Brinks Belmore | The Big Tour - Day 7 (Part 1)

As the morning went on other boaters had departed and the Staithe began to empty, what is rather odd is how tidal the river Chet is, and now being high water the stern of Belmore was well above the quay making it possible to simple ‘walk off’ an almost level platform.  Time for a top up of water and a walk into the village.

I popped into the small store and got some bits and had a wander and wondered what a place this may have been in the late 70’s and 80’s when of course there was a lot more boatyard’s here trading - but these days it seems to be smart homes and moorings, but if you wish to begin a holiday from this quiet and beautiful location Maffets and Princess Cruisers are two very nice yards to consider.

I had a late breakfast and before long it was time to plan my day – I knew I had to go over Breydon, but where should I be headed? I ‘pencilled in’ Acle and thought it would be nice if I was able to pop into the Bridge Inn – now here is an honest point for you, I am only now as I write this half way through the edit of the second part of day 7 but I am not too certain where I ended up on this day because my notes are not with me at the moment. However, I question if I did indeed stay overnight at Acle, for upon arrival at Horizoncraft was told they were busy with boats being moved about so I could not stay long but had ‘special Rascal dispensation’ to stop long enough to go to the Bridge Inn. We will see where I actually ended up therefore in part 2.

Back to part 1 however, and despite it being a glorious warm sunny day, the forecast was for increasing cloud and rain – indeed once the cloud arrived it was a sudden change in weather, with lower temperature and very little sunshine. This was annoying because it ruled out some scenes I had planned to shoot at St. Benet's and had wanted a nice bright day with plenty of blue sky.

I left Loddon behind and took a slow cruise down the Chet, when you reach the river yare the difference is immediate with the intimate and narrow river Chet giving way to far wider and more open landscape of the Yare.  Before long the Reedham Ferry came into sight, then Reedham Quay, under the swing bridge and were making good progress. By the time we were approaching the moorings at Polkeys Mill the tide was well and truly on the Ebb and doing about 6 MPH at 1,200 RPM.  This was all very good news – or was it?  I was very much early for the low water at Yarmouth and so the consideration I needed to have was would we have enough clearance under the bridges at Yarmouth.

For time being though, with no other traffic about I used the moorings at Polkeys Mill to do a ‘test mooring’.  I would not actually get off the boat or tie up, but I would be able to judge how things were going, how the boat handled and so on when you come into moor with the tide (something I might add is not at all recommended) but because I was on the left hand side of the boat meant that getting off the boat is faster and easier if you come into moor on that side.

I really do like Belmore (and Belmore TC’s) performance in this respect – but more especially with Belmore as she has a larger engine and I am sure slightly high pitched propeller as the torque and power are noticeable greater.  Add to this a pretty powerful thruster at the bow in a short, light boat and you can have complete confidence in doing things, in other boats would be a great deal harder.

I then proceeded in towards the moorings at Berney Arms – ready should I need to moor – but also looking out for the damn advance height gauge for the bridges at Yarmouth.