ES2

In the interests of the environment and fuel use how do the forumites feel about a pontoon mooring somewhere around Breydon Bridge for boats to moor at low tide to await a following tide to whisk them up the various rivers thus saving fuel. I am aware of the small pontoon below Breydon Bridge for boats awaiting air draft through the GY bridges but this should not be used for the purpose I described. Personally, I just run my boat's bows into the sand/mud around Breydon Bridge and perhaps do a bit of fishing or have a bit of lunch to await the tide but this is not viable for large cruisers. Obviously a shore connection would not be allowed to stop people mooring there to visit GY.

Does MM still run his boat on homebrew biodiesel?

I think the main aim of lowering speed limits is to encourage motorists to move onto the main arteries where they can.

I believe some boatyards already run their boats on biodiesel, however I could be corrected on this issue. As getting a discount on your fish and chips, pigs may fly.

In the eyes of this beer holder I have been fed up with football all my life. It has been shoved down my throat when at school and it the ball came anywhere near me I would just kick the damned thing any way, just as long as it was away from me. Now, cross country running, cycling, badminton was ok for me but not to the extent that it took over my life as it appears that it does with many people with football and I was pretty damned good at all of them. Having been bored out of my box at work, in the work's canteen and in the pubs with everybody assuming that everybody is interested in football became annoying. I remember one person at work who started up a conversation with me regarding football and I told him that I did not have the remotest interest in the sport. Apparently he was deeply insulted by my comment, not that I cared anyway. Another chap who was known a "sooty", nothing racist about the name but people said he looked like one of Harry Corbett's puppets would have the day off next day if his team lost. What a sad man to let football to affect his life like that and let his work colleagues down as they had to take up the work that he covered between them. Football is boring, seeing the players performing stupid little dances, sucking their thumbs and cuddling each other for just kicking a ruddy ball into a net and being vastly overpaid for doing it just amazes me.

As a person who finds football the most boring subject in the World, who gives a damn anyway. . 22 overpaid blokes kicking a ball between two goalposts. What? Yawn!

I'm not worried, I am quite aware how long standing members of forums of any subject tend to talk down new members with condescending comments. Water off a duck's back mate.

Sorry but I am unaware of that thread.

By all accounts the top of the wreck at Sutton Broad has been removed and paid for by the land owner. Although that was one of my favourite overnight mooring spots it is no longer possible to use it due the boat's concrete hull which remains there under the water so do take care there. Thanks to the land owner for tidying the spot up and I don't blame him for not removing the hull as that could be an expensive task. No doubt it will over the years fill up with silt and be overgrown with reeds.

Thanks Robin for the information.

At the outset I will say that I am totally uninformed regarding this what was once a very valuable crop. What does the team think about the possibility of reviving the harvesting using modern equipment as is done in Europe?

MM: You do not need vacuum bags to store booze.

Perhaps using the duck tape on the cats might improve things.

If the boat was put in the dinghy moorings where the other boat was it would probably obstruct the dyke and cause problems for mud weighters using their dingies to get ashore. Also it would certainly cause problems for dayboats that use the dyke.

Yep, there is Black Shuck, an horrendous hound that haunts the banks of the rivers on cold windy winter nights and the ghost at Acle Bridge who was apparently a local bully who was set upon by his neighbours and had his throat cut and his tongue pulled through the hole giving him a "devil's necktie" and he was hung over the old Acle Bridge. Apparently he hangs around the area.

Carole. I try to keep an open mind about these sort of things but that sounds really spooky. However, in my years exploring the canals of the UK out of interest I spent the night moored in Betton Wood near Market Drayton on the Shropshire Union Canal. Now, the old narrowboat community would never moor there because what was called a vociferous ghost that would wail in the night. Well I survived the night and spooky did not show up, perhaps it was it's night off. The only thing I did notice was an owl perched in the trees. Perhaps that was the spook. Now Whoooooooo would have thought that?

This thread has opened some memories of the past of which I would like to relate. Many years ago when I was a lad I had a little dog, a rather handsome cross breed terrier. I used to walk him in the evenings and he behaved himself until we passed a particular house in my street when he would bark and snarl at something I could not see, obviously he could sense something. After we passed the house he just went back to being the lovable little rascal I knew. An elderly man had passed away a few years before in that house. The Lion at Thurne had something strange there. I was sitting having a quiet beer and one of the other customers had a dog which constantly growled and barked whilst looking at the open door. I was sitting by the window and could see nobody outside and nobody was standing in the doorway. I mentioned this to somebody who was involved in refurbishing the pub a few years later and he said that some odd things had happened such as tools being moved and other odd things. Now back on my boat, there have been odd things there which have happened. Quite often when moored on a public mooring having a snooze in the cabin after a lunchtime session dogs have barked and snarled at the boat, and only my boat when in the vicinity. Perhaps my "crew" was upsetting them. It has never hurt me however.

White water rafting comes to mind, could be fun when you reach the North Sea!

That makes the day boat a better economic decision. When you think of the amount of time spent on maintenance, the tolls etc. for a day boat and the much smaller expenses on a water bike I wonder where they get the pricing from.

Whitlington would be an ideal spot too. There is road access, a car park and a place to either picnic or buy refreshments.

Not long after I bought my boat I experienced on a number of occasions three bangs on the bulkhead in the middle of the night. It was always three bangs except once where there were three double bangs. As a person who takes a while to go to sleep and stays awake for ages if woken it became a bit annoying. The last time it happened I sat up in bed and spoke to whatever it was, saying that if it was a previous owner of the boat who was deceased it was welcome on the boat in my travels but please stop waking me up at night. It has not happened since. I wonder if it is still on the boat?

Yes, although being a cyclist myself in a small way I have often been trailing bloody minded cyclists in my car riding two abreast for more than two miles at 10 mph on winding country roads. Since they pay no road tax and get all the benefits perhaps they should keep a low profile. As I have said earlier in this thread, some canoeists have the same attitude. Will this progress to the riders of these contraptions? Why oh why oh why?

Hopefully they will be limited to upstream of the bridge. That could still cause problems as if they are hogging the mid channel boats could stack up behind them and be blown into the weed either side. I have had this problem with canoeists with a bloody minded attitude hogging the channel in the past.

I used to buy from Lidl some German delicacy in a tin. They would season and flour the herring fillets and fry them and then pickle them in vinegar and herbs. Its a shame I cannot find them any more as I would love to take a few cans on the boat on my trips. Also, they used to do herrings in a mustard sauce which nobody seems to want so is not stocked anymore. I have tried to buy fresh herrings and do it myself but as they are so cheap the fishmonger in my local market does not stock them as they can make a bigger profit on other fish. A nice proper Manx kipper with a crusty wholemeal buttered roll and the essential dollop of marmalade is a wonderful thing for breakfast especially if the juices are saved to mop up with the roll.

Personally, this evening I am having pollock wound up and skewered and steamed with a parsley sauce and steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Pollock I find has a similar texture to sole and other flat fish and is a sustainable species.