Turnoar

I can see this being popular with the Camra cavalry, rail ale within striking distance of Norwich, tickets please!

Welcome to my stomping ground kp’, I hope you had a nice time! The pedestrianisation may well be a first for a North, if not, Norfolk town and one wonders what Norwich would be like now had the pedestrianisation never happened, just imagine Gentlemen’s Walk where it started. A gentleman by the name of John Palmer was instrumental in making that happen probably in the sixties so it’s only taken half a century for the idea to catch on elsewhere in the county! As it happens John was a broads sailor who kept a wayfarer dinghy at Hickling sailing club and a pocket motorcruiser on a buoy nearby called Alys, I’m not absolutely sure but I think it was up for sale 20 years ago and advertised as an Ernest Woods design & build, had a transom hung rudder and looking at Craig’s list suspect an estuary type boat originally. I know the Church well, my youngest was christened there. There is a clinker half model boat on the inside of the south facing wall, when I spoke to the then vicar about it I discovered he was also a sailor and a sea scout. If anyone decides to visit, the motorcycle museum is right next to the railway station (Norwich bound platform) and the cat pottery is about 100 yards towards town just before you turn hard to port to head for the market place. The hop inn micro pub and Shambles cafe restaurant next door are a stones throw from the market cross and my go tos but there’s something for everyone unless you want a Weatherspoons, the councils dithered and the potential site has become a white elephant of maintenance spend for zero community value imho. The former Barclays Bank was once the setting for the Tales of the Unexpected episode where robbers moled underground via next door... only to be disappointed when the safes were empty on account of being closed due to industrial action. Duncan Industries manufactured the Duncan Alvis here with some help with the early timber frames from Herbert Woods and Graham Bunn. I think the business was canned eventually. The town could get on the broads map again if the canal was brought back into use, a tad hopeful I know, it was only a horse and cart ride down to Spa Common to start a skippered Pleasure wherry holiday from Press Brothers in bygones.

Had a letter from DEFRA today, there has been an outbreak of bird flu in my area. I’m either in, or very close to, a declared AI protection or surveillance zone. I don’t keep poultry or captive birds but I can still help by reporting dead wild birds. Shame they didn’t write to me a few weeks ago... The APHA is responsible for animal health, doing everything they can, but they need my support, animal disease control is everybody’s responsibility so that includes yours truly I guess. I had noticed that the pigeons have disappeared from my garden but wasn’t overly bothered tbh. Thanks for the heads up Christine Middlemiss, UK Chief Veterinary Officer. And it’s good luck to all the wildlife out there!

I only use e10 super in anything petrol powered. Apart from anything else it works out far more economic than the small premium over the e5 shandy they’ve been selling since a few months back. Aspen sounds like good stuff and that’s a good tip re just using for the final tank full as it’s a bit more expensive. Is the performance improved significantly, wondering if the Lerryn Seagull buoy racers would gain an advantage?

So, if you have a dishwasher with a drawer for cutlery, which way up for the knives? I face sharp / cutting side upwards, my wife does the uppersite....

Hi splasher, Herbert Woods and Martham Boats have dinghies for hire albeit with cruisers I suspect but equally when business is splashing you in the face and a vacant vessel ... They may double as a sailing dinghy but you can leave the rig on the cruiser or river bank and the centre plate up! Whispering Reeds still have rowing dinghies I believe but you’d need to email or phone to check. I agree exploring the shallows by oar is great fun, I never dared take anything other than a canoe into Swim Coots for fear of being holed by tree stumps, could have been a rumour way back when but rotten if true!

Wow, no sign on the NDR roundabout as you say flyodraser, not that you’d see it with all the traffic cones! I may be wrong but until access to the B1150 was closed at the end of Dobbs/Rackheath Lane was that the last chance diversion?

There are various signs about stating Wroxham Bridge unsuitable for low loaders diversion, eg on the outer ring road roundabout Sprowston, also ditto 1/4 mile ahead by the mini roundabout in Hoveton. Could be the same satnav used by the hgv’s who periodically take a run up at the railway bridges!

This remains an unutterably sad and avoidable event which should never have happened. And I still have no words that could accurately represent the sadness that must be felt by the family other than that it will be felt forever. Judging by the media thread the drunk driver was probably not heading home but in the complete opposite direction. Can’t blame the road itself but it has made me even more wary about riding that stretch on my bike in future, being hit at 50 mph as opposed to say 30 mph, on the back lanes, could have the same outcome but I hear the vehicles approaching singularly on country lanes behind me whereas not so on a main road with the foreground noise of vehicles approaching like an aircraft taking off drowning out anything to the rear. I hope the other pedestrian has recovered as far as possible, living with that experience will be challenging I expect. The deceased will never be forgotten as indeed I have never forgotten friends deceased albeit sadly sometimes in circumstances similar to this. Breathalysers in pubs a great idea as are the diy kits you can buy, the latter could have made a difference, I suspect this guy didn’t come from a pub as any staff or customers would surely have prevented such a tragedy, from the police footage I doubt it would have taken much to intervene and snatch his keys or otherwise prevent him driving off.

Drifting slightly off thread but I can recall my car clutch failing about 20 years ago and explaining to the breakdown co that I thought the cable had snapped. Turned out it was a hydraulic clutch and a temporary crimp round the leaking pipe and then some oil topping up got it to the garage. Previously, on reflection, cables didn't seem to fail me, rather the car bulkhead rusted a bit and the cable contributed and sawed through it with a similar outcome!

Don't forget NYA charter cruisers, they're down that dyke too.

Is it a coincidence you have registrations prefixed A B T W Y with rivers Ant Bure Thurne Waveney Yare, more often, but not exclusively, on pre 60s boats. I thought S prefix perhaps came in thereafter when they’d run out of rivers before things became more convoluted.

It’s called Weallliveina...

Biked over to Hickling first thing this morning, nice journey but really sad arrival. 3 dead birds, one white swan with either a cygnet or other small bird alongside at the end of the PB dyke, and one that could possibly be a black swan in the basin of the dyke which was my grandads boathouse back in the 60s. I know it’s not many birds but three too many for me. Vandalism evident in the council toilets too just to take further shine off the visit, reported but mindless to put it mildly. Hope the bird flu goes away soon, I suppose these ones are at least out of what may have been a miserable demise.

Sold on the fall of the hammer for £176k. Within the guide price range.

Anyone any idea what the clinker sailing dinghy is in the second photo, a Yachting World Dayboat perhaps, or a local one design? Lovely photo’s, only ever driven through Devon on the way to Cornwall, looks well worth visiting.

When Weatherspoons took on the old regal cinema on Dereham Road in Norwich as the City Gate it quickly earned the nickname Airport Waiting Lounge on account of the open plan, wide visibility through the glazed entrance doors, bench seats and bright lights in what seemed a lofty space. Think they gave it up after less than 5 years but the nickname has stuck. As underground car parks can be susceptible to flooding I think I’ll have trouble forgetting the comparison but will be giving it a go, might even let the train take the strain. A good food and beer offering could see rail ale drinkers by the carriage load!

I think I may have been one of the fleeting references on this forum re the lockdown question if you could go for a day trip then where would that be? Here’s a couple of pics from circa 20 years ago, shots taken from the vicinity of the hide I think. Nice place to be!

Or Benacre, never sure what the offishall name is, broad by the beach?

Covehithe?

Whilst we’re clutching at reed, East Ruston?

Well, stick me in a time machine and head back to the 1950s, any bunk on a participant in the Pavillon d’Or, a flotilla of craft from GB, Holland, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany and Ireland from 22ft to 100ft. Photo from the pages of The Yachting World Annual 1956 in Rotterdam, advance apology for poor quality, old iPad! 30 British yachts represented eleven clubs.

This one still graces my cookbook selection, Frugal Food!

The writing was on the wall for Tobago, once Trinidad had left.

Lovely photos! I’m fairly sure the wreck at Wood End is not a broads boat but possibly a sea going boat originating from the med, anyone happen to know?