Afloat on Wroxham Broad

Friday 23 August 2002. This is the last day of our holiday before heading for home in the morning. As such Miss Franny needs to take a last look at the shops and market, just in case there's a shop or market stall that we have missed during the week. I dutifully tagged along uncomplainingly, casting a wistful glance in the window of the guitar shop as we whizzed past on the way to marvel at a slightly different shade or design of shoe...

We got away by lunchtime and by 1:30 in the afternoon parked the car a stone's throw from the water's edge at Wroxham.

Wroxham Broad is my favourite place to "mess about in a boat". Together with nearby Hoveton this is acknowledged as the capital of the Norfolk Broads. Wroxham itself is a small attractive village, famous for almost every shop being called Roy's - he came, he saw, he traded...

Hundreds of small boats can be hired for the day or half-day here and for the less adventurous, there are large cruisers and a showboat that you can take a ride on for an hour or so out through the channels to Wroxham Broad itself that runs parallel to the River Bure.

I wasn't really holding out much hope of being able to find a boat available at the time we got there, but we approached the empty landing stage of one boat hire place, asked when we would be able to take one out and the owner turned me, pointing at a boat just coming back to the landing stage. Result!

There's a lovely picturesque road bridge over the waterway here that would-be sailors love to go under, confident that they can cruise for half a day and then come back the same way to go under it again. However the River Bure does connect with the sea not too far away and the sea has this habit of following tidal protocols so that larger boats often return to find the "bridge is lower than it was...!" [CRUNCH!]

In such a small boat we were unlikely to have this problem with rising tides but never-the-less I prudently enquired before we left and was assured that we would be ok if we kept to the centre of the channel - which might entail waiting for any boats coming the other way to pass first.

Here, one of the larger passenger-carrying cruisers comes past, waving people lining the sides. One little boy wasn't waving. "Our Jimmy's always had a weak stomach..." his mum said. "Oh, he's not doing so bad though..." commented his dad as an aggrieved "Oy!" came from the kayak below...

Wroxham Broad itself has the aspect of a large lake covering 85 acres to a depth of a mere 4ft, 4 inches (1.3 metres). As described earlier when we were at Oulton Broad, the lake is actually a flooded basin created by medieval peat digging. It is seperated from the River Bure by a narrow island which allows boating access to either end of the Broad. This was being eroded and eventually it had to be built up ten years later which had the effect of increasing the birdlife population by quite a significant amount, including the return of kingfishers to the area. It also led to the discovery of a World War II hand grenade dredged up during the work which had to be detonated by the Bomb Disposal Squad...

"Is it hard to drive?" Miss Franny wanted to know so I insisted she sit in the driving seat for a spell. She was fine until I moved to back of the boat to take this photo.

"We are coming to a corner! What do I do?" Boats do not respond immediately to the turn of the wheel. It takes a second or so before the play of the water on the rudder begins to turn the boat. To people used to driving cars, this can cause them to panic slightly and wrench the wheel further round so that when the boat does start to answer the rudder, there's a dramatic swing that can put you into the path of something large and substantial. So I took over.

It was time to start our return back to the boatyard anyway. We got to the bridge, I took the centre path and with a sense of a job well done as befits the former Registrar of a nautical college, I smacked the boat hard against the jetty and hurriedly remembered to return the throttle to neutral...

Great Yarmouth 2002 Index

Oulton Broad

Monday 19 August 2002. Having left Lowestoft, we travelled round about two miles to Oulton Broad where our first job was to have a spot of lunch.

Oulton Broad is one of the famous Norfolk Broads - though really it is more correct to call it a Suffolk Broad. The Broads (a neat way of getting around the county problem) were thought to be natural features until the 1960s when it was proved that they were the result of peat workings in medieval times. Local monasteries had excavated them, selling the peat for fuel - for burning on fires basically - to local communities. Norwich Cathedral alone took 320,000 tonnes a year.

At some point sea levels rose and flooded the excavations. Bad news for Pete and Doug, who were shovelling in the pit that day, but at least their names were and will be remembered... Windpumps, often mistaken by visitors as windmills and dykes were hastily constructed but the flooding continued until the area looked like that of today with broad lakes, reed beds, marshes and groups of young men falling overboard from boats whilst totally bladdered.

The area became known for boating holidays quite early. Small yachts were available for hire from 1878, Harry Blake opened an agency for yachting holidays in 1908 and the familiar firm Hoseasons made an appearance shortly after World War II. Boats on the Broads these days vary from preserved old trading wherries, to small day-hire boats like those pictured in the foreground, all the way to modern electric cruisers as the Broads Authority is continually adding charging points at mooring places.

At the east end of Oulton Broad is Mutford Lock which links the freshwater Broad to the saltwater Lake Lothing. The lake stretches through Lowestoft and then opens to the sea.

Looking across the lock gates to the Wherry Inn, named after the large sailed trading vessels. All other boats on the Broads must give way to sailing vessels as they don't have accelerators or brakes and whether they can dodge you depends almost exclusively on the whims of the wind and your skill or stupidity whichever applies.

Depending on the direction the wind is blowing it is often the case that sailing boats can only progress along the rivers by tacking to zig-zag across the width of the river. We had booked a boat ourselves, but not for this day - that joy was still to come. For now we sat and relaxed waiting for the afternoon opening of a nearby transport museum. Which we will see in the next article!

Great Yarmouth 2002 Index

Disney's Polynesian Village Resort

Sunday the First of May. Our last full day in Florida and although we won't be flying until 6:00pm-ish tomorrow I suspect the day will be a wash-out as far as doing anything but eating and preparing to leave is concerned. But first there's one last day to cram in those experiences and they will probably stretch to at least three articles...

We start with a bus to the Magic Kingdom, where we catch the Monorail to Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. We are here for another character breakfast and happily Grace has got over her grots, having thrown them mainly all over herself, her Mum and a total stranger in the middle of The Lion King Show at the Animal Kingdom yesterday afternoon. She is bouncing about in excitement again at the thought of meeting Lilo and Stitch.

Eddie has stayed in this resort with his parents before he and Gill were married and it does look a very nice place. Themed on the Polynesian Islands of the Pacific the resort opened in October 1971. The Great Ceremonial House that we are in was modelled on a Tahitian royal assembly building and contains the resort's main restaurants and shopping area. There used to be a water feature in the lobby but it was removed for Health and Safety reasons and to provide a larger social space.

We are called to our table in the Ohana Restaurant and it is not long before our first visitor is welcomed by an enthusiastic little girl! This is Stitch. Perhaps not one of Disney's best known characters to adults, but he is one of the two main characters in Lilo and Stitch. This tells the heart-warming story of an alien half-robot, half-animal intelligent killing machine that lands in Hawaii and befriends a little girl. So far, so believable...

Lilo is the little Polynesian girl that he forms an attachment to. And you thought it was going to be the tale of a killer alien and an inflatable polythene mattress, didn't you...?

After breakfast, the EGGs are keen to get as much time in the parks as possible but we decide to have a look around the resort first and meet up later. We have a fast-pass to all go on It's a Small World. As though I don't have that tune still going round my head...

So a few photos inside the Great Ceremonial House, starting with the glass roof and colourful lighting.

The little Tiki carved wooden sculpture takes pride of place in the centre of the lobby, facing the main entrance doors from the Monorail station.

Behind him another set of doors at the far end gives access to the pool and beyond to the Seven Seas Lagoon.

After a look at the decoration, Fran thinks it only right that we should also have a look round the shops... There's not a great multitude of them in here at ground floor and we only went in one anyway which was a boutique.

A tiki figure in the boutique. As he is looking down I would have thought it would silence any misbehaving child with immediate effect if they were placed in front of it!

Miss Franny standing in front of one of the accomodation longhouses. This one faced onto the pool. Ground floor rooms had a little patio area and upper floors a small balcony.

A bit of imagination has been used on the pool. On the right hand peak of the mountain you can just make out a dark hole that is the start of a water slide that curves to come out by the gent with the red shorts.

Another view of the same pool shows that parents, grandparents and non-swimmers are provided with poolside tables and sheltering table umbrellas for shade.

The resort fronts onto the Seven Seas Lagoon across from the Grand Floridian resort and looking down the lagoon we can see Cinderella's Castle in the distance.

Looking at this photo you can see that Grand Floridian resort is much nearer than Cinderella! We'll take a closer look at the boats in a moment.

The white sand beach is almost deserted and with temperatures already in the 90s I suspect anyone from a similar climate to Blackpool's must be sheltering from the sun, preferably in an air-conditioned environment!

But we are not entirely alone as we circle the swimming pool with a view to taking a boat across the lagoon.

These small boats do a circuit of Magic Kingdom > Grand Floridian Resort > Polynesian Village Resort > Magic Kingdom.

It is moored at the end of a pier and we have to do three sides of an oblong to get there so we'll let that one go and catch the next!

It will give us time to admire again the clean lines of the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. This (make the most of it!) will be our last view of it for this holiday.

We amble onto the pier and take a seat as we wait for the next boat to come along. It is really nice here actually. We are under shade and out in the fresh air. Add a couple of cushions and I'd have been happy parked here for a while!

We watch the boat go into and out from the Grand Floridian Resort and we are joined by a few others. Only a couple of people get off the boat as most people have either come from Grand Floridian Resort and are heading for the park, or are doing a full round trip.

So as we get on the boat is fairly full already. I find a spot on the side of the boat, right by the wheel. I'm a true Pisces - I love boats and ships and spent a very happy year at one point looking after the administration function of Fleetwood Nautical College before it became part of Blackpool's large college. So it's nice to be in a position where I can chat to the guy at the wheel.

The entire crew is called Bob. I get into a short conversation with him. He does a two hour shift on this boat and then moves to another on a different route. This helps keep the job from becoming boring and keeps the boatman alert. "It's a great job," he enthuses. "I get to drive lots of boats belonging to someone else and they put the fuel in as well!"

Disney World Holiday Index

Brixham

Just to round off the posts about our weekend in Torquay (before the next weekend actually hits!) here are a few of views of Brixham.

We had been before and the roads are somewhat exciting around the harbour - very narrow streets with at least one hairpin bend that requires you to try your best, then reverse and try again! Single-track streets that are two-way etc. etc. Anyway we chickened out and went on the bus. This made it more relaxing and used less fuel which was a bit hard to come by that weekend anyway!

The harbour is lovely. A typical fishing harbour, with pastel painted cottages lining the hills behind and to the sides of the cove.

This is the unlikely landing point for William, Prince of Orange who led The Glorious Revolution to become King William III and deposed King James II who it was feared would lead Great Britain back to Catholicism. It is called the Glorious Revolution because it was mainly bloodless (though I'd be willing to bet someone got a bloody nose over it somewhere...) However the fact that he turned up from foreign parts with a dirty great army and was suddenly given the crown of England could justify the thought that there had been an invasion. It may have happened to have been a convenient time to be invaded but when he jumped onto the quay at Brixham and gave his speech the locals were probably a bit bemused. He couldn't speak a word of English...

"Woss he say?"
"Dunno - it's all in foreign innit? Oy! You! I'll buy your fish, how much a pound? Talk in English can't you? Ow! Me nose! I thought this was supposed to be a bloodless revolution?!?"

His imposing statue is either less than flattering...or the nose has fallen off at some point. William III of England was the son of Dutch ruler William II of Orange and Princess Mary of Orange, who was the daughter of King Charles I of England. In an effort to totally confuse readers William III (not William II) went on to marry Mary (not Mary his Mum) but Mary, his fifteen year old cousin, daughter of his Uncle James, the Duke of York. They ruled England jointly as King William III and Queen Mary II (the first Mary being Henry VIII's daughter, Bloody Mary).

Fran decided to go for a look around the shops whilst I walked around the harbour taking the odd (sometimes very odd) photo and reflecting a little on royal inbreeding which just a decade or so later would lead to the most severe case of Habsburg Chin in the person of King Charles II of Spain whose ancestors had spent eight generations in happy incestual relationships. Keep it in the family then... There was a notably unmodern ship in the harbour, so I went to have a nosy.

It was a replica of Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hind, in which he sailed around the world. (I mean in the first one...not the replica.) In fact there's another replica in London and they look nothing like each other. This is possibly because it's hard to build a replica when we haven't a clue what the boat looked like. What we do know are the measurements of it and the fact that it is highly likely that there was a pointy bit at the front, a window or two at the back and a deer's head stuck on it somewhere as otherwise it would have been called something else.

"'Ere - wossat on 'is boat?"
"Aw no... it's Bambi's mam, ain't it?"

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Can you Identify this Windmill?

How many times does this happen? You go somewhere on holiday and visit a place but you have nothing to write down the name of where you are and when you get home you cannot remember!

This is either a windmill or a wind-driven drainage pump on the Norfolk Broads about half and hour to an hour out of Great Yarmouth. Can anyone identify it for me? If you can give me any information on this building please leave a comment either against this blog post or against the photograph at Flickr. The photographs were taken in 1995.

The Flickr site no longer exists, but grateful thanks to Andrew Dunn who left a comment on the photo at Flick - it's the Berney Arms Windmill on the River Yare.