Once in a lifetime trip on MTB102

I was given the opportunity last Friday to take a once in a lifetime trip aboard the motor torpedo boat MTB102, which was the first MTB of the modern era and is now in a Trust.  More information can be found here http://www.mtb102.com/

The trip was supposed to have three people who would act as crew and six passengers.  I put my name down as a passenger but said I was willing to act as crew if required.  Not being sure what crewing entailed on this large boat I was a little apprehensive!

During the week, we were advised that new propellers and shafts were being fitted to the boat and by Thursday morning these had not arrived, so until the last minute the trip was in jeopardy.  However, they did arrive and the team worked almost throughout the night to install the new parts.

As the MTB was on the sea side of the Broads on Lake Lothing, Mutford Lock would have to be negotiated as would the swinging railway bridge, so some organisation was required.   

The original timing was that the MTB would go through the lock at 10 am and we had to be there by 9.45 but this was then put back so we duly arrived at the boatyard at the newly appointed time of 12 noon.  The boat was on the slipway but it was fairly obvious that she couldn’t be floated until the tide came up.  Richard Basey, who runs the Trust and skippers the boat, told us that high water was 3 pm but he would try and float her before then.  We anticipated the long wait and settled down on the bank to talk and eat our lunch.

Crew and passengers

Around 2.15 Richard and his usual crew asked us to move down to a nearby pontoon in anticipation of boarding and they went on board, started the engines and tried to power the MTB off the trolley but she was stuck fast!

Engines started

 No amount on rocking, pulling and shoving would budge her so again we sat and watched the tide creep in until eventually, with one roar of the engines, she was afloat!  We all cheered and clapped!

And she's free!

Having twin engines, she can turn on a sixpence, which she did, and came alongside the pontoon where we clambered on board, Richard hoisted the flags, signalled the railway bridge and lock keeper and off we went.

I hadn’t been through Mutford Lock for many years and only in small boats previously so was very impressed with the handling of the MTB through the confined space.  It was all hands on deck with fenders until the water levels adjusted and we were able to make our way out on to Oulton Broad, to the cheers of the boat owners in the marina!

The idea of the trip was for MTB102 to lead a procession of private and hire boats down to Beccles where spaces had been booked in the marina, for a weekend of fun and frolics!  As we went across Oulton Broad, the fleet formed behind us, many of the boats decked out with flags and bunting.  There were cameras clicking and flashes flashing everywhere and we felt extremely privileged to be on board this historic vessel.

It was quickly clear that most of the small boats in the procession were struggling to keep up with the powerful MTB so one of the engines was shut down which reduced the speed thus allowing the procession to keep together.  There was one intrepid sailor who managed to keep up with the leaders, under sail, for about a third of the journey which was very impressive.  I think when it came to tacking the skipper thought better of it and resorted to the engine! 

The fleet!

The trip took almost three hours and we were cheered and photographed all along the route. 

I'll give you 10 seconds to drop that camera!

The MTB had taken part in the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations on the Thames so had quite a high profile and as she isn’t seen too often on the Broads these days, it was a momentous occasion.  One I certainly enjoyed tremendously and the memories will stay with me for a long time.

A long journey

In the old days I can recall my mother being anxious when she knew that I was going on a long road trip and insisting that I call her as soon as I arrived, which wasn't always easy in the days before mobile phones and sometimes entailed a trek to a phone box and juggling with many coins, for a two minute call of reassurance.

This is probably why, when my children are travelling anywhere I always ask them to let me know when they arrive.  However, this is no longer necessary as in these days of super technology, I get updates via social networking sites every five minutes or so.  I know exactly where they are at any given time, what delays they are experiencing at airports, on motorways or when they stop for refreshments.

This is great - the only problem being that they sometimes forget to let everyone know that they have actually arrived, so I am left suspended - are they really still at the services stop on the M5, or still waiting for their luggage at Lanzarote airport?

They do remember eventually and I breath a sigh of relief and relax, until the return journey! 

The photo (C 1952) has no relevance to my comments above but I guess that my parents had to reassure my grandparents that we had arrived safely at our holiday destination.

UK tourism promotion

Ironic that in the local paper, the page opposite a major article on boosting tourism in the UK following the publicity generated by the Olympics should be a full page advertisement for flying off to the sun in a dozen or more European destinations!

Bad planning or subversion by the editor?

A necessary journey - part 2

After the previous weekend’s aborted trip, we looked at the tide predictions and realised that there would be ‘spring’ tides the next weekend.  These mean extra high and extra low tides so we should be able to get under the dreaded bridges with no problems.  Low water was predicted to be around 5.15 pm which meant that we would leave Norwich around 1 pm and have a leisurely cruise down river and across Breydon Water, with the tide.

The day dawned bright, with no rain and after stocking up with provisions, we left the Norwich moorings, heading down river with the canoes around us.

The journey was lovely and uneventful; we spotted quite a few marsh harriers, avocets, oyster catchers and other wildlife on the journey and were reassured to see the water receding fast and the mud banks showing at the river edges.

As we came on to Breydon Water it was obvious that the tide was still running out fast and although we had been cruising very slowly, we were going to be a bit early.  I worry about the bridge heights all the time as I know we have very little clearance!

Off to our left, we saw a hire cruiser who had obviously gone out of the marked channel and got stuck on the mud.  I took a photo with the long lens and could see four disconsolate chaps sitting in the cabin, with a long line of beer cans and bottles on the table!  They were in for a long wait!!  We noticed that they didn’t have an anchor (mudweight) down and as high water would be around midnight, goodness knows where they’d float off too when they came off the mud!

As we gently cruised across Breydon, behind us there was a huge storm cloud gathering!

When we got to Breydon Bridge (the big one with no height problems)  I called the Yacht Station and was told that there was 9ft 7ins height, with the tide still dropping, so I felt happier at this stage.  When we actually got to the bridge, there was even more height and we went under with 18inches to spare!  However, just as we came up to the first bridge, the squall arrived, with horizontal rain and blowing a gale.  We were glad to get away from this scary part of the river where the tide runs very fast and hire boats have no idea what they are doing, being swept along by the outgoing tide!

We had thought about mooring at Stracey windmill but by the time we got there, the weather had cleared and we decided to make a run for home!  A lovely sunset greeted us as we came up river and we eventually arrived back at our home moorings just before 9 pm – an 8 hour journey!  It was a relief and we slept well that night.

A necessary journey

It was planned to put our boat (Lady Louise – hereinafter referred to as LL) back in the water before Easter and hopefully spend a little time on the southern rivers of the Norfolk Broads but when the forecast for the long weekend was announced we made a decision to stay on the land, work on polishing up the inside and get some of our stuff back on board with the intention of a launch the Friday after Easter and a leisurely trip back ‘up north’ to our moorings.  The tides were looking ok for a lunch-time trip through the dreaded Great Yarmouth bridges on the Sunday.

By way of explanation, we winterised near enough to Norwich on the map below and had to get back to our moorings at South Walsham – as the crow flies around 10 miles but by river, an 8 hour trip.  The route would take us downriver through Brundall, Cantley, Reedham where we turn left heading for Breydon Water.  Across to Great Yarmouth and turn left again, heading for Stokesby, Acle, then leftish again and left to South Walsham.

The tides have to be taken into account for a boat the height of ours, as both bridges at Great Yarmouth don’t have very much headroom, even at low water.  The two rivers, Bure and Yare, empty into the seas approximately every 12 hours, with the tide rushing out fast, particularly through the restricted river Bure at Great Yarmouth.

As we were loading our provisions on to the boat, we noticed a group go past with a Manchester City flag flying – obviously off to the football match at the nearby Carrow Road ground!  

We said farewell to the moorings at Trowse around 2 p.m. on the Friday and took a leisurely trip down the river to Cantley, stopping to take on fuel at Brundall.  This part of the journey is enjoyable as there is so much to see on and by the river and as we don’t visit the southern rivers very often, we make the most of it. 

We pottered down river, through Rockland Broad and on down to Cantley, planning to be moored at the Reedcutter pub at opening time!

On the way we were almost overtaken by a water skier but he fell off before he passed us!  I think the water must have been extremely cold as he was back up on skis very quickly.  How different the conditions to when I used to water ski in Cyprus! 

We moored at Cantley and quickly noticed how high the tide was!  I struggled to get off the boat and we had to put out extra fenders to protect our newly polished hull.

We spent a nice evening in the pub, the food was first class and the company entertaining!  The group of lads we had seen earlier heading to the football turned up, with three more boatloads of people, celebrating a stag night.  They were good fun and very well behaved!

We woke next morning to what was still a high tide and, with a little trepidation, set off down river towards Breydon Water, around 9 a.m. hoping to clear the bridges around 12.30 – 1 p.m.  The journey was uneventful, our main interest being in the state of the tide!  It became apparent fairly quickly that it wasn’t dropping as it should so we planned to cross Breydon and ring the Yacht Station to see what the bridge heights were.  We were slightly distracted by a couple of marsh harriers hunting along the river bank but as the mud flats weren’t showing, there wasn’t much other wildlife to see.

We crept across Breydon Water, hoping that at the bottom of the tide there would be enough headroom for us to slide under the bridges but on ringing the Yacht Station, we were told that we would be about 5-6 inches too tall!  Although expected, this was a blow;  we hung around for about half an hour hoping the tide would drop a little more, then nosed up to the lower bridge with me on deck judging the clearance but had to abort at the last moment as we would have damaged the superstructure if we’d attempted to get under.

There was nothing for it but to turn back and we had discussions about where we would moor the boat for a week as our next attempt wouldn’t be until the following weekend, when spring tides (very lows/highs) were predicted. 

We opened up the engines across Breydon, a little in frustration than anything else!

There were three pretty narrow boats moored outside the Berney Arms pub at the top of Breydon Water - they'd be able to get under the bridges with no problem at all (probably even at high water!).

The pub at Cantley had already said we could moor there but as this was about a 40+ minute journey from home we decided to head back to Trowse, which was about 15 minutes from home so we could check the boat on a daily basis.

It was disappointing to have to return to these moorings which, although very nice, weren’t home to us!

To be continued ............

Cul-de-sac?

Our little road of 10 houses is a cul-de-sac.  The road is narrow with a small turning area at the end, which the occupants of one of the houses has 'taken over' as their personal parking space.   Therefore when a visiting car or delivery van comes down the close, it struggles to turn round and usually has to use someone else's driveway.

Since we moved in 11 years' ago, when the houses were built, we have had a sign outside our house (we are on the corner of the Close) which stated the name of the road and the fact that it was a cul-de-sac!  This sign was metal and was firmly embedded into the pavement tarmac.

On Monday, there was a ring at my doorbell and, on answering it, found two young men with a truck labelled with the local Council's "Environmental Crime Department" on the side and a trailer with a compressor on board plus many road signs.

They told me that they had a list which stated that the road sign for the Close had to be replaced - (the policy was now to use plastic) - as it was damaged and was I aware of this.  I said 'no' and together we inspected the sign, which was still firmly concreted into the pavement, no bent bits and no missing lettering, in fact a perfect sign!  After some discussion, I offered to ring the local Council to see what was going on but they didn't seem to want me to do that and decided that as the job was on the list, they would have to do it.  

Roadwork warning signs were placed in strategic areas, the compressor was fired up, a drill was produced and the old (but perfect) metal sign was removed.  The holes in the pavement had to be enlarged to take the new sign and some concrete was mixed and poured to hold the legs in place.  A neat job, they cleaned up and went - around 45 minutes in all.

After a while I went out to inspect the sign and realised that it no longer displayed the fact that the little Close was a cul-de-sac!  In my view this was asking for trouble so I fired an email off to the Council who responded quite quickly, stating that a member of the public had reported the sign damaged and they were replacing it 'in good will' (I think they meant 'good faith').  They promised to amend the sign to advise that the road is a cul-de-sac!

I have expressed my surprise to the Council that they don't send someone out to inspect reported damage, or even ask a member of the Parish Council to walk round and have a look, before going to the unnecessary expense of making a new sign - incorrectly anyway.  I wait in anticipation to see if they will somehow amend the current sign (maybe a small hanging plaque underneath the road name) or whether they will ditch this one and make a new one.

Just out of interest, the chaps who removed the metal sign, insinuated that this was being done to 'prevent metal theft'!!  I did ask them what happened to the removed signs and they told me that they were stored at the Council offices!   Maybe to be sold for scrap eventually!

Birthday

I am seriously impressed by the number of birthday greetings I received on Facebook this year!  I counted 39, which strangely coincides with the year in which I was born.  I should say that this was in addition to all the birthday cards from family and close friends and I should mention the lovely and most acceptable gifts from family.

Whilst I would not wish to be seen as cynical, I did wonder how many of the 39 birthday wishes were actually genuine, or just a reaction to something popping up on Facebook to say it was my birthday.  So many of the 39 wouldn't even know the date of my birthday without this timely reminder and many of the 39 who appeared to genuinely wish me 'happy birthday' have never met me.

I am also slightly amused by the greetings which say 'hope you have a great / the best / day'.  At my age a birthday is not something to be especially celebrated, except by the fact that I have actually attained another year and it is recognised with a simple pleasure, such as an extra G&T in the evening, or leaving the kitchen in a mess until the next morning.

However, I was very grateful for the attention via Facebook and I shall continue to (genuinely) wish all my friends a happy birthday on their due dates .... as long as FB reminds me!