Ness' bit of everything

After our sailing holidays abroad got cancelled this year – we did some research to have a sailing adventure in the UK. We came across Olivers sailing boat hire on the Norfolk Broads. We had booked for a week in September. And the forecast couldn’t have looked any better!

Alex and I packed our deck shoes, plenty of wine, food, suncream and of course little Lola and met my Mum and Dad at Martham Ferry in Great Yarmouth.

We charted a 30ft traditional Norfolk Broads gaff rigged sailing boat for 4 nights. All the boats were beautifully maintained and all were designed to sail on the broads.

Day 1

We began our trip from from Martham Boatyard, where we charted the boat from. We had a briefing and a small tutorial/lesson on the use of the old boat. This was welcomed, even with having dingy and yachting experience it still didn’t prepare me for the narrow tacking and a mast that could be lowered by hand. The staff were super knowledgable and were great to learn from.

We sailed to Hickling broad and sailed on the broad for a few hours until golden hour and docked at the Pleasure Boat Inn for the night.

Due to the pandemic some pubs were open, but outside eating only for some. Luckily then late summer September nights were perfect for pub grub al fresco style.

Day 2

After breakfast on deck we sailed from Hickling Board to Thurne and Potter Heigham. We lowered the mast here to get under the bridges at Potter Heigham. We then sailed to Ranworth broad. There was limited space here and ended up mooring on the opposite bank to the pub with no amenities. Luckily we had a very tightly stocked cool box style fridge. So we rustled up an omelette and sat out drinking wine. There was a £10 mooring fee here. Arrive early to Ranworth broad if you want a spot at The Maltsters.

Day 3

We then sailed from Ranworth Broad to Horning. We moored up in Horning and stopped off for some lunch and supplies. We then went to Hoveton Little Broad for some open sailing. From here we sailed to How Hill through Ludham Bridge (lowering the mast). We moored at How Hill and walked a mile to The Dog pub near Ludham bridge. Ludham bridge is busy and noisy with traffic over the bridge. It is worth staying further away in a quieter section and stretch your legs to the pub.

Day 4

We sailed from How hill up to Barton Broad and did some sailing around the small island there. We then headed back through Ludham Bridge (lowering the mast again) to the River Thurne to South Walsham Broad nosying at all the houses and windmills on the way. We then sailed down the River Thurne again to Potter Heigham to come back (lowering the mast again here – getting the hang of it now!). We then had one last sail on Horsey Mere. Beautiful and quiet as the sun started to set. We then headed a short distance to Martham boat yard for our last night where we managed a pasta bake dish all with one hob and a grill!

Day 5

We packed up and it was home time at 9am.

As you can see from all the different names of rivers and broads, there was so much to explore and sail on. There was so much more that we didn’t get to as well. There are plenty of options on trips like this to make it what you want. We found – even more so due to the pandemic there wasn’t a lot of open restaurants/pubs. A lot of boats tended to bring their own supplies and cook on the boat, so bare that in mind. We managed to do a both as we do like to mix it up.

The sailing was extremely interesting and challenging, a perfect place if you are wanting to perfect your tacks and gybes. The broads are stunning a lot of reeds, reed beds for days but all in all a stunning manmade landscape. And the weather – we could not fault. It definitely was the icing on the cake for a great 4 days sailing together.

Ness x