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Cal

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Cal last won the day on September 17 2023

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  1. Bridgecraft have always had nicely turned out boats in the 20 years we have visited the Broads. Not always the newest but very smart looking. It has been the high pet charges and older style interiors that have put us off hiring from them.
  2. I almost agreed with you there until I thought about it again. A motorhome will be on hire for 3 years, 4 max then sold on into private hands before being replaced with a new one. Hire motorhomes are very rarely more than 3 years old. People expect new, the hire companies give them that unless they are at the budget end of the market. New motorhomes are now expensive. You won't get a decent spec van for much less than £80k now. A boat that costs a few times more will be on hire for 20, 30, 40 years, in some cases more. The boat will pay for itself many many times over in that time!
  3. Having had both a boat and a motorhome the cost of owning, running and storing the motorhome are considerably less than the same were for the boat and we didn't keep the boat in an expensive part of the UK. We could never justify the cost of keeping NC on the Broads. The travel time to get there would have meant we used her far less. We do use the van in the UK. As I said in an earlier post a 9 day holiday in Norfolk cost not far off the same as our French trip of over 2 weeks. We use the van pretty much every other weekend as well. We bought it to use it. We still love travelling in the UK. That won't change. Living in the Midlands nipping on the train to Europe every weekend isn't an option. Much the same as heading to the UK coast isn't realistically. Thankfully there are still places you can visit in the UK that are not extortionately priced and we are ideally located to have a lot of options within an hours drive of home for weekend breaks. The Broads was where our love affair with boats started. It will always hold a special place in our hearts. Sometimes though, just sometimes, the rose tinted spectacles need removing and a dose of reality administering. It ain't perfect. But was it ever?
  4. Anywhere on the roads it would seem. Got a sore arm from waving at overly enthusiastic motorhomers 🤣🤣🤣
  5. But again. You chose to use the toll roads. We have spent €0 on tolls. We were on holiday. It was nice to see the French countryside and villages. I think however you choose to butter it up. A holiday in the UK is expensive compared to elsewhere. The cost of eating out, drinking out and shopping if you are going to eat onboard are more than elsewhere in the EU for an equivalent meal. And let's not forget that your "holiday" choice has to include mooring fees, licence fees, insurance and safety certificates. It certainly isn't as cheap as you would lead people to believe. Mooring fees alone on the Broads are expensive. I'm not knocking the place. We have loved it in the past. But at present do not see it value for money however you travel there.
  6. Just tried looking for a 4 berth boat on the Broads for the same dates. Nothing came up under £2k. And the fact of the matter is (proven by our own figures) that holidaying, eating out and drinking out costs more in the UK than elsewhere. How do you convince someone to pay more money for a not dissimilar holiday while taking a huge gamble with the weather and paying increased eating and drinking costs? The Broads have had it good while they have had a captive audience. They now need to pull something out of the hat to keep that audience interested while competing with cheaper foreign travel and an increased cost of living.
  7. It wasn't the boat model that was inadequate it was the way that particular boat was maintained and cleaned, or not in that case. As I have just said in a previous post we had a week on the Broads earlier in the year with the van and if you discount the Eurotunnel fees and pet travel fees then you are not far off the same expenditure for 9 days as we have just had 17 with very similar pattern if eating out and drinking out.
  8. A similar van could be hired for £750 a week so add £1500 to the total. You would probably get a discount on that for a longer hire. It would still cost a lot more to holiday in the UK. We had a week on the Broads earlier in the year and the total expenditure for that 9 day trip was £1440 doing far less miles with similar pattern of eating and drinking out and without the costs of the tunnel and animal health certificate.
  9. We have just totted up how much our 17 night break to France has cost us. Including return tunnel tickets, animal health certificate, vets visit in France for the dogs return worming treatment, all fuel, food, drink and van related costs it has come to £1770. (The two most expensive days were in the UK!) It would have cost us a damn sight more to have done a similar length trip on the Broads!
  10. We are back home again after 1485 trouble free miles totting up a not too shabby 28.5mpg across the trip. It has been a great trip and we will take away with us some amazing memories from getting lost in a pedestrianised zone in a medieval town centre, being eaten alive by mozzies, amazing sunsets, being boiled alive in a heatwave and sharing adventures with friends old and new. The van is ready for a good scrub which it will get next weekend. Its had a quick rinse off but needs a proper going over. Now time to tackle the laundry mountain!
  11. A nice relaxing end to the holiday at Huntingdon Boat Haven. A really chilled day watching the comings and goings on the marina and on the river.
  12. The Broads is competing with foreign holidays again. It has had a captive audience for a few years with foreign travel off the cards. It now has to compete with foreign travel again. This year might be a wake up call for the hire yards that they have to offer value for money again to entice customers back. We have hired, had our own boat and moved away from that. At current hire rates we won't be tempted back any time soon. Its too expensive and doesn't offer value for money anymore. Could we be tempted back? Yes at the right price. We are DINKYs so don't struggle for disposable income but we still don't find it good value.
  13. We were treated to one last French sunrise this morning on the way to Calais. The crossing was smooth and trouble free. Syd was less bothered about the train this time and had a good snooze. The UK roads were a shock to the system after two weeks of smooth tarmac and little traffic but we have eventually made it to Huntingdon Boat Haven where we are now settled in for a couple of days rest and relaxation. Found the nearest pub had a few drinks and we will explore more tomorrow. Looking forward to a take out curry tonight.
  14. We are just on the train and sadly on the way back to the UK now. Pet check in and passport control went very smoothly. They checked inside the van and all the lockers but were very swift and efficient and we were on our way in no time and on a train an hour earlier than expected.
  15. Barnes always had our car parked on the quayside ready to load up on the day we got back to the yard.
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