Fantastic 4 do the Northern Broads.

[3FagsandAHag]

Day 3 - Horning and the night the Internet vanished.

Well here we are, day 3, After waking up in Acle we mused where to go next, for the briefest of moments the idea of tackling Braydon Water was muttered, I'm a sucker for the southern broads, always have been and we knew if we left early enough it would be possible......However after numerous cups of coffee and an extremely hardy breakfast of bacon, eggs and sausages it was soon 10 and that idea was very firmly knocked on the head. So we decided to Wroxham we would go. Setting off after about 30 minutes the unthinkable happened....I had to put the roof up. Now I should explain in further detail, for me on a boat, much like in my old MG, unless it was raining I drop the roof, any excuse to go topless some people would say. However this morning the wind was most insistent and I was being blown all over the place, there was no other option. Fortunately the enforced cover cruising only lasted an hour or so before the wind had settled down enough to allow for more top down cruising.

Working our way through Horning we must have mentally spent about 2 million on house and boat combinations, all I will say is it is probably a good thing my salary won't allow for it otherwise I would be moving in like a shot. As we neared Wroxham we could see the clearance was roughly 7 foot, now Broadsman 3 with it's air draft of 6'09 could make that kind of clearance, but for me it doesn't give enough room for possible error and as such we decided instead to moor up and go get some supplies from Roy's before making any decisions on our next move. In an ideal world we would go under the bridge and then moor up further up river but by the time we got back, the levels hadn't budged and although I would have dearly loved to do it, it was decided that it was just not meant to be, as such we turned back around and headed back down river, both Salhouse and Wroxham broad where mentioned as places to moor up for the evening, however knowing that we needed more water and nobody felt like cooking tonight the decision was made to moor up at Horning.

45 minutes and a stern on mooring later we found ourselves moored up outside the New Inn, this would be home for the night. It was at this point we discovered Hornings deep dark secret......it's a 3G black spot with mobile signal being intermittent at best (infact it's a miracle I've been able to post this tonight). After dining on Steak and seafood platters (both of which where very tasty, even the steak was done as a perfect blue which made the other half very happy) we settled in for a night of red wine and board games and planning where to head to tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be a very interesting one, and may result in me questioning my sanity, tomorrow we hit Great Yarmouth.......Dum dum dum!

[Jupes]

I have been looking forward to reading about your hols for some time and enjoying it. Keep it coming and should you get to Oulton Broad, say hello to my husband (Harbourmaster)!! Also worth ringing ahead and booking a table at the Commodore as 'foodies'!!

[donnygeoff]

but for me it doesn't give enough room for possible error

The pilot would take you through, as I am sure you should not do it yourself on a hire boat.

If he thought it would go under, then it would. (and if it didn't..... )

[mbird]

Yes I was wondering about the pilot, that would have been the easy option and allowed you to cruise the lovely stretch up to Coltishall? The bridge gauge at Wroxham is quite pessimistic and should have given plenty of clearance for a 6'9" boat if showing 7'0".

[3FagsandAHag]

Yes I was wondering about the pilot, that would have been the easy option and allowed you to cruise the lovely stretch up to Coltishall? The bridge gauge at Wroxham is quite pessimistic and should have given plenty of clearance for a 6'9" boat if showing 7'0".

This is indeed true and it's not that I doubt their judgement, far from it, I just like to leave a lot of room for error lol.

Anyway tonight's tale should be a pleasing one for everybody to read

[3FagsandAHag]

http://i.pgu.me/SnSz0ZVh_original.jpg

Broadsman reaches Oulton Broad

[quo vadis]

I think we saw you go through st Olaves today around 3-15 but the top was up could'nt see anyone, have a good time keep up the report

[mbird]

You must certainly have charged the batteries today then!!

[3FagsandAHag]

Day 4 - The destination that wasn't meant to happen and the squirrel crossing the border.

The plan had always been to go from Horning to Great Yarmouth today, after all, we hadn't done Great Yarmouth yet, and who in there right mind would decide to tackle Bradon Water at 2pm on a Monday? Us. That's right after talking to Gus at the New Inn in the morning whilst topping up water we decided, to he'll with it all, lets aim for Oulton Broad. Yes it would be a long cruising day but it would give the batteries a good charge and would also mean Jane and Dan who have never done the Broads at all could get a glimpse of the Southern broad, if not a full blown tour.

Setting off at just after 8 we made our way from Horning to Great Yarmouth. We knew we would have missed slack water and would be approaching pretty close to high tide but we knew if we wated at Yarmouth for a couple of hours we should be able to get across Bradon and be in Oulton Broad for about 4.45/5ish. Reaching Great Yarmouth at about 12 we moored up at the Yacht station and I then remembered why I disliked the Yacht Station. Don't get me wrong I appreciate that these services don't pay for themselves but I did think £5 for what equated to a 1.30 hour wait for levels to drop was a wee bit steep. Maybe a sliding scale for morning charges would be more appropriate? But I digress, stepping ashore we took a small walk into the Town centre itself to pick a few bits and bobs (read as coffee, seafood and chips) before returning to Broadsman and casting off to cross the water.

This was a very different Bradon from the one I remembered of my childhood, gone we're the big casters and speed boats dashing back and forth, replaced by very calm almost serene still water, with only two other boats in sight. We made excellent time and by 3.15 we had reached St Olaves. Quo Vadis did indeed spot us and unfortunately the roof was up with the on and off rain of the day and one of our crew being part lizard the roof ended up staying up for most of the day until we actually entered Oulton Broad itself to be greeted by a glorious setting sun.

Now you may be thinking where does the squirrel come into all this? Well I shall explain, shortly before we entered Oulton Broad and we had dropped the roof we saw what we all thought was an otter swimming across the broad, until we got closer to it and noticed the tail. There in all his bushy water logged glory was a squirrel swimming across the river like his life depended on him reaching the other side. I know it's not a big thing, but when you spend most of your days in a location where the local wildlife is used to describe a drunk collapsed in a side street, it's the little things that please.

Anyway back to Oulton and our evenings repast, as dearly as we would have liked to eat at the Commodore, unfortunately a slight issue with finances arose and budget wouldn't stretch that far, so instead the Wherry Inn and its Carvery provided sustenance... Maybe a little too much as my partner and I slightly overdid it with a sharing platter starter that would have kept a super model alive for a decade, then followed by an extra large Carvery. Stuffed with my body weight of roast pork and cauliflower cheese we returned to the boat and settled in for a DVD, and yet another bottle of wine.

The worst thing though was the realisation that we had reached the midpoint of our break and the end is now closer than the start. But we do still have two full days of cruising remaining and we intend to make the most of them, so roll on Day 5 and Loddon.

[donnygeoff]

A very nice little cruise there Stu..

Keep it coming..

so roll on Day 5 and Loddon.

And the very straight and wide River Chet

[3FagsandAHag]

Day 5 - Detours, perfect cuppas and the perfect mooring

I think it happens to everybody when you go on a broads holiday, one mooring will stick in your mind as absolutely perfect and to those around you it will look text book perfect. You slot into a small gap that's the perfect size for your boat and people on the quayside watching you moor actually complement you on a job well done and say "you've done that before"

Okay maybe the second bit doesn't happen to everybody but it did today for our mooring at Loddon, but more on that later. We decided to start off slightly later today as we we're only intending a short cruise from Oulton Broad to Loddon, so fuelled up on even more Bacon sausage and eggs (I think my waist line will have jumped up two sizes by the end of this holiday we cast off at around 11.00 from Oulton Broad and started our leisurely pootle along to Loddon. Everything was going fine until I realised we were passing something we shouldn't be, what was it you ask? Waveney River centre. For some reason my brain had switched to Auto Pilot, decided we had Broadsman for at least 4 more days and that we should go to Beccles! Now in an ideal world and if we didn't need to make our way back North tomorrow I would have said to hell with it and carried on, but as we all know the world isn't ideal, so instead we spun the boat around (thank you all round thrusters) and made our way back to actually head up the New Cut past Reedham and on to the ever so wide and not at all twisty River Chet.

In the past the Chet has filled me with dread, when we had Alpha Shakleton five years ago we had less than ideal conditions to navigate in (driving rain, heavy winds and me only just getting my eye back in) and reaching the basin mooring was performed in only 82 turns to get us in stern on. This time though, the weather was good, the steering worry free and the mooring completely perfect, and I mean completely. In only one turn we had nestled between Swan Raider and Spring Horizon, no fuss, no muss and to a complement from a gent who had moored up in his own boat who had that air of "I've seen so many hirers screw that up" about him.

As I type this I'm now sat in the main saloon, glass of mead in hand with the roof down just admiring the surroundings. This week has really made me remember why I love e Broads and made me make a promise to myself, when I get home a savings account is being opened to start saving for a share in a Broads cruiser. In the mean time Richardsons will be my boat yard of choice, but by the time I hit 35 I will have my share in a boat, only Five years to go, I aim to get it done in two.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Stu,

Great story so far and yes Loddon is a great place to moor.

We all await your next day. Are you going to Norwich or heading back to the norther rivers?

Regards

Alan

[3FagsandAHag]

Hi Stu,

Great story so far and yes Loddon is a great place to moor.

We all await your next day. Are you going to Norwich or heading back to the norther rivers?

Regards

Alan

Hi Alan, it'll be back to the north tomorrow as we have to begrudgingly hand back Broadsman Friday and have the distinct feeling Clive won't be impressed if we run off with her for a few more days lol

Current plan will be to leave Loddon at about 11.30 and make our way to Acle again for the night, if we can make good time might try and get a little further than that.

Stu

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Stu,

I thought you may be going back. Loddon to Acle is around 24 miles so you should make that easily dependant on how you get on through Yarmouth. Another 5 miles would get you to Womak Staithe or 6miles to Potter Heigham. Just a thought.

Regards

Alan

[3FagsandAHag]

Hi Stu,

I thought you may be going back. Loddon to Acle is around 24 miles so you should make that easily dependant on how you get on through Yarmouth. Another 5 miles would get you to Womak Staithe or 6miles to Potter Heigham. Just a thought.

Regards

Alan

Our thoughts exactly, I'd rather not moor at Acle for a second night but there are worst places to stay

[Hockham Admiral]

And don't pay at Great Yarmouth (GH), Stu!

There is ancient Maritime Law which provides for the tide... Just say to them "Waiting for the Tide" (if you are) and they can't charge you.

They'll probably tell you that you can't leave your boat either but I just said that if they wanted me I'd be in the nearby pub!

BTW Slack Water is 07.15/19.34 today and 07.46/20.04 tomorrow; so I'd take the tide to GH this afternoon and wait there overnight... then take the tide to wherever tomorrow morning.

Good Luck!

[Hockham Admiral]

And Hi Tide GH is 12.27 today, Stu.

So while you'll still probably get under the GH bridges with your low airdraft (and if you can't there's nowhere to moor) you'll be punching the tides both ways...

[donnygeoff]

And don't pay at Great Yarmouth (GH), Stu!

And from memory, just before the bridges there are moorings for yachts to lower masts and cruisers to moor waiting for the bridge,(there was a sign) we have moored there before to wait.

[3FagsandAHag]

Day 6 - The return to the North and revisiting Acle

Well here we were, day 6, and only one day remaining and only one thing was on our mind today, returning to the Northern Broads. We had enjoyed our brief little break at the southern broads and I had made the decision that next year when me and Mr Ellis return next year (Clive if you could lift the no all male party clause on Carousel for a week next year, ta muchly) we'd actually go straight down South from day one and spend the bulk of the week there.

The crossing was pretty uneventful, we had the nice broads authority gents meet us midway across Braydon just to check our draft to make sure we would get under the bridges at Norwich, which we did completely trouble free. We made our way back towards Acle the plan being to hopefully get another little bit of cruising under our belt and do a over night stop at Thurne. Unfortunately though time played against us and we ended up mooring for the night at Acle.

As we sat and watched the sun set we made our way over to the Bridge Inn for dinner. Say what you want about the Bridge Inn I do have to say their food offering is the best it has been for years, although draft prices are a bit on the steep side, £3.95 for a pint of cider is whatever way you cut it a lot. But enough of the bad, on to the good. Fuelled on a excellent fish pie we returned to the boat and sat on the stern seat, cigar in hand, glass of wine in the other and set the world to rights.

As I settled into bed for the night my only regret was that the day was almost over, which means the holiday is almost over and I would need to hand Broadsman back. Oh we'll there is always next year.

[Guest]

I too returned to the broads 2008 after a 20yr gap and was also disappointed how calm breydon water was

How dear's the commodore used to be reasonable?

Recent finds for us have been white horse @ loddon and the pub at ludham bridge. Also the giant bass @ the bridge wroxham.

[Hockham Admiral]

Commodore now run by the guy who ran the Duke's Head recently. Quite expensive for food.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi John,

Was that the guy that reopened the Dukes Head a couple of years ago?

Regards

Alan

[3FagsandAHag]

And don't pay at Great Yarmouth (GH), Stu!

There is ancient Maritime Law which provides for the tide... Just say to them "Waiting for the Tide" (if you are) and they can't charge you. :clap

They'll probably tell you that you can't leave your boat either but I just said that if they wanted me I'd be in the nearby pub!

BTW Slack Water is 07.15/19.34 today and 07.46/20.04 tomorrow; so I'd take the tide to GH this afternoon and wait there overnight... then take the tide to wherever tomorrow morning.

Good Luck!

 Duely noted for next time John and Mary.

 

Next time incidentally being September next year. Unfortunately we just couldn't make it work this year with the other halfs open uni course and my work commitments so although we dearly wanted to come back this year we'e had to settle for 2014. Just waiting for funds to clear now and we'll be booking Moon Voyager for a 10 night run next September

 

Stu