CeePee1952

Spoke too soon!! Just started raining!! Oh well at least we’re moored up and snug on the boat! Question (and apologies for the short notice!) can anyone recommend a decent restaurant at or within a short walk of Oulton Broads? Many thanks Chris

Lol 😂 set off from Stracey arms at 0725 hrs this morning and arrived at Beccles yacht station at 1250 hrs after an uneventful but pleasant cruise. Weather has been brilliant so far! Paid £12 for overnight stay and had to buy £2 worth of electric on one of their cards as the wireless ones don’t work here!!! Cost of electric is 50p per kilowatt!! Did a bit of tiddler bashing while Brenda took a walk up to the church and lit candles for her late mum and dad. Now sorting out our on board dinner of Chinese flavoured pork steaks, red cabbage and carrot and swede mash. Chris and Brenda

Ooops! Just noticed that autocorrect changed Breydon to Brendon in my last post!! Grrrrr! Chris and Brenda

Well we made it! Full write up will most probably appear after our week afloat! Now moored up at Stracey Arms where we arrived about 1630 hrs. Spag bol is on and garlic flatbread in the oven! Phoned Yarmouth yacht station earlier and they advised leaving here at 7.30 tomorrow morning to cross Brendon. Chris and Brenda

Unfortunately pooch is a 38 kg GSD and loves water! I'm not sure who would enjoy the holiday more Nah, it's holiday time for us and pooch will enjoy her week in the kennels - the kennel staff love her to bits anyway and she gets spoilt something rotten when she goes there! Chris

H - 20 hrs!! Provisions for the week bought and sorted into appropriate collapsible crates. Beer/koppaburg/prosecco sorted and in another crate appropriate clothing sorted and packed into huge soft travel bag. camera/video camera/binos/charging leads packed. kitchen sundries sorted and in crate. toiletries packed. odds and ends - packed! Pooch to kennels first thing in the morning, return home, take out dog guard etc, pack car and off we go! (Kennels is only 20 mins away and we will be there at 0900 when they open). Envisage a couple of hours (ish) to PH notwithstanding any traffic problems. If anyone is out and about over the next week keep an eye out for a HW Supreme Light with a couple on board. (I noticed the other Supreme Light left HW this afternoon with two couples on board!) Chris

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned chucking a magnet in to find stuff, or is it banned on the Broads? Chris

In their defence, we hired Sovereign Light last year (Sep 21) for a week and we never found one pet hair throughout the entire boat (perhaps we were lucky!). I accept that there will be some pet owners who perhaps don't respect their boat when on holiday but I believe HW are pretty good when it comes to maintaining their Elite fleet, after all - the elite fleet is more expensive than the rest of the fleet! As most of you know, we are on Supreme Light from this Saturday for a week, I'll let you know in our holiday blog how it goes (now I've gone and set myself up ). Chris

Rumour has it that the beer truck has now broken down!! You guessed it - alternator is banjoed Chris

Found the beer truck!

Somehow don't think a van would be big enough more like a brewery truck loaded to the maximum! Chris

Well that's one change to the itinerary! Table booked for 6.30 at the White Horse at Upton on Friday 22nd Oct 22. We've never been down Upton dyke before let alone visited the pub, so it will make a nice change for our last evening on the boat. We've crossed Breydon a few times over the years both in small and large boats so I'm not too worried about it apart from any adverse weather conditions that might prevent us from crossing on the Sunday morning! If the weather looks iffy on the Saturday, I'll give the yacht station at Gt Yarmouth a quick call on the Saturday afternoon and take their advice. Can you tell we're both getting more excited? Chris

That's brilliant Mouldy, thank you. Supreme Light is only 35 ft with bow and stern thrusters so shouldn't pose any problem, we had Sovereign Light last year (44 ft) and negotiated Thurne Dyke with no problem (but it was a cracking day weather wise!!). I've printed the white horse menu and Brenda is well chuffed with it so I think there's already a change to the itinerary! Chris

Thank you for the "heads up". Just a couple of questions (well three actually ), how busy would the moorings be at Upton dyke, how far is the White Horse from the moorings and more importantly, any idea how long it would take to get from Upton dyke to HW as we have to have the boat back there by 0900 on the Saturday morning? Chris

Hmmm - I have to admit that I have used the timings from a spreadsheet file that I printed off many years ago. (It's in the downloads section on another Broads forum!). It does state using an average speed of 3.75 mph on the northern part and 4.5 mph on the southern part. Chris

H - 5 and still counting! Have put together a route plan (Plan A!), not convinced it won't change we've also worked out our menu requirements for the week to include eating out as well as "fine dining" aboard Supreme Light but I won't bore you with those details! Suffice to say that we hope to have an evening meal definitely at Oulton, Loddon and Thurne Dyke. Proposed Route for one week on the Broads.docx

We received our "pre-arrival" email from HW last week. It gave us the gate code to enter the car park when we arrive and the usual copies of the T&C's and skippers manual. It also stated that the current price of fuel at the time of sending the email was £1.75p per litre and that the boat is hired out with a full tank of fuel which is normally enough for two weeks of cruising. I will check to make sure we have a full tank prior to leaving the boat yard! As an aside, last year we had a bigger boat and cruised virtually most of the northern broads for a week. Fuel deposit was £175. On returning to the yard and due to the current COVID restrictions in place at the time, we were instructed to vacate the boat and that the fuel usage would be worked out in our absence and we would be notified within a few days of the outcome. To our surprise we received a refund of well over a £100!! Ok - so weather conditions were ideal for that week, fuel cost was cheaper (I think!) then and we didn't charge about and used the tides as much as possible. We expect to use more fuel this year as we are going down to the southern broads but I certainly don't envisage using any where near a full tank of fuel!! Chris

Ouch! I've just been working out our times, destinations etc for our week afloat starting 15th Oct 22. (I'll maybe post them in our holiday blog in the holiday section). We've chosen the date so that we can get down south and back as we couldn't last year. Our furthest point will be Beccles yacht station and then returning via Oulton Broad and then Loddon before coming back up north on the Wednesday. I've planned it so that most of the time we will be with the tide so hopefully our fuel consumption won't be excessive (weather conditions permitting!). I'll post the final outcome in our holiday blog after the holiday - watch that space!! Chris

Ouch! Chris

No problem Helen I'm no expert, just 30 odd years of having a GSD's but the vet will give you all the right advice for Pozzick. (our first GSD was bought as a puppy from a recognised German breeder way back in 1989 when I was stationed in Germany. The German vet gave us lots of useful information on how to look after him and he lived until he was 14 years old!).

Just a thought Helen. If Pozzick is a cross between a Husky and a GSD and depending how dominant the GSD strain is, most GSD's are NOT protein tolerant. All of our GSD's had/have a low protein diet. It might not be a problem in Pozzick's case but thought I'd mention it. Chris

We've had 4 GSD's over the last 32 years (the last 3, including our current GSD, were/is very loyal and sociable and also very good deterrents if needed If Pozzick is a Husky/GSD cross then he'll be a fine companion! I have heard that the Husky breed does have a tendency sometimes to wander off on it's own for a spot of exploring when not on a lead! Nevertheless - as I've said before, Pozzick is a cracking looking dog! Chris

That's brilliant news Helen! I'm sure Pozzick will be well integrated into the family home very quickly (Have you determined what breed he is yet?). Chris

H - 15 and counting Just purchased 2 x 8 day rod licences (start date 15th Oct) off the gov.uk website. Very easy to do and have already received the electronic versions on each of our mobiles (in case we're asked for them during our week afloat). Brenda is back from her Greek island holiday and I'm off to Lanzarote on Monday for a 5 day "lads holiday" then it'll be a week of sorting out food and clothing requirements ready for the week afloat from 15th Oct. Fishing tackle all sorted and will buy maggots hopefully at Potter Heigham on the day we arrive. (Will dig a few worms up from our garden on the Friday and keep them in some sphagnum moss in a bait box). Chris

Most hire boat yards will let you moor up overnight in their marinas, as long as it's not on their change over days! As to overnight fees, I think that depends on the yard Chris