A week on platinum emblem

[Mandybstorm]

Day one

We arrived at the marina at 3pm after a slow gruelling 5 hr journey down. Lots of road works and diversions. First impressions of the boat were good, she is quite plush inside with an ample supply of crockery, utensils ect.. Rather smaller inside than the photos imply though. As it turned out our 18 year old ditched us at the last minute and decided to stay home alone. Arghhh! But in hindsight if he had come along I think we would be overcrowded. 2 adults, 1 child and 2 large dogs and its just about right.

Handover went quickly and smoothly as we have done it before, although not with ferry marina. We didn't have a test drive as he said we seemed capable enough! The Asda food delivery to the marina went well too so will do that again for sure.

First night we spent at salhouse which was not too overcrowded. Great walks for the dogs and no rowdies walking past. Saw lots of herons and bird life on the way, no otters or king fishers yet.

We had a few g&t's then crashed out around 10pm. Main bedroom at the front of the boat very nice but loud sloshing noises all night which will take some getting used to. We have always slept at the rear before. Lots of storage space around the boat but very little in the galley. This means most of the food is in the lounge cupboards so you have to keep walking up and down. Small bedroom is tiny, a kids room for sure. Nice seating area at the rear and great access when mooring stern on, a little more tricky when side on. Not for the elderly or infirm.

Heading down river tomorrow.

[Hockham Admiral]

Sounds interesting, Mandy!

 

I've looked at the specs and she does look very pretty; does she handle well?

 

I thought the galley was in the lounge, though? If you call the wheelhouse the lounge, that is.

 

That wave noise can be very bad until you're used to it. When we moored stern-on at Oulton Broad, on the pontoons, facing the broad, in a stiff s'westerly, we had great difficulty with sleeping!

 

Anyway, looking forward to the next instalment.   

[Mandybstorm]

Day 2

Today we had a slow journey down the bure and managed to more up at st benet's abbey. Passed it many times but never stopped before. Got some great photos which will go up on Flickr when we get home. The dogs had a really good run in the open fields next to the abbey. No other dogs or livestock around, great!

After lunch we headed off down river. Saw a few stag filled boats on the way and was cut up a couples of times by newbies (not that we're seasoned sailors).

Moored up at glebe farm overnight. Had a visit to the tea rooms and a walk along the river bank path. Fairly busy tonight , lots of people trying to stop but no room. Seen a few go down and then up again. One boat obviously left it a little late passing by us at around 8.30, oh dear!

[Mandybstorm]

Sounds interesting, Mandy!

 

I've looked at the specs and she does look very pretty; does she handle well?

 

I thought the galley was in the lounge, though? If you call the wheelhouse the lounge, that is

She seems to handle ok, no problems so far. Breydon will be the test! I was worried the wind may blow her about a bit but not noticed a difference yet. Vision is not great

 Due to the tracivision and the corner pillar on the windscreen which causes a blind spot.

The galley area is across from the wheel and quite small. Only a couple of cupboards which are taken up with crockery and pans. Two steps then lead up into the lounge area. Loads of storage under the seats and plenty of cupboard space. No real problem but as we are aiming to mostly self cater it means I'll build up my calf muscles going up and down !

[Mandybstorm]

Day 3

The engine starter battery failed this morning. Completely dead as a dodo.

The marina were great and sent out an engineer within the hour. He is fitting a new one as we speak. Update later!

[Hockham Admiral]

Well at least they're prompt, Mandy! 

 

When are you planning to go over Breydon? 

[Mandybstorm]

Well at least they're prompt, Mandy! 

 

When are you planning to go over Breydon? 

All fixed in about 10 minutes. New battery installed and a very friendly and pleasant engineer. Aiming to reach Yarmouth at 2.30 / 3ish. . Just looking at places to moor in reedham on my iPad!. Suspect it may be busy so maybe a good idea to reserve a spot if we're not too late.

[Mandybstorm]

Day 3 cont

We couldn't get in at reedham so slight change of plan. We stopped at cantley, not very scenic with the huge sugar plant but free. It actually looked quite impressive all lit up after dark! Ate a curry on the boat and then called into the reedcutter for dessert. A little run down in appearance but great service and the sticky toffee pudding was out of this world. My son had a huge toffee ice cream stuffed with toffee chunks and marshmallows. Hubby loved the real Devon cider too. £18 for a pint of cider, a double g&t, 2 huge desserts. They also sell bread, milk, baked beans etc, offer showers and water refill at £3 each. Heading off to Norwich as we have a meal at chutney aroma of India via groupon.

[quo vadis]

Have a good time just saw you going past Surlingham Ferry House

[Mandybstorm]

Well an eventful night in Norwich. Had a walk round town in the afternoon and stocked up on a few essentials. Son had his McDonald's fix.

The Indian meal was very nice, lots of choice, nicely spiced and good value.

Not good for dog owners though. Small park area to walk through opposite the mooring but no off lead areas and lots of drinkers around. The attendant was nice and chatty and tied us up the minute we arrived.loo's and showers all clean.

Rudely awaken in the middle of the night by someone jumping on the boat roof! The dogs went bonkers. By the time we got out of bed and unlocked the door they were out of reach. A couple of drunks, it all adds to the holiday excitement. A little unexpected on a Monday night.

Off to London today.

[Mandybstorm]

Have a good time just saw you going past Surlingham Ferry House [/quote

Will be passing by again today. Give us a wave !

[quo vadis]

Saw you come into Loddon basin was on way to help you moor but you left.

[Mandybstorm]

Saw you come into Loddon basin was on way to help you moor but you left.

Oh sorry! Hubby decided it looked too busy for the dogs so we are down at chedgrave. Walking up in a minute to have a look around do will give you a wave if we see you. Aiming to get chips if its open and take a few pictures. We are the only ones moored up here so far so dogs can run around without fear of upsetting anyone. X

[Mandybstorm]

Ohhhh spoke too soon a boat of all males just pulled up! Drat and double drat!

[Mandybstorm]

Had a nice night at chedgrave. Great field for dog walking. Walked into Loddon and had a very tasty chip shop meal sat by the marina.lots of fish to see.

Managed to get in at reedham today and waited for slack water at Yarmouth. Had a walk around, a very pretty little place. Had a doggie nightmare today though! One ended up in the water which caused 30 seconds of sheer terror and then the other one trod on a wasp and caused a drama. A dog can die in 20 minutes from a wasp sting so its wise to treat them ASAP. Gave her a piriton and grabbed some baking powder from the post office lady to make a poultice. Thankfully she was ok!

Managed to moor up at st bennets after quite a long day.

Getting to be a dab hand at boat cooking. Had curries, pasta and homemade sauces, homemade cheese scones, soups. It's amazing what you can do in such a small space.

[Julz]

Hi Mandy, im so glad that you are enjoying your holiday, and also descover the delights of inventing dishes in the lovely little galley. Being a caravanner myself, l also love to cook in my galley and watch and listen to the comments of passers by as they smell the aromas of our food. We also bake our own bread onboard, which gets our neighbours drooling, and indeed sometimes we do share some with them if they turn out to be of the friendly variety!

Its a small world, from your avatar, you only live a couple of miles away from me, we have family in Cromford, Wirksworth, Hulland and Belper, it wouldnt be the first time lol that one of our members on here has turned our to be a neighbour of ours.

Julz

[Mandybstorm]

Hi Julz

I'm a dog walker/animal sitter so I work in both cromford and wirksworth. We are ex caravaners at the moment after selling ours and later regretting it. Undecided at the moment between a caravan and motor home. Been looking around locally and hopefully we may get sorted by next spring. We had an elddis oddysey 524.

At salhouse again this evening before handing the boat over tomorrow. Had a look around a few more boats at ferry marina this morning just in case we rebook for next summer. It has been a good holiday and sad to be going home but ready for a good soak in the bath.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Mandy,

I take it that you have had a good holiday other than the few incidents you have had on your travels with the dogs, flat batteries and drunks!

I have seen a number of the smaller motor homes and they look very good, one of our ex owners went out of our syndicate after wanting to spend more time using his 6 berth motor home.

What ever you do next year enjoy your time on the camping sites or the Broads.

Regards

Alan

[Julz]

We have just returned from our maiden voyage in our new Elddis Avante, after trading in our Lunar, a bit of a learning curve regards how things work onboard after trading in a 6yr old caravan for a brand new one, but we are very pleased with it.

Theres fore and against for a motorhome, and the best advice that l can give you is to hire one for a week first and see if the lifestyle is for you. We did consider buying one ourselves this time, but opted for the more flexible car and caravan combination due to parking restrictions if you ever want to visit a town centre or somewhere with restricted access, narrow lanes ect, a motorhome is not such a go anywhere out

fit as a car and caravan is, where you can just de-hitch and go with the car alone. Some motorhomers either carry bikes to get around on, or tow a toad car on an A -frame, but that rather defeats the object of having a motorhome in the first place Imho.

We have just spent a fortnight on Danny's paddock, a lovely little caravan club CL, we usually use Broadlands site at Ludham, but after the last visit with loads of children racing around on bikes and the wardens having great difficulty getting parents to control their offspring for their own safety as well as everyone elses, we opted for Danny's which is an adult only site. We also spent a week up at Sandringham, and a week visiting family down just south of Beccles.

I have also worked for the animal rescue charities in the past, my Dad was a founding member of Adaws at Ashbourne, ans we ended up adoptiong two dogs ourselves, although one died of old age last year, and our Boxer is now 13 and we are coming to terms with the fact that we wont have her for much longer either, shes becoming a real old lady, and can no longer walk far.

Julz