BoF

I agree wholeheartedly! I need to get a HiViz jacket or t-shirt with, on the back, "Please do not queue behind me as I will be in the wrong queue!". And another thing, Who else, when in a supermarket queue, lets someone in before them as they 'only have a few things in a basket', only to watch their friend/husband/wife/partner / ? (anyone I've missed?) join them with a full trolly load as they say "you don't mind do you, we're together"? I do mind, but I'm too British to make a fuss. Just me then?

Yes, I do as well.

Likewise!

I phoned Richardson's today and spoke to their booking office and asked if there had been a change in policy regarding single person hires. The person I spoke to sounded rather surprised at the question, replying that they had had no discussions or instructions from their management on the subject and as far as they were concerned, once they were satisfied that you can handle the boat you wanted to hire, then they would take the booking. They would 'obviously ask' the prospective hirer about any previous experience with hires from them and generally chat to the person and make a decision based on that conversation. She went on to say that the single person hirer may have to demonstrate on pick up day that they were capable of handling the boat if there were any concerns "at that time" that they couldn't. I didn't pick up on this comment until after the call had ended. It was only after the call had ended that I thought that perhaps making that call wasn't such a good idea. They were bound to talk about my call in the office, and offices being what they are, leak information like a sieve. Soon 'management', particularly 'senior management', get wind of the conversation, and 'senior managers' being what they are, be it in government, big, medium or small private sector, start thinking about something they hadn't thought about before. Then some idiot with an 'ology' wants to make a name for him or herself, or exert their authority because everyone treats them like 'an idiot with an ology', and stops something that has been running smoothly and without problems for ages. If that happens in this case - Sorry, my error! (Just re-read the last paragraph. I really must stop allowing my opinion of 'senior managers' coming to the surface all the time)

Yes, it is a Sunderland Flying Boat. There is one at the RAF Museum at Hendon that you get aboard and have a good look round. There is also a civilian version, called a Sandringham, in the Southampton Hall of Aviation. It has Australian registration and was used right up to the 1970s to fly from Sydney to Lord Howe Island. It was taken out of service when they finally built a land plane airstrip on the island. You can have a look around inside this one as well, the interior layout is exactly as it was back in the 1970s and if there aren't many people in the Hall, the curators will open up the ladder to the cockpit and let you have a play around up there. Boys own world, or what! This is a link to a youtube video about the Sandringham. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQYGqt3x9s8

Mmm, interesting? To put my mind at ease about this I will call the boatyard tomorrow and ask. I will post their response on the forum. Right, Plan B, now about to look at Freedom's website. I haven't been down on the Southern Broads for decades, the tides have always been at the wrong time during my tips, so maybe this might turn out to be the chance to do so.

Thank you for this info, I wasn't aware of it.

The joy of solo cruising for me is the solitude, peace and simply being on my own completely, something that is quite rare nowadays. For a week or at least a few days, I don't have to be responsible for anyone but myself. Pure bliss!

Did you go through Central Bookings or via the actual boatyard? I ask as I booked Salerno out of Richardson’s a few weeks ago for March and didn’t have a problem at all. I called the boatyard, asked to be put through to ‘bookings’, a very pleasant woman answered and I said I wanted to make a solo crew booking and gave the boat name and dates I wanted. She asked if I had made any previous solo bookings and when I said I had made several, she asked for my name and details. I could hear her tapping on a keyboard and a few moments later she said that was fine, gave me the price and the deposit details. She then emailed me the booking details that clearly show me as the single hirer. It may be that you spoke to a new member of staff? I certainly don’t want to have Richardson’s close down on single hires, they are the only boatyard that continues to do so as far as I know.

I used to work at Heathrow and often went aboard Concorde. As everyone has already said, it was small and cramped inside, but oh boy were the seats comfortable! The service was excellent, as you would expect for the price of a ticket, and the crew were all hand-picked and at the top of their profession. There was certainly ‘status’ in saying you were a Concorde crew member. As others have said, the Americans were not happy at being beaten by the British and French. They reacted in just the same way as they have done recently with the Canadian aircraft (Bombardier?), and tried to stop it entering US airspace. Only the East Coast airfields near the Atlantic were allowed to take it. Imagine if it had been a Boeing or McDonald aircraft. Would it still have been banned at other airfields? I doubt it.

Thanks folks for all that information! I am out with the dogs on the ranges, then 'out & about ', but when I get back I will get the ONS maps out & have a look. I can hear my wife already saying "its a dinning table, not a map table!" [emoji3] Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Hi Alan, Yes, I am aware of those, although I haven't 'been South' for some time now. It's the old trackways that fascinate me. My daughter lives up in Derbyshire and there are several old trackways near her that have been converted into walk & cycle paths; an excellent idea. Down in my part of the country there are virtually no traces of the old branch lines that ran across the region, other than the heritage lines that enthusiasts have managed to save. There was a single track line laid during the First World War that ran up from the main London to South Coast line that went up to a German POW camp. It was taken up in 1919, and then relayed in the 1940s (I think) to bring troops and munitions up to an army camp.That was partly taken up in the late 1940s and the last train ran on the remaining section in July 1951. The OS Map has a few references to a 'dismantled railway', some which you can get to with a bit of effort fighting your way through the trees and scrubs, but the old terminus (or what's left of it, if any) is inside a firing range. What a divergence from my original post!

It was only a throwaway comment about 'train sets', honest! But wow, thanks for an excellent number of interesting posts! Are any of the old track beds still around?

Thanks for that, it's good to know. I haven't actually encountered any issues with getting a taxi from the station to Stalham and back again. I have used 'All Abroad' from Potter Heigham for the last 4 trips and its worked fine.

Err Yes, I did, didn’t I! Whoops! The problem is, and whilst I accept all the comments about them being scale models etc, I don’t want a scale working model of Lower farthing junction circa 1924, I want my own little world where I can run whatever trains I want/like, even if they come from different times or regions or companies. Many years ago I went to a Model Railway Club with the intention of joining. I was made very welcome and settled down to watch the network run (new boys don’t get to ‘play’ for quite some time I was told). Not a problem, I expected that, but what I did not expect was the detailed, and at times confrontational, conversations over timetables, relative scale speed, platform approach (??) and other stuff I had no idea what they were talking about. The actual, beautifully hand-crafted ‘scale models’ only ran for a short while. I didn’t go back. Right, tin hat on! Fire 1!

Right, that’s done! I have booked Salerno out of Richardson's for next March. This will be my fifth solo trip, with the added bonus that I can use my accrued discount towards my sixth. Brilliant! First stop will be Lathams up at Potter Heigham for all the stuff I didn’t know I needed, wanted or forgot to bring! Next thing to do is sort out getting there. My wife and I car share, and other than my trips up to the Broads, there never is a problem over who need to use it. However, I can’t leave my wife without a car for a week, especially if it is only going to sit in a car park the whole time. For my first solo trip I managed to get a reasonable deal from a local car hire firm, but by the time for the second trip the prices had gone through the roof. At the same time, all the local and national car hire firms in the area dropped their basic hire charge, but changed what was previously included as part of the ‘basic’ charge to ‘extras’, and expensive extras at that. Some people might say that they were all operating a cartel and fixing the prices, but I could not possibly comment on that. The bottom line was that I could take the risk, only pay for the basic hire and hope I didn’t have an accident, or include the ‘extras’ and spend about the same for the car as I was the boat. I decided to look at getting there by train. Entering my home station to Hoveton & Wroxham into the National Rail Enquiries came up with a ridiculous figure, on one occasion costing nearly as much as a hire car. Then I remembered something I had read, heard or been told (?); break the journey down into segments. So I did and after a bit of experimenting, hit upon the best option; Home station to London Tube to Stratford Stratford to Hoveton & Wroxham via Norwich That reduced the total cost dramatically. For example, Stratford to Hoveton & Wroxham advance standard ticket for £6.00; First class for £9.00. Guess which one I went for! The prices have not gone up much since then; I can’t find the invoice for March this year, but I think it was about £14 single. Its roughly 5 hours each way by car, needs two tanks full of petrol, plus the actual cost of the hire car, plus having to put up with 3 motorways, so the train turns out to be the best, and cheapest, option for me. I also arrive less stressed out than I do if I drive. The downside is I can not bring all the ‘stuff’, or as my wife calls it, ‘crap’, that I want to take with me. I have to choose what ‘crap’ I really want and pack it all very carefully into a suitcase/holdall I can get up into a luggage rack. That does focus the mind, but of course there is always Lathams as previously mentioned! Food is another factor to consider. On my first trip up the car looked a like a supermarket home delivery van! My wife did my menu and it was full of fresh green and healthy stuff, all very good for me (I am told), but I was going ‘boating’ and managed to sneak in some ‘proper grub’ like real butter, a white loaf and a few cans of beans, spam and corned beef. I ended up bringing a large amount back home. After that, I got Tesco to deliver to the boat. End of problem! So now I have some 28 weeks / 196 days approximately, to plan my trip, decide where I want to go, pour over the maps, scan the tide tables and make copious notes. I can feel my wife’s eyebrows rising and hear her sigh already! I could always get a train set and take over the lounge?

I'm glad I didn't know that at the time, that would have been another laxative!

I have read several ‘Holiday Tales’ and have laughed, winced and been envious of the adventures people have had on the Broads, so I thought I would expand on the tale that I mentioned in my first forum post. It was back in the early 1990’s and my children and I hired a 30ft sedan cruiser from the yard next to the New Inn at Horning. I can’t remember the name of the yard; I think it was part of the Herbert Woods group at the time. I hadn’t been on the Broads for years and it was the first time up there for my two young children and Charlie, our Labrador. We were all excited to be going on an ‘adventure’. Months of pouring over maps and planning our routes kept us all amused, even Charlie got into the spirit of it all by eating one of the maps whilst we were not looking. The handover went smoothly and we were soon off to explore, deciding to go upstream to Salhouse Broad and possibly as far as Wroxham. It was a beautiful summer's day as I recall. All was going well on that first day until we reached the entrance to Salhouse Broad, travelling at a sedate 4 mph, when all of a sudden, and without touching the throttle, the engine revs went to the top of the gauge and we took off! Putting the throttle into neutral then astern did absolutely nothing, and we continued to hurtle at an increasing speed into a rather crowded anchorage. I cut the engine and we started to slow down, but I still had to do a few nifty twists and ‘handbrake turns’ to avoid the moored craft. The kids thought this was great fun with a lot of the other boaters ‘waving’ at us and they waving back. I was trying to hide behind the wheel! We eventual stopped, then drifted to a place where we could drop the mudweight and take a breath. There were no mobile phones in those days, so we rowed ashore and walked into Salhouse to phone the boat yard. An engineer turned up the following morning in ‘The Big Tow’ out of Ludham Bridge, but couldn’t find any reason why our cruiser had decided to turn into a ski boat. He stayed with us a while as we went a short distance up and down the river with no repeat of the previous day, so he left and we set off down river behind him, just in case. Of course the engine behaved perfectly, until after the ‘Big Tow’ turned up the River Ant and we carried on down the Bure. My son was on the wheel as I was down below sorting out some lunch. We had just turned into Fleet Dyke, when without any warning, we took off again! My son screamed that he hadn’t done anything, honest dad! We hurtled down the dyke and as before, the only way to slow down was to cut the engine. The moorings on the Dyke were all full, so what the other boaters thought was anyone’s guess, but the sight of a wooden, sedan cruiser charging past them ‘up on the plain’ with a black Labrador dog on the bow loving every minute of it, must have been a bit concerning. No doubt questions were asked as to my legitimacy and mental state, but I was more concerned about how to stop the bloody thing than worry about what others may be thinking of me. By switching the engine on and off again a number of times we managed to enter South Walsham Broad and drop the mudweight. It was a Sunday and I wasn’t sure if the yard would be manned, so we decided to stay put, mess around in the dinghy and make our way back to the boatyard first thing the following day and get this sorted, one way or another. On the Monday morning, with quite a bit of trepidation, I fired up the engine and waited to switch it off immediately if we shot off again. Fortunately, we didn’t and we left the Broad at a sedate speed. All went well as we exited Fleet Dyke and turned left for Horning. We continued up the Bure, slowly relaxing. Just past the Dyke down to Ranworth I needed the loo, so my son took over the helm. I had just ‘settled’ when the engine revs started to rise and I could feel the boat pick up speed. I wouldn’t normally recommend this as a laxative, but it certainly worked for me. Fortunately my son knew what to do and he had cut the engine by the time I had emerged from the ‘heads’. We lost way quite quickly with the tide against us, but when we tried to start the engine again, unlike previously, it just would not fire up. We started to drift down river, occasionally sideways! We continued to drift down and across the river until we crashed into the bank near St Benedict. We jumped off and secured the boat with the rond anchors and took a breath, again! It was then that a boat came alongside and offered me a lift, which I greatly appreciated. As I said previously, it was the first of many examples where people look out for each other. The boatyard were very apologetic and helpful, arranging for us to have use of another boat, The Monarch out of Herbert Woods. What a difference! If my memory serves we well, it was the same size and of a similar layout to Broad Ambition, probably the same type. The rest of the holiday was just great, and we tried to hire the Monarch every time from then on. We had lots of ‘adventures’ but none so stressful as this.

Right ho! Thanks for the info!

Oh good! Not just me then!

Thank you all for your kind wishes and ‘likes’. I tried to return the compliment, but have apparently run out of ‘Likes’(?). SwanR asked what kind of boat do I prefer for solo cruising? The honest answer is anything that floats and I can afford! Even if I could afford one of the nice big, all mod cons craft, my preference would be for a more basic ‘boat’, including bathtubs. So long as I can get a telephone signal and wifi, 4G or via the boat’s router, and be able to recharge ‘stuff’, then I am as happy as a pig in mud messing around on the boat. I always use Richardsons and I have yet to find fault with them; the staff are always very friendly and helpful, the whole process of taking over and returning the boat has been painless every time. I started out on rear cockpit craft, such as San Pedro and Crown Gem 3, and whilst it is lovely to be out in the open air, when the weather turns, as it is prone to do at the times I am there, it's a pain getting the hood up on your own, especially in a strong wind. If anyone was up at Potter Heigham last October and saw an idiot on a Crown Gem using the hood as a sail in the reach just upriver of the bypass bridge; that was me. Sorry! I was trying to get the b****y thing down so I could get under the bridge and moor up to find the pilot. Unfortunately, the wind had other ideas and I was blown back up river, much to the annoyance of the yacht crew who had to quickly get out of the way. I only saw them as I sailed past them sideways. I did apologise, but they were suffering from acute PHBS (Post Humour Bypass Syndrome) and ignored me. I ended up on the yacht moorings looking like I had been through a North Sea storm. After that debacle I decided next time to try other layouts. I have not yet hired a centre cockpit boat, but I have hired a couple of front steerers. San Selino and Calypso were great, albeit that they have issues with all round visibility, but they are both warm, dry and reasonably comfortable. Like all in their class, the decks are wide and easy to get on or off. Mooring side on is not a problem but stern on can be as this class of boat can, and often does, have a mind of its own. So overall, I would go for front steer boat on the grounds that it is dry and warm, has nice wide decks to move around on. I can moor up side on easily and because there never are any berths at Ranworth Staithe when I get there! I just have to take everyone’s word that the beer and food are good at the pub there, I have never been in it!

Hi everyone, My name is Chris and I have been messing around in boats, big and small, for most of my life. I first came to the Broads back in the mid 1960s as a lad and loved it, coming back every year until 1971 when my job took me over to Northern Ireland and the Broads dropped off my radar. Fast forward to the early 1990s and I was back on the Broads as a single dad with my two young children and our dog. The first boat we hired was a 30ft craft from a boatyard in Horning, I have forgotten its name (It's the one next to the New Inn). The boat was a disaster, breaking down several times over the first weekend. On the Monday, we broke down again going up the River Bure, but fortunately we drifted over to the moorings at St Benedict. A passing boat saw our predicament and offered to take me up to the boatyard at Horning. I arrived expecting an argument and a ‘Gallic’ shrug of the shoulders, but what I got was a genuine apology and the offer of another boat, the Monarch, which was out of Herbert Woods’ yard. The crew onboard my lift boat had hung around and offered to take me back down river to St Benedict’s. It was the first of many examples of how people on the Broads help each other. When the Monarch arrived it was enormous, compared to the the floating wreck we were on. A quick bit of cross decking, and off we went. The kids and I loved every minute of the remaining week and tried to hire the Monarch every year from then on. Over the following years we had some great holidays, some brilliant holidays and always wonderful family times, but then college and universities come over the horizon, the children became young adults and moved on. We still reminisce about those holidays and the memories are strong. It was as a result of one of our “do you remember” sessions about 4 years ago that I decided I wanted to go back to the Broads again. I now go solo and I must thank Robin of the “Captain’s Blog” for his excellent videos and how he makes solo cruising look so easy. It was his video blogs that finally persuaded me to go for it, but it wasn’t so easy on my first solo trip; more a disaster looking for somewhere to happen, but once again the other boaters were there to help. I go every year ‘out of season’ and enjoy the solitude and peace. Its magical. I look forward to picking up all manner of tips and knowledge from this forum. Cheers, Chris