Is there an online chart for the southern broads?

Otter

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 Nov 2004
Messages
10,933
Location
Norfolk
Visit site
We've got a few spare days and fancy an explore of some of the southern Norfolk Broads entering at Lowestoft. All the maps online are just diagrams and none have water depths. Navionics is similarly hopeless, are there any online resources?
 
I have Garmin, VMH and CM93 charts here and they all stop showing depth at Mutford Lock. I'm not too surprised, that'll be the limit of the Admiralty charts.
 
We've got a few spare days and fancy an explore of some of the southern Norfolk Broads entering at Lowestoft. All the maps online are just diagrams and none have water depths. Navionics is similarly hopeless, are there any online resources?

Ordenance survey map would be adequate for that , you can only get as far as Beccles anyway with yr mast up and providing your not contsrained by draught , I took an Etap 26 to Beccles and had to take care both of depth and overhanging trees ...
 
We explored the Southern Rivers a couple of years ago, mast up and 1.4M draft, no problems with depth at all, except the obvious, beware of the inside of bends, and in a couple of places St. Olaves was one can't remember the other we just touched the muddy bottom at low water.

Even on the Waveney you could be a boats width from the reeds and have 2M under the keel. The shallowest area as I recall was across Oulton Broad,
 
Plenty of depth in the Waveney, its the air draft that's the issue - low fixed bridges at Beccles and St. Olaves that limit the extent of your travel. Still worth doing, though.

If you've got an outboard, or a dinghy that can be rowed for more than a few yards, use that to continue beyond those bridges.

Also, don't forget to look up to check for overhanging trees before you pull into the riverbank to moor. (How do I know that? :o)
 
Last edited:
Adding to Little Sister's post, there is also a low bridge on the "New Cut" linking the Waveney to the Yare, it has a 24 foot clearance so with a very short mast you might be OK. :D To visit the Yare and lower Waveney you have to go up to Yarmouth and come in that way, you can then get almost to Norwich, even more frustrating the bridge at Postwick has a 35 foot clearance but our air draft is around 40 feet so that was the limit of our cruise. If you do make the trip up there it is well worth going into the lower Waveney and mooring at Burgh Castle, the Roman fortress is amazing and well worth visiting. Just be aware that at that mooring the water level at HW reaches or perhaps just overtops the quay heading so you need to devise a system to try and keep some of your fenders from popping out.
 
Top