SPEEDTRIPLE

Now that`s what i call a high tide. I have a good friend who lives in Paddock wood, and i also have happy memories of visiting Paul Smart Motorcycles there in the early 90s road testing a couple of bikes. I also did a couple of charity bike rides from the Hop farm nearby, to raise vital funds for the Kent Air Ambulance Trust. If i tried it now, it would more than likely kill me.

Hi Mondeoman, Where abouts in Kent are you from?. I originally hail from Kent, but heve been down here in Sunny Dorset for the last 10 years havin met my lovely wife down here through work. There`s also a fair number of forumites in Kent, and i did consider posting a suggestion that when i next go up to see family, would any other Kent forumites be interested in an "off Broads meet"?. I`ve also noticed that this is the first time i`ve ever posted on a thread under two different screen names. I wonder if anybody else has ever done that?.

I forgot to say, we moored on Womack island a few years back on Tower Bridge. When we got oof the boat to have a look around, there was an awful smell, and on closer examination ........................ Fithy disgusting pigs some people.

Not strictly true i`m afraid. I`ve seen ducks do it in the river, i remember when a good friend of mine came with us for the first time in 89, we saw a duck do its buisness in the water when we were feeding them, my mate said "ah look, that filthy ducks just done a salad cream", so guess what we kept saying every time we saw a duck do it again?.

I forgot to say, i totally agree with everybodys advice above, so whatever you do, wherever you moor, have a really great relaxing time, but be warned, 3 nights is definitely NOT enough, even if staying on the North rivers, and you`ll very likely to be booking a return trip before you leave

3 nights mooring from Potter?, first i`d go for somewhere like Ludham bridge, good pub, safe easy mooring for a first timer, plus a water hose for washing the v...t off the decks the following morning , Second night, either further up the Ant to Sutton, or Neatishead or Wayford bridge, again good pubs or hotels, but no water at Wayford bridge moorings, so don`t drink too much, Thrd night, back down the Ant, and back towards Potter, but stopping off at Womack staithe, or even in Womack dyke and walk to village. Again good pub, with water at the staithe, so if mooring in the dyke, wash decks down with mop and river water. Then a gentle short cruise back to the yard in the morning.

As members of the National Trust, i think this is good to see. I find it strange how the National trust are extremely competent at raising the funds to carry out such extensive, and expensive work, yet the BA or local councils can`t find a few thousand pounds to maintain refuse disposal sites?. Here`s a thought, maybe we should let the entire Broads network have control taken away from the BA, and handed over to the National Trust?. Im sure if they can raise vital funds for projects such as this, they could quite esily use the MILIONS the BA recieve every year to run the Broads properly?.

We had some excitement a year and a half ago on Lightning while moored at WRC. The guy said to moor alongside as it was empty, and high winds were forecast. The next morning saw it windy, but once we got underway, it was blowing us backwards almost. It took us nearly 3 hours to reach Beccles, as we were pushing the wind and tide, and because i was`nt sure about the operationg temp of the engine, and thought it was running too hot when it was actually slightly UNDER normal running temp, i kept the revs down to 5 mph. Quite an exciting cruise at times, and mooring in Beccles was fun. We got blown around throughout the night, and the stern line the harbourmaster tied on came adrift, but the line Karen tied on was the only one holding us on, she did a good job there. I had to keep re-setting the mudweight, as we had an abnormally high tide, which put to much strain on the weight, which gave way. Eventually, at 04 30, i got up to re-tie our ropes, and get us set. However, that was only half the fun. Later that morning, i looked out to see water everywhere, the quay and surrounding land was ALL under about 6 inches of water. We finally cast off at about 11.30, at which time, the tide was still on the rise, and there was nearly 2ft of water over the quay. I posted up some pictures on a holiday tale, showing the hose on the quay nearly under water, it was that deep. It took us a couple of hours to get to Somerleyton with the tide, by which time it had been on the ebb for an hour and a half, but Somerleyton swing bridge was left open. Good job too, as the height gauge was reading LESS than 6ft 3 ins. We got to Loddon in the afternoon, and set the ropes with plenty of slack in case it did the same that night. It did`nt, and i got some much needed sleep after the previous sleepless night. Even though that was the worst weather we`ve had on the Broads, last November was much the same, though it was nowhere near as bad as it has been recently.

Interesting though, his home built bike was a 70s BSA Rocket 3 engine, housed in a 70s Rob North racing frame. The engine note was distinctly triple in tone, just like my 955i Daytona. Absolutely uniqe. I did like the modified Indian Scout though, it had a nice sound, and looked much more stable, as it`s a laid back cruiser style, designed for straight line cruising, ideal for the wall of death riding. The Rob North Rocket 3 was a modified track racing frame, with much sharper steering, specifically for quick directional changes required on race tracks, the trade off being much reduced straight line stability.

There are many good commercial fisheries, and probably many bad ones, but the reason there are so many day ticket lakes (which i fish all the time except when on the Broads) is because there are far too many closed "club, and syndicate" lakes which are not open to the public, plus their fees are prohibative to many full tiime working anglers. I posted this before on another angling thread, but down here in Dorset, there is one, yes ONE free fishing river stretch. There are a number of day ticket lakes, but most lakes ar club or syndicate only, and the clubs are pricing fishing out of reech to many hard working people, not to mention there families too. One example, the RDAA (Ringwood and district angling association) charge in excess of £150 per annum, plus an innitial joing fee of around £50, Then on top of that, you have to buy keys for certain venues at £5 a time, and that`s each key, for each lake. Add to that the cost of the license along with ever increasing bait costs etc and the costs suddenly become non financially viable for many, and for families, forget it. It really p....s me off when people regard fishing as a working mans pastime, i can`t afford it down here, so don`t go that often, and fish the Broads more in two weeks than i do down here in a year. My last gripe is the license fee. Why should a fisherman have to buy a license for 2 rods max, to fish lakes that are not run or funded by the EA. a few years back, i was talking to the owner of a nearby day ticket lake who told me, if he needed the EA, no matter what for, he had to pay for it. The EA did nothing for free, so why should we pay for an EA license when they then charge for their services to the venue owners?. Maybe the law should be changed so that you don`t need a license to fish private day ticket lakes?.

I forgot to say, i hate carp, and fish for whatever takes the bait. I get more excited at landing things like specimen perch, roach, or even a dace. All quite small, but just as much fun and rewarding, and in the case of a dace, surprising.

When we were on Lightning last May / June, we moored at Loddon on the thursday when one of Richardsons Horizon 35s came in and moored next to us. Festooned all over the cabin top was fishing gear, and they started to fish that afternoon and evening, and it was more than 2 weeks to the season opening. They did`nt affect us in any way, so i let it go. As for the close season on rivers, the close season for spawning is, and always has been a complete myth. Humans live by clenders for convenience, wildlife does`nt live by them at all. Ive seen fish spawn as early as the beginning of February, and as late as Aughust. Did they mis read the calender?. Also, spawning fish don`t feed, and if they don`t feed, they can`t take the bait. I think the close season has been proven by many knowlegable people to be of no use whatsoever to fish stocks etc, so i say do away with it altogether. That said, i do respect others views and the law, so i won`t bring my tackle unless i`m cruising in season, which this year see`s us aboard Lightning for a week and a half from the last weekend in June, so guess what i`l be doing in the evenings?.

3 world records in one, PLUS a cycling world record to back it up. One of the best programmes i`ve seen.

Anybody interrested, Guy is doing his record attempt at the wall of death tonight at 7.15pm, and it`s actually LIVE.

There`s 3 to start with Strow, "A" little bridge, not naming which "little bridge". I don`t think it fair to name any of the other 2 in case it was`nt them. Come to think of it, there`s also another 2 that could meet that description?. 7 if you include Acle bridge, but describing that as a "little bridge" would in all honesty be trying to stretch the truth a bit too far.

I know this is going to be a little contentious, but in my opinion, you SHOULD name and shame the yard in question. Imagine someone who`s never been before, and, with the best intentions in the world, casts off without ANY knowledge of boat handling, fiire safety equipment etc, and safety afloat?. It could lead to tragedy. ANY yard involved in this sort of thing should have their operators licence revoked, as they are risking danger or tragedy, and, this sort of attitude gives all other yards a bad name, especially unfair to the likes of Freedom, Maffetts and others that are quite meticulous in their training programme. It seems to me, and this is only MY opinion, a lot of these incidents are mostly related to the big yards?, so, if the yard management state they don`t have enough time to implement a "set in stone" trial run, then maybe yards should be restricted in the number of boats they can operate SAFELY with their normal staffing levels?. I did say this was going to be a little contentious

Yes, Sweden does look absolutely stunning. There`s only one slight problem though, it`s MEGA EXPENSIVE over there lol. That`s something they never tell you on programmes such as this. Still really good to watch though.

Come back down then. You always be welcome.

This is a really interesting thread, and one that reminds me of a couple of years back. I was laying a concrete base for the shed, and i heard a double "thump". I looked up to see if Karen was closing the windows, but she was`nt in sight. Then i remembered hearing a single similar sounding thump,sometime before, and Karen told me a Blackbird had flown into the garage, and hit the rear window breaking its neck. I looked in the garage window, and could see feathers fluttering about, so went in and found a bird stuck between the bench and the wall. At first, being grey, i though it was a pigeon, but when i got it out, it was limp, but moving its head from side to side, so it was`nt dead. I studied it for a few seconds, and realised it was some kind of bird of prey. I had thick riggers gloves on, and was very glad i did. When the bird started to come round, its claws started to grip my fingers, and had imense strengthe in doing so. By now, my fingers were getting crushed, and i had a real job pulling the bird off of them. I placed the stunned bird on the front garden, and went to look if any other bird was there because of the double thump. Stuck down near the wall was a female blackbird, and when i got this one out, it was quite obviously dead, because its eyes quicjkly went mikly, and its head just hung very loose, obviously chased down by the other bird, and broke its neck when it hit the window first. I took it out and thought i`d put it down by the other bird, as it nearly killed itself trying to catch it, so it earned a free meal. When i took it out to where the other bird was, the other bird had by now come around, and was in a "mantling" position while it recovered. It looked around,directly at me, looked at me for a couple of seconds, and took flight, flying through a tree, and off to freedom. It never did get its free lunch. I could work out which bird of prey it was, it was a speckled grey colour, with very light underbody, so i looked at one my many bird books, and descovere it was a female Sparrowhawk. Now, for anybody who`s interested in birds, especially birds of prey, i`m sure you can imagine the shear joy at holding a live wild female Sparrowhawk in my hands. It was amazing, and something i doubt i`l ever do again. Ironically, reading the text in this particular bird book, it said, "not unknown to kill them selves while chasing other birds and hitting windows". Quite true.

Went to the Dorset boat jumble today, looking for some paint and varnish for Mistral. It was very small, with very little that i wanted. The only things we bought were two cups of tea, and a dozen pair of rigger gloves for a fiver. It was only £3 to get in, and was on our way to Poole anyway, so it made sense to have a look.While we were there, we saw some of those inflatable canoes to which Karen said she liked the look of, and would`nt mind having a go in. Anybody know if Bank boats hire the inflatable ones, as there`s no way on earth she`s going in one of the Canadian canoes they hire, and i`ve always wanted to do the North Walsham and Dilham canal. Then it`ll be a short cruise to Dilham.

Were the judges sick, or just blind. It`s pig ugly, and if the BA want to get tough with people on Thorpe island, why on earth have they let this blatant act of public indecency go through?. Our illustrious mr Packman does`nt live there, does he?.

Absolutely love Dilham, and a nice quiet place to stay. We`ll be on Lightning from late June, and intend going up there for a night. One bit of advice, if you are going to use Kestrel in September, go to Dilham, and pick some fresh blackberries, as they line the river bank for quite a way. We picked loads and made a couple of blackberry and apple pies that evening. Yummy.

It also might explain why he shuns the corperate nesseceites, like public engagements, press confrences etc. That`s one of the main reasons why he was dropped by the mighty Honda, because he used to diasappear on his mountain bike, and go off road somewhere, and taking a book with him. I did read in the MCN some years back that Honda top brass where livid because he refused to go to a post race press conference, for which they`d promised unlimited access for as long as they wanted. I have to admire ANYONE who turns their back on big money etc, because they value their privacy, integrity and self respect far higher. Something a few more of the so called big stars should think about.

At a quick glance at the catalogue, it seems it`s more fishing than boats. Loads of herring nes and long lines etc.

A good piece of advice there, though i will add, when you return the dayboat, you can always get back to your hireboat and take a short cruise back down river to either Womack staithe, which should`nt be full that time of year, or Thurne dyke, and have a drink and a meal in the pub?. Also within a half hour cruise would be Upton Dyke, or moor in the main river, though that would require a walk with a good torch when coming back from the pub.