Broads Tourism

[Poppy]

Poppy, surely not a CC member?!?

For 36 years now

[JennyMorgan]

For 36 years now

Heavens above, Poppy, you live dangerously! Out on the roads you must suffer the glares & curses of motorists astern of your caravan, out on the river, in your sailing cruiser, you must also suffer the glares & curses of motorists-afloat that are astern of you and also determined to pass you!

[Timbo]

I hope on the rivers Poppy slows down as many motorists as possible and I will be joining him very soon. Strange how on the road its a case of A-B for me, no messing. On the river I'm one of the biggest dawdlers going, especially along the Ant.
 

I'm also keen to persuade Doug, BrundallNavy, to teach me the art of weaving about in one of those eco-friendly boats powered by two sticks and a big hanky. Although I have a sneaking suspicion that they move a lot faster than the old stinky does!

[BroadScot]

You've done it now Tim, they use TWO Hankies that's why they go so fast  Your chances of receiving lessons have just deminished by the factor of ONE hankie

 

Iain.

[JennyMorgan]

Real sailors use at least three 'handkies'!

[MauriceMynah]

Can I not see four hankies there Peter?

Three snot enough?

[Poppy]

Can I not see four hankies there Peter?

Three snot enough?

Beat me to it MM.

[Poppy]

Before we leave the subject of caravans, any Rover drivers here? Couldn't count the numer of times someone has attempted to overtake me , then s**T themselves to find a little old man wearing a flat cap and driving a Rover 214 at the head of the queue in front of ME !

Then there's the horse box brigade. Don't get me started on horse boxes.......

[JennyMorgan]

Then there's the horse box brigade. Don't get me started on horse boxes.......

Neigh!

John, 'tis an integral, faux topsail.

[unclemike]

Before we leave the subject of caravans, any Rover drivers here? Couldn't count the numer of times someone has attempted to overtake me , then s**T themselves to find a little old man wearing a flat cap and driving a Rover 214 at the head of the queue in front of ME !

Then there's the horse box brigade. Don't get me started on horse boxes.......

can liv e with caravans, my biggest gripe is lorry drivers overtaking on a 2 lane rd,    anything up to 5 miles to get past, at least the A 42 has a no overtaking zone for lorries 7am to 7pm, on a busy day I can lose an hour because of lorries, i do 20.000 miles a year, driving to work,not at work.

[Timbo]

I thought I'd help out with some postcard ideas in the event that the crackpot marketing schemes actually work & folks flock to Broadland in their millions...here's one for Poppy to enjoy  !

 

[Poppy]

So where's the Rover, flat cap ..... and Whippet ?

[JennyMorgan]

So where's the Rover, flat cap ..... and Whippet ?

Just ahead of a long line of gently gyrating and swaying caravans, themselves just ahead of an even longer line of impatient company cars all desperate to make it to increasingly impossible appointments.

No mention of the beet lorries heading towards Cantley!

[ExUserGone]

Gotta say my trip from St.Neots is usually not too bad, even with the A11 roadworks and the works at postwick viaduct, normally takes about 1.5 hours, worst was 2.5 hours but that was A14 blocked by accident, M11 blocked by another accident (we have to pass the join of the two) and heavy summer traffic on the A11 roadworks, will be a joy when it's all dualled, and we pull off just postwick works start affecting us.

1.25 hours was best time during an england world cup game, quieter roads is all football's good for.

[Soundings]

The roads are undoubtably improving and will continue to do so if Dave C is to be believed (and if he gets in again). But this is really a case of "careful what you wish for". Building is accelerating at quite an alarming rate around the Broads area and this is alongside the call for more jobs etc, etc. Yes, the roads will be built/improved but housing, industrial complexes and the like will spring up along them. And I have not even mentioned the new Northern Distributer around Norwich (well I have now!).

 

The risk is the rural economy getting taken over by a more industrial one and tourism becoming less important as a result.

[BroadScot]

Hi Dave,

 

Good points there, however, technically speeking the A17 has been upgraded in the past forty years. When I first drove down the A17 you went through all the villages like Long Sutton etc. A length of road I thought would never reach Kings Lynn after seven hours then. (the A66 was rubbish then also) The mistake they made IMHO they didn't make it a proper dual carriageway from Sleeford to Kings Lynn. Probably the government of the day could not afford it, or would have been held to ransom maybe from the farming community down the full length of that road, for the additional land. 

 

Iain.

[Baitrunner]

Don't forget a lot of farm traffic crosses the A17 and putting in enough places to cross safely would have been very costly.

Whenever we go that way we always allow 2 hrs from Dereham to Newark.

Or do it very very late or very very early. Just hope a ferry hasn't come in at Felixstowe.

[ranworthbreeze]

At the end of the day most of us are going on holiday or about to relax on our boats, so the journey is part of that holiday or our relaxing time.

 

I can never make the journey in less than 3 hours on the A17 & A47, if its not raining I put the top down and tootle into Norfolk.

 

It was a pain in July when the powers that be thought it would be a good idea the top dress the A17 (which continued into the School holidays) and course there were the tail backs because of repairs to the bridge.  

 

An improvement would be if they ever get round to putting the missing flyovers in rather than having to drop down to that roundabout. You would have thought in last 14 years they might have come closer to getting it done. 

 

Regards

Alan

[BroadScot]

Hi Alan,

 

That roundabout as you leave the A1 for the A17 is a race track, a real bottleneck during the daytime. We had a roundabout near Ayr that was similar. They have installed a computerised traffic light system and re-laned it there and it has made a huge difference. That would help I think at the Sleaford Roundabout also.

 

Iain.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

I have to admit, the journey up for us can be quite easy, even if it IS 250 miles. As soon as we leave home, there`s about 3/4 mile of village roads, then it`s the A31 dual carraigeway, which becomes the M27 , then the M3 splits off by Southampton, which brings us to the M25 London orbital CAR PARK to the M11 junction. Then before Cambridge, we bare off on the A11 which is now dualed all the way to the A47, which takes us to the Brundall roundabout. Then it`s about a mile and a 1/2 to Brooms via village roads again. If all the roads are clear, and we could do the journey non stop at motorway speeds, we could reach Brundall 3 1/2 hours after we left.

 

Now factor in the fact the M3 is always a problem near the M25, the M25 north orbital has for at least 3 years had a 50mph limit due to continuing roadworks, and the A11 dualing between Barton Mills and Thetford IS finished, but they still have it coned down to one lane while they`re working in the fields beside it.

 

That makes the journey considerably longer, especially as Karen and i are only getting older, and long journeys have a habit of making you need the loo more often.

 

Oh how i wish i still live in North West Kent only 8 miles from the Dartford tunnell again.

[Soundings]

Soundings even if Dave C gets in again there are no plans to improve the trunk roads into Norfolk other than the work we are currently seeing, the major target areas to attract visitors to Norfolk are the Midlands and the North and nothing is being done to improve the A17 or the A47 that I can find add to that the A52 from East Midlands and it's not a pretty picture. 

Dave

You may be right, Dave, but what I have said about builing and industrialisation remains. I thought there were plans to improve the A47 though.

[Soundings]

I think it is a carrot being offered by "Dave" should he win

[Timbo]

From what I understand it's one of those election promises from C A Moron, you know...going back to Classical politics...building roads, sacking Carthage, exposing disabled children on hillsides, authority and municipal contracts distributed to friends and family, citizenship laws based on those prior to the Edict of Caracalla in 212 AD.  :

[Labrador]

Interesting thread. Early on Polly said 'Hovetons awfully 60s village center'. I must say I am struggling to think of a 60s building in the center.

On the same theme I think the 60s marked the beginning of the end of the more 'real' broads heritage. Today most of it has been bastardised. Look at the view downriver from Wroxham bridge. What of the boat hire history can you see today compared with 50 years ago, nothing!! Thanks to BA policy to move boatyards back off the river frontage and instead allow abortions of holidays houses.

Rant over

[Rincewind]

I thought that the Hotel Wroxham was built in the 1960s but I'm told it is a product of the early 1970s...another decade resplendent in its style and panache.

 

Try as I might though, I cannot see what is so offensive about riverside holiday homes. As to the description of such properties as 'abortions' well...

Maybe the area doesn't need tourist cash any more?

 

Unless there's been a serious redevelopment in the area since October, I'm pretty sure that Broads Tours and Barnes Brinkcraft are still conspicuously on the river frontage.

 

Whilst it's our duty to respect the past, I find it's much less strain on the cardio-vascular system not to live in it and get raised blood pressure from raging about so-called "lost heritage".