NorfolkNog

Hi Rumswizzle Sounds a good choice of boat and it’s always nice to have 11 days as a week passes so quickly! No problems with a dayboat from Potter – Herbert Woods, Maycraft or Phoenix Fleet will be able to fix you up. The latter do electric boats which are a nice alternative and very quiet under way. You can get to Hickling in not much more than an hour if memory serves. Beautiful part of the Broads. Have a good time!

Must say never thought of a keel cooler David. Are there any drawbacks, e.g. could they overheat in hot weather?

Thanks for your thoughts folks, sounds like a warm wetshed would be the ideal but need a very big lottery win. I like the system Andy describes, so if the boat was used fairly regularly it could be re-winterised fairly easily and perhaps the domestic side could be set up in such a manner that draining down the system was as straightforward as possible.

On a slightly different tack, I love winter cruising and often dream of winning the lottery (ha ha) and having my own boat built. Would it be actually possible to build a boat from scratch and protect all the pipework and engine in such a way that it could be used all year round? Would this be practical/possible?

There are no mooring signs up at the Yacht Station at the moment and the site is closed. However we moored up there as there is no one to tell you can’t! If you don’t mind taking a break, this is a good option as it’s never an exact science.

Hi Steve Going North to South, I would be inclined to arrive at GY either about on or half an hour after slack water. That way you will get a good kick down the Bure on the ebb, yet you should hit Breydon at reasonably slack water. If I were going the other way (i.e. South to North) I would be inclined to leave it later, say around 1 – 2 hours after slack water as the ebb takes a while to abate on the Bure due to the narrow channel. Slack water on the Thursday is 10.32 so you could say arrive around eleven,. Its 18 miles form Ranworth, if you could make say 4mph (shouldn’t be a problem with the ebb tide) you are looking at 4 and a half hours. That would mean setting off about 6.30 to 7. At this time of year it gets light enough to navigate not much after seven if its clear sky. I think you mention you have nav lights too. If you make good progress you could always stop off at Stokesby or Stracey Arms. The latter is about 7 miles from GY. Slack water is 11.33 on the Friday so you could set off an hour later. If you leave it just after slack water the tide should start to push over Breydon but even if you do 3 mph you would still get to Reedham in about 3 hours, so you should easily do this in daylight. You can navigate till about 4, more with nav lights. That leaves about 16 miles to Thorpe which is easily do-able in a day. However looking at the tide tables you may well be punching the tide going up the Yare, one way to avoid this would be to leave it a bit later. Have pint or 2 in the Lord Nelson!!! Just my view, other may disagree, but hope it gives some help anyway!!! Let us know how you get on!!!!

Lori

Thanks guys much appreciated!

The next slack water window at GY from around 9 – 11.30 is 11th – 14th Jan, next is around 25th – 28th. Ranworth Dyke to GY is 18 miles and GY to Thorpe is 25, The tide does tend to ebb down the Bure even after slack water due to the narrow channel, but this can be used to advantage. Good luck!!

Very useful site for tide tables, just click on the bit near the yellow arrow. http://www.norfolk-broads.org/tides/broadstides.asp I think I have had mod approval to post this in the past Great time to be out, should be quiet enough!!!!

Very reasonable indeed particularly as the price includes VAT and damage waiver!

Hi Lori, have you tried this link??? http://www.norfolkwebcams.com/camera/barnes

My photographic knowledge would fit quite comfortably on the back of a stamp but couldn’t resist a couple of snaps of Reedham, taken just before Christmas.

Before Christmas we had a fantastic ten days on the Broads which is always magical at this time of year. We had the rivers to ourselves, apart from a couple of private boats the rivers were deserted. Fantastic. The icing on the cake though was the snow which came down on the Thursday night. The Broads landscape is always magical but with the snow added the scenery was breathtaking. Just wish I had some photographic skills to take advantage of it all! Had a trip to the Humpty Dumpty Open day which was very enjoyable. We were lucky enough to be out on Swancraft’s latest addition to the fleet, Swan Radiance. Built on the Alpha 35 foot hull, this is a luxury craft for two. Fitted out to Swancraft’s high quality standards the boat features a large sprung berth, whirlpool bath, optional pull out berth in the saloon, microwave, vacuum cleaner, flatscreen TV with freeview and energy frugal LCD lighting which is a real bonus in winter. The boat was warm and cosy, no draughts and superb Mikuni warm ait heating system that kept us warm all the holiday. Hydraulic steering, bow thrusters and a thrifty Beta to shaft made the boat a delight to handle. We chose our route carefully to avoid the ice which affected many of the dykes and slower flowing rivers. All in all a fantastic experience, back for more in February, can’t wait!

Hi We have been hiring in the winter (mainly December and February) for several years now. As mentioned, warm air heating is usually a separate diesel fired unit so can be run independently from the engine. They are usually more than adequate to heat up the boat, even in winter. I’d be inclined not to worry about heat through night, just run the heating before you get in to bed, then switch it on when you get up in the morning. It warms up pretty quickly. I have had a boat with a separate gas heater but I wouldn’t have felt happy about leaving it on overnight. Quite a few electric hook ups – see details here on the Broads Authority website http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/boat ... oints.html Winter is a great time to be out on the rivers – have a great time!

Fantastic stuff Barry, you cannot beat the look and feel of varnished wood. Must make all your efforts worthwhile. Love the wheel, proper authentic job and much nicer than the cold shiny stainless steel ones you get on a lot of modern boats.

You lucky person Dave. That is a *very* good price indeed, do you get a discount for multiple weeks??

Hi Swancraft have one and it always seems to book well. Nicked this photo of the saloon from their website, don't think they will mind

Hi Roy Think this should be it but I'm sure someone will remind me if I've missed one!! Richardsons – Stalham Whispering Reeds – Hickling Royalls – Hoveton (Wroxham) Summercraft - Hoveton (Wroxham) Horizon – Acle Bridgecraft – Acle Le Boat – Horning Ferry Marina - Horning

Hi Carol Dramatic picture of the Ferry fire! I do like the blog idea, it’s in a similar vein to the Wherryman’s Way blog which I also enjoy reading. Hopefully as you say, you can drop things in as and when and its very convenient. Hopefully the copyright thing isn’t too much of a problem, as it’s not for profit hopefully people wouldn’t mind too much? I think BM works very well, I’m not sure what the significance of the code thing is but the site is easy to navigate and loads quickly so it seems to do everything it says on the tin!! Keep up the good work!!

Looks very good to me Carol! Like the main website its well written and well presented and whets the appetite to delve deeper. I'll add it to my favourites!!

That pub hasn't changed much!! Great video Carol and love the 'BBC voice' commentary. Pity this traditional game has suffered like many things at the hands of beaurocracy and now cannot be played!!! Wonder if Lorraine has seen it.....

Fascinating pictures Carol. I know that Hull suffered damage from Zeppelin raids as well, I wonder if they targeted Yarmouth and Kings Lynn because of their port status or if it was to avoid flying over land? I wonder if the Zeppelins were in range of gunfire, must have presented quite a target!

Hi Andy It had a pottery once as well!!! The pier dated back to the 19th century and I believe like most things in Hornsea, was built by a Mr Wade, the local entrepreneur. I can’t remember when it was demolished but it would be many years ago.

Hope you managed some refreshment between all of that Carol!!!! Fascinating pictures, many thanks for sharing with us. I always wondered what that helter skelter looked like originally when it was all in one piece!! Coincidentally I used to live in a place called Hornsea on the Yorkshire coast which used to have its own pier. Some Victorian sailey also crashed into that apparently and reduced its length somewhat!