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Ray

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Posts posted by Ray

    Good Or Bad Year?

    in Broads Chat

    Posted

    It does seem to be almost overlooked that helming a boat is "doing something" it is fun and once you have your hire craft you can do it all over the navigable Norfolk and Suffolk Broads.

    It's an activity holiday, would people expect theme parks, shopping outlets and theatres if they booked a trekking/potholing/paragliding holiday?

    A few simple things like mooring availability, rubbish collection and wild mooring is all that's needed plus as I mentioned before targeting ads at "outdoor" enthusiasts rather than luxury holiday enthusiasts. 

    No one who perfectly legitimately wants a pool, hotel and luxury accommodation will be entirely happy in a toilet the size of a wardrobe during a wet week in England.... that's the reserve of us boaters 🙂

    • Like 10

    Good Or Bad Year?

    in Broads Chat

    Posted

    Good post Malcolm, another related point is wild moorings. I don't want 'facilities' but I love a little cut out in the bank for the ultimate peaceful evening enjoying the wildlife and being away from it all.

    So many of these places have been lost, I know there are valid points about liability and rubbish clearance but it can't be impossible for some arrangements to be made between landowner and BA on an ad hoc basis.

    As for the few but annoying home made no mooring signs put out by individuals to attempt to reserve favourite spots for themselves! It is quite rare but I've seen them and I imagine most of us have and at the very least had suspicions about their validity!

    I don't believe very much really needs to change to reinvigorate the Broads Holiday market, at the most simple level it needs targeted advertising to people who basically like "outdoor holidays" and not so much to people who want a "lifestyle" experience.

    If you enjoy camping a boat is a luxury, if you enjoy a hotel and service a boat is not going to... er... float your boat?

    • Like 5

    Good Or Bad Year?

    in Broads Chat

    Posted

    7 minutes ago, grendel said:

    my guess is that this may be the reason so many hire boats are put on the for sale list every winter (as they then dont need to be tolled until they are not sold and go back into the hire fleet the next year,) and any that do sell are a bonus income.

    I think JP is delusional when he says all the boats that are disappearing from the broads are just small private ones, as I think its both those and hire boats being sold and headed to other waterways, but he has to say that, as its the only way he can justify putting the tolls up even more next year to cover the shortfall, (I dont think he can see that excessive toll rises is just killing the golden goose and further reducing the income from tolls - it puts up hire prices, reduces the number of boats hiring out and encourages people to move away).

    This not only rings true but aligns with the "feeling" always in the background of BA decisions (or at least those coming direct from Dr Packman) that discouraging motor vessel use and\or eventually eliminating it is a desirable goal!

    • Like 5

    The Sailings Of Sovereign Lady

    in Holiday Tales & Blogs

    Posted

    Well we've just got home, this trip was really all about settling the dog into boating and getting out for a much needed break. Not only were we successful on both counts but we had incredible weather, a perfect boat and a rare instance where a cruise didn't end with a blocked or broken toilet 😁

    I won't give a pub by pub description this time, we had a brilliant time and couldn't have asked for more 👍

     

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    • Like 6

    My Day

    in The Broadscot Lounge

    Posted

    6 hours ago, YnysMon said:

    I’ve had a wonderful evening. Until about 9 years ago, which was around about time that my mother came to live with us, I played trombone in the Woburn Sands B band (that’s the training band…son Harry plays with the A band…the ‘proper’ band). This evening I rejoined the band!

    Yesterday, I rejoined the Open University Choir, again having dropped out several years ago. They rehearse lunchtimes, and it had got to the stage where I had so many lunchtime work meetings, it just wasn’t doable. No wonder the choir is made up almost exclusively of retired people nowadays!

    I feel I’m gradually getting back to normal life. 

    Congratulations and what could be better than making music! 🎵🎶

    • Like 1

    The Sailings Of Sovereign Lady

    in Holiday Tales & Blogs

    Posted

    Well.. night 1 was an improvement, less than perfect but cause for hope. Nights 2 & 3? She slept through both night!!! It looks like we can enjoy cruising again 😁 She will always be a bit highly strung and I'm sure there will still be the odd meltdown but it's something we can cope with.

    Otherwise we are having a brilliant week, the best weather and the odd libation 🍺

     

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    • Like 11
    • Love 1

    The Sailings Of Sovereign Lady

    in Holiday Tales & Blogs

    Posted

    We are out, couldn't resist the chance of this late burst of good weather.

    It is day 1 so not too much to report, river levels very high making for some tricky mooring.

    Dog hasn't had time to play up yet, but we have her bed from home, an off cut of articial grass in the aft well, some calming meds and a high pitch squeaky thing for when she gets stuck in a whinning pattern.

    Fingers crossed that we're not heading home tomorrow 🤞

    • Like 7

    My Day

    in The Broadscot Lounge

    Posted

    18 minutes ago, Jbx5 said:

    Enjoyed a 60th birthday flight over Norfolk on family day RAF Marham 

    How cool is that! My wife, Gill was trying to describe an interesting plane that she saw fly over the village and there it is in your first photo 👍

    • Like 5

    Stracy Arms

    in Norfolk Broads News

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

    As far as I understand  the mill is ran by a trust,not  by the owners  of SA

     

    9 minutes ago, kpnut said:

    I have a feeling that the mill renovation was carried out/funded by a trust or charity of some sort, rather than the shop owners

    That's good to know, thanks both 👍

    Stracy Arms

    in Norfolk Broads News

    Posted

    I was surprised as only recently the sails went back on the mill, I imagine that was quite an investment. I hope they are OK and can keep their animals. Ventures like this are people's dreams, it's a very difficult world in which to live a dream.

    • Like 5
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