alexandlorna

its is indeed a somewhat dangerous place to be moored at times Ian , a look at Braveheart's port side in one of the pics will reveal more fenders on that side than most big boats have all round! Yet still some half-wit or another will always manage to do some damage lol Fortunately most people who get it wrong are going reasonably slow and so its usually just marks on the fenders ,but we have had a few hard hits over the years This week was a total washout for us ,having arrived on Friday evening , the weather has been atrocious and so today we gave up and called it a day

We generally make this journey every second week and although we live alongside the M74 near Hamilton, thus making the M74/A66 route the logical choice , we have also made the trip to and from Dunfermline in Fife. There are a few options which could be considered, but horrendous road works abound on many routes before you even leave Scotland We find the journey from Fife to Scotch Corner down theA1, extremly tedious ,seemingly going on forever , however attemping to go down the M74 route will take you across the Forth Bridge ,with its average speed cameras, then on to the M8 , which again has various ongoing road works and ave speed cameras, finally to join the M74 you must negotiate the nightmare that is jct 5 on the M74 : then you can start heading South!!! So really for us its about where you start from, and personally we would always use the A1 from Fife and grin and bear the speed limits/cameras I have been booked for three times on the A66 and have attended speed awareness courses for my trouble, so now the best we can manage is around 7 hours ( usually 7 1/2) to Ludham from Hamilton I would reckon you would need to factor another 11/2 , maybe 2 hours on top of that , coming across to the M74 at jct5 If you want any updates nearer the time , feel free to pm us , and if you invent teleportation before then give us a shout☺

Payment aside , is it not simply about the practicalities of the Broads just becoming a dump? Many people will dump anywhere and in a short space of time it will be safer to stay at your home mooring than risk disease on the rivers The previous system worked reasonably well and should never have been altered until something workable was in its place Everyone can look at it from a personal angle but ,is the condition of the place we chose for recreation not more important ?

Surely MM has made a very valid point - it is not our problem , people are elected to deal with the issues that us common folks are deemed incapable of understanding The broads is a tourist destination and common sense tells one of the need for waste facilities - regardless of all the legal points being made The cost of fly-tipping is well understood ,yet still the morons in authority remove bins BEFORE any workable alternatives have been found Personally I would cut off the hands of fly-tippers , but is anyone really dense enough to think mass fly tipping will not now occur? The Hockham Admiral made a very valid point , in that many private boaters will not be willing or able, to put up with this ridiculous situation and have to reconsider their future on The Broads

Try Snugtopz ( or whatever spelling , before I'm told its wrong ) at Brammerton , his prices seem very reasonable Handy for the mooorings there too .

We have just fitted 5x Rolls 120Ah batteries from Brian Ward a bit more expensive but worth it if looked after and reckoned to be amongst the best if not the best available.We did have Explorer 125 Ah previously and they seemed fine up to about 4 years oldYou pays your money etc etc

One can only hope , but stupidity and councils often seem to be associated !

We have also heard these rumours over the last 3 weeks , hopefully untrue , though the person who gave us the information is not someone I would doubt We were told the BA is well aware of this and that the parish council (allegedly) wish to make it into private moorings I guess we will know soon enough I think that the rubbish issue is more likely one or two ne'er do wells rather than a general public problem Also how many houses are actually near enough to complain of noise issues?

Well the thing is Iain, a hefty dose of crawling can go a long way towards softening financial blows such as bills lol( do you hear that George??)

Welcome Laura , and George too ( We have to say that now since he's the gaffa now lol) :)

First time we ever hired, we were told to wait for the pilot ,and when asked precisely where or how , we were told he would come and get us if we just "hovered about " We gave up , it was chaos, and not the organised version either That was our first and last wait for the pilot !

Yes Iain , and to add insult to injury we are just home after 3 weeks on Braveheart and its brass monkeys up here as usual ! Plus I bet Lorna it would be raining as we crossed the border and sure enough ...............

Damn, someone told them we was coming!

It always seems to degenerate into private vs hirer's on forums But this is not the issue really On our three weeks out this time we were hit by one hirer, missed narrowly by another grinning moron and almost beached by a speeding rib (private ) Yesterday we saw two hirers moor perfectly at Polkes Mill, in fact one made a better job than we did! Later as we crossed Breydon though we saw a few bathtub races, which were frankly more ridiculous than dangerous As we reached the bridges at GY we were a bit early and even with a big engine that's newish we toiled upriver Passing the yatch stn Broadsman 6 pulled out and stayed on our stern, far too close, constantly weaving out to pass, but having no more horses to do the job! Eventually when we passed Marina Keys I signalled. Him to pass and momentarily stop to allow this - result about 5 mins danger for both as his ability and engine struggled An example of the worst hireboater trait - grown ups showing off in something they don't own, don't take responsibility for and don't have the sense to avoid I would say in all honesty at least a third of hirer's do this, especially as they want to cram a lot into a short time Later we came upon "Moorhen" doing maybe 2 mph and weaving a bit, but as we passed him he went full ahead forcing me to go up to 6 mph and take much longer passing The look on his face would have suggested I had annoyed him, this is another hirer trait t is all too common But I still don't rubbish all hirer's as I was one not so long ago, but the people stuck under bridges are the worst examples of what CDW has caused

It looks like they just went straight through at speed, as they certainly were moving when they passed us

We were at Oulton dyke the other day and the ranger was onboard talking to us, when two absolute idiots came racing each other past the moorings The ranger got out and shouted at them to slow down - " And who are you then?" , was the reply Ranger says "Broads Authority ". And just at that the @rse at the helm sees the launch! He was still removing his foot from his gob as the Ranger launch took off in pursuit lol

This one flew past as we sat waiting for the tide at Polkeys Mill earlier today Did not get far

Approaching high tide at Beccles now but levels nowhere near as high as yesterday, but the rain and wind have been much kinder than predicted So no wading required

Pity all the stag parties can't be directed that way lol

Likewise Charlie but am sure we will get a chance to rectify that at some point Alex

Now raining steadily in Beccles again, but at least Sat stayed dry Tide is expected to be 4-5 inches higher this evening though so we could be cruising to the Bear and Bells later!

I was actually wondering about this myself So actually it's a bit of a joke in engineering terms, and should be deposited in the nearest skip and a proper marine box fitted

Braveheart has separate batteries for the thrusters and huge cross section (95 or 120 mm2 ) cables to handle the current Otherwise most of the thrust is lost anyway, similarly long tunnels through the stern are a waste of time Incidentaly, I tried some thrusterless mooring today and can still manage fine so have not been tainted! But the divine glow experienced by some traditionalists has yet to descend upon me!

I think you can be forgiven Keith, that's a hell of a days cycling!!!

Keith I may wrong and if so apologise, but are those moorings not reserved for vessels unable to get under the bridge?