marshman

i was interested in the news last night as they discussed the "huge numbers " turning out to oppose the plans for a new river crossing in Kent/Essex to supplement the Dartford Crossing. They reported that up to 1500 people were expected to attend - put in perspective thats the same number of vehicles as pass through the Dartford section in !5 mins every hour of every day!!!! What a crazy world we live in! A few highly vocal individuals can oppose for a very long time, vital pieces of the country's infrastructure - just build the bloomin' thing and get on with it now!!! ( Mods - no need for a new topic heading - just pointing out similarities with the NDR process!!! Sorry!!! )

The last post referring to roadworks in Hoveton area is nothing to do with the NDR - it is the Three Rivers Way, a cycling and walking route to connect Wroxham and Potter. The nearest the NDR gets to Wroxham is Rackheath , some few miles away.

Vaughan - 27' for 12 people seems fine. Probably 9' or 10' wide as well. Not sure the cost thing is an issue either - nice to go out on boats with your friends and /or 2 families and with that in mind a price of £200 / £250 a day probably OK. How much is it to take 12 people to the Pleasure Beach? Think its an interesting little development - If you never try new ideas......! Limited scope i guess but people are tending to the more posher boats!! Look at the river these days.

If i recall, it said it was primarily for access to the Pleasure Boat - which it is. Typical news story - few facts and lots of filler but it was Look East after all! Debatable which is worst - Look East or Archant!!!!

Those are only temporary but I am on about the 30 limits e.g the Norwich side of the Sole and Heel at Rackheath - not a cone in sight but about a mile of road with the new limit on - similarly on all the roads they are crossing or where work is intended. Still as the cameras are out on them, its proving to be a nice little earner - its a real shame they cannot put up the signs when they are actually being effective and needed and not when not!!

L R - you are absolutely right!! All of Fleet Dyke could so easily be turned back into wild moorings if people so wished. The profiling has ensured deeper water and now the reeds/weeds have grown uo there is no reason not to force your way in. i agree it requires a "leap of faith" but only one or two before it is opened up. Take your shears/ scythe with you and Bobs your Uncle!! i know everyone bemoans the loss of these wild moorings but the old ones were only there as a result of doing, at some stage, what L R described. This is a bit controversial, but I really believe that they would open quickly enough if there was a real, not apparent, shortage of moorings. This so called shortage is only at peak peak times and at the moment does not last long enough to open up further possibilities. Whilst people moan a lot, they still prefer the manicured appearance but use a mooring more often and it will soon be manicured enough for us all!!. Go on lets all try a bit harder to reopen some of these spots so loved, apparently, by so many!!!

Vaughan - who am i to argue with you but I am not so sure I would want to moor up at New Mills!! It all seems like concrete walls and sheet piling up there now! In fact the depth up to New Mills is pretty good, apart from the occasional trolley but it can be a bit weedy in summer. But as you well know hire cruisers are limited to below Bishops Bridge!!! And Pleasure Island!! Now thats an interesting choice - surrounded as it is by danger markers and buoys to keep you off!! The island is much reduced in size - there was an attempt to try and extend the western end as it was suffering from wind erosion but this failed and the island is now treeless and actually quite small.

I know I live in Norfolk and drive like I do, but do I need to slow down to 30mph well over a mile before nonexistent roadworks or even any cones? Put the signs up when there is danger by all means but not before or after they are not needed!! They do not do that on the M25 but I suppose this is Norfolk!!!

To all of you around ans about those new 30mph areas which are proliferating around roads where the NDR will cross or indeed end up - these limits are being enforced by the mobile speed cameras so you have been warned!! Trust the police and councils not to miss a funding opportunity as they all try and preserve their jobs and /or pensions at our expense!!

Polly - you might not like the annual maintenance on Hathor or the major fixes probably all too frequently!!!

Its OK Soundings, I don't take it personally!!! Healthy debate is good for you and there are always two sides to every story, like it or not. The housing market in the UK is particularly skewed for many reasons, but the lack of affordable social housing in places like Norfolk is nothing other than a disgrace. People are then driven into the private sector rental market where the controls are limited and where the market is primarily for young professionals and not those who need housing. House prices are subject to a supply/demand equation - build 200k homes a year for 10 years and see if house prices remain buoyant! However leave building to the private sector and you get what you get now - greenfield sites and the continued pressure from this sector not to even include social housing on their " beautiful " estates. Something will give eventually i suspect!!! And those houses near you will go - if the price is right!! However private individuals always have an inflated view of how much their property is worth and Potter is not necessarily the norm. Move out to those new estates and houses shift quick enough, but often to new owners wishing to let!! I probably go through Wroxham 5/6 times a week and apart from roadworks like now and sometimes for a very short peak period,, i must admit that i rarely have problems - except in August when i keep well away or go the other way!! There are many 1000's of worse places and the addition of all those homes will not all come together! We will have another recession by then and the new homes being built will fall back to a trickle!!

Whilst I have no reason to doubt your comments, official statistics show unemployment in this area as one of the lowest in the country. And whether you agree or not, we have a housing crisis in this country - house prices too high caused by insufficient stock available and in an area where wages are low, no housing to fit the needs of these lower paid individuals. As a result they are forced to rent causing rents to move ever higher. A vicious circle!! There is ample room in Norfolk for new houses - i live here so what right do i have to turn others away and pretend its full?? It will all stop as soon as growth slows, as it will, and then people will stop buying houses again! And so the cyclical nature of house builing will continue!!

I think the problem is a bit more fundamental than that!! I was not aware that Peachments did servicing?? As far as I can see their website does not mention it and whilst they have engineers i think they are busy with other things. My guess is that they might have looked at it and thought it did not apply to them!! If you emailed Next and asked the price of pork chops you might not get a reply!! And moorings - if you are getting 5/10 enquiries a week , which is probably the norm by just looking at posts here and elsewhere, would you bother? They KNOW that most are just general enquiries and will come to nought! Sadly there is just one and only one guaranteed way to get a marina place and that is to get on your bike and just go there!! The trouble this day and age is that everyone thinks they deserve a reply to every single enquiry but if you get 10 abortive emails a week, and you are full, are you going to reply ? Probably not!! I do realise that this appears discourteous but its so easy to bang out emails, but in reality, this leads to a lot of "junk" and some places just do not have the time to deal with it!!

Don't know about Nobby Clarkes makeshift mortuary but when i was little he proudly showed me the notches he cut in the beam for every body!!!

Although many here refer still to informing the BA of any fly tipping you must always send a copy of your evidence to the Councils concerned as well as it is they who have started this whole sorry issue!!!

Saily - I concur exactly with your comments. We have a housing crisis in this country just because of what you say - new houses are in demand and we have a chronic shortage of them. Demand has long long outstripped demand and like it or not, Norwich is a fast growing city with lots of jobs and new people moving into the area,- a smaller version of Cambridge. Of course the NDR is needed for new industry and new houses - it is only a few who cannot see the wood for the trees and wish to deny it. As always the very few vociferous minority outweigh the views of the vast majority and sadly too political, parties like the Greens. I agree too brownfield sites should be used, but everytime a brownfield site is proposed, someone somewhere gets up and shouts about dogwalkers or that it is a precious area of beauty. Trowse Eye comes to mind!! We cannot have it both ways i am afraid

Do I have to pay for free advertising???!!! Thanks guys!!!!

PW - i am reminded by that of a birding friend of mine who refuses to use the word"seagull" !!! Says they all have real names!!

PW - thats a great picture of a transom wherry - not sure I have seen that one before!! Handy though, you could have stuck an old Seagull on that if it had survived!!! For some reason, I really like that picture - thank you!! P.S. Archiving is hugely important and whilst it costs, it produces great treasures. I cannot stress enough, however, to all those who have private old pictures/ records, especially of wherries, that these are not lost but steps are taken to preserve them.In the future , others will thank you for so doing, So please please take care of our past and ensure steps are taken to pass them on to bodies who can treasure them too.

Viking - its a 15hp outboard!!!

Clearly all of you liking the wood idea have never tried it - I promise all of you who suggest it, that its a nonrunner!! Whilst it is ok for the big bits, for every length thereof there is literally piles of brash which is of only nuisance value. The other issue is that unless the tree is immediately adjacent to the boat, everything has to be manhandled into the boat. In winter when it has to be done it has to be done wearing waders and woe betide you if you drop anything into the river, as it has to be manhandled out of it!! The wood is either willow or alder, neither particularly good burners and if it could be done, Broadsword would have tried to achieve it. Anyone who follows their progress, especially down the top bit of Ranworth Dyke, will see just how hard and slow that type of work is, and with virtually no reward other than a clearer view and more wind for the sailies. No - if it was a feasible idea, I promise you people might try it - but remember the wood belongs to the owner of the land and their permission is required for access -- and that is hard to get!!!!! More bright ideas??? Oh yes the peat - mud is not peat and removing peat releases carbon into the atmosphere. And that is highly frowned upon!! The dredging crews are monitored so that they dredge mud, and not peat for that very reason!! Next?????

Thanks Pete - I knew you would not be surprised!!! Timbo - I don't think anyone has actually criticised the BA on this thread - its a fact of life dredgings now have to be moved to disposal grounds and that motorised lighter is fit for purpose. Just grates a bit calling it a wherry!!!!!

Why did I guess someone would post that?????? And who on earth would put an electric motor in a wherry - oh I remember...!!

For Loddon, read Ludham??? Thats certainly NNDC but i thought that one was going. Lets wait a bit - all will eventually become clearer!! I hope!!

Janet Anne - I think you are being somewhat disingenuous with that remark!! There has been a lot of dredging recently on the N Rivers and indeed elsewhere and I am sure you do not need me to list locations!! They have to use motorised barges to transport spoil to disposal sites. And yes how nice if a Norfolk company could have built it but to the best of my knowledge, there is noone who could!! The last one if my memory serves me correct was actually built in Ireland and if either Ireland or Cornwall can do it cheaper it saves some of my toll money. And P.S. I bet they will never dredge the Waxham Cut!!!!