Norfolk Broads - LIVE!

I had thought about heading to the Southern Broads since I was up for a week before I had taken the boat over, but the previous evening I had made firm plans checking the tide times for Yarmouth and had decided a good place to go would be Beccles. As those regular boaters will know Womack To Beccles is not a short cruise by any means, and it would mean an early start - and so it was that today began at 5:45am.  It had rained a lot through the night and the usually quiet dyke leading to Womack Water  had been stirred up a bit by the wind meaning the planning hull of Royale caught the small wavelets and meant a noisy night of 'bow slap' come morning I was not as well rested as I would have liked and the dull cooler conditions were so completely different to that of when I picked the boat up the previous day. Perhaps it was this sudden change in weather from blazing sunshine and hot to cool and wet, or perhaps just a reaction with some kind of plant or No...

Having got a slightly later train than usual, I arrived in Wroxham on what had been the hottest day of the year so far.  There was not a cloud in the sky and I walked from the station to the Broads Information Centre and got myself the official time table that the Broads Authority produce for £1.00 - it comes in a rather garish neon orange this year. Then off to Barnes Brinkcraft where I suspected because almost all their fleet would be being prepared for going out today and tomorrow my boat would not yet be ready, and so it was the case.  I left my luggage in reception and went off to Roy's DIY centre to pick up some micro fibre cloths and the usual £1.99 windscreen wiper (which came in very handy as is often the case with hire boats).  Then up to Norfolk Marine to look at everything from fridge's, toilets and helm seats mentally making notes and seeing how things looked in reality compared to images one sees online and yet remaining puzzled at the c...

I had planned to leave Rockland Staithe early before the tide turned, this would mean we would be heading down the Yare at slack water and by the time we reached the Reedham the tide would be coming in - but we would not have much time going against it as we would be taking the Haddiscoe New Cut and upon reaching the end turning right and going with the incoming tide.  Well, that was the plan anyway... However we had found it most strange that despite spending much of the evening in the New Inn upon return to the boat the lights seemed dim, and the heating would literally only kick in for a few moments before switching off.  Something was not happy electrically somewhere, only there was a rather odd anomaly going on that the 240v side of things was working just fine so we had television and I could use my laptop but the 12v side was decidedly flat. This morning a call was made to Freedom and Andy was as puzzled as I (batteries had been checked p...

So are you ready for a feature length Captain's Blog?  Fancy going to Norwich by river...Me to, alas I had noticed in the night that my throat had got rather sore and my nose was rather stuffed up - not a good combination and only mean one thing that a Cold I had tried to avoid getting prior to coming away I had indeed got after all. It was an early start up at 6:00am and waiting not for sun to rise but now for the fog to clear enough to make safe passage to Yarmouth.  By 6:30am it was a lot better and by 6:45am had cleared enough to depart Stracey Arms and head south for Yarmouth.  I was surprised how many of the boats moored the previous night had left already and clearly when the fog was at its thickest.  It worked out well for me though as there was still a good ebbing current under me and a glorious light show with the sun rising in the sky and the mist working together to form a very warm comforting light spectacle. It w...

Now I should point out to those following along watching the Blog that accompanies this that things are going to get better – think of it as a slow build up to a special crescendo. So I was awoken in Barnes Brinkcraft’s yard by an odd sound that seemed to be getting louder shortly followed by the boat jolting.  Up like a short I found Trinidad who had moored over the way from me in the basin was making an early start and using me and some of Barnes Brinkcrafts boats as a sort of floating guide to bounce off of and make for the river.  No visible damage done thankfully and since I was now up thought I would get ready and have a coffee. I had intended to go to Roys to get the rest of the weeks provisions but being Sunday and since that meant not opening till 10:30am I thought I could make do and instead would make my way to Ludham Bridge – thus I could see for myself the sing erected on the River Ant ‘The Corsican Was Here’ and see if The Corsican h...

I had remembered that I need to change trains at Norwich for the Great Yarmouth branch to get to Acle, and not the Sheringham branch for Hoveton & Wroxham as is more usual.  However, I had not taken on board the number of stops before Acle came up neither did I really take much notice of the stations as we came in and departed – all of a sudden I thought ‘This is it’ and got up took my suitcase and only found that I was in fact at Lingwood (one stop before Acle) as the train departed. What a start to the trip!  Fortunately the station information board had the number of a local taxi firm and within 10 minutes I was on my way by road to Acle – via Budgens to get the basics.  Upon arriving at Horizon Craft, a warm welcome awaited – much like coming back to old friends, good banter, and laughter all round.  I was shown to my boat Mystic Horizon 1 and very nice it was too. After a quick show of the various things to be found on...

And so on 5th July 2013 two ex-hire boats - Broad Ambition and The Coriscian left Stalham on the Norfolk Broads to begin a journey which would see them arrive some 13 hours later in Haven Marina, Ipswich. Join their adventure with the trying night navigation in fog, then see the sunrise as they begin their journey down the coast before arriving at Felixstowe and onward up the River Orwell.

I had an appointment to keep this morning, which when you are on the Norfolk Broads is a rare thing to have to do – but I was to meet Lord Paul – photography extraordinaire  and as it turned out pretty nifty with gadgets and electronics and the cherry on the cake an all round good guy and very welcoming too.  So what was the deal with meeting him on this sunny morning? The previous evening I had a call asking where I was moored and would it be ok to meet and take some aerial footage of me on the river – since I was on the Ant and he was going to be coming down from Stalham it was ideal – in fact he came down just as dusk came and the sky does that beautiful transition from day to night and moored a few corners down the river from me.  I left my mooring and just a few minutes later I spied his trust Freeman moored by Clayrack Drainage Mill and kindly helped with the Rhonde Anchors and ropes and invited on board his boat. He has taken a...

The overnight rain had meant for a less settled sleep, the fact that the aft cabin of Distant Horizon has a lower ceiling over the double bed seems to make the noise of the rain hitting the outside deck above all the more loud – or maybe it was that special Norfolk rain. When I woke and peered out the window the wet scene that greeted me did not make me want to rush to get ready – so I took my time and had breakie and listened to the radio – these two simple things are both things in the morning at home I usually skip – more a case of a slice of toast and out the door to work.  By now the rain had stopped and there were some breaks in the cloud, perhaps today was going to be another sunny day after all. And so I left the mooring at and slowly headed down the river Ant – my intention being to stop for a top up of water before the bridge and dispose of my rubbish.  Just after I had filled up with water a couple walked past – they asked me about h...

Waking up to the sound of rain and heavy grey skies reminded me this was April after all – and made me stand out all the more with my sunburn on a grey day – it seemed quite amazing only yesterday I was in a T-Shirt being gently roasted and yet today it was on with the waterproof clothes and a fleece. I had a rough plan to leave Acle, stop off at Horizon Craft and pick up an extra blanket for the nights were forecast to be cooler too – and while there get a top up of oil to the bottle that had been provided with the boat – not to say it was out, but at the current rate of use I feared ending up somewhere and not having any to top up with.  As it turned out I did not need use hardly any more oil from this point in – showing that the only reason I had previously was the 7+ hours spent cruising for the last few days. Horizon Craft really are a great team and asset to Richardson’s if you need anything they are very helpful and when I mentioned about the oil ...

After a lazy start and a breakfast the sun was soon out and I could tell today was going to be another scorcher.  I toyed with heading into Norwich for it was not too far along the river – but I felt pretty certain if I did this I’d miss the tides for the return crossing over Breydon Water – so instead opted to get something to sooth my now very poorly skin at Reedham. Brampton Common is a very nice over night mooring and the scenery here is lovely – I however do think that it would be better to hire on the southern rivers to explore this area more than come here from the north to do it justice and soak up the area.  That way one can enjoy without the need of having a long slog back to your boatyard on the northern rivers. Shortly after I left the moorings I did a sensible thing – went below and used the inside helm almost all the way to Reedham.  It is funny how the night before I was going along here feeling a tad tense wondering if ...

It was an early start – around 5:30am.  I had not intended to be up at this time, but I could not seem to rest easy thinking a lot about the day ahead – when should I leave the mooring to get the ebb tide to Breydon?  Where and how was I going to place the cameras and would the new cables I’d bought work for those who would come and watch live later and where exactly would I be making for as an overnight mooring? Breakfast was had and after a couple of coffees I was feeling much more clear.  The usual messing about with cables and cameras resulted in the also very common issue of none of them working when they were plugged in and had power – a lot of choice words and configuring software later everything was set and working.  Time to chill out and go for a walk. It was a glorious morning, but the wind was just as bad today as yesterday.  I walked along the dyle to the River Thurne and just sat down by the river and let all the worries eb...

So it was time once again to leave London and head to Norfolk – Acle in fact to take over Distant Hoirzon 2 from Horizon Craft – part of  Richardson’s Boating Holidays.  I had hired with them before, the most recent being in October 2012 and knew the welcome would be first class and the boat tip top.  I’d arranged for a new taxi service to come and collect me from the station, wait while I popped into Budgens and then drop me at the boatyard – great service, lovely Ford Galaxy people carrier and a reasonable price – his name is Rupert and his number is: 07754 327 388. After completing the paper work, meeting the usual friendly staff (and Paul Richardson as it happened) it was time to set off with the destination of Womack Dyke.  While the boat class I was used to (having previously hired San Julian) I had no idea what this Distant Horizon 2 would look like internally, since there are no photos of it online or in the brochure.  I was impressed.  Huge wi...

Time I updated on the plan of the forthcoming live stream – Tuesday 23 rd April at 3:00pm. It is unlikely that because of available time, we will make it all the way into Norwich – and we are also uncertain as to what sort of mobile data signal will be available as we head along the Yare.   Of course that is out of our hands, but will mean that things may go offline for sometime before returning, that picture and audio quality may also suffer.   I hope however you will preserve and come along for the virtual journey. Despite this, we are going to be trailing some new software that will enable to record the live camera feed locally – this can then be used to produce some video footage for use on our You Tube channel at a later date.   We’ve also got a second video camera that will be fixed somewhere at the bow and hopefully will get some good footage from – together with a ‘high mounted’ pan and tilt camera giving an overview – this will need to be lo...

On the Tuesday evening I found myself indulging somewhat in some rather nice Chillan red wine whilst at the same time having a chat in the Norfolk Broads Forum’s weekly ‘Tuesday Night Chat’ in the chat room.  This is where technology can be wonderful – me moored up in on the River Ant and yet joining in a good banter online with others. So morning came of the third day and I found while my tastes may like the wine, my head was feeling rather fragile – I therefore did not rise too early and my plans for the day were going to be rather sedate – cruise down the Ant to Ludham Bridge, take on water – then head up the Bure to Wroxham for lunch. And so having departed for Ludham Bridge it was once again a lovely day, cooler than of late and with more cloud but none the less it was good to be on the water – and I arrived at Ludham to find another boat at the moorings taking on water themselves.  Now despite it being the third day, these forward steer...

Having previously looked at the weather forecast I knew that Tuesday 5th March would be the best day – mild, with clear sky and sunshine forecast for much of the day.   With this in mind I had an early night on Monday and rose about 4:45am on the Tuesday. It was cold to begin onboard, but once the engine was going, warm air heating on things were just toasty – this is why I also like out of the way moorings or being on your own because naturally there is no one to disturb – not that today would be a problem as there were nobody about for miles anyway. After a shower and a coffee I was ready to brave the cold morning and it was very icing outside – I used the bucket and some hot water to melt the ice on the decks and I was on the frozen ground just as dawn broke – it was magical – to my right the moon was still out, yet to left the glow of the sun on the horizon had already begun – but it was not just the light that was putting on a great show, the birds w...

First of all you may remember early march was not ice and wind, but mild and sunshine - if you like tranquil waters, amazing winter light then the above link to the Captain's Blog may make your day.  It was beautiful. I took a short break on San Selino, and in my opinion this is the best fitted out and most comfortable boat in this class – when compared to the likes of Magic, Gold, Bronze  and Clear Gem – all the same boat style and length and all sleep the same number of people.   So the question had come to my mind what would it be like having one of the cheapest boats that one can hire on the Norfolk Broads?  Would you really have to make do without and would one find things internally very dated and a large gap between the budget end of the market and the prestige cruisers and high prices they attract?

It has been a while since I have written here, and so wanted to give regular followers a taster of what is to come this year. First off Norfolk Broads - LIVE! will be continuing in the featuring of the holiday tales and Captain's Blogs - and not just be about  the live broadcasts.  This will give those who have a passion for the Norfolk Broads a single point to come to be it to watch the You Tube videos, read up on the day to day events or watch the live broadcasts. Talking of the Captain's Blog they will be changing too.  I am going to try and feature more details about the boat and produce a more formal review.  I will also be featuring more 'river action' and less commentary - or to put it bluntly more interesting things and less me.   This will all begin sometime in March - dates to be confirmed - when I shall be producing the 'Budget Boat Review'.  This will be a four night break on one of the cheapest boats one can hire on the No...

Our first broadcast shall be a crossing over Breydon Water on Sunday 1 st April and all being well shall begin sometime between 12:15 and 12:30pm (subject to tides check Twitter for updates).