Vaughan

I don't imagine you could bring down a drone with an air pistol but I fear we may see more of this sort of confrontation in future. Especially in rural counties like Norfolk, where the local farmer with a 12 bore is well used to a high pheasant!

A quick trip "off piste" if I may, but when I was trucking, back in the 80s, I was once stuck for 36 hours in the port at Ramsgate (not the only time by far) on my way out to Germany, because some freight agent had spelt Cologne wrong on the customs "T" form. They had used the correct German spelling but French was the official language of the then Common Market. And we now think Brexit is difficult? So far, I can't see much difference from the way it always used to be!

I take the point Fred but aren't you being a bit negative about this? If they want to invest in "luxury" bumper boats and yet impose severe restrictions on type of client, alcohol, age (of party as well as skipper) and all the rest of it, then good for them. Time will tell whether their business format succeeds for them or not. For the time being I am sure they are doing no harm. I must say though, I don't know what that bathing platform on the back is supposed to be for. Are they suggesting swimming in the Yare? Or perhaps in the lilies on Rockland Broad? Or do they come towing a paddle board, as a tender?

It's not quite the same thing, as there are almost no bars and restaurants which have their own river frontage. The canal banks, and most river banks, are owned by the VNF (Voies Navigables de France) and if you have paid their toll, you can basically moor where you want, including in the centre of towns and villages. Off river marina moorings might charge but these are pretty rare. Facilities such as water, bins and electric points are provided by the town council (Mairie) in each location. The big difference here, goes back to the Broads being a quite unique navigation, with no tow paths. The rivers were made navigable, basically, by the local farmers and villages, who wanted to get their produce to market by Keel and Wherry. That means "under sail". Before accusing me of being old fashioned, just think about it for a moment . . . . All these so called "wild moorings" are on private land and the same goes for the pubs. So unfortunately we are now inheriting the legacy that they can charge what they like on their own land and I presume, there is no Authority that can tell them otherwise. Whether or not they are killing the goose that laid the golden eggs, remains to be seen and I suspect we will find out sooner rather than later. Acle Bridge have already lost Addicted as a customer and that will include me, next time I am "passing through".

I very thoroughly agree with you and somehow, I knew one day soon this was bound to happen. What a disgrace! Would you pay to park your car in a pub car park, while you were having lunch? Of course not!! On the contrary I would never, for one moment, think of cluttering up the moorings in the front of a pub if I did not intend to eat or drink there. I don't know, perhaps it is our own fault. Perhaps there are just no manners, or common courtesy in these matters nowadays.

Yes, and all with a passing trade, off the main road. I know that a great deal of Simpson's customer simply "walk in". I'm not sure that would apply down the boatyard dykes in Brundall. If you go down there, you have to "mean it"! I suspect their custom is all booked in advance off their website and as I said, I wish them luck with it.

Mind you, if they were serving locally caught "quenelles de brochet" in season, that really would be worth a visit!

I don't think that is what I would call "luxury" in a boat, but then perhaps I am not the "market" that they are seeking to attract? I wish them luck with it. Certainly a very expensive investment. I have found that day boats will only make a commercial turnover if they have a "captive audience" at big centres like Wroxham or Potter, where day trippers gather by road. You are never going to make money out of a day boat if it only goes out on Saturday and Sunday. They have to be out all week. They can be a useful addition to an existing business, especially if you are offering chalets and houseboats on the same property. They are also very labour intensive and usually have members of staff employed solely to look after them. As I said, I wish them luck with it. Why not?

And I hope they were suitably grateful. I remember the TV chef James Martin, saying more than once on his programme : What is the difference between a "dollop" and a "quenelle"? About twenty-five Quid.

I would check the stern gland first and see if it is dripping. Also look at the water and see if is a bit cloudy, like river water. If it is clear water, suspect a leak in your fresh water system. As you say that the boat has been in the water all this last winter, and knowing what immaculate condition her last but one owners kept her in, I would not expect a problem with leaks in the hull at the moment!

I have done both racing and cruising and came to enjoy the rivers more than the broads, as there seems to be rather more fun in making a passage, by wind power alone. I much enjoyed racing on rivers, as there is a lot more racing tactics involved. If you are just beginning though, make sure you have an auxiliary engine. Later on if you come to really love it, you can always become a purist, with the quant!

Thank you Andy. Actually it doesn't bother me now, as I think I have developed the necessary thick skin. I just sometimes still find it pathetic, that I have had to.* * Excuse the "hanging participle". Now pick the bones out of that!

Well I realise we have gone rather a long way off the subject (what was the subject, by the way?) but an un-necessary post like that makes me think of all the people who have left this forum in the last couple of years and used to contribute so much of their memories and experience, for the enjoyment and interest of all members. When did we last see a contribution in the history section? Maybe, like me, they just got frustrated by having their posts deliberately dissected and demeaned in the tiniest and most irrelevant detail.

Quite right. No need for it. When the builders bought the sink unit for the galley, in those days, it probably came with a drain fitting, so they fitted it!

Funny you should say that. It was in the Woods End, one lunchtime in about 1972, that I joined the Norfolk Wherry Trust. It was in September and I was sailing the River Cruiser "Evening Flight", back to Thorpe at the end of the season. The Albion was on the moorings which were full, so we moored alongside her and spent a rather long lunchtime session at the bar with Ewan Anderson, the skipper, and her crew, which included Dougie Blewitt, the chairman and several members of the committee. By the time we all cast off our moorings again, Ewan had signed me up as a member and from there, after several years and another story for another time, I became the chairman of the Trust (and a wherryman) myself. Excuse me, am I dropping names again? Or am I trying to explain that for those of us who know and respect the traditions and history of the Broads (and its pubs) these things mean a lot more than just another fancy menu, which excludes those who are cruising on the rivers but not prepared to be "fleeced" while they are at it?

That puts me in my place then, doesn't it? I shall remain out of the way in future, on The Common moorings and make myself a sandwich. I know I am not the only one, even on this forum, to have walked in there to such a frigid and rather snobbish reception that I have preferred not to bother. The point you missed - or simply looked down on - is that the Woods End is a traditional, very old and famous riverside pub that owes its existence to the brickworks that existed right beside it and the wherry trade that came to it as a result. What they now call Bramerton Common was the brickworks quay heading! In just the same way as Coldham Hall, Surlingham Ferry, Berney Arms, the Duke's Head at Somerleyton and many others. You name them! The Yare at Brundall was another. If they couldn't handle normal passing trade just because of a wedding reception then they shouldn't be running a riverside pub business. Just ask my dear friend Peter Tallowin, who ran a roaring trade in that pub for many years in the 70s and 80s and whose father Gilly, was the famous landlord of the New Inn at Horning. I also remember Dick Chance, his predecessor at the Woods End and a good friend of Harry Last at Coldham. As my father's son, I did a lot of my growing up in those pubs. If they are now simply to be superseded by an up-market exclusive bijou experience for those who think paying through the nose means class, I find that quite lamentable.

Which, one wonders, is maybe what they are aiming at, in the long term.

I have no idea, since I have only "darkened their door" on two occasions. The first was when it turned out they were doing a wedding reception and so "normal" customers were out of the question. The second time, I came in and asked for a drink at the bar and to see the lunch menu. I was made so totally unwelcome by the "P.R." or whoever she thought she was, that I simply walked away. I am cruising the Broads on my boat. If I want to stop for lunch, I want good old pub food and a pint or two. Who remembers Patsy Dashwood's home cooked fish pie in the Buck in Thorpe, or her steak and ale pie? If I want a heavily priced gourmet experience, I will take my twin engined flybridge Broom to the Waterside Inn at Bray, where I will expect to pay whatever it might cost.

If it is going to be a copy of the new style Bramerton Woods End, I won't be at all interested.

Nowadays, with correctness, it's good to get these denominations sorted out before we start, so welcome, BroadsLady. If this forum had existed in the 1940s and you called yourself a Norfolk broad, you would have attracted lot of attention from the Sgts' and officers' messes in the U.S. Airforce base at Rackheath!

Fuel lift pump diaphragm, would be my guess.

These ones, you mean?

Wasps prefer to build nests underground, so they like soft soil, around rivers and marshes. Their nest will have two tunnel entrances, and they will all go back to the nest at dusk, to become very sleepy until dawn. The preferred method on boatyards is to wait until dark, block one entrance with earth, and feed the other entrance from a 1/4 full bottle of butane and a suitable length of plastic pipe. Next morning, problem solved. Unless you have just come out of the Army, when the best method is a "Thunderflash". Tie it to a suitable length of "pointed stick" , strike the striking plate, thrust it firmly down the hole and you have exactly 14 seconds to get clear. The effect is terminal. What the American Marines used to call "prophylactic fire".

A 4 cylinder Lister, marinised by Petter Marine, with a fairly new looking PRM gearbox. A fairly old design but if it has had regular oil changes, it should be very reliable. Be careful to check that the engine is exactly aligned, as you only have a short prop shaft with no flexible flange coupling. Misalignment could even be why the gearbox was renewed. The engine appears to be on flexible mounting feet from what I can see, in which case there also ought to be a flexible shaft coupling fitted.