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Mooring At Norwich. Safety And Security.


PaulN

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Shortly after we were allowed back on our boats, early July,we cruised up to the end of navigation in Norwich for our first time. We thought it would be good to moor and go into the city, but noticed no one else had. The facilities seem good, with electric, water and pump out, but we noticed that it said take mooring ropes through the rings and back on the boat and drop the mud weight (even though they were side on moorings). Does this mean it is unsafe to moor, as Yobos are likely to cast you off, or worse still, come on board and burgle. Is it safe to moor overnight?

Advice would be appreciated.

Paul

 

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well three of us are moored here tonight, Water Rail, Broad Ambition and Nipper, saturday nights might be a bit tricky when all the youngsters are out on the town, but other than that its fine, the ropes through rings and back aboard is a security thing as you are more likely to feel the boat rock when they get aboard to get to the ropes., it does happen, maybe once or twice a year, but not often.

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That advice about the mooring ropes and putting your mud-weight down at Norwich Yacht Station isn’t new. A few years back I posted a similar query about how safe Norwich YS is, this was just before our first trip down south. In essence, the advice I got back was, yes it’s generally okay, but follow the mooring advice. Ive heard of isolated incidents of boats being cast adrift, but that’s the case elsewhere on the Broads. Actually, the only ones I’ve seen reported so since I’ve been a member here weren’t at Norwich.  You aren’t going to drift far at Norwich, unlike Reedham where a mud-weight is useless.

There’s the Riverside entertainment complex not far away, so some people advised us to avoid mooring in Norwich Fridays and Saturdays. The couple of times we’ve moored there I’ve felt quite safe. I didn’t like the road noise that started up around 6am on a weekday though. 

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Personally, I’ve never moored overnight in Norwich.  It is a fine city, with much to see, though.  I always moor at the end furthest from the Yacht Station itself and usually walk over Bishops Bridge and along the riverside walk to Pulls Ferry and then past the Cathedral .  Lately, we’ve crossed the bridge and turned right, behind the now closed Red Lion and walked along the river to The Ribs of Beef pub and walked up Elm Hill to the shops.

The road by the river is too busy for me and I usually head for Bramerton or The Ferry House to moor where the surroundings are more agreeable.

Each to their own though.

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The yacht station is more secure than it used to be, but yeah I'd avoid Friday and Saturday nights for sure.

Norwich is a beautiful city and always worth a visit, but I wouldn't overnight at the yacht station personally.

As for chucking the mudweight in, I'd do that almost anywhere nowadays. Sure, people don't get untied that often but do you really want the hassle given how little effort it is to lob the Broadland handbrake at the drink?

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Good idea. Just a small point though, buses that run along there finish around 7pm unless things have changed. A cab wouldn't cost a fortune though. I've a feeling Fireman Sam has walked it, I'd certainly have a go although Mrs Nog might not be so keen!! 

Brundall is a good bet and the trains run quite late. 

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PaulN, we are pretty new to broads boating and ventured to NYS for a night with Mrs IEatFish and the two IEatFish children (the fish fingers). It was a Friday night. We moored up at the far end where the power feeds are (there aren’t any near the main Yacht Station).  The sun was shining and there were a few boats already moored up. We looped up, locked up and wandered off in town for dinner.  
 

Came back at 10.00pm ish, the boat was all fine. Had a cuppa and settle down for the night. Now I knew it was never going to be a peaceful night as the road noise is strong and you are in a City. But what I did not appreciate is the public seating bench at the far end of the mooring, just outside the Station fence.  This is obviously where the local drunks decide to put the world to right from 11pm through to the early hours. And of course it gets louder as they consume more meths. Painful. And one of them did try to get on the boat at one stage; however one shout from Mrs IEatFish and they went back to their bench!

It was an interesting breakfast that morning as the Fish Fingers asked their father what certain words mean.....
 

My advice, echoing others, miss the weekend, don’t moor up at the far end near ‘the bench’ and don’t expect a quiet night! However the trip in to Norwich is well worth the effort.

 

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It happened to us around 10 years ago. we were moored at the Yacht Station, can't remember what day it was. The guy in the office had told us to put our mud weight down "just in case". The mooring posts - shiny medal round pins - had no rings then, and the ropes  slid off the top as  easy as anything. Because we had been warned, I had it in my mind that someone might try it, and slept very lightly as a result. Around 2 am, I heard the voices of two infants in the bodies of young men walking up the quayside. They were chatting and laughing. Suddenly they went quiet and the next thing I was aware of, was a foot being placed on the side deck - I could actually see it through the window curtain - and being pushed off the moorings. I scrambled out of bed, looking for my dressing gown. By the time I'd got to the door, I could see both these excuses for humanity, in the arms of two policemen. One of them told me to throw my rope to him - we were mid river, and he would pull us back alongside. I did and he did, but with such force that we clattered against the moorings. 

The two juveniles were brought over to us to apologise for their actions. (sure that will have turned them on the path to righteousness) then told to go on their way. I hardly slept the rest of the night, listening to the voices as they passed by, expecting another foot on the deck at any minute. Needless to say, that was the first and last time we over-nighted at Norwich Yacht Station.

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If you look at the last picture, just posted on the BA underway thread you will see why I will never moor overnight at Norwich YS.

The boats spend much time below the road level and the polution if the traffic is slow moving is deadful for me. I live on the coast and only breath absolutely fresh air, I am rarely in a town.

I have moored there twice and both times been bunged up and felt tight chested with a sore throat.

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Guest Jayfire
13 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

A cab wouldn't cost a fortune though. I've a feeling Fireman Sam has walked it, I'd certainly have a go although Mrs Nog might not be so keen!! 

Indeed I have, if my memory serves me correctly it's only roughly half an hour's walk directly from Commissioner's Cut to Norwich Yacht Station area, alas there are a number of refreshment establishments enroute so it took me about 5 hours :default_drinks:

Just to add however that I have never (touch wood) had any issues at Norwich Yacht Station and I have moored there at weekends too. It is infact a pleasant place to stop over in my view so don't be put off Paul. Mudweight and tie off back onto your boat and you'll be fine.

:default_xmas2:

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I moored there overnight for the first time last year (a Monday evening) and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the setting and its easy to forget that although there's the busy road one side, the other has trees, a cathedral view and Pulls Ferry. 

My personal preference is never to get a bus or train anywhere when I'm afloat. Getting to places is what the boat is for. 

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On the whole you 99.9% safe with no incidents. It's better at the weekends at the moment because the nightclubs are closed. Being cast off is unlikely but some little oiks think it's fun to run over the coach roofs or rock your boat. I would recommend Thorpe green or commissioners cut and take the bus or taxi. 2 or more people it's cheaper by taxi unless you have bus passes. We recently took a taxi from the station to Thorpe green and cost £6.60.

Colin :default_drinks:

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27 minutes ago, brundallNavy said:

Moored at the yacht station last night, had a great Indian delivered to the boat and no problems of any kind with security road noise died down around 8pm.

It's the time the noise starts a.m. thats the problem for me. The good people of Norwich set off for work very early!

Have stayed at the Yacht Station on a couple of  Saturday nights with no problems except the noise after the clubs let out. Probably lucky.

Fred

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also moored up here last night and cant say it was too bad, I had a good nights sleep and slept in until 6am, traffic noise doesnt worry me much as i live in a city, the only interruption worthy of note was the girl loudly telling her boyfriend she didnt want to ever see him again at about 11pm.

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We have stayed there occasionally at the weekend. It can be noisy and Friday and Saturday nights loud voices are heard as they walk along the path. I now prefer to visit during the day and then travel back down river to moor for the night. It is a lot quieter during weekdays. As Alan mentions there are rings on the posts so I always tie back on the boat. I also attach the other sides lines and drop mud weight. Back in the 80’s we witnessed a boat drifting down river whilst other boaters tried to wake them up. They had not put down the mud weigh as recommended by the ranger. They eventually appeared looking rather sleepy and threw a line across. Lovely city to visit.

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