There And Back ,to See How Far It Was .

[Bob48]

well what an eventful four days that was , it started well , usual headless chicken routine on Monday morning getting everybody organised for the trip , so where to begin? i suppose it would have to start with the taxi . i called our local taxi company to book a taxi for 6 people plus luggage to go to our railway station , we get a saloon car show up , clearly not suitable for task so i get the driver to get an alternative cab, this shows up still not big enough but time is running out and we have to get to the railway station so we all cram ourselves into the cab . from here on things get much better , the train is on time ,  get off in Norwich , a walk up to Castle meadow for the bus to Stalham , again nicely on time so no hanging around .next stop the boatyard , Tobago sits waiting patiently for us we leave the boat yard at 2.15 , now my original plan is going somewhat awry at this point , needless to say we didn't get to Salhouse broad on the first night , so it was Ludham bridge , a fine meal in the Dog Inn  and a drink or two ,  we head back to the boat and have another glass of wine, i must mention the beauty of the night sky , at Ludham the sky was really very clear  it was incredible to see , we live in a city and the sky , even on a very clear night never looks like that , it was a very long tiring first day . Tuesday an we awake to a beautiful clear morning ,sadly my dear Mum had a bit of a trip at the public toilets and  as it turned out later had broken a bone in her foot. our lad did a spot of fishing  and had a few " tiddlers " , so now that we have to revise our plan we head down the Ant to the Bure and turn toward Horning, a fine gentle run  along this fabulous stretch of water things took a strange turn at the Ferry inn , the Woodbastwick staithe moorings have sprouted  signs that say " private property , no mooring " this is because the land lord of said hostelry has bought the land and closed the moorings , i am also led to beleive that the moorings outside the pub are now " stern on " can't see how this is safe to be honest , just my opinion . anyway we make it to Salhouse and get moored up , a fine evening awaited us , not too cold ,my wife cooked Spaghetti bolognese aboard and it was fantastic.Wednesday we wake to find a stiff breeze from the SSE we had already abandoned our plan to go to Coltishall on the Tuesday morning due to things beyond my control so we headed for Ranworth , it is interesting to note how much havoc ,chaos and mayhem the wind creates in Ranworth, there were boats of all shapes and sizes being blown all over the place , we got in relatively well without to much drama thankfully ,at this point i must mention how well behaved Tobago 3 is , she is very responsive to her helm , much more so than her sister , T3. i found her to not need the constant input and trim/re-trim , her engine i thought was very quiet despite having a hydraulic drive, her quarters are very comfortable , and i shall definately be booking her again. so we are at Ranworth , the old boy had some cracking perch from here , we ate at the Maltsters this evening and a fine meal it was too, good portions at a very good price , a few pints to wash it down and some conversation and a couple of games of pool for the wife and kids , ( the pool table , if you are interested in such things , is situated outside under a gazebo ) back to the boat for the remainder of the evening  a few glasses of wine to while away the time and our thought return to having to take our selves back to the boat yard . Thursday morning breaks bright but not so breezy , thankfully , bacon sarnies all round and a cuppa to get us started , then we are off again, a short hop to Horning marshes , and some more bait from the tackle shop .we stayed for a few hours before a slow run back to the boat yard , and this is where the fun began , we go back to Richardsons yard about 4.30 , to find 2 boats moored up beam on in the Swan quay , , one of which the person on board said " i can't moor up stern on i have never been shown how to do it " to one of Richardsons' yard staff after this it got silly , just before dark another boat came into the yard , and moored up not far from the wetshed , there it stayed , until the light was almost gone then the people aboard decided it was a great time to go and moor up somewhere else ,  so here is the scene a 40ft boat with a dog loose running around the freeboards , in the dark while one of it's owners is calling it  a " naughty boy " while the other owner is trying to stern moor , utter madness . we  had a great time , as for Mums foot she'll be in a " ski boot "  thingy for 6 weeks while her bone heals .

if you have been , thanks for reading our tale .

stay safe every body .

Bob

 

[deebee29]

Hello Bob

sorry to hear about your mum's foot, hope it didn't spoil the holiday too much for her.

the antics os some people never cease to amaze me sometimes.

I hope you still managed to enjoy the holiday in spite of the things that went wrong

[Mowjo]

Hope everythings OK Bob! the title made me laugh as thats been one of my sayings since I was a little kid, anyone ask where I'm going or where I've been the answer is usually, There and back to see how far is,,,

[deebee29]

Same here

My Grandparents always used to say it

[Bob48]

i'd like to thank deebee and Mowjo , for your concern for my Mum, she is doing well the swelling has gone down and the rather nasty bruise has faded somewhat  ,at 72 years of age she is still very independant and as you can imagine this has rather put the kaibosh on her getting about , it has made her very irritable to say the least , i shall pass on your regards to her . thankyou again.

Bob

[deebee29]

Glad to hear your Mum's improving Bob

It's good that she's still independant, my mum is 85 and she's just the same, we had a great week ( the week before you ) and she loved every minute.

heres a link to the tale if you're intersted http://forum.norfolkbroadsnetwork.com/topic/11577-another-brilliant-broads-holiday/?page=1

 

[BroadScot]

Mum's have to be looked after......and spoiled !

Iain

[Broads01]

Thanks for sharing Bob. What a shame not everything went right but you still seemed to have got a lot out of it. Any photos of Tobago?

[Bob48]

18 hours ago, Broads01 said:

Thanks for sharing Bob. What a shame not everything went right but you still seemed to have got a lot out of it. Any photos of Tobago?

i have a lot of photos mostly off boat though , i have a video to upload as soon as i have done so i'll send the link .

[marshman]

Just to correct one little point - i believe the landlord at the Ferry has only taken on the lease of the land opposite the Ferry and the stern only mooring "trial" has now ended and its back to normal until its considered again by the BA at the next Nav Comm meeting - perhaps, until that is resolved he will reopen the other side??

More likely, he will continue to be obstructive and decide to force every boat over to the Ferry side so he can either take mooring fees or you to eat his "food" - what else would you expect?

This story not yet over and the more people who write to Lucy Burchnall at the BA to complain the less chance of that dangerous trial being extended next year - to be honest not found a single person who approves what is going on but if you don't complain now, it will be too late to have any effect!

 

[Wussername]

Heaven forbid that there could be a mass moor in.....or moor on.

Old Wussername

[SwanR]

Enjoyed reading your writeup Bob. Having a few nights away on a short break is wonderful but it goes so quickly and there are always places you wish you had time to get to. 

Good to hear that your mum is on the mend.

[marshman]

Hi Jonzo - the issue , IMHO and for what its worth, is that visibility is so much more limited and going upstream you have only a short period in which to see whats happening and if necessary take action. It is difficult in motor boats but I am sure those who operate larger sailing boats, like wherries, just do not have enough time to stop. It also happens to be on a difficult bend from a wind point of view and some sailing vessels have struggled to tack through.

Now thats fine if you can start your engine but I have seen a number of Hunters boats struggle given the reduced room. Now the lack of boats on the Woodbastwick side has improved matters, but at the same time the landlord now wants to stern moor throughout his whole frontage! Cannot think why he wants to do that!!

The New Inn is less of an issue as you have much much better visibility and can plan ahead more easily - the problem at Ferry is that it is on quite a sharp bend with limited visibility.

 

[BroadScot]

1 hour ago, marshman said:

the problem at Ferry is that it is on quite a sharp bend with limited visibility.

It must be interesting when Southern Comfort is in the area, especially at that sharp bend ! 

[BuffaloBill]

My view for what it's worth.........

The Ferry has a long history of planning issues and so I do believe that they took over the Woodbastwick moorings and closing them was purely to get the planning for stern-on moorings along their entire frontage.......and then open up the moorings opposite again to get even more custom at a later date.

Sceptical....me?.........

Yes it has twice caused me problems but fortunately without damage.

[MauriceMynah]

Then we be a pair of sceptics together BB!

[TheQ]

can I make it a triplet?

[lurcher]

If its occurred to us I cant see the BA missing the trick,but when considering the stern on moorings are they allowed to consider what might happen on the opposite bank?

[marshman]

Not sure about Southern Comfort but I do know for a fact that Broads Tours boats if out in an evening, made sure they did not meet outside the pub by talking to each other by radio - not seen as an issue in those circumstances but alright for some!!!