Norfolk Broads Boat Trip

markwebb25

Evening all,

Tempted to hire a barge boat for a weekend next summer up in the Norfolk Broads for my 30th. Probably 6-8 people. Just wondering if any lifers out there have any experience of doing this? Any recommended routes/areas? I've had a look at a few quotes online for July/August, getting quoted around 800, any idea if that's low/high/normal? Never done anything like it myself, just like the idea of cruising around popping in decent country pubs & doing some nature spotting. Cheers in advance!

RedPanda

I did it from Leighton Buzzard up through Milton Keynes last year. The scenery was surprisingly nice, peaceful and there are lots of waterside pubs to stop off at.

http://www.canalholidays.co.uk/home

It's not the Broads but it's a worthy alternative. It was a similar cost to your proposed trip, although 6-8 people will be cramped in one canal boat. We dressed up as nautically themed film characters. I provided the muscle as Burt Reynolds in Deliverance.

carly burn

Done it years ago. The sun actually used to do it as one of their holiday deals. Think there was 8 of us.Great laugh. Think we picked our boat up at a yard in Horning.
Wroxham, coltishall , ludham, the pub at Acle to name but a few memorable places. Not mad nights out but if the weathers fine you'll no doubt enjoy.

bingaddick

I live in a Broadland village.

It really depends. The southern broads area - River Waveney etc is quieter.

Decent pubs on the middle broads area - Yare from edge of Norwich down past Surlingham Broad and Rockland Broad (Bird watching areas) - not too busy.

Busiest area is northern area around Wroxham (a bit like a seaside resort). Horning is very nice (I owned a cabin cruiser there a few years ago).

You can get up to the top part around Barton and Hickling Broads from there or from Stalham or Potter Heigham (very low bridge). Hickling is the largest navigable broad. Plenty of wildlife.

Have you ever considered a canal boat instead? I am off on one on Monday for 5 days. You can get Friday to Monday boats. We are paying about £800 (last minute special price for 6 of us).

I have done a lot of boating over the years. Personally canal beats Broads by some way.

Back from the Llangollen canal a few weeks back from Whitchurch. Fantastic - scenery great, wildlife always interesting and a World Heritage site at Pontsysillte Aquaduct - 126 feet over the River Dee - built by Thomas Telford and opened in 1795 - absolutely stunning!

Whichever you choose - enjoy :-)

Stig

RedPanda said:

...I provided the muscle as Burt Reynolds in Deliverance.

I pity the poor sod that had Ned Beatty's role!

HardyAddick

You cannot beat a canal boat. Locks make it interesting. Just cruise from pub to pub!

Addickted

Always good fun if everyone mucks in.

£800 sounds about right for the height of the season, though I've not done it since the St George's day game at Norwich. Nothing quite like mooring up outside the ground rather than parking.

That was a mad few days - most of the pubs on the Broads are great, with some truly excellent ones if you want to wander further 'in land'.

Your group had better be mixed though as most of the boat firms won't do all male/female hires.

DaveMehmet

8 of us did it about 20 years ago, had a great laugh but too cramped (8 sweaty blokes sharing the same space/toilet wasn't good)

All we did was go from one pub to the next with a couple of games of footbal in between. Managed to get through 3 ounces of puff in 5 days and only 6 of us were smoking.

When we got back the the yard, I backed up and smacked into the jetty ending everything flying. The guy in the boat next to us was going nuts telling us to come in gently. I told him to f**k off and mind his own business. Didn't realise he worked at the yard and was responsible for checking returning boats for damage before returning deposits. Funnily enough, we didn't get ours.

ozaddick

I done a week with 5 other mates as an 18 year old in the early 90's. Picked up the boat, travelled down the canal for about an hour, disconnected the power to the TV and wired up a massive 'boom box' stereo and we all dropped acid......
1 week later, 3 ounces smoked, 30 trips consumed and 18 grams of whip banged up our hooters .. we'd been raided by the police accused of kidnapping 2 birds for 3 days from there boarding school excursion... Left one of the lads in Norwich hospital with a severed hand, broken into the robinsons fruit drink warehouse as we'd run out of food and money, sank another canal boat that had just been built and delivered to it's owners and returned our boat absolutely battered with every cup saucer and plate missing with no doors on any of the cupboards.

Needless to say we were banned from the broads for life.

F*<king great holiday!!!

Dazzler21

Seems a bit unrealistic...

ozaddick

Dazzler21 said:

Seems a bit unrealistic...

Looking back it does to me too mate.

carly burn

ozaddick said:

I done a week with 5 other mates as an 18 year old in the early 90's. Picked up the boat, travelled down the canal for about an hour, disconnected the power to the TV and wired up a massive 'boom box' stereo and we all dropped acid......
1 week later, 3 ounces smoked, 30 trips consumed and 18 grams of whip banged up our hooters .. we'd been raided by the police accused of kidnapping 2 birds for 3 days from there boarding school excursion... Left one of the lads in Norwich hospital with a severed hand, broken into the robinsons fruit drink warehouse as we'd run out of food and money, sank another canal boat that had just been built and delivered to it's owners and returned our boat absolutely battered with every cup saucer and plate missing with no doors on any of the cupboards.

Needless to say we were banned from the broads for life.

F*

NAUGHTY ALAN!!!

Norfolk_Addick

ozaddick said:

I done a week with 5 other mates as an 18 year old in the early 90's. Picked up the boat, travelled down the canal for about an hour, disconnected the power to the TV and wired up a massive 'boom box' stereo and we all dropped acid......
1 week later, 3 ounces smoked, 30 trips consumed and 18 grams of whip banged up our hooters .. we'd been raided by the police accused of kidnapping 2 birds for 3 days from there boarding school excursion... Left one of the lads in Norwich hospital with a severed hand, broken into the robinsons fruit drink warehouse as we'd run out of food and money, sank another canal boat that had just been built and delivered to it's owners and returned our boat absolutely battered with every cup saucer and plate missing with no doors on any of the cupboards.

Needless to say we were banned from the broads for life.

F*

Bloody cockneys.

Leuth

ozaddick said:

I done a week with 5 other mates as an 18 year old in the early 90's. Picked up the boat, travelled down the canal for about an hour, disconnected the power to the TV and wired up a massive 'boom box' stereo and we all dropped acid......
1 week later, 3 ounces smoked, 30 trips consumed and 18 grams of whip banged up our hooters .. we'd been raided by the police accused of kidnapping 2 birds for 3 days from there boarding school excursion... Left one of the lads in Norwich hospital with a severed hand, broken into the robinsons fruit drink warehouse as we'd run out of food and money, sank another canal boat that had just been built and delivered to it's owners and returned our boat absolutely battered with every cup saucer and plate missing with no doors on any of the cupboards.

Needless to say we were banned from the broads for life.

F*

This isn't how I remember Coot Club

MSE7

markwebb25 said:

Evening all,

Tempted to hire a barge boat for a weekend next summer up in the Norfolk Broads for my 30th. Probably 6-8 people. Just wondering if any lifers out there have any experience of doing this? Any recommended routes/areas? I've had a look at a few quotes online for July/August, getting quoted around 800, any idea if that's low/high/normal? Never done anything like it myself, just like the idea of cruising around popping in decent country pubs & doing some nature spotting. Cheers in advance!

Done the Norfolk broads a few times actually. Its a nice part of the world. We took the wrong route the last time we went and somehow ended up in the north sea. Was totally mental.. Your have a right laugh mate. We done a booze cruise from John O Groats to Lands end on our last boat trip. Although my mate got arrested by the sea police for drink sailing on the way home....

We hired one up there in Norfolk called the Old rag doll.

Your love it...Just go for it Popeye

Curb_It

@ozaddick Did you kidnap the girls? Or did they come of their own free will... It's quite important.

I can't help feeling sorry for the owners of the new boat you sunk.

cafcfan

It's great fun. Hired a boat on the broads a couple of years ago and enjoyed it even though the weather was not all that.
Here's my tips: decide whether to get something posh with a fly bridge that won't go under all the bridges which restricts where you can go or get the more regular choice which gives greater flexibility. Second, bow and stern thrusters make a real difference to how much of an idiot you look trying to park (we didn't have them, so I was in idiot mode.) But the really important thing is make sure that the boat has two steering positions one under cover one not or a sliding roof otherwise you'll get wet when it rains or not be in the fresh air when the sun shines. Finally, try not to rent something that's long enough to land an aircraft on - mine was 42' - and it was excessive frankly.

carly burn

cafcfan said:

It's great fun. Hired a boat on the broads a couple of years ago and enjoyed it even though the weather was not all that.
Here's my tips: decide whether to get something posh with a fly bridge that won't go under all the bridges which restricts where you can go or get the more regular choice which gives greater flexibility. Second, bow and stern thrusters make a real difference to how much of an idiot you look trying to park (we didn't have them, so I was in idiot mode.) But the really important thing is make sure that the boat has two steering positions one under cover one not or a sliding roof otherwise you'll get wet when it rains or not be in the fresh air when the sun shines. Finally, try not to rent something that's long enough to land an aircraft on - mine was 42' - and it was excessive frankly.

????

Crates of Stella or Kronenberg was about the only decision I had to make before setting off.

Maybe a spare room if you're planning on doing any kidnapping.

DaveMehmet

DaveMehmet said:

8 of us did it about 20 years ago, had a great laugh but too cramped (8 sweaty blokes sharing the same space/toilet wasn't good)

All we did was go from one pub to the next with a couple of games of footbal in between. Managed to get through 3 ounces of puff in 5 days and only 6 of us were smoking.

When we got back the the yard, I backed up and smacked into the jetty ending everything flying. The guy in the boat next to us was going nuts telling us to come in gently. I told him to f**k off and mind his own business. Didn't realise he worked at the yard and was responsible for checking returning boats for damage before returning deposits. Funnily enough, we didn't get ours.

Lesberrystash has a photo of our mate who was doing his shoe laces up when we hit a jetty. He took off like superman and managed to grab one of the uprights whilst his legs dangled in the air. Looking back, he was bloody lucky he didn't either drown or get his legs crushed by the boat, at the time all we wanted to do was grab a camera to record it.

carly burn

Me and my mates decided a game of football was in order whilst we were moored up by the bridge in Wroxham.
After about two minutes someone launched the ball into the middle of the river. " Lets fire the barge up and go and get it" Says I. So we all scramble on board and one of my mates unties us from the moorings before we'd got the bloody thing started. And try as we might the bloody thing just wouldn't start!
So we slowly started to float across one of the broads busiest waterways in the height of summer! Literally blocking anyone passing through the bridge in both directions! Much hooter bibbing and boat rage ensued. I swear the tailbacks were back to the sun in the sands. Frantic calls were made to the boat operator and we were made aware that our 'skipper' had inadvertently sat on the fuel cut off switch in his haste to get our Adidas tango back!
Engine fired . Ball scooped and off we went to our next titanic moment.

cafcfan

carly burn said:

cafcfan said:

It's great fun. Hired a boat on the broads a couple of years ago and enjoyed it even though the weather was not all that.
Here's my tips: decide whether to get something posh with a fly bridge that won't go under all the bridges which restricts where you can go or get the more regular choice which gives greater flexibility. Second, bow and stern thrusters make a real difference to how much of an idiot you look trying to park (we didn't have them, so I was in idiot mode.) But the really important thing is make sure that the boat has two steering positions one under cover one not or a sliding roof otherwise you'll get wet when it rains or not be in the fresh air when the sun shines. Finally, try not to rent something that's long enough to land an aircraft on - mine was 42' - and it was excessive frankly.

????

Crates of Stella or Kronenberg was about the only decision I had to make before setting off.

Maybe a spare room if you're planning on doing any kidnapping.

?????

Yeah, I can see how choosing between two entirely similar brands of lager would have been really really important when there's a pub to tie up alongside every couple of miles.....

Look the guy has asked for tips - I'm sure he already knows how to buy booze. If the only reason for you going was to get pissed on supermarket beer then you might as well have stayed at home....

MSE7

I moored up in some pitch that said "private please do not moor your boat here" I thought fook it we won't be long, it will be ok, how wrong was I, next thing I know when we returned to the barge some bloke that looked like uncle Albert chewing a wasp was standing there with a golf club he was shouting "I've been waiting here 6 hours to moor my boat can you not read the F-ing sign"

Sorry grandad I replied, well that went down like a lead balloon.

Next thing we jumped onboard the old rag doll and made good our escape. This old boy who was Apparently like the "General" of the norfolk broads starts chasing us waving his nine iron in the air shouting "I'll do every last one of you" he started throwing things at us my mate got hit on the swede by a jar of colemans mustard.

I swore I would never return to the broads after that. Just be careful up there fella..

ozaddick

Curb_It said:

@ozaddick Did you kidnap the girls? Or did they come of their own free will... It's quite important.

I can't help feeling sorry for the owners of the new boat you sunk.

Curb it of course they came of there own free will. They heard we were from London and wanted to go to the big smoke for a look see. I can assure you I'm not a beast, at the time we were just young and dumb. We had come across there boat and just got chatting, we were then leaving and they asked to join us, of course we said yes!

I regards to the sunken boat, that was purely an accident.

We were not evil sods looking for trouble and mayhem. It was just a very crazy week as teenagers.

nth_london_addick

My sort of week

bazjonster

Been on the Broads today for 5 hours. Picked up at Wroxham, went through to Ranworth for lunch then back. Was like the M25 around Horning mind! £800 is decent for that time of the year. Look at hiring out of Horning or Potter Heigham. Get a Broads map on line and plan your route out. Alternatively, look at the River Yare and hiring out of Loddon (River Chet into the Yare) or Brundall. You can then get into Norwich (Yare into the Wensum). Finally, why not hire a property for the week along side the river? If you shop around, some come with a day launch. May cost a bit more but you get the best of both worlds. Or just do what I usually do; take your kayak and go for it. One of the many perks of living in Norwich.

Its_Hamer_Time

ozaddick said:

I done a week with 5 other mates as an 18 year old in the early 90's. Picked up the boat, travelled down the canal for about an hour, disconnected the power to the TV and wired up a massive 'boom box' stereo and we all dropped acid......
1 week later, 3 ounces smoked, 30 trips consumed and 18 grams of whip banged up our hooters .. we'd been raided by the police accused of kidnapping 2 birds for 3 days from there boarding school excursion... Left one of the lads in Norwich hospital with a severed hand, broken into the robinsons fruit drink warehouse as we'd run out of food and money, sank another canal boat that had just been built and delivered to it's owners and returned our boat absolutely battered with every cup saucer and plate missing with no doors on any of the cupboards.

Needless to say we were banned from the broads for life.

F*

markwebb25

Morning all,
Thanks very much for your responses, didn't realise there were so many! I know it'll be a bit of a squeeze but none of us have that much spare income. After reading all of this a canal boat seems the way to go, maybe a bit closer to London, Oxfordshire potentially. Cheers again everyone for proving that Charlton Life is a fountain of knowledge

HardyAddick

If you have not been before and want a reasonable priced holiday on a standard boat (ie not high price for luxury boat), try Calcutt Boats. Have used them several times.

http://www.calcuttboats.com/index.html

Coveredendchoir

1997 holiday to the broads was probably my 2nd best lads holiday.... Just for the record, corfu 1996 for a week when England beat Scotland & Holland was never beaten. Anyway, pick up boat - do the necessary 10min tutoring session, then boos forget the tutoring session..., escape to the freedom of the rivers.... Yarmouth n norwich are great plus all the little stops inbetween. Best holiday in this country.... We went with blakes, boat was a bit cramped, but u just get on with it. Great time getting baked.

stilladdicted

Love narrow boat holidays, done about 10 of them, but would never go in July or August, just too crowded on waterways and all the pub moorings get taken up.

MSE7

stilladdicted said:

Love narrow boat holidays, done about 10 of them, but would never go in July or August, just too crowded on waterways and all the pub moorings get taken up.

He is right. I went in July a few years ago and the waterways were pretty congested, got rear ended by a cruise liner that had gone off piste

Whip lash claim is still running actually