andyg Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 When we had starlight for the day, the handover guy said they do take them through on occasions. But I got the impression that they are not overly keen on the idea. Like has been said a dayboat is your best bet I guess. Martham ferry have a couple on nice picnic boats that quite easily go under the bridge,but for me Hickling and the surrounding area are a great place to spend a day on the water so apart from the fun of going under the bridge I wouldn't bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expilot Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 With a riverside bungalow 400 yards upstream of THAT bridge, I can assure you that Woods' 'picnic boats' only very seldom make the much sought after passage. One managed it the other day, but had to have a whole host of Woods' staff on board to make it. The Upper Thurne is slowly becoming one of the quietest stretches of the waterway. 6' 6" headroom at Potter, these days, can be considered a better than expected Low Water level - and that's in the Summer. We are increasingly seeing Winter levels consistently at 4' 11". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyg Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 22 minutes ago, expilot said: With a riverside bungalow 400 yards upstream of THAT bridge, I can assure you that Woods' 'picnic boats' only very seldom make the much sought after passage. One managed it the other day, but had to have a whole host of Woods' staff on board to make it. The Upper Thurne is slowly becoming one of the quietest stretches of the waterway. 6' 6" headroom at Potter, these days, can be considered a better than expected Low Water level - and that's in the Summer. We are increasingly seeing Winter levels consistently at 4' 11". With so few boats using that stretch of river and I'm guessing marthams boats are the biggest, will this cause a problem with navigation in terms of lily grown weeds in future years. Surely the increasing water level must be a concern for martham and future hire boat operations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expilot Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 Martham Boat Development's boats are capable of navigating the bridge throughout the Summer. Whilst hire cruiser traffic has all but disappeared, it doesn't follow that there is less river traffic generally in the Upper Thurne. There are, of course, still very many hire day-boats, a huge number of privately owned two berth cruisers with outboards and, of course all of the privately owned and hired yachts able to get above Potter Bridge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grendel Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 and the majority of the sailboat for hire can get above there too, its a great place to sail. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyg Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 1 hour ago, expilot said: Martham Boat Development's boats are capable of navigating the bridge throughout the Summer. Whilst hire cruiser traffic has all but disappeared, it doesn't follow that there is less river traffic generally in the Upper Thurne. There are, of course, still very many hire day-boats, a huge number of privately owned two berth cruisers with outboards and, of course all of the privately owned and hired yachts able to get above Potter Bridge. I didn't realise there was still that much traffic, like grendel says Hickling is a beautiful area to visit and all the better for not having hundreds of crusiers charging about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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