marshman

Missed out anything at all about Calthorpe Broad and its interesting stories and the red deer that now live there. Also the Cut is now navigable to those who can get under THAT bridge, but beware the turning basin under the bridge is not large at all, simply because the BA dredged it fairly recently, along with Catfield Dyke which too is more accessible these days. Not sure I agree with his comments on wind pumps - money has been spent aplenty on trainee millwrights, but difficult to see where to be honest. Turf Fen needs lots of work done badly, after what was done earlier looks to have been a total FUBAR and as for Clayrack at How Hill, where they actually took the sails off to work on them at least a decade ago. I think I have asked JP many times about that, but I bet no one can even remember where they even are now. What a wonderful attraction the three pumps at How Hill would have been - all three are now just a load of junk festering away these days!

Gracie - if you think my use of the word "squit" was offensive then I will withdraw it but I still think that a number of people made comments without being "qualified" to do so. I am not a trained H & S advisor to Outdoor Water Sporting and I doubt many readers and contributors to this Forum are either - the HSE has a whole dept specially trained in water event and safety management and I cannot believe that they would get insurance if the organisers did not comply! Of course any one can comment but mixing it with views on the whole National Park issue is just a step too far - personally I cannot see the connection at all! But then I was always a bit slow on the uptake I am afraid!

Get used to sharing!! This isn't the first time one of these events has happened on the rivers and I just cannot believe the amount of squit written by some, especially those who should know better - there's more planned so you will be able to vent your spleen again in the not too distant future. The event is over now and nothing untoward happened, and neither did I expect it. Well done to all those who completed the course and I hope you had a great day!

And remember too, at this level, its not kids mucking around! They are highly trained athletes and you will have to be to paddle 70k - you don't take part in these type of events because you are just out for a pleasant paddle!

Watch out for two more events scheduled as well - might as well just repeat the whole thread or keep it for later!!

MM - it will take them 5/10 seconds for them to get through the bridge! Cannot see an issue - I would have thought it far more dangerous to cross the road especially as visibility is a bit limited! Would you get out and cross the road in bare feet carrying a board and all your kit? Far worse than just following, or preceding, a cruiser!!!

I must admit to being astonished by all the negativity being shown and the dangers being imagined, and the belief that the rivers belong to specific individuals! Its not the first time long distance boarding events have been held on the Broads, and despite Vaughan believing it is peak season, it seems to be far from it! Ferry the other day had most of their boats in and given the rubbish weather going on and on, lots of private boats have not even been visited by their owners! This is not an event for the average boarder who wants to paddle up and down the reeds in a gentle breeze for a quick practise but a serious event for keen boarders - most would be through Ludham Bridge in about 5 seconds tops!! I doubt , even by the end of the race, any will have fallen off!!! There may well be over a 100 in the race, but like any race they will be pretty spread out even by the bottom end of Barton! They are not stupid and be well aware that there will be motor boats, and sailing ones too sharing the waterways, and will cope admirably I am sure. I hope they all have a great day, and especially those not local and new to the rivers, get to enjoy the beauty of the Broads and its unique scenery - if they have the time to look around and are not totally knackered. I couldn't even walk it these days, let alone paddle it!

Cannot see the issue - not exactly high season is it and the Broads do not belong to motor cruisers, hire or private. They are there for ALL to enjoy - not one person has complained about the 3 Rivers Race and that will cause , in relative terms, far more havoc. Why do we feel we have even the right to complain as we do - perhaps we should have a specific weekend for paddle boarders? As the Chair rightly points out, other events raise similar issues but in reality pass by without issue - competent paddle boarders are well able to keep themselves safe and in fact seem well able to control their boards with skill and ease - just like sailors. Anyone planning to take part are going to be skilled, and a far cry from the average blown up paddle board " navigator" If I encounter them I shall give them a cheery wave of encouragement and wish them a good day - in the past paddle boarders I have seen working hard are just too out of breath to even acknowledge you!!!!! Talk about "nimbyism"!

Ian - whilst I understand your connection with Hemsby, I think we have already established, or at least in my eyes, that blue lights are not really necessary as the sort of instances they attend are not really time critical to the nearest few minutes. I am sure they keep a note of these things but I wonder what the average time is between the pagers going off and them getting to the actual scene on the Broads - probably longer than many might imagine. Thats NOT a criticism at all but probably one reason why the RNLI withdrew their support for a Broads Boat? None of this is meant to to be a criticism of the sterling work they do in conjunction with the other emergency services, including the Coastguard ( who have blue lights if I remember )

Surprise, surprise! It is rumoured our good friend Pally may be able to drag more info from the back of his mind - or perhaps with everything else, he might have forgotten by now again!!!!

I have read more about the pub somewhere, but cannot remember where - its just old age!! It might have been somewhere like Wherries and Waterways! However I recall it was probably towards the top end of the workings, the Belaugh end and if you go over to "the Other Side" and type Little Switzerland into the "Search Box" there is a picture purporting to be of the pub on one of the links. I am sure Richard won't mind someone from here looking there!!!! However I am not convinced that that is the pub - it could be but evidence is v sparse. I cannot really see that the pub could have still existed so many years after the marl workings actually finished, especially as it really is in the middle of nowhere. However I could be wrong - like proof with any further evidence!

So in reality, perhaps there is no real need for them to have them - do they really make a significant difference in the speed of attending and indeed the sort of situations they attend are only occasionally a matter of life or death. Don't get me wrong, they do have a very worthwhile purpose in search and rescue but speed in itself, probably, rarely makes a difference. Or are we saying that their blue light response would make a significant difference between life and death?

I would suggest that in reality, the blue lights make little or no difference to the effectiveness of the call out - often it is well after the actual emergency that they arrive and speed is not necessarily "of the essence". Whilst, as Ian says, the crews may well be well trained, they are not trained blue light drivers, nor should they be given that authority.

Shhh - don't tell on me but I have "snuck" in there several times and had a poke around, not recently but a long time ago! In the middle was a big "flight" pen where pheasants were reared but the whole are is relatively overgrown with the Hi / Low Bridge a bit of a feature. It is now quite heavily wooded but the old dykes clearly discernible, and some still with water in the bottom. Seems a good use for the area, largely forgotten and neglected. Incidentally the wherries that worked those marl pits were a far cry from the two remaining wherries in size - some where as small as 30' or so making access very much easier - all in all an interesting topic which was discussed many years ago, on the other side I think.

For what its worth, fender socks have never been highly regarded and seemingly do more harm than good. Even after 20 years, its hard to see any damage ordinary ones do, and I cannot see the point. I accept white ones can show the dirt but its their functionality that counts - buy blue ones which don't show the marks!!!!

Or go down the pub!!!!!!

Not here certainly - my guess is we shall get more of what we have got!!!! Oh to be on the Broads in a typical Norfolk spring!!!!

Good - nice pub, nice place! ( If you can find it!!!)

The rhododendrons are a non native species, invasive and should be controlled - despite looking pretty when flowering. Himalayan Balsam also has a pretty flower, but it can quickly overrun areas and you should do all you can to control and destroy it. Indeed in Scotland rhododendrons are now seen as Scotland's worst invasive species. We have many pretty native flowers and shrubs which look just as good but rhododendrons are really difficult to control and thousands are spent trying to rid many areas of them if they get out of hand - they out compete our native plants, poisonous to many animals and underneath the dense growth leave a totally barren landscape. By all means grow them in your garden if you must but please please try and control them. Of course people will argue they are "pretty" when in flower and nurseries and specialist growers still sell them - just as many garden centres still sell, legally, some water plants which will readily grow and block our waterways if they are let loose! Rhododendrons are not a pretty flower out on the uplands, but a dangerous weed which has to be controlled.

I think you will find that toilet lights are set by automatic movement sensors. I seem to recall in the dim and distant past when I worked in Canary Wharf the overhead lights in even the large open plan offices, had sensors on them and if you fell asleep out of sheer boredom, your set of lights would go out. The sudden start as you then fell off the chair was enough movement to light them up again! Either that or when your feet fell off the desk!!

Fred - you are right about the "creep" but I think you have to choose your battles carefully! I hate this pervasive creep, amongst other things, of downloading Apps to do a lot of this rubbish - talking of which you can now download an app to tell you when your bin is due for collection in Broadland!! The trouble now as far as I am concerned, if I stand up for too long, I know I will just fall over - I just lose the will to fight and know the creep will continue whether I try to do anything or not! I have recently been having a difference of opinion over an issue one of my daughters came up against and I spent, cumulatively, over 4 hours discussing this with a major insurance company and making a formal complaint because of their intransigence. What did I get out of it? Bu**er all except a headache - even the Ombudsman agreed she was right but felt it was an issue they could not get involved in!!! I cannot argue with your logic but will fighting help other than hassle over a £10 charge - we should but as you get older, you would fight everything whereas the young just accept it and get on with their lives!! I am sure we can all find similar things to rail against - I am glad you think you may make a difference! Thank you for trying!!!!!

Perhaps FF, you should fear for the next one just as much - we complain about this one, but the next could be a lot worse!! Vaughan will tell you, if he digs back into the depths of his mind, that the Broads have seen these "crises" of management time and time again, and indeed not just of management! Crisis come and go and yet the underlying beauty and peace and tranquillity continue to be attractions beloved by many and by those who have not even discovered these attractions yet. Whilst many of the "old stagers" have fond memories of the "good times" many of the problems seen in earlier crises often melt away and are soon long forgotten as new people come along and some will find new problems, yet others will go away thinking it is magical. People in this age of better and indeed instant communications have higher and and more exacting expectations but many will come and be happy with their memories of wildlife and wide open skies. I watch with amusement cars being towed away in Snowdonia where they think they have the right to park anywhere - they clearly don't have enough parking either in peak periods as indeed do many attractions, especially natural ones. What however I am absolutely convinced of is that a £10 charge for an overnight stay is not in the overall scheme of things, going to make the slightest difference. Thats what you pay for 4 hours parking at Wells and you cannot even stay overnight ! Perhaps at Ranworth it will reduce the "hovering" but I actually don't think it, by itself, makes a jot of difference in the overall cost of the holiday. Neither do I think the Broads are particularly badly managed but we have to pay when parking on roads that we "technically" have already paid for. Do I write to the Council and complain - no I accept it as a fact of life! How does the charge compare say, with the ULEZ scheme introduced in outer London Boroughs under the guise of alleviating pollution - its all to easy to find problems with the world and things like cancelled appointments and teachers breaching their pension limits, but nowadays I just tend to let it all wash over me, so to speak. Of much greater concern to me, is the fact that advancing age may mean boating is actually over - over the years I have had a boat, mostly around here, for almost exactly 70 years but will I squeeze another year out of myself - I think it unlikely! What do I do then other than sit and watch?

And FF if you cannot get on and off a train unaided or indeed in a car, should you be banned from travelling? FF - I think you have the vision of a dear old granny being trundled up a path in a bath chair! I think you are just so far from the truth FF and suggesting denying possibly many young and otherwise able bodied people the chance of a great holiday is a bit discriminatory. There are many forms of disability and many may welcome a firm path as opposed to woodchip.

Regular wood chip is a total waste of time as it quickly turns to mush and then mud - accessibility for all is the necessity I guess. I suppose you need a brush and slippers by the door - most boats have both and it just needs you to bend down! Those with wheelchairs I guess, will appreciate the fact they can get their wheelchair close to the boat

Chatting to a bloke down the yard today who is going to add rails to the back of his boat - however his concern is that as you jump ashore so he might get the ropes more tangled than previously - he was talking about making them so he could remove them but that to my mind, makes it flawed. I think whatever you do at the rear, there will always be issues. To my mind always try and work out what you are going to do , but be aware that the best laid plans etc etc but above all, WEARING A LIFEJACKET is the No 1 priority!