Recommended Routes Wanted!

[charlottefayelloyd]

Good morning!

I need someone's opinion on which is the best route for our holiday. We are going for 7 days (Friday to Friday) and starting from Richardson's Marina in Stalham.

We are a group of family and friends and want to know which would be the best suited for us. The mother of the group has asked if we could have a scenic route as she loves looking at the natural beauty surrounding the broads (and also likes having a nosey at the amazing houses). Most of us don't mind which route we take but would like it if there were some pubs along the way.

Any recommended routes would be grateful as we've never been for 7 nights before!

[Vaughan]

First question is what sort of boat you have hired. Will it go under Wroxham, Potter Heigham or Wayford bridges?

[charlottefayelloyd]

1 minute ago, Vaughan said:

First question is what sort of boat you have hired. Will it go under Wroxham, Potter Heigham or Wayford bridges?

Its the Moon Voyager (see picture). The air draft is 6ft 9. It definitely will not go under Potter Heigham bridge but unsure about the others.

[Guest]

Vaughan has beaten me to the sensible questions but it is very subjective Charlotte there are so many lovely places to visit, and also depends where you have visited before.

Starting from Stalham you will have to travel down the River Ant which is in itself a stunning river, before heading down the Ant though there are various places to at the very least cruise through, or take them in before you head back to the boatyard, such as Neatishead and up to Dilham if you can get under the bridge and having a look around on Barton Broad.

At the end of the Ant turning right will lead you past or through Ranworth, Horning, Salhouse and eventually Wroxham all are worth a visit during your stay, all have pubs fairly close Horning and Wroxham being more 'lively' and all have scenery to enjoy.

From Wroxham take time to spend a night through Wroxham bridge if you fit under (using the pilot) up to Coltishall, personally, I feel one of the most beautiful stretches of river on the whole broads.

There are a number of bars up there too, you can continue on past the moorings at the Rising Sun pub just be careful as the River does become shallow I believe.

Turning left from the River Ant make sure you pop in at St Benets Abbey to have a look around, you can also walk to the pubs at Ludham Bridge (Dog Inn) about 30 minutes walk, or Ludham (Kings Arms) about 40 minutes walk if all are fit and able.

Have a trip into South Walsham opposite St Benets for a quick spin around the broad, and then there is Potter Heigham and Acle.

Obviously how long you spend stopping off will affect how much you get to fit in but I would advise really visiting each place you stop at and not trying to fit too much in and only briefly seeing each place, wherever you miss you can visit next time.

Sorry I have waffled on a bit but my final bit of advise would be to just sit back relax and take it all in, no rushing and no stressing. Really enjoy each place, don't rush to try and get down South for example, take in the Northern broads and next time maybe start down South and spend the week there seeing what it has to offer.

Time it correct and you should get under all Northern bridges with the exception of Potter Heigham with 6'9" unless conditions are conspiring against you 

Other people will advise better I am sure but hope this helps a little.

 

[LondonRascal]

I'd look at it like this - in the week you are going to be on the boat, and if you stick to go no further south than say Acle - you will be able to visit all the northern Broads. It is just a question of how best to do it..

When you leave Stalham most people head straight down the River Ant - but you might like to to just head a short distance to Neatishead. Very pretty and you can walk to the White Horse pub, that this first day as a chilled day - not much driving, unpack things have a meal and drinks.

Next day have a longer run - head for Horning, Ferry Inn and New Inn and Swan all are pubs here - pretty village too. You can bet your boots you won't get a mooring at the staithe, but if you are going to be eating you can book one at teh New Inn, or moor at the Ferry Inn have a few drinks and wander into the village. They may charge you to moor refundable against food, but  I am unsure what their policy is this year.

Back to the boat and head for Salhouse Broad - really pretty and quiet, or the short trip into Wroxham for the bustle of the village. Get the Pilot to take you under the bridge where your find plenty of moorings. What I have said sounds already like so much - but you could do more in that same day if you wanted more cruising time and less shore side time. I wont say more for now so far as ideas on routes go, but would say have a look our our own cruising charts to work out how far two places in terms of how long it takes to cruise between them - then plan from there:

NBN Journey Times

 

 

[Smoggy]

If sticking to the northern rivers I'd say make stokesby your southern limit as it's a good friendly pub there and not much further down than acle.

All the best folk are on the southern rivers of course.....

[charlottefayelloyd]

1 hour ago, Jayfire said:

Vaughan has beaten me to the sensible questions but it is very subjective Charlotte there are so many lovely places to visit, and also depends where you have visited before.

Starting from Stalham you will have to travel down the River Ant which is in itself a stunning river, before heading down the Ant though there are various places to at the very least cruise through, or take them in before you head back to the boatyard, such as Neatishead and up to Dilham if you can get under the bridge and having a look around on Barton Broad.

At the end of the Ant turning right will lead you past or through Ranworth, Horning, Salhouse and eventually Wroxham all are worth a visit during your stay, all have pubs fairly close Horning and Wroxham being more 'lively' and all have scenery to enjoy.

From Wroxham take time to spend a night through Wroxham bridge if you fit under (using the pilot) up to Coltishall, personally, I feel one of the most beautiful stretches of river on the whole broads.

There are a number of bars up there too, you can continue on past the moorings at the Rising Sun pub just be careful as the River does become shallow I believe.

Turning left from the River Ant make sure you pop in at St Benets Abbey to have a look around, you can also walk to the pubs at Ludham Bridge (Dog Inn) about 30 minutes walk, or Ludham (Kings Arms) about 40 minutes walk if all are fit and able.

Have a trip into South Walsham opposite St Benets for a quick spin around the broad, and then there is Potter Heigham and Acle.

Obviously how long you spend stopping off will affect how much you get to fit in but I would advise really visiting each place you stop at and not trying to fit too much in and only briefly seeing each place, wherever you miss you can visit next time.

Sorry I have waffled on a bit but my final bit of advise would be to just sit back relax and take it all in, no rushing and no stressing. Really enjoy each place, don't rush to try and get down South for example, take in the Northern broads and next time maybe start down South and spend the week there seeing what it has to offer.

Time it correct and you should get under all Northern bridges with the exception of Potter Heigham with 6'9" unless conditions are conspiring against you 

Other people will advise better I am sure but hope this helps a little.

 

Thank you so much for that. It was really helpful information! I just want to be there now. 36 days and counting

[charlottefayelloyd]

1 hour ago, LondonRascal said:

I'd look at it like this - in the week you are going to be on the boat, and if you stick to go no further south than say Acle - you will be able to visit all the northern Broads. It is just a question of how best to do it..

When you leave Stalham most people head straight down the River Ant - but you might like to to just head a short distance to Neatishead. Very pretty and you can walk to the White Horse pub, that this first day as a chilled day - not much driving, unpack things have a meal and drinks.

Next day have a longer run - head for Horning, Ferry Inn and New Inn and Swan all are pubs here - pretty village too. You can bet your boots you won't get a mooring at the staithe, but if you are going to be eating you can book one at teh New Inn, or moor at the Ferry Inn have a few drinks and wander into the village. They may charge you to moor refundable against food, but  I am unsure what their policy is this year.

Back to the boat and head for Salhouse Broad - really pretty and quiet, or the short trip into Wroxham for the bustle of the village. Get the Pilot to take you under the bridge where your find plenty of moorings. What I have said sounds already like so much - but you could do more in that same day if you wanted more cruising time and less shore side time. I wont say more for now so far as ideas on routes go, but would say have a look our our own cruising charts to work out how far two places in terms of how long it takes to cruise between them - then plan from there:

NBN Journey Times

 

 

Thank you so much for the advice! I'm very much looking forward to it!

[charlottefayelloyd]

23 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

If sticking to the northern rivers I'd say make stokesby your southern limit as it's a good friendly pub there and not much further down than acle.

All the best folk are on the southern rivers of course.....

Hahaha ey I'm a Northern girl myself so be careful what you say

Would you not recommend going as far as Great Yarmouth then?

[ranworthbreeze]

9 minutes ago, charlottefayelloyd said:

Hahaha ey I'm a Northern girl myself so be careful what you say

Would you not recommend going as far as Great Yarmouth then?

Unless you are going to the Southern Rivers, personally I think its a waste of fuel going beyond Stokesby.

Try and take in Womak Staithe, its a short walk up the lane to Ludham village.

Regards

Alan

[charlottefayelloyd]

3 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Unless you are going to the Southern Rivers, personally I think its a waste of fuel going beyond Stokesby.

Try and take in Womak Staithe, its a short walk up the lane to Ludham village.

Regards

Alan

Thank you so much for that. We will definitely try and do that! I've heard great things about Ludham village

[TheQ]

The Above advice is Good, a question is,      When are you coming down for your week?  just in case thee is something mad on, We need to give you advice about...

[charlottefayelloyd]

Just now, TheQ said:

The Above advice is Good, a question is,      When are you coming down for your week?  just in case thee is something mad on, We need to give you advice about...

The holiday starts on 20th April until 27th April 2018

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, charlottefayelloyd said:

Thank you so much for that. It was really helpful information! I just want to be there now. 36 days and counting

No probs. Like LondonLad I (and others) have blogs to give you some ideas of places.

I am away 25th March for 2 weeks doing both North and South and will be doing one of my blogs if you fancy keeping up with it for ideas

Why, there's a link to my last one (covering 2 visits) right here 

A Winter's Tale

[charlottefayelloyd]

Just now, Jayfire said:

No probs. Like LondonLad I (and others) have blogs to give you some ideas of places.

I am away 25th March for 2 weeks doing both North and South and will be doing one of my blogs if you fancy keeping up with it for ideas

Why, there's a link to my last one (covering 2 visits) right here 

A Winter's Tale

I will most definitely be reading your previous blogs and I'll look out for your blog after your 2 week holiday. Very exciting!

Thank you.

[TheQ]

On Sunday the 22nd April, Horning Sailing Club have a down river race.

If there is enough wind, ( and not too much), it  will  start somewhere near the Ferry Inn at around 10:30, down to  either The Thurne Lion or Acle Bridge, a stop for Lunch and then race back starting at 14:00.

There could be up to 30 boats starting with the big sailing cruisers, they start in groups of around 6 at 5 minute intervals. 

The general advice to you is, if you come across a big group coming towards you, slow down and stick to the right hand bank and let them sort themselves out to go round you. This applies whether they are tacking or just sailing along the river.

The only exception to that is if they are all coming down the "wrong bank" towards you, without zigzagging across the river. In which case it may be possible to move out into the river to let them through.

 If you come across them and they are sailing away from you, stick to your right hand bank, and when there is a gap go forward to overtake. Always overtake behind a sailing boat if they are tacking, not in front of it.

If you are lucky someone on a sailing boat may point to where they want you to go, my procedure was always to point to the motorboat in question and then point to where I wanted it to go.

Hornings Sailing instructions, prohibit telling a motorboat to go, where it would then be in the way of other boats!!!

You could of course just be moored up somewhere and have a camera and a glass of something while watching them all go past...

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Unless you are going to the Southern Rivers, personally I think its a waste of fuel going beyond Stokesby.

Try and take in Womak Staithe, its a short walk up the lane to Ludham village.

Regards

Alan

Is the Womak Fairy still there, supposedly hidden in a tea garden?

[SwanR]

We did a Friday to Friday holiday from Stalham. 

If you check out my holiday tale when we took Swan Reflection 2 in June 2016 then you will be able to see what we did and the route that we took.

http://forum.norfolkbroadsnetwork.com/topic/10909-the-return-to-swan-reflection-2/

Sounds as if you are going outside of the main season so should have a wonderful time.