The Great Adventure 2011

Adventure planning is now well under way for the 2011 boating season. We now have our three major trips away planned and booked and co ordinate with friends. First up is the opener for this year and the least adventurous of our holidays for the year. A few of us have Easter week off and plan a trip up the Trent to Nottingham, then head down the Trent to West Stockwith and Keady. A nice warm up run.

Secondly there is the Sealine Forum trip to Wells next the Sea. A trip we completed successfully last year so planning isn’t as in depth.

Our third and most adventurous trip to date is two weeks on the Norfolk Broads in August. The Norfolk Broads is where our love of boating was kicked into life so it will be a joy to take Naughty-Cal to explore the range of rivers on offer. The planning is well on the way. We will have company from Burton Waters to Boston from where we will head in convoy to Great Yarmouth. There we will enter the Broads and our company will leave us to explore the East Coast.

Having only ever hired boats on the Broads we have not yet seen the commercial side of Great Yarmouth Harbour, with its large commercial vessels, life boats and fishing vessels. The limiting factor for most vessels is the Haven lift bridge which will only open at certain times during each day in a bid to reduce traffic congestion in the town. Luckily for us Naughty-Cal will easily fit underneath the lift bridge at any state of tide. The bridge having an air draft of approximately 10ft at mean high water springs limits the movements of larger leisure vessels many preferring to enter the Broads further around the coast at Lowestoft.

From Boston to Great Yarmouth is a trip of some ninety miles which should in fair weather take around four to five hours. Given the variable nature of the sea state and the weather though we will plan for a journey of some six to seven hours. This will include the hour from the Grand Sluice in Boston and the half an hour from Great Yarmouth Harbour entry to Breydon Water and the start of the Norfolk Broads. Breydon Water is an expanse of water forming the estuary of the rivers Yare, Bure and Waveney. Breydon Water is the only expanse of water on the Broads that has no speed limit so will be the ideal spot to wind Naughty-Cal down and ensure that all is well after such a long sea passage. It should take around fifteen minutes for us to pass across Breydon Water before reaching our first nights destination of the Berney Arms. I’m sure we will be ready for a good drink by the time we arrive.

The Berney Arms Inn is a remote pub, until recently only accessible by rail or by boat situated at the junction of the rivers Yare and Waveney. We have never visited this remote spot so it will be the ideal place to rest and a fitting start to our adventure on the Norfolk Broads.