Broads01

Early in the morning I'm setting off for my first ever March hire. My first trip is actually only a week earlier than last year but I've never hired in March before. The weather forecast looks pretty reasonable though and not especially cold and tonight I'm as excited as ever. I'll be aboard Brinks Encore Plus 6, solo human with my faithful boating companion, Suzie, our Shih Tzu. This afternoon I had the pleasant surprise of a phone call from Barnes to say the boat would be ready by 12 (presumably because it's not been on hire this week). Even with an early alarm call tomorrow I may not make it from South Wales by then but we'll see. Give us a wave if you see us in the week ahead. Helen, I'm sure our paths will cross somewhere.

I've seen the Chet look like that before and I do hope it's attended to because it's narrow enough anyway. I like Pyes Mill, also Malcom and I also prefer it to the Staithe generally so let's hope it gets fixed. Helen, one of these days I'll summon up the motivation to get out of bed as early as you to beat the tide. I see the benefit but when boating I tend to stick to my normal sleep pattern and put up with the tides.

That's fair enough. I think the ideal thing is somewhere like The Lion where they allow dogs but also have a non-dog area.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

You and I had our first trips at exactly the same time. We were there 14th-21st August aboard Consul 3 from Norfolk Broads Yachting Company in Wroxham. I was 10 years old at the time and that's what set it all off for me.

Lovely photo, Roy. My first ever visit to the Broads was the month before. I recall seeing the mooring quays for the first time in 1986.

Thanks, yes the side access looks better on that photo.

I always like seeing old photos of Salhouse before the mooring quays were created, they remind me of what it was like when I first visited as a child. On the Salhouse photo, what was the hut on the left? On the Thurne photo, what were the buildings close to the mill?

Thanks for sharing these, Dan, useful. On Skyway, it looks as if the stern half of the boat doesn't have a side deck (which would be awkward I feel). Is that right?

That's a recent change as I checked a few days ago and at that point the opening date was 30th March.

I've thought about doing that in the past but decided with the distance I have to travel I didn't want to be pinned down to a 1 hour time slot. If you decide to do that I'd be interested to hear how you get on.

I like that end spot at Gayes. I ended up in the river at that spot a few years ago whilst mooring having stepped too far towards the quay heading in the foreground of your photo.

Dog friendly pubs that come to mind are the Kings Arms, Ludham, the Lion at Thurne, The White Horse, Chedgrave and the Ferry House, Surlingham. By no means is that a comprehensive list.

Almost as if you could fit a canoe under the bridge 😄

I first came to the Broads in the 1980s when there were still a lot of Elysians on hire. Herbert Woods and Southgates had a lot of them I recall, particularly the centre cockpit variant. By that time a pump out toilet was compulsory so they must have been fitted that way, retrospectively at least.

I don't blame boat designers in the slightest. Passage under Ludham for boats with higher airdraft is a very recent issue.

I've always found it slightly scary, mainly due to the panel that hangs down on the upstream side. I know it's there to make the clearance consistent with the downstream side but when you're going upstream it looks like clearance is reducing due to the board.

Well, possibly. I'm just thinking about last October on Royal Velvet when I squeezed under Wayford but with the tide rising got cold feet and returned through straightaway.

Yes, thank goodness, Malcom, I'm on a Brinks Encore. I'm not expecting to get under Wroxham or Wayford though.

Don't give them ideas, some of us are boating during March 😄.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet but Richardsons are adding Broadway 7, 8 & 9 this year. It's a long time since they've added anything brand new. https://www.richardsonsboatingholidays.co.uk/why-choose-the-norfolk-broads/80-years-of-unforgettable-family-holidays/?utm_source=organicsocial&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=80yearcontentpieceorganicpost&fbclid=IwAR3nV57ZndrCNoHI6xf7tSOaOBy5TmX39oGFNw_kyPgGrDzczDIUtqrWlpU

Busy day tomorrow, then.

I hope that changes in the next month or quite a few Richardsons customers are going to have a tricky time at Easter.

The driving limit is too high in my view.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us once again, Howard. As usual I enjoyed keeping up. Will it be Tower Bridge in May?