Brooklyn Bridge 2

[YnysMon]

I wasn’t suggesting we avoid Stokesby. Haven’t heard of any incident there previously so, as Ray said, probably someone passing through.

Not sure about the mud weight , probably not in the areas with stronger tides. Yes to tying back to the boat though.

[TostockTimonier]

The first one, the rescuer had to tie the ropes for him, so I doubt foul play and the second was on rhond anchors on the opposite bank, so most likely not foul play.

[Ray]

Just now, TostockTimonier said:

The first one, the rescuer had to tie the ropes for him, so I doubt foul play and the second was on rhond anchors on the opposite bank, so most likely not foul play.

Really was just a coincidence then by the sound of it! 

[YnysMon]

That’s really good news. It’s so easy to jump to conclusions. (Sorry!)

[TostockTimonier]

2 minutes ago, Ray said:

Really was just a coincidence then by the sound of it! 

Some people just wrap their ropes around the post until it runs out and we all know how that will end. As for the other one anchoring to the reeds, he must have mud weighted to the bank the second time, because he was still there in the morning.

[TostockTimonier]

Day 9 Wednesday 18th   We awoke to another lovely day, tea made and the morning duties done,  I cast off and we headed for Horning to see if we could finally get on that elusive staithe. Alas yet again it was full so we carried on down to Wroxham, to do some shopping and have lunch at The Wroxham, well they did not disappoint, it was truly delicious.

We headed back slowly towards Fleet Dyke checking for a place to moor for the night, Cockshoot was busy, St Benedict’s was full and Fleet Dyke’s wild mooring were full, as were all the wild moorings in between. We headed back towards Salhouse and decided to moor in Horning opposite the Ferry Inn.

With the boat secured I did a bit of fishing, which was going well until an otter came and visited me, beautiful, first a nose, then it popped its head out looked at me and it was back under the water. The bites stopped, so it was time to pack up and have some snacks and drinks and watch a bit of television.

Two cars and a bunch of bikes visited the staithe on three separate occasions and a boat stopped briefly to drop off visitors, other than that we were on our own, a nice place to spend the night, so another day was over and it was time for bed again.

[TostockTimonier]

Day 10 Thursday 19th   Woke up to another warm day, made the tea, did the morning chores and fed the swans as they had asked for their breakfast by repeatedly tapping their beaks on the bathing platform.

Jenny saw the otter come out of the river, cross the back of the staithe and disappear into the bushes. Armed with a second mug of tea I cast off and headed towards the Ant.

When we reached the turning, there were spaces at St Benet’s, so I turned round and moored up to lower the screens and sides and I cast off and continued  down the Ant using the lower helm, sitting on a cushion to improve visibility.

Ludham bridge safely negotiated, I swapped back to the upper helm and we headed on down at a nice sedate pace, destination Wayford.

There are so many wild moorings on the Ant now, I think they probably outnumber the BA moorings. 

When we arrived at Wayford staithe there was a space between the boats already moored, so I moored up and did a bit of fishing. The boat in front of us left and a short time after, Jenny came through and asked me to check the front ropes as the bow seemed to be out in the river. So I pulled the float in and had a look, surely enough the lady who had untied her ropes had poorly tied our ropes with about a metre of slack, the ropes almost fell off the post when I lifted them. I pulled the bow in and secured the ropes, a bit naughty that, expect better from a private boat. We had lunch at the Bridge Inn, I do like their food, the service is excellent and it’s nice and close to the moorings.

With the staithe full, I cast off and reversed back to turn in one of the side dykes

and we took a slow cruise back up to Paddy’s Lane, which was full, again if they had moored considerately we could have got in, I know we could have asked them to move up but first impressions etc. so we went to the staithe and moored in one of the spaces for the night. A boat came in and got water and a liveaboard came in and moored on the other berth.

I fished for a while until it was time for a light dinner, watched some television until bedtime.

[TostockTimonier]

Day 11 Friday 20th    I awoke to an overcast but warm day, usual morning chores complete and kettle boiled, I made the tea and delivered it to Jenny in bed. After a light breakfast I cast off and took a slow cruise back across Barton broad,

 

 

past Irstead and How Hill to Ludham bridge. Safely through the bridge we once again headed for Horning staithe and yet again there wasn’t enough room for us so we turned around and retraced our steps so we could moor in Cockshoot dyke.

After I had fished for a good while and got some reasonably sized perch and roach, I showered and changed and we headed off to Acle. We had a slow uneventful journey and unlike Wednesday, nearly all the wild moorings en-route were free and there were several spaces at St Benet’s but we had decided to moor up at Bridgecraft so we could try Pedro’s for our dinner. 

 

When we arrived we moored up and Jenny finished the majority of the packing, which I put in the car to save time in the morning. We went to Pedro’s for our dinner as planned, we were a little underwhelmed. We returned to Brooklyn for tea and chocolate and to spend our last night.

[TostockTimonier]

Day 12 Friday 21th    We awoke and boiled the kettle for the last cup of tea on Brooklyn and Jenny packed away our belongings into the last bags, ready for me to load into the car. We swept the floors  and wiped all the surfaces down, so as to leave it all ***** and span. I brought the car to the moorings and loaded it all in the back. The fuel had been filled and over the eleven night adventure, we had used a reasonable ninety one pounds worth of diesel, so we got some money back from the deposit we had paid. 

Brooklyn was a spacious, light and airy boat, excellent helming positions, especially the upper helm which afforded great views and made mooring a lot easier, for a large boat, I found her very easy to manoeuvre and moor. The decor is a little dated, they told us due to time pressures they were only able to do part of the refurbishment, it is scheduled to be finished this winter. The engine didn’t miss a beat and required zero maintenance, in fact we didn’t have anything go wrong with the boat at all. 

We believe Bridgecraft to be the best boatyard we have used to date, with excellent customer service from a family run business. The boats are kept in top condition (yes we have hired newer boats, even those have had issues) but the value for money is great. So well done Bridgecraft, on a lovely boat with great weather, we had a fantastic time.

[NorfolkNog]

55 minutes ago, TostockTimonier said:

We believe Bridgecraft to be the best boatyard we have used to date, with excellent customer service from a family run business. The boats are kept in top condition (yes we have hired newer boats, even those have had issues) but the value for money is great. So well done Bridgecraft, on a lovely boat with great weather, we had a fantastic time.

Glad you enjoyed your trip and many thanks for the holiday tale and lovely photos.

The second thread in a row where I couldn't agree more. Bridgecraft really are an excellent yard and look after us (and all their customers) extremely well. Roll on December!!

[SwanR]

Lovely photos and always good to hear reviews of the various hire yards. Sounds like you had a lovely time. 

[Seagypsy]

Nice to read TT and NN's opinion on Bridgecraft we have booked Conway Bridge for 2wks next May first time at Acle