Norfolk broads

[Mike+]

Not sure if this is a daft idea or not, so bear with me.

We're thinking of having a family holiday in Norfolk somewhere, likely staying in an airbnb type thing, after the school summer hols have finished (kids are younger).

We have a trailer sailer Jeanneau Sun 2000 (lift keel), have a tow vehicle and dry sail so happy with launching etc.

Could I look at combining the two and do some inland waterway day cruising ? We could remove the mast and sail and leave it at our home boatyard, and take the boat with outboard just use it as a motorboat

I'd need to find a slipway and somewhere secure to keep the trailer, and the boat overnight (ideally in the water) close to somewhere interesting for day cruises. Happy to pay for launch/parking etc as long as it does what we need.

Any tips / ridicule welcome
Mike

 

[LittleSister]

Quite a lot of boatyards available for launching and parking. Choose the area you are interested by, and then ring around for prices/details. Note that a lot of the smaller (cheaper?) yards won't have glitzy websites or top ranking in Google searches.

You'll be needing a Broads licence ('toll') to take your boat on the Broads, and these are not necessarily prohibitive but outrageously pricey compared to annual licences (presumably as the Broads Authority Navigation Committee is dominated by representatives of 'resident' boaters and hire boat companies, who are uninterested in encouraging visitors from elsewhere).
The rates for motor boats are higher than for sailing boats, and I don't know if you will (officially) count as a sailing boat if you do not have a mast with you (though I doubt anyone would be checking at that level of detail). Update edit - I now see that anything with a motor is classed as a motor boat, and therefore whether you have a mast is irrelevant. Details on the Broads Authority's website, 'navigation' section:
Navigating the Broads
Short visit toll

Some of the boatyards themselves can provide accommodation onshore. One I happen to be aware of (not a recommendation - I haven't used it) is the Waveney River Centre, on the River Waveney downstream of Beccles, which has mobile homes and holiday lodges (as well as a slipway and parking). They do have a glitzy website, etc.

 

[syvictoria]

Or Whispering Reeds Boatyard at Hickling, re: accommodation (I think) and sailing on the doorstep, albeit slightly limited distance to nearest bridge..

 

[pvb]

Here's an interesting thread which might give you some ideas - The Norfolk Broads Forum - Actual free slipways

Having spent some time on the Broads years ago, I'd say that a lot of it is fairly featureless. There are some picturesque spots though. I wouldn't ever rush back there. You'll find a lot of big hire cruisers which are rarely driven considerately.

By the time you've paid the toll, plus parking and launching fees, it might make more sense just to hire a day boat (there are some with toilets, look for "picnic boats"). The main centres are Wroxham and Horning, and taking a day boat from either of these will let you see a lot of the best bits with minimum hassle.

 

[LittleSister]

You'll find a lot of big hire cruisers which are rarely driven considerately.

What pvb says is true, but I think it's still worth a visit.

The problem of big hire cruisers is much worse around the honeypots such as Wroxham, Horning and Potter Heigham (and Stalham on change over Saturdays). There are far fewer on the southern Broads (around the Rivers Yare and Waveney), which are much more peaceful and have fewer boats generally (though also fewer tourist waterside 'attractions').

Especially based ashore and with a car available there are plenty of things to do around the southern Broads.

I may be biased, but Beccles, for example, is a nice small town with a variety of facilities and attractions (e.g. outdoor lido, waterside pubs, waterside walks, etc.), but without the heaving crowds and boat traffic of, say, Wroxham.

 

[pvb]

I may be biased, but Beccles, for example, is a nice small town with a variety of facilities and attractions (e.g. outdoor lido, waterside pubs, waterside walks, etc.), but without the heaving crowds and boat traffic of, say, Wroxham.

Yes, Beccles is a nice little town (we kept our very first boat on the Waveney there). But the river itself is featureless for the most part. We only had one season there, and my wife commented that it was "all going and coming back". Which it was. So we moved.

 

[johnalison]

I haven't sailed on the Broads since 1971, when things were somewaht different. I have always kept to the Northern Broads, above Acle bridge. This area has narrower rivers and is more scenic but there are bridges, such as at Potter and Ludham making sailing without a lowering mast impractical. The southern part is more open for those who want freer sailing and there is access almost to Norwich. Those who hire boats tend to have a limited range of nautical skills, so it is a case of caveat sailor, but not all miscreants can match the evil that my brother achieved when he put his bowsprit into another boats aft cabin.

 

[ridgy]

I'm quite fond of the Broads but I would definitely hire something. There are some beautiful wooden day boats and dinghies available for day hire. Look at hoseasons, static caravans out of school holidays are cheap in the area, 300 to 400 per week. Or hire a cruiser for the week, smaller ones are about 650 a week in September but quite good fun and most overnight mornings are free. What does your boat draw, anything over 1.3 might struggle in places. Yarmouth has good entertainment for little ones.

 

[LittleSister]

Yes, Beccles is a nice little town (we kept our very first boat on the Waveney there). But the river itself is featureless for the most part. We only had one season there, and my wife commented that it was "all going and coming back". Which it was. So we moved.

But the OP is only talking about a holiday, not a long term stay.

 

[pvb]

But the OP is only talking about a holiday, not a long term stay.

Sure, but the Waveney around Beccles isn't at all interesting, even if he could find a slipway.

 

[sailingval]

First time I would stick to the Northern Rivers - less tide and more 'user friendly'. Try hiring from Hunters Yard who have fine traditional 1930s sailing yachts, many with electric motors. You can also hire half deckers from there for day sailing. You may find your boat rather slow on the Broads, coping with trees etc.

If you want to take your boat ring Annie at Eastwood Whelpton boat yard. They would easily launch your boat and it would be safe to leave the trailer there.

It is very different from sea sailing and many folk struggle with the narrow rivers and close calls with motor boats. We love it and it really teaches you to sail using the sails to best advantage when you have to suddenly tack in a narrow river. No problem on the Broads themselves.

Do give it is a go and enjoy!

 

[mjcoon]

I've just (~ 2 weeks) come back from my 1st ever trip on the Broads. Organised by a long-term Broads fan that I have been Med sailing with for 40+ years and in a 28 foot yacht with a hinged mast.

I enjoyed it immensely, but then I'm keen on wildlife and was impressed that not only were the reeds full of singing sedge and reed warblers, but by gliding silently past one got to see them from only ~1 metre away.

My mate arranged the itinerary to match the tidal flows and take us to some picturesque towns (e.g. Loddon, Horning, Reedham, Beccles), even though we had to raise and lower the mast like the proverbial fiddler's elbow.

But taking your own yacht there without a mast, as a compromise motor boat, sounds like a sad way to do it, compared with a real chartered Broads yacht...

 

[ridgy]

I probably wouldn't charter a sailing yacht to stay on for the full period if it's your first time there. The sailing can be an acquired taste, especially with little ones. A land base with day hire is the way forward with children imho, see what's what.

 

[DownWest]

Way back, I rented a little cruiser with a girl friend for a week. Yard was just down river from Norwich. We had a delightful week wandering around the assorted rivers. Not a lot of traffic back then, err 70? The wild life was delightful.

 

[johnalison]

I probably wouldn't charter a sailing yacht to stay on for the full period if it's your first time there. The sailing can be an acquired taste, especially with little ones. A land base with day hire is the way forward with children imho, see what's what.

You have reminded me of a nightmare week on the Broads with our first-born, then 15 months old. We hired (as Blakes called it) a 2-berth boat, probably Gay Lady, and my sister and her husband another the same. The little sod, our son that is, would not settle down to sleep, so we worked our way up to Stalham where there was a chemist, where I obtained a sleeping draught of Welldorm. A teaspoon on the first night had no effect. Two teaspoons on the second, the same. Four teaspoons on the third appeared no better, until twenty minutes later he zonked out unconscious and we had a peaceful evening at last. Mind you, that wasn’t as bad as when as misunderstanding between my wife and me led to her overdosing him with worm medicine and he tumbled down a flight of stairs.

 

[Slowboat35]

Anyone who thinks the Waveney at Beccles is uninteresting and with no launching facilities must be dead from the neck up and extraordinarily ill informed. There are various launching facilities both in and around Beccles if you trouble to check, but unlike info on another post no "riverside pubs" at all and haven't been for about 50 years...(The Waveney House Hotel isn't a pub, it's a badly run rep's hotel and though its grounds are lovely and go down to the river the keg beer and boil-in-the-bag food is appallng. OK for a quick G&T perhaps but I'd advise caution going beyond that.
The section above Beccles is generally regarded as one of the prettiest, most interesting, varied and nature filled sections on the entire Broads system partly due to the variety of scenery - ie not continuous reedbanks and no view as is the case with so much of the system, but trees, marshes and readily visible scenery usullied by crowds or even many visitors as no large boats can go above Beccles old bridge. The Locks Inn at the head of navigation (and ¾ mile from the nearest road) is one of the jewels in the Broads' England's crown. The Wherry Inn at Geldeston isn't too shabby either, and launching + safe storage of trailer avialable (yet again) there from Rowancraft... Otters and especially Kingfishers abound on this stretch, which is also has wonderful fishing.
There is more wildlife to be seen on that stretch than any other part of the Broads that I know, especially the crowded N parts (Acle, Horning etc) which resemble Marbella on busy days.
Oulton Broad itself is interesting with a good museum too but the town and Lowestoft itself is pretty grim, Reedham has lovely pubs and waterfront and Norwich centre is readily accessible without a mast - that alone is worth the extortionate fees the Broads Authority extract to deter visitors. Not to mention various delightful waterside pubs en route.
Gt Yarmouth has 'interesting' but doable mooring on the town quay (emphatically out of bounds for hire boats) , some good restaurants if you search but the Golden Mile (beachfront) is simply ghastly, garbage, fibreglass dinosaur parks, tattooed bulging half-naked chavs (and that's just the women and children) blaring "muzak", endless rat-burger joints, garbage, blaring penny arcades and yet more half naked bulging tattooed chavs- rather like Blackpool but without the good taste.
Breydon Water is a birders heaven and though, sadly, the dear old Bernie Arms is now closed for good the mooring there is still one of the most atmospheric and remote places imaginable to spend a night, surrounded by a vast sky, the pipings and shrillings of the waders and water birds and majestic Marsh Harriers sweeping overhead.

 

[LittleSister]

Sure, but the Waveney around Beccles isn't at all interesting, even if he could find a slipway.

Think it's easily interesting enough for a short visit (and for many people long term).

Slipways at Beccles Quay; Derby's Quay, Beccles; CC Marine Beccles; marina adjacent to Beccles Lido; Waveney River Centre, Burgh St. Peter; Somerleyton Marina; plus several others at St. Olaves

First time I would stick to the Northern Rivers - less tide and more 'user friendly'.

The tide is hardly ripping along through Beccles! (It is fierce through Great Yarmouth.) Don't know what you mean by more user friendly.

but unlike info on another post no "riverside pubs" at all and haven't been for about 50 years...(The Waveney House Hotel isn't a pub, it's a badly run rep's hotel and though its grounds are lovely and go down to the river the keg beer and boil-in-the-bag food is appallng.

I did include the Waveney House Hotel, as it's a pub and on the riverside (and I don't have the same experience of it as you), but I was also thinking of the wider area, which includes the Locks and the Wherry at Geldeston, as you mention; plus the Waveney Inn at Burgh St. Peter (Waveney River Centre); Dukes Head at Somerleyton (about 150 yds from the river); and Bell Inn at St. Olaves. I think there may be a couple at Oulton Broad, but I was told there be dragons, so I've not dared venture to those parts.

 

[ridgy]

The golden mile might be ghastly for you but the OP can be assured that there is plenty of entertainment there for small children.

 

[LittleSister]

Ah yes, Great Yarmouth. The pontoons at the Broads Authority's Great Yarmouth Yacht Station (in the last few hundred yards of the River Bure) are easier and more comfortable (albeit thronged with hire boats) than the Town Quay on the River Yare (against which I have spent a sleepless night - not just the very strong tide, big change in height and awkward projecting timbers on the wall, but also the boy racers going up and down the road adjacent late into the night).

The town is a very mixed bag - generally run down and unattractive, but some really lovely old buildings and spaces, and there are about 5 museums within about 300 yds of the Town Quay - the Lydia Eva on the Town Quay (last remaining steam trawler - visit recommended for both kids and adults - mind your head - free entry, but you'll make a donation after you've been given a great tour by one of the enthusiastic volunteers who maintain it); Nelson Museum and Elizabethan House (with an old Row House), both on Town Quay; Tolhouse Museums (12th century old prison and courthouse) just round the corner; and the Time and Tide Museum a few hundred yards away.

 

[alan_d]

Way back, I rented a little cruiser with a girl friend for a week.

Word order can be important. It might have been better to say "With a girlfriend, I rented a little cruiser for a week."