The 4 W's Afloat 2 Sep 23

[CeePee1952]

Monday 4th Sep 23

After another peaceful night (apart from the constant "drip drip" from within the bowels of the boat), reveille was slightly later this morning - 7 a.m.  We didn't need to be at Oulton Broad until about 11 ish so decided to have breakfast on the boat at Beccles. Bacon butties washed down with tea/coffee. Eventually we set off and cruised gently towards Oulton Broad.  It looked like it was going to be another hot day and sure enough - it was!  When we arrived at the moorings, I couldn't see the sign that they said would be on display to show us where to moor but as if by magic, the guy appeared and pointed us to the last empty slot inside the pontoons. Chris expertly reversed us in (it was a tad tight!) and we moored up and connected the shore power and got ready for our trip to Lowestoft.

Brenda and I had only used the train to get to Lowestoft once and that was many many years ago so I wasn't surprised to find that there were no staff at the station and a ticket machine was situated over on the other side from our platform! So off I went and purchased 4 return tickets for approx £13 ish.  The next scheduled train wasn't due for another 30 mins so we just sat down and waited for the early warning of the level crossing gates to descend. The 3 carriage train arrived on time and within a couple of mins we were on our way and 8 mins later we arrived at Lowestoft. We decided to have a look around and made our way over the drawbridge towards the yacht club area.  Once there we spotted the last surviving sidewinder fishing trawler "Mincarlo" so decided to go and give it a visit. It was well worth visiting and the volunteer staff were very friendly and full of intriguing stories about it's past and other trawler tales from bygone years. I couldn't believe how 11 men could function on such a vessel and the crews quarters down below were tiny!!  We must have spent a good one and a half hours on the trawler before we set off back towards the town to find somewhere for a spot of lunch. As it was so hot we didn't want to spend too much time walking around so we ended up at The Joseph Conrad - JD Wetherspoon on Station square.  It was ok, drinks were the cheapest we had experienced so far and it was nice to get out of the sun for a bit! We had decided that we would catch the 1548 train back to Oulton Broad and so the time came for us to stroll back to the station (within spitting distance ). Back on board the boat and it was time for another beer etc topside. During the afternoon we witnessed what must have been a medical emergency that happened on one of the yachts moored over by the yacht station. Eventually the ambulance left with the casualty and a little while later the yacht set off for destination unknown. 

For our evening meal we had decided that we would sample the carvery at the Wherry Hotel as it wasn't far to go and the price looked reasonable.  The experience didn't really impress us although the staff were polite and friendly. The quality of the carvery wasn't brilliant though and we've had better quality in a Greene King pub back home! However that is a personal opinion and others might be satisfied with whats on offer. At least it filled a hole!  Back to the boat, another round of cards and then bed! Tomorrow is another day and we were looking forward to cruising to Loddon.

Chris and Brenda

[CeePee1952]

Tuesday 5th Sep 23 

Today’s destination is Loddon and we plan to leave about 9 ish. After a quick visit to the loo’s and paying our overnight fee etc at the office, we made ready to depart on what is yet another glorious day.  We were leaving on the outgoing tide so I was confident that we would pass under Somerleyton swing bridge with ample room to spare. To my surprise, the bridge was open when we got there and we made our way to Haddiscoe Cut enjoying the morning sunshine. We had a slightly nerve-racking moment three quarters of the way up the Cut when an approaching hire boat appeared to be steering from one side of the Cut to the other!  As a precaution we slowed right down and prepared to put the boat in full reverse should the need arise! Getting closer, it became obvious that the gentleman at the upper helm (it was a dual steer hire boat), was overcompensating when trying to steer a straight course and the other guy next to him was trying to advise him (without much success) on keeping the boat straight.  With a quick burst on the throttle and making sure we stayed as close to our starboard side as possible without endangering ourselves, we timed our move past him as he once again steered towards his starboard side. When I looked back over my shoulder, the other guy had taken over the helm and the boat was finally going in a straight line! 

At the end of the Cut we turned to port and again to my surprise – Reedham swing bridge was open!  We passed by Reedham quay noticing that it was almost full and made our way towards the mouth of the Chet. The chain ferry had just crossed over so no problem in negotiating that bit of river and I got myself mentally prepared for chugging up the Chet. The last time that we were up the Chet we had a smaller boat so I was  a bit cautious with our current 44 footer! Is it me or has the Chet been cut back in places because it certainly looked wider than I can remember? Anyways, all was good and we slowly made our way up towards Loddon. To our surprise we passed Moonlight Shadow who was coming towards us! I quick wave and greeting and we carried on. On arriving at the end, there was just one space left which was in the first corner where the emergency ladder is.  I determined that there would be enough room without blocking the ladder so without further ado, plonked the boat stern on and moored up and hooked up to the electric (someone had kindly left 70p – bonus!!). The first thing to do was to top up with fresh water and that’s when I met the owner of Broadland Grebe! We had a good ol’ natter (as you do) and Brenda then reminded me that I still had the water hose in my hand and not in the proverbial filler hole on the boat! Doh!!  We also needed to replen our bottled water so once we had sorted out the fresh water etc, we made our way up towards Loddon church to once again have a look around it. 

(to be continued....) 

Chris and Brenda 

[CeePee1952]

Tuesday 5th Sep 23 continued/.... 

The walk to the church didn’t take long and on the way we passed where Rosie Lee’s tearoom was and were disappointed that we didn’t have the opportunity to let our friends experience the atmosphere of her delightful service! At the church we were greeted by Reverend David Owen who was in the process of putting a poster up on the main door.  He provided a fascinating insight into the church's history as well as telling us about the bell ringers and their activities (bell ringing practice was that evening too!).  As it was getting near lunchtime (and also ridiculously hot!), we decided it was time for liquid refreshment and duly stopped at the Kings Head on the way back down to the boat. We sat outside at the back and lubricated our throats before leaving and calling in at the local Premier convenience store to buy some more bottled water. 

Back on board and lunch was crackers, cheese, tomatoes and cucumber (own home grown).  During the afternoon, boats left and others appeared and by teatime, the quay was full. We had decided that our evening meal was going to be fish and chips from the chip shop up the road as Brenda and I had ordered from there during our visit last October and they were excellent!  So about 7 ish, Chris and I trotted off up to the chip shop and collected our order.  We were not let down and once again the food was excellent and compared to our local chippy’s here in Rugby – it wasn’t expensive! The remainder of the evening was spent playing cards and deciding on where to go next once we had returned across Breydon the following morning.  Initial thoughts were stopping at Acle Bridge at the free BA moorings and maybe a pump out at Bridgecraft so with that idea in mind, we retired for the evening after another extremely hot day. 

Chris and Brenda

[CeePee1952]

Wednesday 6th Sep 23 

Another day dawns and there’s a bit of river mist around at 5.30 in the morning! We need to be able to get under Vauxhall Bridge around about 9.15 ish so with a probable 3 hr cruise to get there, I’m hoping to leave about 6.15 or thereabouts.  Having kicked the others out of their cosy beds, we went about sorting the boat out ready for the off. The first thing was to get the Karcher squeegee at work on the seating around the upper helm (don’t really like helming with a wet botty!  Next was to unhook the shore power, check the domestic voltage reading (12.2 v), (so far so good!) and make ready to cast off. Exiting the staithe/quay area was straight forward and I pointed the pointy end of the boat in the right direction and commenced our sedately journey back up the Chet towards the Yare. (One good thing about leaving at that time in the morning is there’s not much chance of meeting another boat coming towards us and there wasn’t!).

By the time we got on to the Yare there were a couple of boats heading towards Reedham in front of us, so I suspect that they were also eager to get under Vauxhall Bridge in good time.  Surprisingly (not!) Reedham Ferry wasn’t crossing the river as we approached and we carried on down to Reedham swing bridge. This time, Reedham Bridge was closed (good job otherwise the train that was passing over it would have ended up in the drink! ). As we passed through the bridge area, a sudden shout from one of the ladies nearly gave me a heart attack (I was helming at the time!).  They had spotted a seal calmly resting on one of the cross-member beams on our starboard side!! God knows how it got there as it was a good 2 or 3 feet above the waterline! As always no one had a camera or phone to hand to snap the picture and as I had a couple of boats behind me, I couldn’t really reverse back to allow them to get a picture. Oh well, maybe another time?  Approaching the Waveney/Yare junction I spotted Moonlight Shadow moored up on our port side just before Berney Arms – that's three times this week that we have crossed each other at some point! 

Breydon was like a mill pond again and I handed the helm over to the other Chris so he could experience the crossing and going under Vauxhall bridge and I could finally have a wash and shave down below! I was satisfied that he knew about staying in the channel AND to go round the infamous yellow post on the correct side before passing under Vauxhall Bridge.  

Breydon and the bridge successfully passed and now it was what I consider to be a boring cruise up the Bure until reaching Stracey Mill and Stokesby.  I was surprised at the number of boats that were moored up at GY yacht station – for some of them it looked like a mammoth ascent to get up onto land!! We finally decided that we would moor up at Acle Bridge on the BA 24 hr moorings and grab a drink in the Acle Bridge Inn (would be criminal not to!). 

To be continued/...... 

[CeePee1952]

Wednesday 6th September 23 continued/..... 

We finally reached Acle Bridge only to discover that all the 24 hr moorings with access to shore power were full! Hmm – what to do? There were a couple of boats already at the Pump out facility at Bridgecraft so nipping into there was out of the question for the moment.  I decided that we’d moor up side on just past Bridgecraft and I’d take a walk down to them to find out when best to get a Pump out.  After turning into the tide flow (what little there was!) I managed to moor up with no fuss and walked down to Bridgecraft.  The lad there said he was having a coffee break in ten minutes and to bring the boat down in about 30 mins when he could pump us out.  Now, although I consider myself fairly competent in handling the boat, I still lack a bit of confidence in mooring stern on at the side of a river so I asked if I could moor side on for the pump out. No problem was the reply and so feeling a bit more relaxed, I walked back to the boat to await our turn.  Eventually the time came to move to Bridgecraft. Just my luck!! As we were approaching the space to moor side on another hire boat nipped in and took my spot!  Oh heck!!  Nothing for it but to go around the two boats moored stern on and cross my fingers and hope for the best! Well – after two aborted attempts I finally got the boat moored up stern on and no mishaps! (Definitely need more practice! ). Pump out done, paid the £20 and carried on with our journey up the Bure. 

We had now decided that we would head for Richardsons for the night providing we could get under Ludham Bridge (with the tide rising it would be tight as we needed 8’ clearance to get under it!). Approaching the bridge height gauge I saw through my binos that it was showing about 8’ 4”! Hmmm it was going to be tight!  The women had gone down below, windscreens down and I told Chris (who was helming that he was going to have to duck if he wanted to negotiate the bridge from the upper helm. (I went down the internal steps at the last minute).  We passed under the bridge with about an inch to spare and we heard a guy on the bridge say “Oh Jesus – they're not going to make it”!! I think he filmed us with his IPad – I wasn’t sorry to disappoint him in the slightest!! We had an uneventful cruise up to Stalham and on arriving at Richardsons we were pleasantly surprised to see that there was plenty of room to moor up, so we picked a spot in Heron Quay in front of a freshwater point and settled down for the rest of the day.  Evening approached and we took a walk up into the town and decided that we would have a meal in the Swan Inn. We managed to get a table outside initially and were informed that it would be about 30 mins between ordering food and getting it.  It was busy!  While we were waiting, one of the “pods” became available so we moved into it having first told the waitress so she wouldn’t think we’d disappeared! The food arrived after about 40 mins and all three meals were amazing – well worth the wait! Time to get back to the boat so off we trotted, down past Tesco’s, down the back roads, over the main road, down past the covered-up caravan down the lane (don’t think I’ve ever seen it uncovered!) and back onto the boat. (It always seems quicker on the return walk back from a pub!) . Time for a cup of tea and then retire for the night. We will decide where we are going tomorrow when we get up! 

Chris and Brenda

[Gracie]

Lovely read over a Sunday morning Latte, thank you Chris

Well done at the bridge, you got through with an inch to spare so don't worry if he filmed it, it won't be on social media. If you had hit the bridge however, a whole different story  x

[CeePee1952]

Thursday 7th Sep 23 

Arise and shine!  Another hot and sunny day looks to be on the cards! A bit of a lie in this morning – we didn’t get up until 7.30! We had decided that we would stop at Ludham Bridge on the way back to the Bure and buy some of the tasty sausage rolls that are made in the café next to the Bridge stores (plus any other delicacies that might tempt the ladies!).  Low water at Ludham Bridge was shown to be about 1230 so we had plenty of time to get there and moor up before going under the bridge. We had breakfast on the boat and topped up with water before setting off at a nice slow gentle pace out of the boatyard and down the Ant. (We were going that slow – even the speed check gizmo at the entrance to Richardsons didn’t register us! ). By the time we got to Barton Broad, there were a fair few boats crossing in both directions and we ended up following a couple of boats on exiting the Broad.  The leading boat was a small day boat type of craft with a young couple on board.  As we all approached Irsteads (more or less opposite the free 24 hr moorings), the day boat appeared to lose control and ended up broadside on to the river!  They looked like they had lost power! The hire boat in front of us seemed oblivious to the fact and pushed on regardless causing a bit of concern to the occupants of the day boat!  Brenda had been helming up to this point but decided to hand the helm back to me as she didn’t feel comfortable holding station while the problem got sorted.  Making sure that the boat coming up behind us was aware that I was holding station, I pondered whether to give the day boat a very gentle nudge towards the private mooring on our starboard side.  Luckily there was a chap on one of the boats moored up at the private mooring who was able to offer advice and assist them in getting over to the starboard bank and make fast on the boat in front of him. That situation safely resolved, I handed the helm back to Brenda and we continued our leisurely journey up to Ludham Bridge. 

On arriving at the Bridge, the only mooring spot available for us was literally just before where the signs were out for the Nancy Oldfield trust boat moors.  Making sure that I left enough room for their boat which was due back at midday and that I didn’t block any emergency ladders, I carefully moored up and we got ready to visit the café.  (I’ll never understand why cruisers still moor up over on the demasting moorings on the other side of the river – it caused a problem for a couple of yachts that wanted to demast while we were there!). 

We bought our sausage rolls and as predicted – the ladies bought a couple of apple and peach tartlet thingies!  We decided to do the spectator thing and stand on the bridge and watch boats pass under it but after a short while I got bored and left them to it and sauntered back to the boat! Eventually they returned and by now it was approaching the time to get under that darn bridge! The height board was showing 8’ 4” and as we only needed 8’ I decided it was time to set off. I had to wait for a few boats to come by us and a couple towards us before moving off and getting the boat pointing in the right direction.  Our clearance under the bridge was about 6” and we made our way down the Ant towards the Bure.  Chris and Julie had not been to South Walsham Broad before so we decided to visit the Broad and moor up at the free moorings for lunch and then move onto Ranworth to have a swing round on the mudweight. 

To be continued/......

[YnysMon]

9 hours ago, CeePee1952 said:

(I’ll never understand why cruisers still moor up over on the demasting moorings on the other side of the river – it caused a problem for a couple of yachts that wanted to demast while we were there!). 

Glad it’s not just me that keeps moaning about cruisers mooring on the demasting area. If they had to quant a sailey under the bridge and then carry on quanting because there wasn’t a space I’m sure they’d understand why it’s so annoying. Quanting (a more complicated version of punting) isn’t easy.

Its even worse south of the bridge as there isn’t even a designated demasting area. 

[CeePee1952]

Thursday 7th Sep 23 continued/.... 

After a very nice lunch (sausage rolls were to die for as always!), we set off for Ranworth.  On arriving in the Broad, there were 3 boats moored stern on at the island, the staithe looked full and there were a few boats that were mud weighting round the left-hand side of the broads which is where we had decided that we would mud weight.  I picked a spot that was a safe distance from the other boats and let the mudweight down (Royale Light 2 has an electric winch). Satisfied that I had enough chain on the bottom as well as the mudweight to stop us dragging, we spent the next couple of hours merrily swinging back and forth as the gentle breeze dictated. We have never moored on the island so decided that tonight we would give it a whirl, mainly to see how the domestic batteries would hold up – having been on shore power every night since Saturday night at Stracey Mill! There was plenty of room so I moored up about 3 boat widths from the left-hand side as you look at the moorings head on.  I knew we would have to pay but there didn’t seem to be anyone around – hmmm – a free night perhaps??  After about an hour a private aft cockpit cruiser of about 35’ turned up and proceeded to moor at the end on our starboard side.  What happened next was frightening! The guy was helming his boat slowly back and when he got close enough a female got hold of the mooring line on the rear port side and started to climb over the rear port side! Why she decided to do that and not use the bathing platform at the back of the boat, no one will ever know. Anyhow, she committed the ultimate sin – she jumped off onto the bank!  We could only look on in horror as she landed like a beached whale with her back crashing onto the wooden edge! Her head also made a heck of a thump on the grass! At the same time, her legs were over the edge between the boat and the wood! We felt helpless as we weren’t close enough to give assistance but the guy at the helm immediately got to the back of the boat, onto the bank and managed to drag her clear of the edge.  Once he had ascertained that she was ok, he moored the boat up and helped her back on board, apparently none the worse for wear apart from dirt/grass stains on her clothing and a dented pride!  We did hear her say that she had the wrong footwear on when trying to get off the boat!! (I’m fairly sure that she would have a couple of good bruises the next day!).  If anyone ever needed a stark reminder of how NOT to get off a boat when mooring – that was the perfect example! 

My hopes for a free of charge mooring were dashed when a guy turned up about 6 ish and requested payment – grrrr!  So the evening was drawing in and we settled down to finish off the spag bol left over from the previous meal at Stracey Mill. (We had frozen the remaining bolognese for such an occasion).  We didn’t have any spaghetti left so we had pasta shells with it which we had purchased in Loddon.  We jokingly described our meal as “Shell Bol”! It was delicious! Cutely aware of the uncertainty of the domestic batteries we kept our domestic usage to a minimum and after a couple of beers and wine we retired for the night.  Friday is our last day and we were going to spend it at Thurne Dyke and have our last cooked meal of the holiday in The Lion on Friday evening. 

Chris and Brenda 

[SwanR]

Enjoying your holiday tale. The Island may not offer any facilities but if we don’t need them then we prefer it to playing sardines on the Staithe. And it’s often been our back up plan when other moorings are busy. Love it there. 

[CeePee1952]

Friday 8th Sep 2023 

Another early stumble out of bed!  This time however, we were in no rush to depart which was a good job as the early morning river mist hadn’t yet lifted! Although we had a full day left to do some more cruising, I wasn’t sure how full Thurne Dyke would be later in the day. We have returned to Thurne Dyke on previous holidays prior to the turn round day at HW and found it to be quite full and as we are in a 44’ boat this time I didn’t relish the thought of faffing around in the Dyke should that be the case again! So plans were made to leave about 0930 and have a slow cruise up to Thurne Dyke.  At this point I should mention that yes – once again, not having been on shore power, the domestic batteries dial was showing only 8 volts!!  Note made to inform the yard on our return! As it would only take an hour or so to get to Thurne Dyke, I knew that the domestic batteries wouldn’t receive enough charge to see them through the coming night at Thurne Dyke but hey ho it will be our last night on board so what the heck! Breakfast was duly consumed and we left Ranworth on time. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Thurne Dyke was fairly empty when we got there – especially on the windmill side of the dyke. I remembered the lack of mooring rings on that side near the entrance so brought the boat in to roughly where I thought the rings were and then Chris and Brenda got the boat positioned using the mooring lines.  Where we ended up meant that we could quite easily reverse out in the morning without any problems. It wasn’t quite midday yet (pub opens at 12) so we had a short while to watch the coming and going of a few boats on the river.  12 o’ clock came and we took a leisurely stroll down to the pub and of course first priority was to order two pints of “Somebody Called Chris”  - an ale that I had sampled last October and it didn’t let me down! Chris (the other one) also said how good it tasted!  Overnight fee duly paid and a table booked for 7.15 pm. We returned to the boat, had some lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up the glorious weather and watching the activity on the river. 

To be continued/..... 

[CeePee1952]

Friday 8th Sep 23 continued/.... 

As the afternoon went by, we were joined in the dyke by the predictable number of boats that I thought would turn up! By 3 p.m. there wasn’t much room even for a water boatman to squeeze in! I’m glad I made the decision to get here early. Towards tea-time we spotted a couple of wherries heading North, being pushed by their accompanying tenders (there wasn’t much wind!). One of the wherries was Hathor looking like it was fully crewed, we couldn’t make out the name of the other one.  Soon it was time to make our way to the pub for our final evening meal of the holiday. It was no surprise to find that the pub was very busy and we were shown to our table and ordered our food and drinks. Brenda and Chris wanted the sea bass (their favourite) but it turned out that there was only one left so Brenda let Chris have it and she settled for the breaded scampi and skinny fries and I had the sausage and mash. I have to fess up and say that I can’t remember what Julie had – doh!! As always, the food was of excellent quality and hasn’t let us down in all the times we have been here.  By 9 p.m. we decided it was time to return to the boat and with trusty torch in hand we walked up the dyke and put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea.  The journey back to HW is about 45 mins from Thurne Dyke so we decided that we would depart about 8 ish the next morning which would give us ample time to unload the boat before the 9 a.m. deadline. Some people that we spoke to who had hired from HW said that they prefer to be back in the yard the night before, for us that seemed to be a waste of a last night but each to their own. After a quick game of cards, we retired for the night. 

Saturday 9th Sep 23 

6.30 a.m. A quick look at the domestic batteries gauge and yep – down to 8 volts yet again!! There’s definitely a problem Houston!!  Leaving the ladies to start packing up all our clothes and all the other stuff that one takes on a boating holiday (apparently us menfolk always get in the way!  ), Chris and I set about wiping the boat down up top and carrying out the various checks. We were ready to leave by 7.50 a.m. so having slipped the mooring lines, we gently reversed out of the dyke and made our way to HW. It was another glorious morning and the river mist was almost gone, allowing the morning sun to shine through. I had made a written note of the battery problem, the bilge pump problem and a couple of other minor niggles and when we arrived back at the yard, I gave the note to one of the staff for them to action as they saw fit. With a final wave to the boat and the cars packed to the hilt again, we walked over to the Flour and Bean (or as I call it “The Bacon Sarnie Saloon”  ) for a quick bite to eat and ablution visit before setting off for home.  We left Potter Heigham thinking about when to book our next holiday on the broads and arrived back in Church Lawford some 3 and a half hours later after an uneventful journey (for once!).  There’s no denying it – we had the most wonderful week on the broads as always and the excellent weather was a bonus! We considered ourselves very lucky with the weather and I came back with a suntan equal to that of a holiday abroad and at a lesser expense!! 

Chris and Brenda 

P.S. For the next and last post on this holiday I will try and provide a breakdown of the costs and savings and update on our next holiday on the Broads! 

[Gracie]

Thank you Chris and Brenda, thoroughly enjoyed your write up 

[CeePee1952]

Post Holiday Report and Costings 

This is just a general overview of what the holiday cost us and thoughts for 2025.  So, our cruising worked out as follows: 

Saturday 2nd Sep Potter Heigham (HW)  to Stracey Mills 

Sunday Stracey Mills to Beccles 

Monday Beccles to Oulton Broad 

Tuesday Oulton Broad to Loddon 

Wednesday Loddon to Stalham (Richardsons) 

Thursday Stalham to Ranworth 

Friday Ranworth to Thurne Dyke 

Saturday Thurne Dyke to Potter Heigham (HW) 

Holiday Costings: 

We booked the boat on 16th Sep 21 (just after our week afloat on Sovereign Light!). 

Initial price for one week £1424.00 

Early Booking Discount        £71.00 

Fuel Deposit                        £175.00 

Damage Waiver                    £65.00 

10% Blue Light Card           £135.28 

Loyalty Discount                  £60.88 

Total cost                         £1396.84 

Deposit                              £349.00 

Balance                            £1047.84 

We decided to have a separate bank account which Julie administered from 1st Oct 2021 and equal amounts were put in each month by both couples. By the start of the holiday, we had paid the balance owing for the weeks holiday and still had over £900 left for eating/drinking out, overnight mooring fees and sundry purchases, including the Lowestoft visit.  Our average spends for evening meals (including drinks) for 4 of us worked out to roughly £105 per night over 5 nights although the fish and chips at Loddon do not count towards the average!  We finished the holiday with over £250 left in the account.  Some of that was used for a meal out for the 4 of us on the Saturday night before Chris and Julie set off for home in Devon on the Sunday. 

To our surprise we have now received a refund of £43.75p from HW from our fuel deposit. We had used 75 litres of fuel at £1.75p per litre which I think is pretty good considering the size of the boat? We have transferred this refund into the account ready for our next adventure. 

Due to holidays already booked for 2024 by both couples, the four of us cannot make the Broads together in 2024. However, Brenda and I have already booked 2 x one week holidays afloat (with HW) next year! More about those in a separate post later! Some of you might be wondering what is going to happen with the remaining funds from this holiday? Initial thoughts are for the four of us to go and see the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, visit the Royal Yacht Britannia at Leith and the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2025. That thought might change but we are continuing our monthly payments into the “holiday account” to offset the cost of whatever we decide to do. 

So, apart from a few photos of our holiday that I need to post (when I can remember where they are (mixture of Ipad, phone and camera!), here endeth the tale of two couples afloat on the Broads for a glorious week in Sep 2023!!

Chris and Brenda

[Lulu]

Really enjoyed your write up.  We do a similar thing to keep Luna up and running by having a ‘boat fund’ which we pay a set amount into each month for maintenance stuff and the dreaded time of mooring fees, tolls, breakdown cover and insurance that comes around in March, so its not so painful!