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All Aboard The Broads On Sonnet 1


SwanR

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So here we are again. Another adventure complete although it's taken me a little while to find time to start writing this up. We were out for a Monday to Friday midweek break on board Brinks Sonnet 1 - I'll write a little about the boat itself once I've written up the five days afloat.

Day One started somewhat differently from all our other trips as we had spent the weekend in the caravan at Lowestoft. Instead of our usual drive up from Essex that meant that we could make a very leisurely start as it was only about an hour to get to Wroxham. Felt very strange to be approaching from the east instead of the south. But one of my highlights of the week was on that journey over. As those who have followed my previous tales may know, we haven't yet made the journey across Breydon Water, preferring to hire on the north or the south and stay that side. But we've now watched so many videos of people making the crossing that we feel well prepared and that we would know what to do.

Imagine my excitement then when driving up the A47 we were alongside Bravedon Water and coming over the bridge we have seen so many people cruise under. And then ... wait for it ... into sight came the famous yellow post!! My first ever sighting in real life!! All I can say is that it looked very bright and very shiny and very yellow. :dance

Excitement over we continued to Wroxham on what was a somewhat grey and rainy morning if I recall correctly. On arrival we checked into Barnes Brinkcraft about 12.15 and with our mobile number duly noted for contact purposes when the boat was ready, we made our way into Roy's Town. Feeling a little peckish we thought maybe we would try the cafe by the river for lunch. There being no menu outside we ventured in and sat down. However ... nothing took my fancy, the place felt as if it was trading heavily on its location and so we politely took our leave, letting the staff know that it just wasn't what we were looking for. Hmmm ... back around the corner we decided on Grey's fish and chips. Wonderful. Very friendly staff, very freshly cooked cod and chips for two, great service and I would highly recommend stopping in there to eat should you ever be at a loose end in Wroxham ... or is that bit Hoveton ... I can never remember.

Fully refreshed we wandered across the road and down by the moorings on the other side of the bridge. Oh yes ... the bridge. Saw the pilot take someone through and figured that if we weren't too much longer there would still be time for us to get under and down to Coltishall for the first time. We didn't wait much longer for our call back to the yard and were able to get on board and unpack. If you hire an Elite Fleet boat you get a little pack of goodies including tea, coffee and biscuits. If you are a returning customer from within a certain time then you also get a nice hamper - amazing chocolate brownies, fresh bread, real butter and some cheese, eggs, sausages and bacon. Now that's worth having. :)

Anyway ... realising that we didn't need a trial run, just a quick reminder of the boat having taken Sonnet 3 out four years ago, we were soon ready to depart. I did ask if there was any chance that they could take us under the bridge. The chap duly checked with someone in the yard who said "No chance". We weren't convinced but weren't going to argue. They seemed more concerned about whether we would get back under with the heavy rain forecast for later in the week. Hmmm ... we would have come back the next morning but admittedly low tide was now about three hours past so instead we headed at a very leisurely pace out of Wroxham, past Salhouse Broad, through Horning, past Ranworth and onto Fleet Dyke.

This was our eleventh trip to the Broads in the last five years but there are still things we haven't done and I like being able to tick some of those off my list. Here's the first one. This was our first time mooring at the first moorings you come to on the bend about halfway up the dyke. A very nice chap from Silver Emblem came out and helped by taking one of the ropes for us. With a very slow approach we were safely in. Hurray! Time to unpack, have some tea and then a walk up to the Bure. I spotted this little bird along the way which I believe to be a goldfinch.

 

 

Goldfinch.jpg

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Lovely photo Jean, also loved your sense of excitement at spotting the yellow post!  I know what you mean, I get all in a do-dah every single time we travel to the Broads and drive over the Postwick Viaduct toward our destination. By the way, travelling under it for the first time a month ago was another first (and quite exciting).  I loved the signs saying it had a restricted clearance!

Helen

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Helen we always laugh about the height notification at the Postwick Viaduct. We've done that part of the Southern Broads a number of times and it's one of our favourite stretches of river, from Brundall past Bramerton and on towards Norwich although we've always turned round before we get as far as the city.

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Day Two dawned bright and sunny with the promise of the best day for weather according to the forecast which proved to be correct. I love being up and away early from the moorings - if I can be first off then I'm very happy. Can't remember the exact time we left, probably around 8am. We just beat a little green Ricko's bathtub which started to let go of their ropes even though we were already manoeuvring to reverse away and then pull forwards. Thus started the day of the Ant which was also the day of the boat antics.

On our last trip afloat we had hired Moon Beam from Acle and only having four days we had avoided Ludham Bridge as it's a flybridge cruiser needing the upper helm for best visibility. So this time we wanted to spend a day cruising the Ant and figured that was best done in the sunshine. I was at the helm and hadn't long made the turn from the Bure into the Ant when I realised that the aforementioned San-Something-Or-Other was right behind us. And I mean ... right behind us. I like that stretch of river from the Bure to Ludham Bridge but it's twisty-turny and not the place for overtaking ... in my very humble opinion. But that's exactly what the other boat did. Couldn't possibly have known if there was anything coming. I eased back on the throttle not wanting to end up in a sticky situation and let them get past. River rage so early in the day! Funny thing was that once we got through Ludham Bridge there they were moored at the water point. Hubby reckoned that they were simply trying to make sure that they got there before us!!

Anyway, the rest of our cruise up the stretch to Barton Broad was uneventful and you can see some of it in the video that I will post up when I get to the end of the tale. Next came another of the items to be ticked off my list. Despite watching many videos on YouTube I have never managed to see anyone showing exactly how to take the turning from Barton Broad to Gaye's Staithe. Yes, I'm a little scared of open water with channels marked out that can be very confusing when you're not used to them. But this was the trip to give it a go and it was fine. We found Gaye's Staithe but it looked full so we simply turned around and headed back across to moor for a very welcome cup of coffee at Paddy's Lane, another favourite mooring that we haven't been to for quite some while. The narrow dyke to Neatishead can wait for another trip.

After that it was a lovely cruise up to Sutton then all the way back down to Ludham Bridge where we moored up and walked to the Dog Inn for lunch. Friendly, welcoming staff and the food was ok so a nice stop which we would go back to but it isn't on my list of all time greats. Back to the boat in what was now very hot sunshine ... and this is where the next events unfolded. An elderly couple on another hire boat were trying to moor up. The gentleman got off onto the bank leaving his lady at the helm. But the wind blew the boat perpendicular to the bank and he couldn't get it tied up. She put the boat into forward gear and he did that thing of keeping hold of the rope and almost being dragged into the water. She went hard into reverse and slammed into the bank! Hubby went along and offered to help but his assistance was refused. Fortunately a couple of BA rangers were there in a boat and they pretty much insisted on getting the couple safely moored up.

Deeming it now ok to proceed we left the mooring and cruised back down to Ranworth. As we crossed Malthouse Broad there was a boat ahead of us which took the last space on the staithe. We weren't bothered and happily opted for the Island which is another favourite. Amazingly the grass was completely clean and there were no geese in sight!! Electric mudweight deployed that was us done for the day. Now anyone on the Facebook group would then have seen my posts that evening when the winch refused to wind back up when hubby wanted to take up a little slack on the chain. I will tell you how that worked out on Day Three ... but for now here's a picture of what eventually transpired when hubby had to manually haul it up the next morning!

 

Chains.jpg

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3 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Lovely photo Jean, also loved your sense of excitement at spotting the yellow post!  I know what you mean, I get all in a do-dah every single time we travel to the Broads and drive over the Postwick Viaduct toward our destination. By the way, travelling under it for the first time a month ago was another first (and quite exciting).  I loved the signs saying it had a restricted clearance!

Helen

The Postwick Viaduct is also my entry and exit view of the Broads from the road. If there's no traffic behind me I slow down to get more time for the river view. Passing under by boat is brilliant because I feel so privileged to be in Broads world whilst watching the traffic shooting over in normal world. 

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Now Day Three was a slightly odd one as we had to get the electric mudweight sorted out before we could do anything else. I have to say again that everyone who conversed with me on our Facebook group the evening before was fantastic. So nice to know that we would get sound advice and support from a very friendly and helpful and knowledgeable group of people.

So just after 8am on Wednesday morning we phoned the yard. Have to say that I wasn't overly impressed with the response which was basically along the lines of "we will come out and help you but you have to get to somewhere with land access first of all". I can understand the need to do this if at all possible but it didn't feel very reassuring at the time. The engineer on the phone wasn't familiar with the boat and didn't sound as if he really believed us that all the workings were hidden in the bow and we honestly couldn't see anything to answer his questions. 

Anyway it was a very wet start to the day so we weren't losing too much as we wouldn't have made our usual early getaway in the rain. Hubby had no option but to try to haul up the mudweight - avoiding this was why we had taken this boat so we weren't best pleased. It wouldn't budge so we had to do a bit of backwards and forwards to break the suction and then hubby had to haul it all up. In trying to get it working we had probably let out most of the chain. And it was filthy of course. Knowing that no-one had left the staithe I decided that heading for Ferry Marina was our best bet. A very inspired choice as when we got there the frontage was almost empty and we were able to moor without any problem. Called the yard again and while we waited for the engineer hubby took the opportunity to fill the water and clean the decks, getting rid of all the mud in the process.

A very nice chap turned up quite quickly and knew exactly where to find the winch. He had to pull the fridge out to get to the workings. And he sussed out that four links in the chain had got twisted hence it wasn't working. To fix it he had to take the whole thing apart. Took him about 90 minutes by which time the rain had eased off and we were just glad it was sorted out. So we set off having decided that we would head for Potter Heigham. Here's my next item crossed off the list - we had a lovely cruise down the Bure and up the Thurne and then moored in Herbert Woods yard to have our lunch, the first time we had been in there. After a little wander around we headed off and found ourselves a space at Womack Water. 

Lovely place to moor as you can get off and have a good walk. We wandered all the way down the footpath past the moorings in the dyke and along to the corner of the Thurne. Had a chat with a lady who was on a syndicate boat at the staithe with her husband but I can't remember which boat it was ... Evening Shadow perhaps? Anyway it was their first time out and it's interesting when you start to talk to people and realise just how much you know about the area. By now it was a very warm afternoon again and an ice cream from the shop was a very welcome refreshment.

An uneventful evening followed just chilling out and relaxing ... and yes we did put the mudweight down given that it's a stern-on mooring.

Here's a photo from our lunchtime stop which shows you where the mudweight is located on Sonnet and why we couldn't get sight of the winch!

HW.jpg

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Day Four then, our last full day afloat. And it was beautiful. How do you describe that early morning stillness and light and the river to yourself. We were first away from Womack Water just after 7.30am and what a delight it was to cruise down the Thurne before anyone else was around. The water was amazing, you could hear the birdsong, and there was something so magical that this was one of my absolute highlights of the trip.

When we reached the Bure we turned left for a run down to Acle ... for no other reason than because we could. We didn't need to stop for water or anything, it was just a chance to let the engine run a bit faster and enjoy the rivers with less traffic than in the much busier months of June and September when we were out last year. But we did have a plan for the day and this was to be the Three Broads Day! :)

The weather was definitely on board with our plans and so having turned round and cruised back up the river and down Fleet Dyke we made our first stop on the mudweight in South Walsham Broad for coffee. Some while later we moved off and along to Ranworth where we dropped the mudweight again on Malthouse Broad to have lunch - that was today's "first" as we have moored at the staithe and on the Island many times but never mudweighted in the Broad. Stayed there quite a while watching all the boats coming in and circling for that elusive space on the staithe which had been full again already when we arrived. One boat in particular just couldn't seem to grasp that they really weren't going to get in - we watched them going backwards and forwards and around again a number of times until finally they got the message and left.

Anyway ... sometime later we decided to move on and had a lovely cruise along through Horning and down to Salhouse Broad where we moored stern-on again for our final night. As you will have gathered we were determined to use the electric mudweight having got it fixed!! We then walked up to the Woodforde Brewery shop as hubby wanted to stock up on bottles of Wherry ... and with it being so warm we bought ice creams there as well. That is quite some walk right from the moorings so we were ready for a sit-down once we got back. The very cheeky ducks had now landed on the boat, walked around the edge and very nearly dropped in for a bite to eat. They couldn't seem to believe that we would dare to not feed them!! There is some footage of them on the roof of the boat next to us on my video ... which is coming once I get to the end of the tale.

 As is often the case when we are at Salhouse Broad, the wind got up and the rain came down that night. The sound of the water slapping against the side of the boat kept us awake for quite some time. But everything was now as packed up as it could be ready to return the boat to Barnes Brinkcraft the next day.

Ranworth.jpg

Duck.jpg

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Day Five dawned breezy and grey and wet. We were up even earlier than usual so as to finish our packing and clearing up, have some breakfast and make that final cruise into Wroxham. Not the best day for it but nonetheless it was a pleasure to be out on the river.

Arriving at the boatyard we were flagged by one of the staff as to where they wanted me to moor the boat. That was helpful as otherwise you are left trying to make a quick decision as you come round the bend and at a point where you can't really see where the spaces are going to be. The same young man straight away filled the diesel and radioed the amount through to the office. That done there was no reason to hang around so we went over to the office to collect our usual refund on our fuel deposit and load up the car. It certainly wasn't a morning for walking around Wroxham so we got straight into the car but headed back to the caravan rather than to home.

We stopped to get some shopping on the way and then enjoyed a quiet day before heading for home on the Saturday morning. 

That was it then. More memories made and another adventure completed. I will write a review of the boat in the Hire Boats forum so as to make it more accessible. So all that remains is to leave you with my video for anyone interested to take a look.

 

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Good to know. We didn't have any problems on Sonnet 3 a few years back. It only took so long for the engineer to fix it because of where they have located it as well. If it was more like you see on other boats, dropping over the middle of the bow on a winch, then the chap said he could have sorted it out in minutes!

Still it was useful to have and we wouldn't let that put us off this or any other boat with an electric mudweight.

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