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Boating Sequel.

Chris Hobson

Chris Hobson

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Last year I posted about a boating trip to the Norfolk Broads.

Chris Hobson

Thread 'Boating on the Norfolk Broads.'

The adventure begins.
A genuinely new experience for me, five days on a boat on the Norfolk Broads. My sister in law Jill has an autistic son Micheal. Mike lives in sheltered accommodation and Jill takes him, along with various members of the extended family on various adventures from time to time. Jill and Mike have done the Norfolk Broads in the past and he has enjoyed it, this time around myself and wife Liz get to be the crew. We start with the long drive from Hull to the Herbert Woods boat yard at Potter Higham where we pick up our vessel.

The Briefing.
After being sorted out with...
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This year we got to do it all again but with a slightly smaller boat. This time from Richardsons Boat Hire. Once again it was myself, wife Liz, her sister Jill and her autistic son Micheal. This time, our boat was a little smaller, one of those that looks a bit like a floating bus. This boat was much easier to steer and maneuver, it also came with bow thrusters, but the accommodation was rather more cosy, or maybe cramped would be a better word. There was one tiny bedroom with a double bed in it. The other two sleeping areas, front and rear, involved seating that converted into beds. The boat came with a built in WiFi hot-spot which we couldn't get to work, not Richardsons fault, it appeared that the ISP wasn't P-ing any IS. This time we had non stop glorious weather, I bought a touristy sailor hat to keep the sun off my baldy head.

Boating is a good holiday for me as I tend to find just relaxing and doing nothin quite difficult. Cruizing slowly down a river leaves me with no choice. It was really nice that boaters were always willing to help with mooring which can be a challenge especially in confined spaces. We helped out a couple who were in quite a large boat and appeared to be frighteningly inept. When you think about it is pretty amazing that boats worth up to a quarter of a million quid are daily being put into the care of people of highly variable sailing ability and they generally get to be returned in one piece. We had a great time and will be doing it all again next year.
 
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Boating and being on the river with nothing else much to do is great, having had a boat for over 14 years on the Gt Ouse I know the benefits of bobbing along on the river with a glass of the red stuff and meeting people at the locks and having a good chat to people.

A pic of our boat, not quite worth a quarter of a million St Ives_1.jpg
 
That's a lovely boat Alan. On our travels we did see quite a few privately owned boats. There were some moored up looking dirty and neglected, as though the owners had started out with big intentions and then lost interest.
 
We owned a narrowboat for 12 years, after several years of hiring, then boat-share. But Covid meant we could hardly use it for 2 years, husband started getting issues with balance, and we couldn’t justify the expense of ownership any longer. So it was sold 3 years ago and I still miss it - it presented different challenges from everyday life and provided an escape from the real world.
 
Chris Hobson said:
That's a lovely boat Alan. On our travels we did see quite a few privately owned boats. There were some moored up looking dirty and neglected, as though the owners had started out with big intentions and then lost interest.
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It happens, some boats don't even leave the marina.
As our marina was only a mile down the road, we would spend most of the summer aboard, so got good use out of her.

As I said, boating is great fun and very sociable, but a real money pit
 
Friends of ours spent most of their working lives very involved with canal boats - she was born on one cos her family delivered whatever whenever wherever, towing a butty. Then she met her husband who delivered boats so she helped him and would happily do that on her own, nowt about the canal & river network in the UK those two don't know, they're both retired now and are landlubbers, but swapped the boat for a caravan, so we'll be spending next weekend in their excellent company amongst others, in the landlocked East Midlands, in our motorhome.

He's a bugger, if you say eg my mate lives at X or Y, he's very likely to say Ah the something canal runs very close to there and there's a big pub called the Crossed Swords cos its near the site of the battle of Blah, that used to do a very good Sunday lunch - and other such snippets. Or, Oh, theres a run of locks on the whatever canal not far from there, just before/after the XYZ bridge that carries the road from A to B. Much like directing someone via the pubs, that you used to be able to do. Nevertheless the majority of people generally navigate via landmarks seen on roads - but not him! :rofl:
 
trophywench said:
Friends of ours spent most of their working lives very involved with canal boats - she was born on one cos her family delivered whatever whenever wherever, towing a butty. Then she met her husband who delivered boats so she helped him and would happily do that on her own, nowt about the canal & river network in the UK those two don't know, they're both retired now and are landlubbers, but swapped the boat for a caravan, so we'll be spending next weekend in their excellent company amongst others, in the landlocked East Midlands, in our motorhome.

He's a bugger, if you say eg my mate lives at X or Y, he's very likely to say Ah the something canal runs very close to there and there's a big pub called the Crossed Swords cos its near the site of the battle of Blah, that used to do a very good Sunday lunch - and other such snippets. Or, Oh, theres a run of locks on the whatever canal not far from there, just before/after the XYZ bridge that carries the road from A to B. Much like directing someone via the pubs, that you used to be able to do. Nevertheless the majority of people generally navigate via landmarks seen on roads - but not him! :rofl:
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Haha! Reminds me of when we had occasion to call the police while moored on the Ashby Canal one evening (nothing too serious). We explained our position “just over a mile down the towpath south from The XYZ (pub)”. We were very close to the Leicestershire/Warwickshire border, but apparently the Leics police were alerted. Some time later a lone constable arrived who was clearly from Warks - said he’d heard the message while on the M6 and realised the Leics guys had been sent in in completely the wrong direction. My OH, being the son of a former Chief Superintendent, said “are you telling me there are policemen now who can’t navigate by pub?!”. Anyway, incident resolved and we spent a quiet night.
 
One little aside. I had assumed that the luminous dial on my watch was really just a gimmick that was not really of any practical use. In the past luminous dials on watches used radioactive materials. These presumably worked well but, for obvious reasons, are no longer used. Anyway, I found that, after being in the sun all day, the dial does in fact glow all night.
 
Thought I’d better add my thoughts. I find sailing very therapeutic and stress relieving, it’s also a very social hobby as people are always coming to give me a hand as I sail solo.IMG_5544.jpeg
 
We found that lots of people are willing to step up and help out with mooring, especially if they see that you aren't shaping very well. Our performances varied somewhat. Sometimes Jill would get her approach inch perfect and I would have us tied up in a jiffy. Other times we would get it all a bit messed up and put on a bit of a clown show. We learned that it is best for Jill to steer the boat and for me to do the tying up, when we tried it the other way around it was a bit of a mess. In turn we helped out other people with their mooring.
 
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