Down On The Broads For Our Season Start Weekend

[ranworthbreeze]

Tan and I arrived in Brundall at 1.30 pm and went straight into the Yare for a comfort stop and a meal and a beer. 

It rained all the way down from Sheffield to Brundall so we did well with the journey taking us  a little over three and a half hours, I never turned the windscreen wipers off.

Replenished we headed to the boat to drop off our things before heading to Brian Wards and the shops.

Now sat curtains drawn, heater on and thinking of a bite to eat and maybe a glass of wine.

Regards

Alan

[SueH]

Have a good one.  

I'm very envious - only 3.5 hours to get there.  The shortest time for us is 6 hours including a couple of Rosie 'comfort stops'.

[petersjoy]

2 hours ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Tan and I arrived in Brundall at 1.30 pm and went straight into the Yare for a comfort stop and a meal and a beer. 

It rained all the way down from Sheffield to Brundall so we did well with the journey taking us  a little over three and a half hours, I never turned the windscreen wipers off.

Replenished we headed to the boat to drop off our things before heading to Brian Wards and the shops.

Now sat curtains drawn, heater on and thinking of a bite to eat and maybe a glass of wine.

Regards

Alan

I hoped to get to the boat this week sometime, should have been there today but i've felt under the weather this week

and didn't fancy the drive on my own.

Will definately go down next wednesday for a couple of days.

Alan, whats your favorite route? i normally do the M1 to the M18 or A57 to the A1 then Newark A17/A47.

i hate the run up the A1 through Doncaster to the M62 it always seems slow with trucks passing each other at 1 mph up the duel carriage way as mentioned in one of the other posts.

Paul.

[SteveO]

Lucky people! I am varnishing doors and repairing bits of boat that I have brought home with me and Nik is renovating boat curtains. Can't wait to be up for de-winterising.

Steve

[ranworthbreeze]

21 hours ago, paul&lorna said:

I hoped to get to the boat this week sometime, should have been there today but i've felt under the weather this week

and didn't fancy the drive on my own.

Will definately go down next wednesday for a couple of days.

Alan, whats your favorite route? i normally do the M1 to the M18 or A57 to the A1 then Newark A17/A47.

i hate the run up the A1 through Doncaster to the M62 it always seems slow with trucks passing each other at 1 mph up the duel carriage way as mentioned in one of the other posts.

Paul.

Hi Paul,

We go to Worksop and get onto the A1, A17 and A47, we had a fairly easy run yesterday other than constant rain.

Regards

Alan

[Siddy]

I've stopped taking the Newark turn off and take the next one down at Coddington. It misses that crazy busy roundabout out and puts you back on the A17 a few miles down and the same on the way back.

We've started getting back to Stalham about 1530 to hand boat back and set off that evening instead of an early start to return the boat then like Alan said that run from the A1 to the M62. By the time I get to the A1 it's a clear run home to Elland Road.

 

[petersjoy]

7 hours ago, Siddy said:

I've stopped taking the Newark turn off and take the next one down at Coddington. It misses that crazy busy roundabout out and puts you back on the A17 a few miles down and the same on the way back.

 

Do that all the time myself.

[Hockham Admiral]

I go all the way to the A14; 20 miles further but a heck of a lot easier! (and quicker).

[petersjoy]

3 minutes ago, Hockham Admiral said:

I go all the way to the A14; 20 miles further but a heck of a lot easier! (and quicker).

Thats one way i havn't tried yet, will do this year.

[trambo]

From the North West on weekend days I go via the M56, M60 and over the Woodhouse to the M1 and then as yourselves. Will try those alternatives rather that nightmare island at Newark. Always like bit of variety when travelling down.

Weekdays though I have found the delays too much and use the M56, M6, A14 and A11. Very mundane route and only use when road conditions are expected to be heavy.

Fred

[Siddy]

21 minutes ago, Hockham Admiral said:

I go all the way to the A14; 20 miles further but a heck of a lot easier! (and quicker).

Just checked this out on Tomtom mydrive and it's 2 mins faster but says 40 miles longer. so 50/50 but I tend to follow Tomton live traffic and fastest route.

 

 

[petersjoy]

3 minutes ago, Siddy said:

Just checked this out on Tomtom mydrive and it's 2 mins faster but says 40 miles longer. so 50/50 but I tend to follow Tomton live traffic and fastest route.

 

 

For me to get to Beccles it probably is a good route.

[Siddy]

We used to stay in the Travelodge at Gorleston below Yarmouth and it would have been better for there, now we have the dog that has stopped but I check the other night and all there lodges take dogs for £20 a night.

I'd rather set off afterwork and drive down then have a easy day on the start of the hols, Kaz forgets she sleeps half (most of) the way lol.

[ranworthbreeze]

We have somewhat busy doing some of the various jobs on the boat that we started on Saturday.

Replaced Aft bathroom toilet (the ladies in the syndicate requested a new one at the AGM) 

Replaced the pump on the forward toilet.

Tightened the bull-nose strips on the stairs (the carpet fitter had taken up the carpet on the stairs and in the lounge, galley and aft cabin) these were slightly loose so I thought I had better fix them.

Ran a new coax cable into the aft cabin from the upper helm TV/USB connection box.

Sunday was going backwards and forwards to Wroxham, Roy's  was the order of the day, but we forgot to return a shirt back that I bought in December, Tan hand washed it but a coloured band on it ran slightly. I swapped it for a different shirt and got a slight refund as well.

I had done the PAT testing of all of our appliances on-board but when I came to the small oil filled radiator (bought in December) there was a slight leak of oil from it so a call to Roy's, yes they would exchange it even without a receipt (sadly back in Sheffield). All exchanges done it was back to the boat.

Monday I spent most of my time going backwards and forwards to Brian Wards for bits for the water system. We were having issues with the cold water pulsing, so I fitted an accumulator tank, bit of a faff because I had to move the pump and water filter to fit in the tank, so the pipework needed altering, all in a space that was extremely small in front of the engine after squeezing over the forward toilet tank, at least hatch near to the tank/engine. Tan was passing me tools and parts whilst I was bent almost double.

Job done  we went for a shower and then straight into the Yare for a couple of drinks and our evening meal, on the game front Tan is beating me 8 games to 6 at Rummikub.

Tuesday was fine all day so I worked on the damaged fender socks, inflating  some of the fenders whilst fitting new stocking to several fenders. We then cleaned the outside of the boat.

Hopefully the carpet fitter will arrive at 8.30 in the morning and engineers will also be arriving to deal with work that I am not happy with. 

Regards

Alan

 

[ZimbiIV]

Alan, is this a holiday?

If not and you have some spare time can you nip round to Cove and repaint the anti-slip paint on the bathing platform.

I am having the same type of break end of March, paint the anti-slip areas white, change the go faster stripes, remove the curtains for cleaning and I have not even looked at Jill's to do list, but I think a week maybe long enough to read the list!

paul

[Baitrunner]

I was down yesterday evening and didnt see any lights on so you must have already been back in the pub!!!

it wasn't a bad evening. 

Seems a lot of jobs being done of late!!!

[SwanR]

This is exactly why we didn't buy a boat in the end ... we would have to pay other people to do all the little jobs you're very cleverly doing yourself, Alan. 

How much longer are you there? Hope you get some time to just relax and enjoy the rivers.

[Gracie]

I agree Jean, I think our lovely Alan enjoys doing those little jobs though, perhaps it's all part of the fun, although sitting on deck with a glass of something nice seems much more fun to me lol. We couldn't do the sort of jobs Alan does, if we owned a boat, after a few seasons she would resemble the African Queen

Hope you and Tan are finding some R & R time, you would think after all this work you're doing, Tan would at least let you win at Rummikub

Grace

 

[addicted]

We brought the ball enders and bow fender home a couple of weeks ago to do a much needed cleaning job. It's a job Tony hates as it's so laborious and the fenders being white and more than 20 years old makes it quite a challenge,. This year for the first time he tried Cillit |Bang  mould and mildew remover and it worked a treat with apparently minimum effort,. they were clean in next to no time and after a polish with Mer looked almost new again and they were bought in 1996! thought some of you who haven't found this remedy already may find this helpful

 

 

Carole

[ZimbiIV]

Jean, as we spend 12 to 14 weeks on the boat I enjoy doing little jobs, but I have a dodgy back so anything require scrambling about in the bilges/engine bay is done Mark at Ignition Marine.

It will not belong before you can see little things to do in your caravan.

Alan I got some handy stair nosing strips with a non-slip edge that made the cheap carpet tiles look really good.

That's on Jill's list, when I fitted the tiles I mistakenly said rather than buy expensive ones I would change them every 2 years,

guess how long they have been down.

paul

[Hockham Admiral]

On 05/03/2017 at 10:23 AM, Siddy said:

Just checked this out on Tomtom mydrive and it's 2 mins faster but says 40 miles longer. so 50/50 but I tend to follow Tomton live traffic and fastest route.

 

 

Siddy ,  hi.

We live in Gt Hockham,  midway twixt Watton & Thetford. I've checked it in my odometer and found it 20 miles further.

Whatever, it's a goodly sight easier!   

[SwanR]

8 hours ago, ZimbiIV said:

It will not belong before you can see little things to do in your caravan.

Oh yes ... that would be make a cup of coffee ... eat a slice of cake ... read the paper ... watch the tv ... make more coffee ... repeat the loop!

[ZimbiIV]

Oh yes, that's what we thought on our first boat then it was a reading light here, a shelf there etc. Then a little more room.

The more you use the caravan the more it becomes a home the more you would like to change!

I have a very good friend who bought a static caravan nearby, just for the odd weekend away! now he has a chalet with hot tub, Barbie area, CONSERVATORY and now they stay at home for a change at the weekend.

paul

[ranworthbreeze]

Now back at home after leaving Brundall this afternoon, carpets have now been fitted, boat cleaned inside and out ready for the season. The engineers have looked at the boat finally since I asked them to meet with me to on Monday, well it was Thursday when they turned up, not too long for Norfolk

Jobs that should have been done in December still to be done, work that needs rectifying. The joys of boat ownership and management.

Regards

Alan