Our 65’ Dutch Barge named Jean Audrey was launched at the Thames & Kennet Marina at Caversham on February 1st 2013. We had a great time on the Marina for a full year – Lee and his team were extremely helpful as was Morag, Pauline, Pat and the team at the Boaters Bar – they all made us feel extremely welcome.
However as 2013 progressed it became obvious that we were not going to be able to use our beautiful barge all year round – we are not at this stage living on our barge so we needed to make full use of the weekends – unfortunately due to extreme weather conditions and the constant red boards on the Thames that we were experiencing from December 2013 onwards – we decided that we would investigate other mooring options.
We contacted the Norfolk Broads Authority who were extremely helpful and they called us back on 2-3 occasions with all sorts of useful information and details regarding boating on the Norfolk Broads.
We had a list of Marinas to work from and due to our size it did not leave too much choice – there is lots of availability for boats from 49’ – 60’ but not so many if you are 65’ – however we contacted St. Olaves Marina and Rona at the Marina was again extremely helpful and wanted to have our barge on her marina – however due to the bookings that she had already secured we could not stay there, however, this ended up being the marina where Jean Audrey would be relaunched after our decision to transport JA via land instead of the original plan of taking her down the Thames and up the East Coast to Lowestoft, which is one point to enter the Norfolk Broads. Once again due to the weather and the red boards it made it impossible to guarantee the trip down the Thames to St. Katherine’s dock where we could wait for the right weather to sail her up along the coast.
On Wednesday 9th April she was lifted out of the Thames & Kennett Marina (Phil from Piper Boats was a fantastic assistance to us on that very busy day of which we are truly grateful) at 8.00am and loaded onto CPL’s transport direct to St. Olaves Marina where she arrived at 5.30pm – St Olaves Marina staff were very helpful and waited until she was safely launched and moored before they closed for the day. As the Marina was so nice, welcoming and friendly we decided to stay an extra day here – Rona advised of a great restaurant within walking distance of the Marina which was wonderful and we used it over 2 days.
On Friday 11th April we left the marina for our new mooring at Brundall Gardens Marina – this was approximately two hours sailing from St. Olaves – we headed down the New Cut to Reedham which is one of the most tidal places on the Broads with a railway swing bridge. Reedham is a beautiful place to stop with excellent facilities including two very good pubs. We then motored on through some beautiful countryside in a fairly wide deep river – really well maintained with many points for free 24 hour mooring available.
Brundall has many marinas for privately owned motor cruises with full resources to service and maintain a wide range of craft. It also has its own railway station right on the marina along with a local pub called The Yare.
Brundall Gardens Marina is where our permanent mooring for Jean Audrey is for this year. A beautiful mooring – very green and landscaped – again with its own railway station with access directly from the marina – with only one small train running per hour.
The marina has recently been completely renovated (over the last four years) with excellent shower and laundry facilities. It is extremely secure with pass cards as the only way in and out of the marina. We are the largest craft at this marina – there is one other narrow board and a wide beam – the rest tend to be sailing or motor cruises.Our actual location on the marina is on the main river itself in a fantastic position with lots of wildlife and scenery.
The River Yare is a tidal river but the flow of the river in our location is very steady and the rise and fall is approximately 600mm. The village itself is a 20 minute nice, safe walk and it has all local amenities available i.e. Budgens (well stocked), two Michelin star restaurants, two pubs, a Chinese restaurant and an ironmongers. The location of the marina lends itself with easy direct access into the centre of Norwich with all of its charm and character of the Norfolk capital. It takes us two hours to sail into Norwich Yacht Station run by the Broads Authority. On the way to Norwich there are extensive free moorings at villages and pubs to make motoring down the river a true joy with extremely scenic views.
There are many other opportunities from our location to head south down the Broads to places such as Lowestoft, Beccles, then across Breydon Water which is the largest area of open water on the way to Gt. Yarmouth. Heading up river from Gt. Yarmouth brings you to the lovely villages of Horning, Wroxham and Potter Heigham all these are accessible on the barge. As a keen fisherman we are looking forward to June 16th when the season commences and the fishing in our area and the rest of the Norfolk Broads is extremely good. We have been advised by the Broads Authority that we will be able to use our barge 365 days of the year if we so desired.
Now the finances – the difference between the Broads Licence and Mooring Fees and that of the Thames is really considerable and worth investigating – along with the vast amount of free moorings available on the Broads.
Final Comment: It has only been 7 weeks since we arrived on the Broads and we are loving every minute that we are on the barge – we may be the first Piper Dutch Barge on the Broads but we are sure we are not going to be the last.
