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Our 2015 days afloat

LadyPatricia

By LadyPatricia
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LadyPatricia

LadyPatricia

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Hi all,

We thought we'd start a little blog type thingy to record our first season as boat owners on the fantastic broads. As most of you know we bought Lady Patricia last October and have done various repairs and little jobs over the winter months. Well now has come the time for us to enjoy her for the season.

This will be short and sweet with a few pics thrown in of places we visit over the year.

Hope you all enjoy it.

10th - 12th April

We arrived at the marina around 15:00 after the usual 3hr drive. This was our first visit since Lady Patricia had been put back in after the winter work. The car was crammed with everything that will live onboard, including the new upholstery (cushions to me but Deb likes to sound 'posh') and the curtains Deb had made. After everything was unloaded and passed on to the boat it was time to find each and every bit a new home. This is easier said than done on a Norman 24 ;)

All packed away and ship shape, we decided to stay in the marina for the night as time was getting on. Nice pasty in the oven and that was dinner sorted.

Woke up Saturday morning with a bit of back ache, those cushions are very hard at the moment but we did expect that from new foam. My slight figure (ok I'm a fat b*****d) will soon mould its way in to the foam and make for a better nights sleep. All other little jobs done and we decided to head to Beccles and see if we could get through the lower bridge and on to Geldeston.

As we passed WRC there was a loud BANG as the side window on the cockpit roof decided it didn't want to go any further on this journey and was 'bailing out'. Luckily the canopy has 2 turn buckles that connect it to the window and the glass panel was hanging by them. Please bear in mind at this time the wind was blowing fairly strong and it was raining quite hard. Deb was a hero and on to it like a shot to make sure the panel was not lost in the blurry depths of the Waveney. What it appears had happened is that when Lady P was lifted to go back in the vibration of the crane used to lift her had shook the panel off its hinge. Neither of us had noticed and the strong wind was enough to unsettle it. Anyway we moored at the next 24hr mooring and made the required repairs.

We made it to Beccles and found 8ft clearance at the bridge. Excellent, neither of us have ever been past this point before. Through we went and I must say what a fantastic stretch of river that is. By the time we got to this point the sun had come out and the wind had dropped considerably which made it even more enjoyable. We arrived at the Locks Inn and there was room on the moorings so a quick turn outside the pub and straight in to the vacant mooring. BEER TIME :)

What a lovely pub the Locks Inn is, friendly service, good food and beer. We had a couple of pints, well I did and Deb had orange juice and lemonade, and sat for an hour or so in lovely sunshine out in the garden. We decided to go back to the boat for a while so I could inspect the inside of my eye lids before we headed back for food later in the early evening.

The food was fantastic. Deb had the steak and ale pie and I had the 12oz cheese and bacon burger.

Fed and watered we retired to our bed for the night.

Woke up Sunday morning to a lovely low sun in the sky. Sorry we have no pictures but our phones ran out of battery and I discovered the 12v cigar socket is not working, another job on the list ;).

Departed the moorings around 8:15 and took a steady cruise back to Somerlayton. We arrived back at around 11:30 having traveled the whole journey with the canopy down.

What a lovely weekend, looking forward to many more :)

cheers

Steve & Deb

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LadyPatricia
LadyPatricia

Hi all, We thought we'd start a little blog type thingy to record our first season as boat owners on the fantastic broads. As most of you know we bought Lady Patricia last October and have done vari

LadyPatricia
LadyPatricia

Tues 28th April Woke up far too early today, 5 o'clock and I was making two cups of tea ( this seems to be my job while we are away, Deb does do it every morning at home ). Kettle boiled and tea bre

LadyPatricia
LadyPatricia

Saturday 26th July What a night that was. Wind and rain right through. Woke early as usual and made the tea. Deb had to sleep with a towel over her side of the bed as an old fitting for a hatch cov

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BroadScot

BroadScot

Posted
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Let's get something straight- the first rule about Geldeston is that you don't talk about Geldeston.

Let's keep it to ourselves...... ;-)

Really Matt, threatening behaviour will not be allowed on the forum :norty:  Steve, how dare you go beyond Beccles Old Bridge its just not cricket! :norty:

 

In future please go to where you wish beyond Beccles, but do it on the QT ...ok :naughty:

 

 

cheers Iain

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BetweenTheSedge

BetweenTheSedge

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Too late! The cats out the bag, I'll be in that unknown place this Sunday, never been before. It wasn't Steve and Deb that put me out it though, read another Holiday Tale on here and did my research. Will do my blog whilst away, but will just refer it is "Down Beccles Way". Roll on Friday! Loving the write up so far Steve and Deb.

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JawsOrca

JawsOrca

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Do we need to delete the posts on here which refer to this untalkable talked about place? The last thing we need is the place gets overun with people... I for one, would be very very annoyed if MY mooring spot and MY seat by the open fire (in the winter) is unavailable.. if so just advise and I'll find the pesky Mod lol

 

I can probably even add the words Locks Inn to the sware word filter so they will show up as **** *** when typed?!! lol cheers

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JawsOrca

JawsOrca

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Iain, My dad was there when it was the (old) lady and he said the bar wasn't there it was pretty much her house! 

 

Shame we didn't see it like that as unfortunately we only found when it obviously had its extensions although it still holds a lot of character (shame they lost the Labrador though) and still feels very remote.

 

It's certainly still a cool pub and joking aside any visit to the broads wouldn't be a full visit without a stop there :) (Don't forget if you can't get threw the bridge there is the ferry) cheers

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Baitrunner

Baitrunner

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The little boat yard at Gelderstone also does canoe hire so you can go a bit further up river where the boats cant go. Very nice in the summer. Or if you have a dinghy/tender you can trundle up there in that. Plenty deep enough for a small dinghy with small OB or just have a paddle/row.

 

More secrets being given away!! :bow

 

That was an impressive starter though Steve :dance  :dance

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BetweenTheSedge

BetweenTheSedge

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Don't worry Matt, I am going there this Sunday for the first time, and I am worried about getting moored in that place, so I won't be mentioning it. In fact I will take my sledge hammer, and knock the clearance sign down into the mud a few feet, so nobody will venture under the bridge, and only a few will know.

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BroadScot

BroadScot

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Excellent news

In all seriousness I have done it in a inflatable with an outboard as well as in thunder. It is a lovely part of the river and should not be missed.

Agreed Matt, and I will show why at Beccles...again!

 

 

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cheers Iain

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