Cruising on the Broads (2 Viewers)

[jerry12953]

Hi,

I thought it might be an interesting idea to rent a small cruiser (or similar) and pootle around the waterways of Norfolk and Suffolk for a week in May. I'm a photographer (wildlife and landscape) so that would be my ambition. In my minds eye I see a clear spring morning with fog lifting and common cranes (or bitterns......) flying by. Has anyone ever done such a thing and do you think it would be feasible? Hickling Broad seems like the place to aim for but is it accessible by boat?

Can anyone offer any pointers and / or a reality check?

 

[Farnboro John]

Hi,

I thought it might be an interesting idea to rent a small cruiser (or similar) and pootle around the waterways of Norfolk and Suffolk for a week in May. I'm a photographer (wildlife and landscape) so that would be my ambition. In my minds eye I see a clear spring morning with fog lifting and common cranes (or bitterns......) flying by. Has anyone ever done such a thing and do you think it would be feasible? Hickling Broad seems like the place to aim for but is it accessible by boat?

Can anyone offer any pointers and / or a reality check?

You and many, many other cruisers, non-wildlife people with no feeling for other than getting from one pub-proximal staithe to the next, loud stereo, the same driving ability you see on British roads (or indeed worse)... Your access to wildlife on any of the broads will be limited by not only the extent to which your fellow cruisers flush it all but also in places like Hickling, the extent to which the conservation organisations exclude your boat.

You can sometimes score a few bits and pieces on Breydon Water but even that can be viewed more stably with a scope from the sea wall.

Forget it and book some self-catering accommodation, fill your car up and head for the magnificent reserves of the area that way.

For the avoidance of doubt, this is the voice of experience.

John

 

[MJB]

Hi,

I thought it might be an interesting idea to rent a small cruiser (or similar) and pootle around the waterways of Norfolk and Suffolk for a week in May. I'm a photographer (wildlife and landscape) so that would be my ambition. In my minds eye I see a clear spring morning with fog lifting and common cranes (or bitterns......) flying by. Has anyone ever done such a thing and do you think it would be feasible? Hickling Broad seems like the place to aim for but is it accessible by boat?

Can anyone offer any pointers and / or a reality check?

If I may add to Farnboro John's pearls of, well, wisdom, by May, the fresh reed growth may well be tall enough to prevent you scanning the top of the reedbed from your small cruiser...
MJB

 

[jerry12953]

You and many, many other cruisers, non-wildlife people with no feeling for other than getting from one pub-proximal staithe to the next, loud stereo, the same driving ability you see on British roads (or indeed worse)... Your access to wildlife on any of the broads will be limited by not only the extent to which your fellow cruisers flush it all but also in places like Hickling, the extent to which the conservation organisations exclude your boat.

You can sometimes score a few bits and pieces on Breydon Water but even that can be viewed more stably with a scope from the sea wall.

Forget it and book some self-catering accommodation, fill your car up and head for the magnificent reserves of the area that way.

For the avoidance of doubt, this is the voice of experience.

John

That sounds pretty damning. better go for Plan B........

 

[Farnboro John]

If I may add to Farnboro John's pearls of, well, wisdom, by May, the fresh reed growth may well be tall enough to prevent you scanning the top of the reedbed from your small cruiser...
MJB

Yes, I forgot to mention that. Nothing to see but reeds fringing the river for mile after mile after mile, too thin to hold much wildlife but too tall and thick to see to the open fields beyond..... frustrating beyond belief!

John