Brothers back. But well done to Richardson’s for coming out and doing what they could.

As you say Helen, there’s winners and losers all round at the moment. We’ve just had a visit from our daughter which was ok as we’re both in tier 1 right now. Hope the weather is better for you this time round.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your tale and seeing more photos. 👍

Hope you feel a bit stronger every day Ian. Best wishes to Marina too.

Thanks for the update and videos Griff. A real cutie and as you said, so good to have something that makes you smile and laugh and brings hope and joy to your home.

Something like that. As we get darker days and cooler temperatures heralding the end of the caravan season as well, I intend to start something new. Just haven't named it and decided how to do it yet. :)

I intend to get a holiday tale that's not a holiday tale started at some point ... cryptic but all will become clear. Anyway ... a few photos from my days out. Yesterday I ventured down to Belaugh for the first time. Beautiful ... so here's a couple of pictures to paint those thousand words that still wouldn't be enough to describe the tranquility ... And then this morning I went down to Salhouse Broad. A lovely walk from the car park through the autumn trees ... accompanied by the very loud bellowing of the cows in the field next door! A bit of a grey day but some greenery in the bushes. I have a thing about photographing empty benches! No-one staying on the campsite! But there were a few boats around ... and the obligatory geese! Popped to the Woodforde's Brewery shop at the Fur and Feathers. Just not the friendly place it used to be. Not even worth a stop for coffee. Such a shame that it has changed so much. One final picture which speaks for itself.

Thanks for the info and photos. I’ve looked at this boat so many times as a way of hiring on the south. Hubby is 6’4 so that bed does look like it could be a challenge. The table is similar to what we had on Zircon Emblem which compromised the only seating area a bit. As you say, there’s always a compromise somewhere.

Glad you've got the op out the way. All best wishes for your recovery. :)

Lovely photos. And good to have recommendations of places to go to. I haven't been to Thorpeness yet ... still so many places to explore along the Suffolk and Norfolk coastline.

Hope you have a good journey down as well. What kind of timeslot have you got for takeover? Have you been on a boating holiday before?

Looking forward to hearing how you get on. :)