CeePee1952

They are indeed building another Platinum class boat and when we booked our 2nd holiday with them for next year the lady in reception did mention it and that it will not be a hybrid version and should be ready for the new season in 2024. Chris

Sorry - that style of boat doesn't "float my boat" (pun intended!). As with their "Evita" - a bimini?? On the Norfolk Broads - really??? Not sure if that would stand up to the english variable weather conditions and too much faffing about to keep putting it up and taking down if one decides to cruise with it up, which I'm sure some punters will attempt to do! And the cost! No thank you!! Chris

Hi. We hired Sovereign Light back in Sep 21 and were very impressed with it. We had exceptionally brilliant weather for the whole week and only helmed from the upper helm position which provides excellent views all around. If I remember correctly, the lower helm position has a small plaque that states that air draft is 7' 11" and the upper helm position has one that states 8'!! We stayed on the northern broads for the whole week and had no problem with Ludham bridge. I posted a blog in the Holiday tales section of this forum under "The 4 W's Afloat Sep 21" - have a glance at it - it might give you a bit more of an insight on the boat. We go back to HW twice a year and all things being equal, have never had a problem with them. Yes, there might be a few niggles with the boat towards the end of the season if you hire sort of Sep/Oct but all in all, you'll not regret it. The skippers manual that is on board (and indeed on HW website) will tell you which bridges Sovereign Light will not pass under but there is plenty of places to go and we certainly had a full week of going places! If you can time your cruising to coincide with the correct tidal flow (albeit hardly noticeable) you will have a good fuel economy and we had a substantial refund off our fuel deposit!. The bow and stern thrusters work off the hydraulics and are worth their weight in gold in tight mooring situations. The galley is good and we cooked a few main meals on board as well as eating out. Do bear in mind that she is a 44 foot boat and so her handling characteristics will be slightly different to Silver Mirage (which incidentally we also hired back in the day when she was part of Silverlines fleet!). As to what to take on board with you depends on your personal expectations and requirements. She is well equipped but we tend to take some of our own kitchen utensils etc with us. Non stick frying pan, various silicone utensils including silicone tipped tongs, our own tea towels, dish cloths/sponges, bottle opener/corkscrew - the list can be endless!! We are back with HW in June next year on Supreme Light (just the two of us), which we have hired before and also again in late September on Platinum Light with a few family members. I'm sure you will not be disappointed with Sovereign Light when you take your holiday! Chris

Back in those mis-spent days of my youth and not knowing any better and cash flow was a bit tight, anything that looked like beer and was cheap got my attention but I do agree that it wasn't the best by far! Chris

I think this pub is now called The Hollybush? It's also been called The Stranglers Arms by a lot of the older generation in the area! The mind boggles! Chris

Oh the memories! Used to drink Brew XII and Watneys Red Barrel back in the early 70's when you could get a pint of Red Barrel for about 16p in the pub!! Rugby was well known for it's vast number of pubs in a very small radius of the town and a good pub crawl would only mean walking/staggering a few hundred yards between all the pubs! The good ol' days - I think! Also used to regularly travel to Coventry on the train to enjoy a night out at the Locarno and Ali Baba's in the city centre. Will never forget seeing The Crazy World of Arthur Brown perform at the Locarno and The Edgar Broughton Band Chris

Er - round brass thingymajigs that will one day fit into those funny shaped other brass thingymajigs?? Chris

Very true, just like all the other traditonal events - all annual events (Guy Fawkes, Halloween, Valentines day, Easter etc) now start marketing their goods way before the actual event! In fact it wouldn't surprise me if we see the first Easter egg appear on the shelves in January!! Chris (Bah Humbug )

We can second that! It's a brilliant bit of kit we take it every time and it's worth its weight in gold. If you get one, make sure you don't go over the full mark in the tank - the water that's been sucked up tends to fly out from the side vents! Chris and Brenda

Hmmmm - perhaps the insurers are now hiking up their quotes as a result of the Luton car park fire! I can't imagine what else would cause such a huge hike! Having said that, my previous insurance company (not Co-op) wanted an extra £198 on renewal back in April this year, so I went on comparethemarket.com. I'm now with AA (not the falling down water one!) who came in at £85 cheaper than my current one at the time and with the same benefits. It does pay to shop around! Chris

Bah Humbug That's another of my long lived years about to be passed Chris

We have been booking with HW for the last 3 years and apart from a couple of minor niggles, we have no complaints. The main reason that we continue to book with HW is the amount of discount that we get when doing so. For instance, we have booked Platinum Light for Sep 2024 and that has attracted a total discount of £295.34p (early booking discount, Loyalty discount and Blue Light discount). When we got home from our last HW holiday (last month), we decided to book another HW holiday afloat for June next year (coincides with our wedding anniversary). We have booked Olympic Light for the two of us and that has attracted a total discount of £339.12p (early booking discount, loyalty discount, Blue Light discount AND much to our surprise, another discount for booking a 2nd holiday!). The lady at HW even remarked that HW would be paying us for the holiday if there were any more discounts forthcoming - sadly not We do realise that we are lucky to benefit from the Blue Light discount (which is a hefty chunk of money) but we would still holiday on the Broads without the discount as it is so relaxing and pleasing to the eye. I do agree with Malcolm's comment regarding Ferry's all inclusive pricing - getting a refund on our fuel deposit after our holiday afloat with HW is an added bonus and goes towards our next holiday with them! Chris

Vaughan - I believe the correct terminology in this day and age would be "sheep of colour" (said tongue in cheek!). Chris

HW are having another Platinum (it’s in their shed at the moment) for 2024. Apparently this new one will not be a hybrid like the other two already in service but have a normal diesel engine. Chris

Just for Griff! At 20 mins 14 secs into the video! Chris

Post Holiday Report and Costings This is just a general overview of what the holiday cost us and thoughts for 2025. So, our cruising worked out as follows: Saturday 2nd Sep Potter Heigham (HW) to Stracey Mills Sunday Stracey Mills to Beccles Monday Beccles to Oulton Broad Tuesday Oulton Broad to Loddon Wednesday Loddon to Stalham (Richardsons) Thursday Stalham to Ranworth Friday Ranworth to Thurne Dyke Saturday Thurne Dyke to Potter Heigham (HW) Holiday Costings: We booked the boat on 16th Sep 21 (just after our week afloat on Sovereign Light!). Initial price for one week £1424.00 Early Booking Discount £71.00 Fuel Deposit £175.00 Damage Waiver £65.00 10% Blue Light Card £135.28 Loyalty Discount £60.88 Total cost £1396.84 Deposit £349.00 Balance £1047.84 We decided to have a separate bank account which Julie administered from 1st Oct 2021 and equal amounts were put in each month by both couples. By the start of the holiday, we had paid the balance owing for the weeks holiday and still had over £900 left for eating/drinking out, overnight mooring fees and sundry purchases, including the Lowestoft visit. Our average spends for evening meals (including drinks) for 4 of us worked out to roughly £105 per night over 5 nights although the fish and chips at Loddon do not count towards the average! We finished the holiday with over £250 left in the account. Some of that was used for a meal out for the 4 of us on the Saturday night before Chris and Julie set off for home in Devon on the Sunday. To our surprise we have now received a refund of £43.75p from HW from our fuel deposit. We had used 75 litres of fuel at £1.75p per litre which I think is pretty good considering the size of the boat? We have transferred this refund into the account ready for our next adventure. Due to holidays already booked for 2024 by both couples, the four of us cannot make the Broads together in 2024. However, Brenda and I have already booked 2 x one week holidays afloat (with HW) next year! More about those in a separate post later! Some of you might be wondering what is going to happen with the remaining funds from this holiday? Initial thoughts are for the four of us to go and see the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, visit the Royal Yacht Britannia at Leith and the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2025. That thought might change but we are continuing our monthly payments into the “holiday account” to offset the cost of whatever we decide to do. So, apart from a few photos of our holiday that I need to post (when I can remember where they are (mixture of Ipad, phone and camera!), here endeth the tale of two couples afloat on the Broads for a glorious week in Sep 2023!! Chris and Brenda

Friday 8th Sep 23 continued/.... As the afternoon went by, we were joined in the dyke by the predictable number of boats that I thought would turn up! By 3 p.m. there wasn’t much room even for a water boatman to squeeze in! I’m glad I made the decision to get here early. Towards tea-time we spotted a couple of wherries heading North, being pushed by their accompanying tenders (there wasn’t much wind!). One of the wherries was Hathor looking like it was fully crewed, we couldn’t make out the name of the other one. Soon it was time to make our way to the pub for our final evening meal of the holiday. It was no surprise to find that the pub was very busy and we were shown to our table and ordered our food and drinks. Brenda and Chris wanted the sea bass (their favourite) but it turned out that there was only one left so Brenda let Chris have it and she settled for the breaded scampi and skinny fries and I had the sausage and mash. I have to fess up and say that I can’t remember what Julie had – doh!! As always, the food was of excellent quality and hasn’t let us down in all the times we have been here. By 9 p.m. we decided it was time to return to the boat and with trusty torch in hand we walked up the dyke and put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea. The journey back to HW is about 45 mins from Thurne Dyke so we decided that we would depart about 8 ish the next morning which would give us ample time to unload the boat before the 9 a.m. deadline. Some people that we spoke to who had hired from HW said that they prefer to be back in the yard the night before, for us that seemed to be a waste of a last night but each to their own. After a quick game of cards, we retired for the night. Saturday 9th Sep 23 6.30 a.m. A quick look at the domestic batteries gauge and yep – down to 8 volts yet again!! There’s definitely a problem Houston!! Leaving the ladies to start packing up all our clothes and all the other stuff that one takes on a boating holiday (apparently us menfolk always get in the way! ), Chris and I set about wiping the boat down up top and carrying out the various checks. We were ready to leave by 7.50 a.m. so having slipped the mooring lines, we gently reversed out of the dyke and made our way to HW. It was another glorious morning and the river mist was almost gone, allowing the morning sun to shine through. I had made a written note of the battery problem, the bilge pump problem and a couple of other minor niggles and when we arrived back at the yard, I gave the note to one of the staff for them to action as they saw fit. With a final wave to the boat and the cars packed to the hilt again, we walked over to the Flour and Bean (or as I call it “The Bacon Sarnie Saloon” ) for a quick bite to eat and ablution visit before setting off for home. We left Potter Heigham thinking about when to book our next holiday on the broads and arrived back in Church Lawford some 3 and a half hours later after an uneventful journey (for once!). There’s no denying it – we had the most wonderful week on the broads as always and the excellent weather was a bonus! We considered ourselves very lucky with the weather and I came back with a suntan equal to that of a holiday abroad and at a lesser expense!! Chris and Brenda P.S. For the next and last post on this holiday I will try and provide a breakdown of the costs and savings and update on our next holiday on the Broads!

Friday 8th Sep 2023 Another early stumble out of bed! This time however, we were in no rush to depart which was a good job as the early morning river mist hadn’t yet lifted! Although we had a full day left to do some more cruising, I wasn’t sure how full Thurne Dyke would be later in the day. We have returned to Thurne Dyke on previous holidays prior to the turn round day at HW and found it to be quite full and as we are in a 44’ boat this time I didn’t relish the thought of faffing around in the Dyke should that be the case again! So plans were made to leave about 0930 and have a slow cruise up to Thurne Dyke. At this point I should mention that yes – once again, not having been on shore power, the domestic batteries dial was showing only 8 volts!! Note made to inform the yard on our return! As it would only take an hour or so to get to Thurne Dyke, I knew that the domestic batteries wouldn’t receive enough charge to see them through the coming night at Thurne Dyke but hey ho it will be our last night on board so what the heck! Breakfast was duly consumed and we left Ranworth on time. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Thurne Dyke was fairly empty when we got there – especially on the windmill side of the dyke. I remembered the lack of mooring rings on that side near the entrance so brought the boat in to roughly where I thought the rings were and then Chris and Brenda got the boat positioned using the mooring lines. Where we ended up meant that we could quite easily reverse out in the morning without any problems. It wasn’t quite midday yet (pub opens at 12) so we had a short while to watch the coming and going of a few boats on the river. 12 o’ clock came and we took a leisurely stroll down to the pub and of course first priority was to order two pints of “Somebody Called Chris” - an ale that I had sampled last October and it didn’t let me down! Chris (the other one) also said how good it tasted! Overnight fee duly paid and a table booked for 7.15 pm. We returned to the boat, had some lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up the glorious weather and watching the activity on the river. To be continued/.....

Thursday 7th Sep 23 continued/.... After a very nice lunch (sausage rolls were to die for as always!), we set off for Ranworth. On arriving in the Broad, there were 3 boats moored stern on at the island, the staithe looked full and there were a few boats that were mud weighting round the left-hand side of the broads which is where we had decided that we would mud weight. I picked a spot that was a safe distance from the other boats and let the mudweight down (Royale Light 2 has an electric winch). Satisfied that I had enough chain on the bottom as well as the mudweight to stop us dragging, we spent the next couple of hours merrily swinging back and forth as the gentle breeze dictated. We have never moored on the island so decided that tonight we would give it a whirl, mainly to see how the domestic batteries would hold up – having been on shore power every night since Saturday night at Stracey Mill! There was plenty of room so I moored up about 3 boat widths from the left-hand side as you look at the moorings head on. I knew we would have to pay but there didn’t seem to be anyone around – hmmm – a free night perhaps?? After about an hour a private aft cockpit cruiser of about 35’ turned up and proceeded to moor at the end on our starboard side. What happened next was frightening! The guy was helming his boat slowly back and when he got close enough a female got hold of the mooring line on the rear port side and started to climb over the rear port side! Why she decided to do that and not use the bathing platform at the back of the boat, no one will ever know. Anyhow, she committed the ultimate sin – she jumped off onto the bank! We could only look on in horror as she landed like a beached whale with her back crashing onto the wooden edge! Her head also made a heck of a thump on the grass! At the same time, her legs were over the edge between the boat and the wood! We felt helpless as we weren’t close enough to give assistance but the guy at the helm immediately got to the back of the boat, onto the bank and managed to drag her clear of the edge. Once he had ascertained that she was ok, he moored the boat up and helped her back on board, apparently none the worse for wear apart from dirt/grass stains on her clothing and a dented pride! We did hear her say that she had the wrong footwear on when trying to get off the boat!! (I’m fairly sure that she would have a couple of good bruises the next day!). If anyone ever needed a stark reminder of how NOT to get off a boat when mooring – that was the perfect example! My hopes for a free of charge mooring were dashed when a guy turned up about 6 ish and requested payment – grrrr! So the evening was drawing in and we settled down to finish off the spag bol left over from the previous meal at Stracey Mill. (We had frozen the remaining bolognese for such an occasion). We didn’t have any spaghetti left so we had pasta shells with it which we had purchased in Loddon. We jokingly described our meal as “Shell Bol”! It was delicious! Cutely aware of the uncertainty of the domestic batteries we kept our domestic usage to a minimum and after a couple of beers and wine we retired for the night. Friday is our last day and we were going to spend it at Thurne Dyke and have our last cooked meal of the holiday in The Lion on Friday evening. Chris and Brenda

Gracie!! Naughty corner for you!! Christmas??? Bah humbug!! Chris

I always phone GY yacht station for advice on getting under Vauxhall bridge when we're crossing from North to South and vice versa. I look at the best days according to the info available but always give them a ring just to make sure. They are very very helpful - you just give them the name of your hire boat and they will tell you when the best time is to get under that lump of metal! They'll also advise you of the best time to leave your current destination so as to time it right for getting under the bridge. Chris

Thursday 7th Sep 23 Arise and shine! Another hot and sunny day looks to be on the cards! A bit of a lie in this morning – we didn’t get up until 7.30! We had decided that we would stop at Ludham Bridge on the way back to the Bure and buy some of the tasty sausage rolls that are made in the café next to the Bridge stores (plus any other delicacies that might tempt the ladies!). Low water at Ludham Bridge was shown to be about 1230 so we had plenty of time to get there and moor up before going under the bridge. We had breakfast on the boat and topped up with water before setting off at a nice slow gentle pace out of the boatyard and down the Ant. (We were going that slow – even the speed check gizmo at the entrance to Richardsons didn’t register us! ). By the time we got to Barton Broad, there were a fair few boats crossing in both directions and we ended up following a couple of boats on exiting the Broad. The leading boat was a small day boat type of craft with a young couple on board. As we all approached Irsteads (more or less opposite the free 24 hr moorings), the day boat appeared to lose control and ended up broadside on to the river! They looked like they had lost power! The hire boat in front of us seemed oblivious to the fact and pushed on regardless causing a bit of concern to the occupants of the day boat! Brenda had been helming up to this point but decided to hand the helm back to me as she didn’t feel comfortable holding station while the problem got sorted. Making sure that the boat coming up behind us was aware that I was holding station, I pondered whether to give the day boat a very gentle nudge towards the private mooring on our starboard side. Luckily there was a chap on one of the boats moored up at the private mooring who was able to offer advice and assist them in getting over to the starboard bank and make fast on the boat in front of him. That situation safely resolved, I handed the helm back to Brenda and we continued our leisurely journey up to Ludham Bridge. On arriving at the Bridge, the only mooring spot available for us was literally just before where the signs were out for the Nancy Oldfield trust boat moors. Making sure that I left enough room for their boat which was due back at midday and that I didn’t block any emergency ladders, I carefully moored up and we got ready to visit the café. (I’ll never understand why cruisers still moor up over on the demasting moorings on the other side of the river – it caused a problem for a couple of yachts that wanted to demast while we were there!). We bought our sausage rolls and as predicted – the ladies bought a couple of apple and peach tartlet thingies! We decided to do the spectator thing and stand on the bridge and watch boats pass under it but after a short while I got bored and left them to it and sauntered back to the boat! Eventually they returned and by now it was approaching the time to get under that darn bridge! The height board was showing 8’ 4” and as we only needed 8’ I decided it was time to set off. I had to wait for a few boats to come by us and a couple towards us before moving off and getting the boat pointing in the right direction. Our clearance under the bridge was about 6” and we made our way down the Ant towards the Bure. Chris and Julie had not been to South Walsham Broad before so we decided to visit the Broad and moor up at the free moorings for lunch and then move onto Ranworth to have a swing round on the mudweight. To be continued/......

Wednesday 6th September 23 continued/..... We finally reached Acle Bridge only to discover that all the 24 hr moorings with access to shore power were full! Hmm – what to do? There were a couple of boats already at the Pump out facility at Bridgecraft so nipping into there was out of the question for the moment. I decided that we’d moor up side on just past Bridgecraft and I’d take a walk down to them to find out when best to get a Pump out. After turning into the tide flow (what little there was!) I managed to moor up with no fuss and walked down to Bridgecraft. The lad there said he was having a coffee break in ten minutes and to bring the boat down in about 30 mins when he could pump us out. Now, although I consider myself fairly competent in handling the boat, I still lack a bit of confidence in mooring stern on at the side of a river so I asked if I could moor side on for the pump out. No problem was the reply and so feeling a bit more relaxed, I walked back to the boat to await our turn. Eventually the time came to move to Bridgecraft. Just my luck!! As we were approaching the space to moor side on another hire boat nipped in and took my spot! Oh heck!! Nothing for it but to go around the two boats moored stern on and cross my fingers and hope for the best! Well – after two aborted attempts I finally got the boat moored up stern on and no mishaps! (Definitely need more practice! ). Pump out done, paid the £20 and carried on with our journey up the Bure. We had now decided that we would head for Richardsons for the night providing we could get under Ludham Bridge (with the tide rising it would be tight as we needed 8’ clearance to get under it!). Approaching the bridge height gauge I saw through my binos that it was showing about 8’ 4”! Hmmm it was going to be tight! The women had gone down below, windscreens down and I told Chris (who was helming that he was going to have to duck if he wanted to negotiate the bridge from the upper helm. (I went down the internal steps at the last minute). We passed under the bridge with about an inch to spare and we heard a guy on the bridge say “Oh Jesus – they're not going to make it”!! I think he filmed us with his IPad – I wasn’t sorry to disappoint him in the slightest!! We had an uneventful cruise up to Stalham and on arriving at Richardsons we were pleasantly surprised to see that there was plenty of room to moor up, so we picked a spot in Heron Quay in front of a freshwater point and settled down for the rest of the day. Evening approached and we took a walk up into the town and decided that we would have a meal in the Swan Inn. We managed to get a table outside initially and were informed that it would be about 30 mins between ordering food and getting it. It was busy! While we were waiting, one of the “pods” became available so we moved into it having first told the waitress so she wouldn’t think we’d disappeared! The food arrived after about 40 mins and all three meals were amazing – well worth the wait! Time to get back to the boat so off we trotted, down past Tesco’s, down the back roads, over the main road, down past the covered-up caravan down the lane (don’t think I’ve ever seen it uncovered!) and back onto the boat. (It always seems quicker on the return walk back from a pub!) . Time for a cup of tea and then retire for the night. We will decide where we are going tomorrow when we get up! Chris and Brenda

Wednesday 6th Sep 23 Another day dawns and there’s a bit of river mist around at 5.30 in the morning! We need to be able to get under Vauxhall Bridge around about 9.15 ish so with a probable 3 hr cruise to get there, I’m hoping to leave about 6.15 or thereabouts. Having kicked the others out of their cosy beds, we went about sorting the boat out ready for the off. The first thing was to get the Karcher squeegee at work on the seating around the upper helm (don’t really like helming with a wet botty! Next was to unhook the shore power, check the domestic voltage reading (12.2 v), (so far so good!) and make ready to cast off. Exiting the staithe/quay area was straight forward and I pointed the pointy end of the boat in the right direction and commenced our sedately journey back up the Chet towards the Yare. (One good thing about leaving at that time in the morning is there’s not much chance of meeting another boat coming towards us and there wasn’t!). By the time we got on to the Yare there were a couple of boats heading towards Reedham in front of us, so I suspect that they were also eager to get under Vauxhall Bridge in good time. Surprisingly (not!) Reedham Ferry wasn’t crossing the river as we approached and we carried on down to Reedham swing bridge. This time, Reedham Bridge was closed (good job otherwise the train that was passing over it would have ended up in the drink! ). As we passed through the bridge area, a sudden shout from one of the ladies nearly gave me a heart attack (I was helming at the time!). They had spotted a seal calmly resting on one of the cross-member beams on our starboard side!! God knows how it got there as it was a good 2 or 3 feet above the waterline! As always no one had a camera or phone to hand to snap the picture and as I had a couple of boats behind me, I couldn’t really reverse back to allow them to get a picture. Oh well, maybe another time? Approaching the Waveney/Yare junction I spotted Moonlight Shadow moored up on our port side just before Berney Arms – that's three times this week that we have crossed each other at some point! Breydon was like a mill pond again and I handed the helm over to the other Chris so he could experience the crossing and going under Vauxhall bridge and I could finally have a wash and shave down below! I was satisfied that he knew about staying in the channel AND to go round the infamous yellow post on the correct side before passing under Vauxhall Bridge. Breydon and the bridge successfully passed and now it was what I consider to be a boring cruise up the Bure until reaching Stracey Mill and Stokesby. I was surprised at the number of boats that were moored up at GY yacht station – for some of them it looked like a mammoth ascent to get up onto land!! We finally decided that we would moor up at Acle Bridge on the BA 24 hr moorings and grab a drink in the Acle Bridge Inn (would be criminal not to!). To be continued/......

Tuesday 5th Sep 23 continued/.... The walk to the church didn’t take long and on the way we passed where Rosie Lee’s tearoom was and were disappointed that we didn’t have the opportunity to let our friends experience the atmosphere of her delightful service! At the church we were greeted by Reverend David Owen who was in the process of putting a poster up on the main door. He provided a fascinating insight into the church's history as well as telling us about the bell ringers and their activities (bell ringing practice was that evening too!). As it was getting near lunchtime (and also ridiculously hot!), we decided it was time for liquid refreshment and duly stopped at the Kings Head on the way back down to the boat. We sat outside at the back and lubricated our throats before leaving and calling in at the local Premier convenience store to buy some more bottled water. Back on board and lunch was crackers, cheese, tomatoes and cucumber (own home grown). During the afternoon, boats left and others appeared and by teatime, the quay was full. We had decided that our evening meal was going to be fish and chips from the chip shop up the road as Brenda and I had ordered from there during our visit last October and they were excellent! So about 7 ish, Chris and I trotted off up to the chip shop and collected our order. We were not let down and once again the food was excellent and compared to our local chippy’s here in Rugby – it wasn’t expensive! The remainder of the evening was spent playing cards and deciding on where to go next once we had returned across Breydon the following morning. Initial thoughts were stopping at Acle Bridge at the free BA moorings and maybe a pump out at Bridgecraft so with that idea in mind, we retired for the evening after another extremely hot day. Chris and Brenda