Water Rail Out And About - June 2021

[YnysMon]

Spot the deliberate mistake  - Weyford Bridge?

I love Dilham and would like to get up there next week. What was the clearance under the bridge like? 

[grendel]

54 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

Spot the deliberate mistake  - Weyford Bridge?

yes thank you, corrected now

[grendel]

spent a lovely afternoon at Dilham, chatting to other boaters, reading a book, and my thanks to Brundallnavy who turned up with an ice cream and spent a good while chatting, Nice to catch up and have a natter Doug, and thanks very much for the ice cream, that was perfectly timed.

cooked my tea, Steak and chips, I had bought a small bag of frozen chips at Tesco and thrown it into the ice compartment of the fridge, and now settling down to a glorious evening

[grendel]

Todays plan is to start the trek back South, I am thinking of catching the early morning slack water Friday morning so need to get down to somewhere like Stracy Arms, or even down to Great Yarmouth today, but plans being flexible, who knows.

[grendel]

Ok after departing Dilham at 8.00 am I started heading South, lunch time so its time for a break at Acle, moored up on the free moorings, as I see it I have a couple of hours to wait here at Acle (or somewhere) before its time to start for Gt Yarmouth, low slack is at 5pm this evening, so easily doable and time to get somewhere the other side too. time for lunch though. cheese wraps it will have to be then.

[CambridgeCabby]

Time for a crab sandwich from Dunes Cafe then

[grendel]

26 minutes ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Time for a crab sandwich from Dunes Cafe then

unfortunately I dont eat seafood, so I had to make do with an ice cream.

[grendel]

wow, am i drained now, I waited until 3.15 and then set the throttle at 4mph, headed down to GY at just over 5mph and was in no hurry, the 2 1/4 hours they say it takes is about right, but only if you are dawdling, even puttering along at 5mph i got there at 5.15, technically 15 minutes early, however with the revs for 4mph I was still only doing 5 mph as i went through the yacht station, 10 foot at the bridge , tons of room, when I turned the corner, nothing changed, I upped the revs to 5mph and got 6mph across Breydon, so the tide was with me there too, about 6.30 it started spitting just as I was leaving Breydon, and heading up the Yare, I wasnt sure where i would moor up tonight, but the rain made the decision easier, when I got to Polkeys mill moorings, I about turned into the tide and moored up, 6.45pm, as i had left dilham at 8am, its been a long day. food is in the oven and cooking, the last steak and some more of the bag of chips i had bought at tescos. I am too tired to get over complicated tonight.

I did have to steal the big fender off the stern to drop down the side of the boat as the standard fenders werent deep enough to fit the gap and the wooden pilings were threatening to bump on the woodwork, still the big stern fender did the job, giving about 1/2" clearance off the timbers.

[YnysMon]

Wow, Dilham to Polkey’s single handed. That’s quite a journey. We like long cruises, but I like to have a break from helming now and again. Either that or be waited on hand and foot with tea/coffee/snacks/lunch etc.

Let us know what you think of Polkey’s overnight. I’m thinking of aiming to moor there overnight Saturday before an early Breydon crossing Sunday.

[grendel]

Well last night you could get on and off from the side deck level with the quay, here it is this morning, a step up from the foredeck, use springs and leave plenty of slack, you will need a couple of big fenders too, moved round to the sides as the vertical rails are deeper than standard fenders. Anyway the sunset last night was gorgeous, and here is a morning nearly low tide picture

[Mouldy]

7 hours ago, YnysMon said:

 . . . . . . . . . Let us know what you think of Polkey’s overnight. I’m thinking of aiming to moor there overnight Saturday before an early Breydon crossing Sunday.

We’ve overnighted there twice on Norfolk Lady, to cross Breydon early.  The current runs quickly and even with the relatively high freeboard on the boat, at low water it’s quite a step up from the boat to the quay.  You could moor somewhere like Hardley Cross.  With a fast running falling tide pushing you, I think that you could leave there at around 05:30 - 05:45 and still get to Yarmouth around slack at 07:30 and be in time for a helpful push back up the Bure.

[grendel]

yes, the current was still running quickly here up to 7am, (low slack at GY was 05.55) we are now at slack here, yet the tide has risen considerably.

[grendel]

Scrambled egg for breakfast, just got some washing up to do, then its time for off.

[YnysMon]

Thanks for the advice guys. We are considering Hardley Mill or Cross as an alternative, it’s just that I’ve never moored overnight at Polkey’s Mill and have a bit of a hankering to try it out sometime. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Mouldy said:

We’ve overnighted there twice on Norfolk Lady, to cross Breydon early

We like to use the Fisherman's Inn mooring at Burgh Castle, its quite handy for Breydon and the Inn has a friendly atmosphere with a good basic food menu. Also the moorings have rungs inbuilt that help to climb up.

[grendel]

well 8 am start and a short trip today, just as far as the Chet, I had a hankering to try Chedgrave Common mooring if there was a space, as it happened they were totally free, so a quick U turn and moor into the tide, and I am here, I may wander down the footpath later to Loddon

[YnysMon]

2 hours ago, Jemaki said:

We like to use the Fisherman's Inn mooring at Burgh Castle

We'd like to try that one out sometime too, but it's not so handy if you are travelling from Brundall down the Yare toward Gt Yarmouth, which is what we'll be doing tomorrow afternoon.

[Lulu]

Where would be a good spot to stop for our whippet to have a comfort break once we have crossed Breydon and on the way to Oulton Broad,  where we could get him on and off the boat easily regardless of tides?  Im concerned its a long trip from Stracey!

[Mouldy]

8 minutes ago, Lulu said:

Where would be a good spot to stop for our whippet to have a comfort break once we have crossed Breydon and on the way to Oulton Broad,  where we could get him on and off the boat easily regardless of tides?  Im concerned its a long trip from Stracey!

Somerleyton is good.  There is a big grassy area there and a path along the riverbank.  You can also walk into the village, although there isn’t much there other than a cycle shop (that was selling ice cream last year) and the pub.

[Lulu]

Thats great. Thank you! 

[vanessan]

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

We'd like to try that one out sometime too, but it's not so handy if you are travelling from Brundall down the Yare toward Gt Yarmouth, which is what we'll be doing tomorrow afternoon.

It’s really only just ‘around the corner’ from Berney Arms. Doesn’t take long at all. We came past the Burgh Castle moorings this morning and they are beginning to look good. I don’t think it will be too long before they are open again. 

[Wonderwall]

On 23/06/2021 at 12:52, grendel said:

well at 8am I left my wild mooring and headed up to Stalham, unfortunately the staithe was full 2 cruisers and 3 sail boats, this was a good sign that the moorings are in normal usage though, reversed back down to the corner and there was a spot on the free moorings at Richardsons, so I grabbed it, then it was  off up to Tescos to get some shopping. 

After tescos it was off back downstream then a sharp right and 

Just helped a hire boat turn and moor up, its a shame the long straight section is full of canoes, so they had to moor across the corner.

 

 And that my friend was I. Nice to meet you and thanks for the help.

[CambridgeCabby]

With these moorings and the height of the tides and the depth of the underpiling between uprights is it not advisable to use a fender board ?

[YnysMon]

1 hour ago, Lulu said:

Where would be a good spot to stop for our whippet to have a comfort break

There's also Herringfleet, though I haven't discovered any footpaths from the moorings yet. It was a decent enough stretch of moorings for our collie to have a run up and down though. 

[BroadAmbition]

With these moorings and the height of the tides and the depth of the underpiling between uprights is it not advisable to use a fender board ?

I would say in and ideal world it is yes, and also at moorings like GYA to name just one of many other locations.

However carting round a fender board is problematical as to where to stow the thing when not in use.  We have considered using one before now.

The longer / heavier the boat, then the longer / thicker the fender board required.  We ended up deciding not to carry / use a fender board but do make use of the larger wider stern fenders if required along with deploying Fwd and Aft springs and have managed this way over the past 14 years quite adequately

 

(Plus which if we did have a dedicated fender board, I would end up making it from a hardwood, treated with two applications of 5 Star, then primed with two coats of G4 followed by many coats of varnish, reverse side dressed in some sort of felt, then splicing on dedicated lanyards too.  All that for a fender board?  )

Griff