There were four of us on our boat, there were three women and one man, poor him I thought. Actually it was he who did all the bossing about lol.
We collected our boat from Brinks Boatyard at Wroxham, whilst the others went to the other boat yards.
The Boat
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It looked like something out of Hawaii 50, if you are old enough to remember the programme. It was called a Cruiser, which is probably what you will mostly see down the Broads along with yachts and the odd narrowboat. We saw one moored up next to us.
It had dual steering, this meant you could steer from up above the boat on the sundeck, or if it was raining you could steer from inside the saloon.
Now I don’t drive a car I’m scared, but I did drive this boat for miles even though it was 37ft and 12 ft wide. The fastest you could go on the river was 6mph, the average was 5mph and sometimes as slow as 4mph.
Speed restrictions are set because the boat creates quite a wash at the back, this means the keel throws up loads of water and creates tidal movements. This can damage the waterbanks and also disturb fishermen when they are trying to catch a fish.
Inside
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There were three bedrooms, one was at the bow of the boat (front), it had two single beds with an ensuite bathroom and a little wardrobe.
The middle one was like a coffin room, none of us slept in there, if you are claustrophobic, I wouldn’t advice sleeping in there. At the Stern (back) there was another room which housed a double bed and a single bed all in one room. It also had it’s own bathroom and wardrobe.
In the saloon/kitchen area there was a dinette table which we made into a bed for one of us. We didn’t get it right, so we dragged one of the other mattresses off the other beds onto that area.
it was a right effort every night. Each bedroom had duvets, sheets, blankets, pillows etc. All you took is towels and t- towels.
Kitchen
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In the galley/kitchen area, this was quite small in our boat, the others got a much nicer boat which we looked at later and was very envious.
We more or less had everything we needed, there was a full size oven, a mini fridge, the others had full size fridges, we had a little tv. A sink with plenty of hot water and plenty of cutlery, plates etc. Only thing we had missing was a tin opener which we bought further up the river.
Everything was clean and tidy, there was a fire blanket, a fire extinguisher, an even a mop and bucket to wash the deck.
We had to do that several times as it was a bad week for us, we had torrential rain.
The kitchen area also had a table with seating round it , you could easily fit 6 people round it, 8 at a squeeze.
The unfortunate thing for us was it rained that hard , that rain came into the boat and for four nights we slept in damp duvets and sheets. We seemed to think it had some cracks in the boats, we all thought they could have given us a better boat seeing as though we had to sell their holidays.
Like I keep saying, the others had beautiful boats, so don’t let me put you off.
Bathroom
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On our boat, they were tiny. They had a toilet which looked like any other toilet but maybe a bit smaller. But once you had done your business you had to push a lever to fill the bowl with water , then there was a pump handle at the side and you had to pump it away. The bowl area is only small so you could only put little bits of loo paper down at once. We used to wait until we got to the pub then all hell would break loose, pardon the pun.
As I say, the others boats had proper flushing toilets.
There was a basin with small vanity area. The shower was a shower head on the wall, but the area was that small you had to take it down off the wall and just stand still whilst rinsing your body down. You had to put the toilet seat down so not to wet it. The water drained away through a wooden grid beneath your feet, it was like something in Greece, no shower curtain or rail etc. But I made a do.
Some of the other boats had bathrooms which were much larger and even had hip baths in them.
Outside
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There was an area for the pilot, it had a comfy seat, there was also seating for your shipmates, if anyone was nervous of steering the boat on their own, you had plenty of seats for someone to sit near you. I did this as I was nervous at first. After a while the others left me to my own devices.
Everybody who passes you on the river smiles and waves at you. Why can’t it be so friendly in a car.
There was an area at the front where you can sit , it looked a bit like the titanic. To get to there though you had to walk round the edge of the boat around the rails. Remember if you are doing this to have one hand for the boat and one for yourself. I was also nervous about this, but as time went on I became very confident.
There is also an outside light, just incase you can’t see your boat after a night out at the pub.
This boat was a very high boat which would have been no good for the disabled or infirm. It did have ladders at the back, but most of the time we had to moor sideways on so we had to clamber on any way we could.
If mooring next to another boat, sometimes you have to climb on theirs to get to your.
Atmosphere
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I’ve never known so many helpful people along the way. We went from Wroxham, moored at Horning outside a pub, then a man came rushing out to tie the boat up for us. We realised then that he was the landlord of the pub and wanted us as customers. We weren’t bothered though, he was still helpful. We had to always tie the boat up by two ropes , they were both at the back and there was one at each end. We also threw in the mud anchor which stopped the boat from swaying.
The Broads are full of mud, the mud anchor is one of the ways to keep the boat still. Afterwards you hoist it up, then bang the anchor against the boat to shake the excess mud off. I couldn’t do it, it was very heavy, luckily we had a man on board.
When you moor there is always someone to help you, so don’t panic.
Sometimes it can be quite hard to find a place to moor for the night, some places are very popular. There are some places where you have to pay about £14 to moor, but we always found a free spot. The odd time, we had to go up and down the river then turn round to see if anybody had left us a space.
The boat we hired would have cost about £500, or maybe a bit less for a 5 day break, but seeing as though I work for the company we got it free.
If you were to divide that with how many people it birthed, which was 8 altogether, it wouldn’t be expensive.
We were unlucky to get bad weather, but on Thursday/Friday, the sun decided to come out and it felt good to be alive. It really is a relaxing place to be, there are some scenic villages to see, there is always a pub with good food along the way. It really is a chilling out type of holiday, just take a book, lie there , then think of England.
Oh yes, don’t forget to drive down the left hand side of the river, and give way to yachts when tacking.
Next trip is a narrow boat, either on the Thames or the Kennet and Avon canal.
Will follow it up with a review.