The Wash (Boston) to Norfolk Broads anyone done it?

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larson250

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Appologies if this is in the wrong section, but I want to navigate from Lincoln down to Boston and around to the Norfolk Broads as a main holiday next year.

Any info or advice on the area would be great, even better would be someone who has done the journey.

I thought down to Boston, stay over, around to Blakeny or Wells next to sea, stay over, and then to Great Yarmouth and in.

Is this possible in a Fairline Carrera with a single petrol engine? ie. time, distance, fuel etc.

Any thoughts?

Dean
 
Hello Dean,
I am not familiar with your boat, but -
Ensure you can get under Glory Hole & Stamp End.
Overnight at Boston up stream of Grande Sluice on the marina berths or BWB (might be free/cheaper with BWB licence).
Book 2nd level to lock out with lockkeeper (aprox HW+2)
Down to Tabs Head (HW+3)
Favourable tide out out through Freeman Channel, through Lynn Well (Admiralty Chart 1200) to Woolpack buoy (short cut by the Middle if you are confident with your navigation - Admiralty Chart 108).
Dont know your cruising speed, but only 40 odd miles Boston to Wells, so you may be waiting a good while to get in. Recommend about HW-1. Contact the harbour office to get an update of the channel before setting out. Dont know your boats fuel range but think you can only get prtrol in cans there - check first. There is a visitors pontoon there.
Dont try entry with much wind from the North. Wells is a better option than Blakeney.

Boston to Gt Yarmouth = 84 miles. Beware of crab pot markers off Sherringham & Cromer.
No hazards down this bit of coast. Beware of wind over tide near the Cockle & ensure you have a chart for Scroby & Caister Shoal channel.

Gt Yarmouth - entry at any state of tide, but be aware of possible strong tides across the entrance. Contact port control before entering. You can tie up at the town quay ( strong tides on springs) or carry on over Breydon Water or up to the North Broads. If you need the Haven & Town bridges opened for your air draft, give them 24 hr notice.

Alternative is to carry on to Lowestoft to enter South Broads.

Pick your weather.

Hope that may help. Get back if I can advise further.
 
sea palling

can anchor behind the reefs at sea palling approx half way to gt yarmouth though need off shore or settled weather and it drys at low water
 
We are doing the very same trip from Burton Waters, Lincoln to The Norfolk Broads next summer. There is so far a group of around 5 or 6 boats intending to go.

The plan is to moor at Boston over night on the BW moorings (free for one night) then head from Boston to Lowestoft in one go.

If you break the journey at Wells there is no petrol avaliable, we went there this summer and they only had diesel on the fueling berth. You would have to get a taxi to the next village for petrol. Same at Boston there is no petrol at the marina there.For our trip to Wells we left Boston as soon as the lockie could let us out which gave us four hours to get from Boston to Wells on the same tide.

We are approaching the broads from Lowestoft becaue we have friends who moor there so we are picking them up along the way. A few of the boats are then heading off down the coast whilst a few have a week or so on the Broads before heading back. The intention is to stop off at Wells on the way back.
 
Havn't done it, but planning to. Have a good friend who has, in various ways, but from Kings Lynn.

Boston to Wells, don't go to Blakeny. Better facilitys at Wells, floating pontoons, showers, shops, pubs. All you get at Blakney is mud and seals.
Moor in Holcombe Bay if you need to wait for the tide to get in. 2 hours eaither side of HW. Check out the Wells Harbour website for upto date bouyage. The channel shifts a bit.
There is a new outer harbour that is more accesable, but is for wind farm commercial tafic only, but they will let you in if you have a problem or the weather is serious.

Wells to Gt. Yarmouth. OK, but do consider going on to Lowestoft. It is a much simpler land fall and has better facilitys too.
 
wells dredged

you can get into the outer harbour at wells during a much greater time range as the entrance is dredged to 1m at low neaps ... see wells web site

lowestoft nicer place to go in but if going straight into broads then gt yarmouth ok and you dont have to pay for the lock as there isnt one just a matter of arranging the times for the bridge
 
The only real issue i can see is fuel. As has been said, Wells is the place to stop, but does not sell petrol. Call Wells harbour master on your approach and he'll happily come out and escort you through the channel.

Weather needs to be right, The Wash and the stretch of coast to Yarmouth/Lowestoft can get very rough, especially in North or North Easterly winds.

Make sure your boat has adequate equipment. VHF is a must, a chart plotter is a must and technically you should also carry paper charts, few do though.

CX54WEK is planning to do the trip next year too, perhaps you could co-ordinate with them and at least make the outward bound trip in company.

We've done Wisbech to Wells three times, correctly planned it's an easy and pleasant trip. Although we haven't been into The Broads yet, we did also make the trip from Wisbech to Shotley, where the boat currently lives. This was also a very nice trip.
 
Without being a kill joy you would also be wise to check how much it would be to take the boat by road. Your fuel bill to get there may well cost more than trailering the boat there.

You would, of course, be welcome to join us if you wish to travel in convoy but refueling would be an issue for you. There is a supermarket close to the Boston moorings so you could carry jerry cans of petrol back from the petrol station there.

As i said before we fully intend, weather dependant to make the trip in one run from Boston to Lowestoft, you would need to check your fuel consumption against the distance to see if your boat is capable of making the distance with some fuel to spare.
 
Hi All,

Thanks for all the information so far. There is a lot to think about and consider.

CX54WEK I too am at Burton Waters having just bought this particular boat. I would certainly love to meet up and pick your brains at sometime if that would be possible. Cruising in the company of more experienced boaters can only be of benefit.

As for fuel/distance, apparently the tank holds 275 litres I am not sure on consumption but the engine is a Volvo Penta 4.3 GS I believe about 200hp. If anyone can shed some light on that subject I would be grateful. I do have two 25ltr jerry cans that I keep on the boat.

As for going in at Lowestoft, I don't have a problem with this but I have to say that having spent 4 years on the Broads I prefer the northby far.
At this stage it is probably wise to confess that my only sea experience is Lowestoft to great Yarmouth three times.

If the weather is not favourable at the time (holiday will be a set time, ie. first two weeks in Aug) then road transport may be an option.

Still grateful of any further information good or bad.

Regards,
Dean
 
Garage blakeney

If you time the tide is right you can get right up to the quay in blakeny and there is a a garage 5 mins walk from the quay you would only have an hour going on 2 to fetch petrol unless you stop on the quay for a tide
 
cromer

Theres a slip at Cromer and in the right weather with small dingy theres 2 garages 2 mins walk .... dont know about the pier might be poss to pull up on the pier to fetch fuel by arrangement same might be poss at Sheringham
 
Fuel....... First, you need to confirm the capacity, then (assuming 275 ltrs is correct) work your range out based on something like, forget 15 ltrs (allowance for sloshing around the bottom), then divide by three. 260 ltrs, divided by three = 86.66, call it 86 ltrs. On a return trip, you have 86 ltrs to get there, 86 ltrs to get back and 86 ltrs reserve. One way trip and it's 172 ltrs to get there, with the 86 ltrs in reserve.

Same goes for your 2x25 ltr cans. Don't factor the whole lot into you range, if the weather kicks up, fuel consumption can very quickly go downhill.

You obviously need to carefully work out your fuel consumption. It's OK to work it out as MPG, but you should also know how much it burns an hour, particularly for sea trips. You also work consumption out at given RPM, not MPH or Knots. I prefer to work in knots and nautical miles, as this all ties up with charts.

Let's say it uses 30 ltrs an hour at cruising RPM and flat calm, no wind or tide cruises at 20 knots (both figures for illustration purposes only). In the river you'll mostly be getting 20 miles to 30 ltrs of fuel, assuming cruising RPM. Put to sea with 3 knots of tide behind you and you get an extra 3 nm every hour/30 ltrs of fuel, free of charge. Push the tide and you get 3 nm less every hour/30 ltrs. On a long trip, you can lose a lot of miles worth of fuel if the tide is against you. Same goes for weather conditions/sea state. At a cruising RPM of 3200 i've had speeds of 19 knots and 12 knots (less at times) in The Wash.

Boston to Lowestoft is about 100nm. Wells being about 45 nm. As this trip is your family holiday, have a backup plan, just in case the weather is pants. Run down to Boston and you can sneak across the "bottom" of The Wash if it's a bit rough at sea, into Wisbech if you want, not much there, but would kill a day. You could also get up the Kings Lynn, travelling up to Downham Market on the tidal Ouse, then into fresh water at Denver. From Denver, there are plenty of cruising grounds. I'm not very familiar with the fresh water bit, but you could easily Google some info, or perhaps someone here knows more.
 
You are welcome to pop around if you like and have a chat. We are on E Pontoon directly opposite the chinese on a Sealine S23 called Naughty-Cal. We are usually around every weekend. If you cant find us ask someone for Liam & Rachael they will know where we are if not on the boat we are usually having drinks on someone elses!!!

We have not picked a set time as to when we are going yet as we have a lot of people to organise holidays and breaks from work. We plan to do this over the winter months.

We wont confess to being experts at sea, our sum total of sea trips extends to the trip to Wells and back early this year, a trip down to the Humber mouth and a couple of trips out into the Wash. However a couple of the other boats that are coming have considerable experience at sea and have completed several trips to Holland in their current boats. It is always good to have people with you who know what they are doing to help you gain that extra experience in company.

As for fuel range we are quite happy now that we can judge our cruising range quite accurately. This has however taken two years of figuring out at different cruising speeds in different weather conditions with and against tides. You really need to work out your fuel consumption accurately and your crusing range before attempting trips like this one.

As i said earlier in this topic we are going in at Lowestoft as we are meeting some friends with their boats there. If you did travel down in convoy with us there would be nothing stopping you going in at Yarmouth if you wanted whilst we carried on to Lowestoft. We are planning to travel to the Northern Broads after we have had a couple of days on the Southern Broads and will leave The Broads via Great Yarmouth stopping of for a night at Wells on the way back.
 
You will need to check fuel supply, as to my knowledge NO PETROL on northern broads, (at least waterside) and I think 3 or 4 points on southern broads.
 
essexboy said:
You will need to check fuel supply, as to my knowledge NO PETROL on northern broads, (at least waterside) and I think 3 or 4 points on southern broads.
Click to expand...

Some friends of ours went to the Broads in their petrol Bayliner last year. The avaliability wasnt too much of a problem, however the price was. He was paying £1.67pl then. Petrol prices have gone up since then as well. Didnt stop him enjoying himself though:)
 
1.40

CX54WEK said:
Some friends of ours went to the Broads in their petrol Bayliner last year. The avaliability wasnt too much of a problem, however the price was. He was paying £1.67pl then. Petrol prices have gone up since then as well. Didnt stop him enjoying himself though:)
Click to expand...

wow we thought £1.40 was reasonable on Tresco because of the how it has to travell

but 1.67 on broads :eek:
 
their's an asda petrol station just on the right before you get onto breydon water's when you enter at g/y.
you would have to find somewere suitable to moor,and it would be jerry can time!!
but at least the petrol would be reasonably priced(yer right).
done the trip twice from boston(along time ago).you really do need to watch out for crab pot's and such!!!
good trip though.
 
Nowhere suitable to moor at Asda GY Breydon water is very shallow there and I have seen lots of people cut the corner and go aground. It's a long trek across deep mud when the tide is out.
 
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