Davydine

I see now, sorry, my bad.

Actually ignore that, I looked on Google earth and it is clearly Maldon, in which case they are definitely floating pontoons

I think the pontoons float so they set the lines to the pontoon and the whole pontoon goes up and down with the tide. I am not certain but I would guess that on the Blackwater, that would be Maylandsea marina.

Thank you for sharing, would love Ibiza, if funds allowed. Some of my earliest Broads memories are of Seafarer 3 from Brooms, with my grandparents. The Aquafibre 38 is a classic broads design in my mind. Will you be replacing them, or will the fleet be getting slightly smaller?

One of your old ones?

As do ours. The dates were set in April 2018 for the 19/20 school year. They haven't changed so far, but they may do so. We have one child in Primary and one Secondary. We may find different schools do different things! If the government is going to move the bank holiday, wouldn't you have thought they would have given everyone more notice?

A neat summary of the problem. The bank holiday was published as the 4th. Which date will the schools and business use?

Indeed, that is one option, but will mean using another day of holiday allowance from work for all of the grown ups, which is a precious commodity.

Yes, half term is at the end of May. We had booked a weekend break for the first weekend in May thinking that the Monday would be a bank holiday. There are 8 of us, two families, so 4 adults and 4 kids. The plan was for the dads (me and my friend) to take Friday off work, get to the yard for lunchtime, sort paperwork and handover, unpack and generally get the boat ready and then the mums would bring the kids straight after school, get to the yard at about 5, step aboard and off we go. We can then return the boat on the BH monday morning and drive home at leisure. it just doesn't work with the bank holiday on the Friday, unless we leave the boat in the yard on the Sunday night and go home, so kids in school on the Monday morning. Your holiday on the 8th will start on the bank holiday.

Yes, that would help, but the inset days have already been planned (and two kids at two different schools with two different inset days!) The more I think about this the more annoying it is. Will the schools and my work stick with the original date for May Day or go with the new one? How long will it take them to decide? Until we know we can't rearrange and what do we do if there is no availability?

I think that would have been May moving day!

If only we could, unfortunately we need t get the kids back to school! That is the frustrating thing, schools really don't like parents taking kids out in term time and we do our best to fit around term dates...

Quite! And less than a years notice. Surely businesses, schools etc. Plan more than a year in advance...

We had a fantastic May Day bank holiday weekend on Dazzling light. 3rd year in a row now, it is becoming a tradition. It will come as no surprise to a group of Norfolk Broads fans, that we stepped off the boat and booked for next May Day weekend. I have just read that the 2020 May day bank holiday is moving to Friday 8th, to celebrate 75 years since VE day. Obviously this is a noble and honourable thing to do, but... This makes a mess of our holiday plans! David

Just spotted this old Connoisseur on the Hythe at Colchester...

Well, here is the answer to the question, thanks all...

I wondered if the bank holiday weekend might make things worse?

St. Benets is almost a “must do” for us. This May bank holiday weekend is becoming an annual event with our friends and we love it there. We have found the moorings can be deserted or completely full. Am I right to think that they are double moorings at St. Benets?

Thank you, we stayed in the dyke at Womack last year. We will have food and drink on board, fortunately, so the only challenge is finding a mooring. I would be more nervous in August!

I have heard good things and the food menu looks amazing. I am worried about space in Thurne Dyke. Are there still BA moorings at Oby?

Good morning everyone, please could I pick your collective brains? It is a week until our next Broads adventure. We will be picking up our boat from Herbert Woods in Potter Heigham on Friday afternoon. There will be two families on board, so the plan is that the other “dad” and I will get up to the boatyard at lunchtime to collect the boat and get unpacked and then the “mums” will collect the children from school and head straight to the boat. All being well we can cast off as soon as they arrive, which will be around 5.00pm. The question is: where should we moor for the first night. I reckon we have a maximum of 2 hours before sunset, so in theory we could get as far as Ranworth, but if we can't find a mooring then there is not much time for a diversion. Obviously we will pass several good options, I quite fancy Thurne to try a pint in the Lion. Where would you go?

Nope, good old fashioned film, 36 exposures and the excitement of picking them up from the chemists when they have been processed!

Gretzky's recent post about being hit by a bunch of lads got me thinking about my first experience of hiring a boat on the Norfolk Broads. Yes, we were a bunch of lads, no, we didn't hit anyone! I thought I would share my memories of that first trip, hopefully to raise a smile! I should say that I wasn't new to the Broads, I had been 14 or 15 times with my parents, starting on Wavemaster from Brooms when I was about 18months old, but this was to be my first hire in my own name. To set the scene, 4 of us at school had just turned 18 and completed our A levels, we were all heading off to different corners of the country and wanted to celebrate the end of one phase of our lives and the start of the next. We didn't have much money but we decided on a trip to Norfolk, so we started browsing through the Hoseasons brochure and decided that Swiftway from Richardsons was within our budget and would suit our needs. Forms were filled, cheques posted and the confirmation letter soon landed on the door mat. I read the terms and conditions from cover to cover. One clause stood out, something to the effect of “we reserve the right to refuse to hire if we think you are unsuitable “ We were seriously excited, our first holiday as adults, no parents, just the four of us, boys on a boat and Beer, quite a lot of beer. We were nervous too, what if we got to the yard and they took one look at us and sent us on our way? The day came and we set off on a 5 hour road trip from Cumbria to Stalham, got to the yard and got checked in at reception and paid our security deposit (no damage waiver in those days). “Go and unpack and someone will be along shortly to show you the ropes” We unpacked. The sun was shining, we filled the cupboards with food and filled the fridge with essentials (beer), we went off for our trial run, everything was going swimmingly and we got back to the yard, all set to be released on the unsuspecting pubs of broadland. “I will just show you how to light the fridge, it runs on gas you see...” that's when it happened, clunk,clunk, clunk, clunk, the sound of a dozen cans of week American lager dispensing itself out of the fridge and rolling across the cockpit. Silence, nervous glances all round, this was it, “if we think you are unsuitable” Laughter from the engineer showing us round. “I see you have worked out the fridge”. “Don't drink and drive gents, the river police will pull you over and you can be fined” That was it, the start of one of the best weeks ever, the end of childhood. Maybe it was fear of losing the security deposit, maybe we just weren't bad lads, but we had an amazing time and didn't manage to upset anyone or break anything. Nearly 3 decades later I came back, with my family and some friends, the welcome at Richardsons was just as welcome and the Norfolk Broads are still a special place. Happy Days!

Another vote for Bureside holiday park at Oby, right next to the river, it has its own private moorings, not sure if there is a BA 24 hour mooring nearby. Wlking distance to Thurne

Pretty sure we had a holiday on Gleaming Light back in the 70s. Next time I am at my parents I will see if I can dig out some of dad's old sides, if you can wait a few weeks. Edit to add that we also had Seafarer from Brooms which was a similar design if not identical.