Wensum Strategy

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

 Or did the hirers 'cock up' and blame somebody else to save face?  More rumour and supposition?

 

NO BOBDOG, DEFINITELT NOT RUMOUR AND SUPPOSITION.

 

That was told to me by the very diver that does most of (if not all) the diving on the broads. So definitely not a rumour, as it came from the horses mouth.

 

I must admit, i`m at a loss as to why you felt the need to try and introduse suspicion to my post,  Anything you want to share with us?. Are you a ranger based at Norwich yacht station by any chance?.

[ExMemberBobdog]

No I'm not a Ranger.  And I don't doubt your word that the diver came out to clear the rope.  My question is how the rope got there in the first place (which the diver only has the word of the hirer for). 

 

My concern is about unwarranted fears being placed in the minds of people about the risks of mooring in Norwich on the basis of actually very few, if any, real incidents.

[JennyMorgan]

Bob, there have been well documented incidents at Norwich not least a member of the Broads Authority navigation committee being cast off! Mind you, that event did result in an increase of security at the Yacht Station. As it is, at Norwich I don't suppose you'll come to much harm if you you did drift off. Personally I like Norwich and have never had a problem.

[Guest]

...... Anything you want to share with us?. Are you a ranger based at Norwich yacht station by any chance?......

 

...another BA fifth columnist ? 

 

we keep giving ourselves away... 

[Timbo]

Personally had two incidents at Norwich. The first over ten years ago, was by far the worst. I was awoken in the early hours by a loud crash on our hire cruiser & was confronted by three drunken miscreants jumping around the boat. The crash had been one of the windows being kicked in. For some reason only beknown to herself the Mrs had rung Richardsons instead of the police. However with super efficiency Richardson's coordinated the correct responses and within what seemed minutes we had police, a Ranger and an engineer (and his wife) with us. A chap from the boat behind had grabbed one of the miscreants who had been untying his boat. Everything was handled calmly and efficiently the engineer from Richardson's was a marvel, quickly replaced the window while his wife made us cups of coffee & fussed over my Mrs. By the time the sun was up we were ready for the off...even a bacon sandwich supplied by the engineers Mrs!

 

Second incident was four years back on a boat from Herbert Woods, just a simple matter of someone trying to nick my fishing gear from the roof of the boat. However I had taken the precaution of using strips of old inner tube to fasten my rods to the roof rails. The thief had tried to take the rods which had sprung back into place sticking the hook into the thief's hand. The thief was in some considerable pain and did not have the wits to remove the hook in the dark or to break the line. I don't know who was the biggest idiot, me for taking the hook out of his hand, or the thief for staying with us after I'd removed the hook while the police arrived.

 

Now having said all of this, these are just two incidents over many years of visiting Norwich by boat. On the whole our visits to Norwich have been just as peaceful and relaxing as other places on the Broads. Two things I have noted. The first is that in the past the drunks were limited to the two 'chucking out' periods where the pubs shut and then the nightclubs shut.These days there just seems to be one prolonged period of idiots with more money than sense staggering from pub to club into the wee hours. The second is that the incidence of idiots are less frequent than they used to be. But idiots can be found anywhere...they are not just limited to Norwich. I tell my crew members to remember Norwich is a city & to revel in the difference between the City and the Broads. The sudden increase in pace can be just as refreshing as the quiet and solitude.

[GeoffandWendy]

Ok I feel bad now.. this is all getting very negative and I dread to think what newbies/potential visitors must be thinking!

 

As we all know there are far far far more positives on the broads which far outweigh the smallest chances of anything like this happening... lets turn this back to the positive!! Good luck to norwich for these improvements.. I can't wait to see what improvements they make and I so can't explain how much I can't wait to get back up to the broads!!

 

I agree with you Alan, all these incidents, can be a bit of putting for new visitors to visit Norwich by boat. We intend to spend a couple of days in Norwich, after we have handed our boat back, so we can explore this lovely city. 

However, we will be staying in the Northern Broads for our holiday, as there seems so much to see and do, for a weeks visit. Maybe we will get to do the Southern Broads, next year, by booking a boat from Brundel or somewhere. But even then, I doubt we will spend the night moored in Norwich, we prefer the secluded quieter places, to moor up for the night. But this year, its two holidays on the North Broads.

[ExMemberBobdog]

I agree with you Alan, all these incidents, can be a bit of putting for new visitors to visit Norwich by boat. 

 

That's precisely my problem ... "ALL these incidents".  It seems to me these incidents are extremely rare, and as a Norfolk boy I hate to see my home's reputation tarnished by suggestions otherwise.  Any large town/small city will have instances of vandalism, but compared to most areas of the country Norfolk/Norwich is one of the safest and most crime free areas to live and to visit.

[JawsOrca]

Geoff, its a huge shame you are missing the southern broads they are the best in my opinion! But don't worry you will be back.. in fact I bet you will book your return before you leave norfolk after your first holiday!! The trip into norwich is also brilliant and well worth doing (smell the mint sauce from the old colmans factory lol (shame its not mustard but Mint smells nice lol).. The yacht station does do a day rate so worst was visit by boat during the day and find a quieter spot elsewhere (I'm sure Andy at freedom just around the corner would offer you an overnight spot!)

 

Fact: Broadland is the safest place in the Uk (2013): https://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-peace-index--broadland-norfolk-most-peaceful-lowest-violent-crime-lewisham-highest-113029109.html 

[GeoffandWendy]

Thank you for that Alan. Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that we wouldn't consider a cruise up to Norwich, when we do visit the Southern Broads, because I am sure we will enjoy it. But as I have said, this year we have decided to explore the Northern Broads, for our two visits in April & September, for which we have already booked.

And YES, we will be back next year for definite, and spend at least 1 week on the Southern Broads. We might decide on our second week this year, to venture across Breydon Water just for the experience, but returning back to the North the day after.

With us not having seen the Broads by boat before, it just so happened that we chose to do the North this year and venture South in 2016. 

[Guest]

Alan,

 

Bishops Bridge is quite low with a quite steeply curved arch, plus the navigation arch is not in the centre of the river.

I can't see hire yards agreeing to let their boats pass it.

 

We have not used the yacht station since we were untied at one end in the early hours one October. The decks were really icy and it certainly put me off mooring in Norwich.

 

Roy

 

It's actually much easier than Potter or Wroxham.

 

6 metres wide and 3 metres clearance, even at high water.

 

Maybe hire yards set it as the limit of navigation for hire boats because the river used to have so much rubbish in it above that point.

 

http://www.thegreenbook.org.uk/home/bridge_detail.asp?bfile=bishops

[Mowjo]

Lets face it! these incidents can and do sometimes happen anywhere on the Broads where there is public access, how many times have you seen boats at places like Potter or Wroxham with unattended fishing gear on the roof just asking to be stolen, after being untied at Wroxham last year in broad daylight while we were on the boat by a couple of kids, anywhere there is public access I now drop a mudweight just in case, and as Bob sort of says, for the amount of people visiting or using the Broads these incidents are pretty rare,, when I lived in London you could tell who the crooks were! they were the only ones with wheels on their cars

 

Frank,,,,

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

That's precisely my problem ... "ALL these incidents".  It seems to me these incidents are extremely rare, and as a Norfolk boy I hate to see my home's reputation tarnished by suggestions otherwise.  Any large town/small city will have instances of vandalism, but compared to most areas of the country Norfolk/Norwich is one of the safest and most crime free areas to live and to visit.

 

Although few and far between, when they do happen, especially to novices who may have picked up from Brundall earlier in the day, it can be very frightening.

 

One of the best bits of advice i was given was to moor at Brundall and get the train in.

 

If people think these incidents are happening all to often in Norwich, come and stay down here, the crime in the Bournemouth area is 100 times worse. The only difference is, 90% of it is`nt publicised.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

...another BA fifth columnist ? 

 

we keep giving ourselves away... 

 

Only meant tongue in cheek Strow, and as for you being a 5th columnist, i`m sure i`ve read one of your posts elsewhere where you might have infered you`re too b....y old  :

[clive]

The first time we went we were woken at 4 AM buy a guy trying to sell us drugs by hammering on the roof so we up and left around 5 in the morning to cruise down river and get back in to bed at commissioners cut, the second time we were prepared for them but instead they tried casting us adrift but I had taken the precaution of fitting a longish chain and lock fastened (still carried on board) through the ring and locked to my centrally mounted pop up cleat with enough slack to allow for rise and fall of tide but these days we go there in the morning do our shopping etc and leave by tea time.

[BroadScot]

Good point Clive,

 

For any newbies ventureing up to the NYS for the day, I think it was £5.00   10am till 5pm.

£12 after 5pm must leave 10am following morning or its another £5.00.

 

SWMBO says the showers at NYS aint bad.

 

Iain.

[Maxwellian]

As I mentioned in my earlier post we stay there regularly and the last problem we saw was 30 years ago. I take the necessary precautions and I always avoid overnighting for the weekend as it is a bit noisy. It is all up to personal choice. I do however feel that those contemplating visiting for the first time need to be aware of the potential problems. It can be noisy at the weekends and occasionally someone will climb over the fence at night.. So make sure you have tied up properly through the ring and back to the boat, I use as many ropes as possible and also put the mud weight down.

I still stay there and enjoy doing so.

[Guest]

Only meant tongue in cheek Strow, and as for you being a 5th columnist, i`m sure i`ve read one of your posts elsewhere where you might have infered you`re too b....y old  : :

 

Yes Neil, too b....y old to work now.

 

 

(At last, thank God....) 

[Oddfellow]

It is a shame that this thread has gone so far off topic. There's three pages of people giving stories of how they have and have not had trouble mooring at Norwich, when the thread started life being about improving the Wensum through the city. 

 

I feel that Freedom would be unlikely to permit its cruisers through Bishop's Bridge any time soon and it is even more unlikely that anybody will install a pilot service.

 

However, if the river is cleaned up, properly weeded and dredged as necessary, we would be very happy to allow day boats up there. Canoes and dinghies are welcome any time, of course.

[Poggymale]

It would be great to see the river cleared above Bishop Bridge - Norwich from the water is fascinating and really gives a great feel for the past. Many people haven't been into Norwich by boat & it's well worth it - hoping to do both big boat and dinghy trip past Bishop Bridge this year - have never been under the Jarrolds Bridge in a boat.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[BroadAmbition]

Andy - this is not a complaint just a plain and simple querey

 

Assuming that up river of Bishops bridge is dredged/cleaned (And it was fine last time I went up their in 'B.A')

why would you not permit you hire craft up there?  Bishops bridge doesn't need piloting - it is huge compared to Wroxham / Ludham bridges etc

 

 

Griff

[Oddfellow]

If the river was is good condition and the bridge passage made safe AND some public mooring, there would be no argument.

 

However, having no public mooring would be a problem as it would become a river to nowhere, forcing people to return and create a bottleneck at all bridges (as there are many) .

[Guest]

......  Bishops bridge doesn't need piloting - it is huge compared to Wroxham / Ludham bridges etc

 

It certainly is !

 

(image from http://www.thegreenbook.org.uk/home/bridge_detail.asp?bfile=bishops, a link I posted earlier on this thread).