First Ever Time

[WherryNice]

23 minutes ago, vanessan said:

But then what do you knock the second one in with? 

That's when it can get a bit tricky..........

[BroadAmbition]

Stop people! No knocking, no hammers if you are, your doing it all wrong. Sheesh, I need to get the vid done sooner than I  thought

Griff

[JennyMorgan]

9 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Actually there is a ‘secret’ way of getting Rhond anchors into hard  ground with no stamping or hammer. I’ll do a short video sometime for Robin to post up

welcome Bubba

Griff

If you have lovingly burnished stainless steel rhond anchors then you wouldn't want to maul them with a lump hammer either! The way is no secret, just that folk won't believe how easy it is! 

[grendel]

I would imagine its something to do with letting a several tonne boat do the hard work.

[BrundallNavy]

On 23/08/2018 at 11:18, Wyndham said:

Hi Bubba,

It's a tricky one this as what you're proposing for the week is possible but there could be some issues.

The tide times are not great.

You could do this,

Sat - north somewhere not, far from Richardsons.

Sun - Bimble around and then aim to be at Gt. Yarmouth for 5-30/6.00 pm for crossing Breydon (slack is 6.00pm) and on to a mooring, Reedham/ Hardley/Cantley.

Mon - off to Norwich for the day/night.

Tue - Bimble around and end up mooring within easy striking distance of Gt. Yarmouth.

Wed - Early start to arrive Gt Yarmouth 8-30/9.00 (Slack is at 7-20 but should be OK)

Thur - Head back up north wherever.

Fri - Bimble around and moor up close to Ricchos for the return Sat. morning.

So it could be done, however, the late crossing of Breydon on Sunday doesn't leave a lot of time to find a mooring before dark and it will probably be busy as it's Bank Holiday weekend. You will also have to deal with some strong tides which may not be the best thing as this is your first time. I feel you could be adding stress when that's the last thing you want to do.

If it were me, I'd have a cruise to Gt. Yarmouth to spend a day/night there. Make sure you arrive and leave when the rangers are on duty to assist you. If a visit to Norwich is a must then I'd get the train from Wroxham (Hoveton really). Only takes about 15 mins.

Have a great holiday.

Sunset on the Sunday is 18-57 so you would only just reach the top of Breydon by sunset you have at least another 45 mins to reach Reedham In the dark with no ranger present and little chance of finding a space so I would strongly recommend against crossing at this time. You could stay in Yarmouth overnight and look to cross Monday morning but it would be a very early start 06-00. Not really something I would want to do on my first trip. 

[Polly]

And hire boats are supposed to moor by sunset 

[BroadAmbition]

As are private craft if no nav lights fitted

Griff

[bubba]

Found out this morning that my boss and his wife have done the broads quite a few times so they have given me some good advice - mainly on what pubs to do :)

We are aiming to set off between 4-5am so its early to bed.

Thanks once again for all the advice. If anyone else is out there this next week, give me a blast on your horn :D

[VetChugger]

" If you have lovingly burnished stainless steel rhond anchors then you wouldn't want to maul them with a lump hammer either! The way is no secret, just that folk won't believe how easy it is!  "

Which is why I suggested a rubber mallet!

[Wyndham]

5 hours ago, brundallNavy said:

Sunset on the Sunday is 18-57....

19-57 BST

[BrundallNavy]

3 minutes ago, Wyndham said:

19-57 BST

Oops was looking at GMT. 

[JamesLV]

2 hours ago, brundallNavy said:

Oops was looking at GMT. 

That is you literally getting your coat isn’t it 

[JennyMorgan]

7 hours ago, VetChugger said:

" If you have lovingly burnished stainless steel rhond anchors then you wouldn't want to maul them with a lump hammer either! The way is no secret, just that folk won't believe how easy it is!  "

Which is why I suggested a rubber mallet!

Can't have rubber skid marks on his well polished shank now can we!?

[bubba]

Well, first day back at work so thought I would update on our weeks break.

It was brilliant...in fact so good that we booked for next year on the Wednesday though this time with friends. The weather could have been better and one day it was so bad we had to moor up for the day as our boat had no wipers. But apart from that it was probably the most relaxing holiday that I have had.

The girls (11 year old twins) got slightly bored towards the end. In fact we got back to Stalham on the Thursday night and drove down to Great Yarmouth for the day in the car. But other than that they enjoyed it including having a good at driving and doing the mooring.

It is expensive down there. The village shops are ridiculously priced as are the pubs with not a single pub using a sparkler on their ale - how do you southern folk drink without it?

[SwanR]

Glad to hear that you had a good time. Don't be alarmed ... it is a perfectly normal symptom of the Broads Bug to book your next trip within a few days.

The more times that you return, the more you find the places that become your own personal favourites.

You reminded me also that the one time we took our children, back in the 90s, we also ended up spending a day in Great Yarmouth before coming home ... a nice swim in the pool at the leisure centre and a few goes on the slot machines rounded off our week away that year.

[Polly]

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reporting back. Now, stick around and find out lots to enhance next year’s holiday. 

[webntweb]

2 hours ago, bubba said:

It is expensive down there. The village shops are ridiculously priced as are the pubs with not a single pub using a sparkler on their ale - how do you southern folk drink without it?

In my experience Broads' village shops are no more expensive than any other holiday area. They can't compete with the buying power of supermarkets and have a short season to make a living.

The following is borrowed from the Camra website:

Serving real ale 

The most common means of dispensing real ale is the beer engine - a tall handpump on the bar, which operates a simple suction pump. When the handle is pulled a half pint is drawn into the glass. 

Sometimes in the Midlands and North an electric pump is used. This simply uses a machine to do the same work as the handpump in drawing beer to the bar. In appearance electric pumps can be confused with the dispensers used for keg beer. Real ale can of course be poured straight out of a cask behind the bar, often called gravity dispense. Finally, in Scotland, a tall fount is used. This drives beer to the bar with air pressure. There is one final point about the beer's journey to the glass. Serving beer through any handpump agitates the beer to some extent and aerates it. Some dispense systems deliberately maximise this agitation. A sparkler is a tight nozzle, normally at the end of a long 'swan-neck' tube. Beer must be forced through the tight holes, often requiring several strokes of the handpump. This agitation produces a thick creamy head; it also removes much of the natural carbonation from the body of the beer, and drives much of the hop bitterness into the head of the pint. Such dispense is traditional in some parts of the North, and beers are brewed there with this in mind. Used on other beers it leads to a different flavour balance to that intended by the brewer - the beer may become blander than the brewer wanted. 

No gas needed

There are systems which dispense cask conditioned beer by gas pressure. Other systems store cask beer under gas so as to prolong the shelf-life. CAMRA disapproves of both systems and actively discourages their use. The first makes beer unpleasantly fizzy, the second interferes with the maturation processes of the beer. Such gas systems are not needed in a well run pub.

[bubba]

I appreciate the reason for the high prices in shops. As a Yorkshireman though it was still a bit of a shock.

As for the Sparkler, without it, it just tastes flat and many of the beers were from the north including from a small brewery just a mile down the road from where I work near Bradford. I was actually very surprised to see it available.

[ranworthbreeze]

46 minutes ago, bubba said:

I appreciate the reason for the high prices in shops. As a Yorkshireman though it was still a bit of a shock.

As for the Sparkler, without it, it just tastes flat and many of the beers were from the north including from a small brewery just a mile down the road from where I work near Bradford. I was actually very surprised to see it available.

As a Yorkshire man myself, I can relate to the term "how much" After saying that some of local shops the can be better value than the supermarkets or DIY stores. 

When on holiday I take a different approach to buying items if for myself, if I have my syndicate head on then I check out the best price or best local services.

Regards

Alan

 

[VetChugger]

Along time ago in a town far away from the Norfolk Broads I worked in a pub where the "beer" arrived in a road tanker and was pumped into huge tanks. The tanks contained an equally huge plastic bag which was new to each fill. Gas pressure was used to push this  noxious substance into glasses. At the time I worked in a very large establishment in Leeds where, behind a bar about 12 yards long ten of us worked non stop (and I mean non stop and very rapidly) for  at least 3 hours chucking this out to thirsty students. They quaffed this stuff at an unbelievable rate!

[grendel]

I remember a pub in ireland, it had the best guiness I ever tasted, which owing to the location of the pub was reputed to be piped direct from the brewery in a plot of land behind the pub.

[FairTmiddlin]

Best 10 pints of Guinness I had was propping up the bar in Guinness Park Royal Social Club all free. Was when I was a manager of a Whitbread pub. Back in the 90's

[Cal]

On 03/09/2018 at 12:27, bubba said:

I appreciate the reason for the high prices in shops. As a Yorkshireman though it was still a bit of a shock.

As for the Sparkler, without it, it just tastes flat and many of the beers were from the north including from a small brewery just a mile down the road from where I work near Bradford. I was actually very surprised to see it available.

We do a big beer shop before we pick the boat up so that we have enough to last us on the boat without having to buy from the local shops.

Same with food. We know where there are decent butchers so we use those, then we only have to worry about fruit and veg and basics such as bread and milk which don't really cost that much even in the most expensive shops.

If you are hiring from Richardsons again next year then there is a big Tesco store near the yard and a cracking butchers on the High Street.

We had a decent curry delivered to the boat as well when we moored on Stalham Staithe.

ETA: We do eat and drink out in the pubs as well. Don't want to sound like too much of a tight Yorkshire Lass!

[bubba]

2 hours ago, Cal said:

We do a big beer shop before we pick the boat up so that we have enough to last us on the boat without having to buy from the local shops.

Same with food. We know where there are decent butchers so we use those, then we only have to worry about fruit and veg and basics such as bread and milk which don't really cost that much even in the most expensive shops.

If you are hiring from Richardsons again next year then there is a big Tesco store near the yard and a cracking butchers on the High Street.

We had a decent curry delivered to the boat as well when we moored on Stalham Staithe.

ETA: We do eat and drink out in the pubs as well. Don't want to sound like too much of a tight Yorkshire Lass!

Once we had unloaded the car we went to Tesco to stock up. We tended to eat on the boat for brekkie and lunch and then eat out at a pub on an evening. On our final evening we got a takeaway curry from somewhere in Stalham (ordered through Just Eat). It was absolutely dreadful - my balti was more like a chicken casserole with no depth of taste or spice.

[BrundallNavy]

35 minutes ago, bubba said:

Once we had unloaded the car we went to Tesco to stock up. We tended to eat on the boat for brekkie and lunch and then eat out at a pub on an evening. On our final evening we got a takeaway curry from somewhere in Stalham (ordered through Just Eat). It was absolutely dreadful - my balti was more like a chicken casserole with no depth of taste or spice.

Not the one at the back of Tesco’s then. Never had a bad one from there.