Rose Emblem - Take Two

[SwanR]

We had a short break last week on Rose Emblem hired from Ferry Marina. Having only written about my previous trip last month this may not be too long, but I thought it would be good to write about our first time afloat in November.

So first off here's our itinerary. As I only had four days annual leave left for the year I had to work Monday morning and Friday afternoon ... how bizarre is that but how blessed I am to be able to make it work.

Day 1 - Took the boat over about 13.00 and made the short cruise to Ranworth. Amazing ... absolutely no-one else there. An empty staithe to choose from. Thunder arrived late afternoon but we were the only two boats there that night. Sooooo beautiful.

Day 2 - This was designated as our day to go up the Ant. Stopped at Irstead for a coffee break. Then cruised on across Barton Broad to Sutton but no room by the green. Plenty of room on the rest of the moorings but we turned round and made for Neatishead. First time I had ever moored there and ... the only other boat there was Thunder. :) We were in touch with the couple who were on board last week and managed to say hello the next day before we left. Lovely people.

Day 3 - A stop for water at Gaye's Staithe ... no-one else there so that was easy. A beautiful cruise back down the Ant with the intention of going to Potter Heigham or Acle or both. But ... we knew the rain was coming and the wind was getting up a bit so I just felt that those moorings would be too exposed and the water levels might be high so ... made the decision to turn right and head for Horning. And yes ... another first ... we moored on the staithe and stayed put for the rest of the day and overnight. Two other boats there with us but all was quiet apart from the occasional passers by. Quite a different kind of place to be moored.

Day 4 - Another beautiful morning and our earliest start of the holiday. Again we had an eye on the weather which was forecast to be very windy by the afternoon. So we cruised down to the outskirts of Wroxham, back through Salhouse Broad, back through Horning and on to Ranworth. One other boat there when we arrived and three others arrived later. We grabbed the cab rank in the corner and made ourselves secure. Sure enough the wind was quite strong and gusty that afternoon but we were snug and settled where we were.

To come ... reviews of the places where we ate, what was the weather like, and what was it like to be out in November. Plus that little video I like to make. Stay tuned. :)

[Broads01]

All sounds lovely Jean. Did you manage to stay warm?

[SwanR]

21 hours ago, Broads01 said:

All sounds lovely Jean. Did you manage to stay warm?

Simon we did, mostly. Plenty of layers, a winter duvet, and hot water bottles. I'll say a bit more as I go through the blog.

[SwanR]

Next let's catch up on where we ate out ... the only cooking I did all week was to heat a tin of rice pudding that we happened to fancy one day. 

Tuesday was The White Horse at Neatishead

Wednesday was The Swan Inn, Horning

Thursday was The Maltsters at Ranworth

The winner of the week was ..... The White Horse. We had never been there before but will definitely be back. Homemade steak pie with creamy mash and seasonal veg. It was amazing.

Additionally on Friday we did have pizzas from the Monzu wood fired pizza van ... always a treat and highly recommended if the opportunity ever comes your way.

[SwanR]

So what about the autumnal weather.

The weather was undoubtedly chilly but that's what you expect. We took warm clothes and also our own winter duvet to put on the bed as well as using our hot water bottles. Always make them a bit before bedtime and put them in to take the chill off.

There were naturally a few drafts, Rose being a forward steer cruiser with a slidey roof. But she's not that bad and there are some brushed bits there. The heating is radiators so can take a little while to really warm up but of course stay warm for a while even once turned off. However you are asked to only run the heating for two hours without the engine on. Hence we did something we have never bothered to do before ... we chased down the electric posts and made sure we could plug in every evening. That meant we didn't moor in our favourite quiet places but ... there were so few boats out that everywhere was so much quieter than it would be at other times, even October.

We saw a few day boats, a few private boats, and Ferry Marina had a few other hireboats out. But a holiday without seeing a single Richardson's or Herbert Woods cruiser ... that was a novelty. 

Back to the weather ... well it did rain most days. However we enjoyed being away from the moorings by about 8.30, cruised during the early part of the day, moored up by lunchtime, plugged in and stayed put. The worst day for rain was Wednesday and we did arrive in Horning in the pouring rain. That wasn't pleasant but other than that we were out when it was dry and in when it was wet and windy.

Still to come ... my verdict on a November holiday ... and that little video. 

[SwanR]

And I almost forgot ... here's a few more photos :)

 

[YnysMon]

Thanks Jean, I’ve been a bit slow catching up with much of the forum today, so your tale of your November adventure has been a very pleasant read this evening. Looking forward to the video.

I see you’ve discovered the comfort of having the electric hook up during the colder months, and why not.

I was surprised to read that you didn’t come across any Richardson’s or Herbie Woods cruisers. They were quite numerous when we on MS the first two week of November last year. Have they changed their winter booking policies? 

[Gracie]

Thank you Jean, lovely write up and photos. Looking forward to the little video. 

[Mouldy]

8 hours ago, YnysMon said:

I was surprised to read that you didn’t come across any Richardson’s or Herbie Woods cruisers. They were quite numerous when we on MS the first two week of November last year. Have they changed their winter booking policies? 

Fairly certain that the season was extended by some yards last year due to the earlier lockdown, shortening the usual booking period coupled with the volume of bookings caused by travel restrictions imposed on foreign holidays.

[Boaters]

Nice time of year to be on-the river

[Hylander]

Thank you Jean.   Lovely photos,  what is your camera?

[Broads01]

I think Richardsons tried November last year for the first time and it wasn't very successful. HW on the other hand have tended to make some boats available in November so there absence is more surprising. 

[SwanR]

20 hours ago, YnysMon said:

I was surprised to read that you didn’t come across any Richardson’s or Herbie Woods cruisers. They were quite numerous when we on MS the first two week of November last year. Have they changed their winter booking policies? 

I think that Richardson's definitely finished hiring at the end of October this year. But I do see on their site that they are starting hiring from February next year. Herbert Woods do advertise a reduced fleet to hire in November and February on their website but we only saw one of their dayboats. Ferry Marina seem to be hiring all year round now.

[SwanR]

11 hours ago, Hylander said:

 Lovely photos,  what is your camera?

Thank you Monica. I use both my Panasonic Lumix that I've had about six years, just a small point and shoot kind of camera mostly used on automatic mode. And also my iPhone 13 mini. I am in two minds about which I like best and how much difference there is or isn't. I think that the phone loses quality when zoomed in at all whereas my camera handles that fine. The phone is easy and always to hand but I think that my camera is likely to keep coming on any holidays.

[SwanR]

2 hours ago, Broads01 said:

I think Richardsons tried November last year for the first time and it wasn't very successful. HW on the other hand have tended to make some boats available in November so there absence is more surprising. 

Perhaps there were some out but we just didn't happen to be in the same places. I do find that on our trips we tend to be at one end or the other of the Bure. This time we didn't go any further along the Bure than the Ant Mouth, so we left out the whole area along past St Benets, down Fleet Dyke, down to Acle and up the Thurne. And we enjoyed mooring at Ranworth twice. Other times I've done the reverse and not gone down through Horning and beyond.

[SwanR]

The rest of the tale will continue tomorrow ... time to watch Strictly ... on a Friday night!!! 

[Mouldy]

23 minutes ago, SwanR said:

Thank you Monica. I use both my Panasonic Lumix that I've had about six years, just a small point and shoot kind of camera mostly used on automatic mode. And also my iPhone 13 mini. I am in two minds about which I like best and how much difference there is or isn't. I think that the phone loses quality when zoomed in at all whereas my camera handles that fine. The phone is easy and always to hand but I think that my camera is likely to keep coming on any holidays.

The phone only has digital zoom, Jean, but your camera will have optical zoom.  Digital zoom will always have a loss of quality as it basically enlarges the pixels.

The top of the range camera phones now sport a telephoto lens, which will give better results, but I have a standard iPhone 13 too and find the camera to be very good, but do limit how much I zoom to around 2x.

[Hylander]

You must have posh phones because I think mine just takes photos and videos and that's your lot.      I find that I use my phone far more than the camera which is heavy to carry around which is a Nikon D3200.

[SwanR]

To round off this little tale, here's my thoughts about cruising in November.

It's very much about weighing up the pros and cons. So here goes with the few minus points first, not major but worth considering.

• Shorter daylight hours, longer dark evenings
• Not everywhere is open every day if at all
• Not all water points are available
• The weather can be cold, wet, and windy ... and then again if the sun does come out you can be blinded when it's so low in the sky if cruising towards it as I found out when I could barely make out the sides of the river or see where I was going at one point

However the positives were easy to find.

• Easier to moor at most places including getting to the electric posts if you want them, although that does restrict your choice of moorings
• Beautiful autumn colours
• Great cruising if the sun does shine
• Go at your own pace with mostly no other boats in front or behind you - that's truly blissful
• Lots of wildlife - the chap at the yard had said that there was lots of wildlife about. He was so right. Way more than we have seen on any other trip. Otters, kingfishers, and even a large deer stood still on the banks of the Bure looking straight at us. Kingfishers at Ranworth was a first for us too.

Would I do it again? Absolutely yes.

Would I take the same boat? Probably but we would have a good look at what else is available and book fairly last minute.

And as promised here's the video ...

 

[Broads01]

Thanks very much for sharing your tale, Jean, very enjoyable. I take it the steering was all sorted and no issues with the boat this time around?

I know what you mean about it's nicer when there's no-one cruising behind you, on the Ant especially. It can be very off-putting when you're doing 4mph and yet there's someone chomping at the bit to get past.

[Lulu]

Lovely account of winter boating Jean.   There’s definitely pros and cons but we really do love it. Every season has something different to offer 

[SteveO]

Lovely account Jean, thanks for sharing. We are up tomorrow for a couple of days,mainly to finish off the winterising of Windmill Lady, but hopefully there will be a chance to enjoy the Broads too.  

 

[SwanR]

3 hours ago, Broads01 said:

I take it the steering was all sorted and no issues with the boat this time around?

 

Yes everything was fine thank you. The only slight problem was on returning the boat. No room anywhere. A syndicate boat just beat me to the pump out station so we had to moor outside The Ferry Inn and phone the office. We had to wait until they had dealt with the boat who wanted double pump out and fuelling up before they could move us round to there. We were probably hanging around for over 30 minutes. Could have been home in that time!!

[YnysMon]

Thanks Jean. It’s taken me a while to catch up with the video. My cousin visited for an extended weekend, so it’s been a bit difficult to keep up!