YnysMon

We’ve been on the Yare in February and November and it’s been fine apart from periods where there have been classified storms, and those affected all the Broads. I must admit I’ve been a bit of a whimp going out in strong breezes previously, but have decided I have been unduly cautious, and anyway, I would have been the same whether we were north or south. During the season, as the Yare and the Waveney are so wide, and generally have far less traffic, I find they are much easier to navigate than the busier northern Broads. All in all, I love both north and south. In a syndicate, where we have a home mooring with electric, it’s tempting to scuttle back home at the least sign of bad weather, and go places by car without the pressure of thinking we are wasting our precious hiring time.

The second time we hired with NBD we found they offered a very good discount for 10 or 11 days compared to 7 days, plus we had an additional discount as we’d hired from them the previous year. That made our minds up. We had been interested in Ferry Marina at the time, as we had been impressed with their boats on previous hires, but when asked said they didn’t offer ant discount for a longer hire, so we opted for NBD. It also irked me that they didn’t offer any incentive for rebooking, just ‘Harry’s rewards’ for a booking made by a friend as a result of a recommendation. Mind you, both yards have since changed hands, so their policies are probably different now.

I agree, I think it's more about customer feedback than Hoseasons itself, so I'm not so cynical. Although I've never booked through Hoseasons, I did used to spend a bit of time browsing customer reviews on their site during out hiring days. Some of the older Richardson's boats did come in for a bit of flack, but not as much as some of the older boats in other fleets. Having been on the Broads a bit more frequently now that we are in a syndicate, I'm generally impressed by how well even their older boats are turned out, especially early in the season.

Good old Anglo Saxon. In that language more negatives just emphasised the negative'ness. This whole concept of negatives cancelling out each other is just an imposition on English from another language's grammatical rules. I'm not sure why I decided to study Old and Middle English in Uni, but it was fun and turned a lot of 'rules' upside down.

Thanks Jean, that was lovely. Aren’t the evening skies lovely this time of the year. I was very impressed with the shots of the exterior of the boat. Looks very safe with all those rails. I especially loved your choice of music. It took me back to one of those Proms in the Park type concerts, but one held in North Wales, just outside Caernarfon. Bryn Terfel (famous opera singer) used to run an annual festival, and the 2003 concert I went to featured Hayley Westenera. It was televised by thecWelsh channel S4C and I’ve found clips of it on YouTube.

Eek! We are hoping to transit south to north and vv during the first couple of weeks on November. Hope the river levels settle down!

Thanks for the replies. Totally understand why such a business would close over winter. My father in law had a small boatyard in Anglesey that was very reliant on seasonal trade, so they only opened between Easter and October too. Quite a lot of pressure to take in sufficient income over those months to sustain you over the whole year.

We should be on the Broads from 30th October and, as we have a whole fortnight this time, we plan to come up to the northern broads (high river levels permitting). That's why I've been asking so many questions!

Yes, very well used! It's still my go-to book for basic recipes or the old classics. I did buy a newer Good Housekeeping edition, but that's hardly been used.

Ha! Looks like you've got the same edition of Good Housekeeping Cook Book that I have (top shelf, green binding). Mine's a bit more tatty though. Well loved!

I've read that the shop in the village is a combined craft shop and tea rooms. Seems to have very good reviews, so I'm hoping to check it out one day. Has anyone tried out the small van takeaway that has been in Salhouse since last year? Mind you, that's unlikely to be open over winter.

Does the shop at Ranworth stay open over winter? I thought I'd read somewhere that it closed during the winter months in previous years.

To our shame we’ve never overnighted at Salhouse. Stayed for a couple of hours and made lunch, topped up with water and walked the dog, but that’s it. I’m not sure that November is the right time to start though. Sounds like a wonderful mooring. Has anyone wandered into the village?

I must admit that Graham and I have decided we are much more comfortable in the forward cabin in MS with the split beds, though we wouldn’t normally choose twin beds.

Hi Jean, thanks for the interesting write up. I think I would be very challenged by the panels either side of that forward door. I can remember moaning at Graham about the equivalent glass panels on the Fair Regents getting misted up. Putting solid panels there seems bonkers. Mattresses are such a personal thing. I doubt that boatyards/hotels can please everyone. I’m a ‘firm mattress’ person (having had some back trouble with pulled ligaments when I was younger). We converted to a memory foam mattress at home some years back and if we are away (for instance in Graham’s Dad’s house) and sleeping on a sprung mattress, that now makes me feel a bit sea sick whenever Graham changes position. But regardless of the mattress and pillow arrangements, as I get older I’m finding that sleeping in an unfamiliar bed is a bit challenging, at least for the first few days. Shame you had so much rain the first day. Hope the weather improved for you.

If you aren't sure about St Olaves you can avoid it by going up the Yare instead of the Waveney and then turn down the New Cut (or vice versa of course).

Just been reading an online magazine and came across this list of 14 practical things to help: 1. Buy only what you need. Save time and money as well as the Earth. 2. Watch David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet. 3. Turn your heating down and wear a jumper. 4. Buy second-hand clothes from charity shops. 5. Start a compost heap to reduce the waste you send to landfill. 6. Slow down. Driving at 50mph uses 25% less fuel than 70mph. 7. Save water – only do full loads in your washing machine. 8. Shop at farmer's markets and buy food that was produced locally. 9. Choose energy-efficient appliances when you replace old ones. 10. Wild your garden, don’t deck it over. 11. Have one car-free day per week. 12. Join a local environmental group or campaign 13. Use eco-friendly washing-up liquid and washing powder. 14. Grow your own food if you can.

That's fascinating, and there was me thinking it would only be winds off the East Anglian coast that would have an effect.

I've been hopeless this year and hardly used the raspberries off the allotment. Most of our plums went to waste too. Normally I make lots of jam and chutney, the majority of which used to end up on stalls on the church fete or the band's annual fete. Both got put off due to Covid, so that's me with lots of raspberry jam and plum chutney from last year still on my hands.

A lovely start to your tale Jean, and very interesting account of your different perspective of starting off for your holiday now that you and your hubby are local to the Broads.

Thanks Malcolm. We weren’t sure about Oulton Broad, having only visited once in our pre-MS days. Good to know you can use Beccles cards again on subsequent visits. Back in May we were thinking of going to Beccles but we changed our minds as we knew we wouldn’t arrive until after the Station Master had gone home, so we wouldn’t be able to purchase a card.

Does anyone have any insight on why the rivers are so high? I usually associate high river levels with strong easterlies or persistent/heavy rainfall in preceding days. Is it anything to do with atmospheric pressure (not that I've been looking at weather charts recently).

Well, it's good news that they won't be closed permanently.

The problem is we are (as usual) trying to overcomplicate things. It's all about consumption. When I look back at how my grandparents lived - no car, only purchased what they needed, it's a stark contrast to how Graham and I live our lives. Just considering food. I have kitchen cupboards and fridge/freezer stuffed with food and have to do a clear-out every year to chuck out things that have gone out of date. Grandparents bought what they needed for each day's meals plus restocking on basic things like flour and sugar. A tin of ham and tin of fruit were kept in the cupboard in case unexpected guests turned up for tea, but that was about it. Otherwise the cupboard was bare, and they had lived through two wars, so knew all about food shortages. Have I changed my habits? No, so I'm as guilty as the next person. We do try to recycle, grow our own veg and so on, but that's a small gesture.

I miss the Nogs too.