Back to boating on the Broads TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 6/5 About This Page:

[disney_duke]

I was going to pick the same photo! That's a beauty.
Great job mooring up the boat! That always makes me nervous - even as a kid I got tense about it.

[mommapants]

I liked that photo too.

I just adore all these villages you are passing they are so charming.

So how does the mooring work? do you just find an open one and pay for the night or do people make reservations? Are they public or private, free or a fee?

[chezp]

Originally Posted by mommapants

I liked that photo too.

I just adore all these villages you are passing they are so charming.

So how does the mooring work? do you just find an open one and pay for the night or do people make reservations? Are they public or private, free or a fee?

As you'll find out as we get a bit further on, there's no way to make reservations - I wish there was. There is free mooring all around the Broads and the first night we were in free moorings and the last night was the same. Where we were, we were moored up in front of a pub and basically if you spend there, there's no fee for mooring, which is fair enough.

There are also a lot of private moorings that just plain aren't available to those of us not rich enough to own our own boat. They belong to those who own boats and a lot of the moorings in Brundall, where we set off from, were all private.

[Colexis Mom]

More great pics! Love the cows! Congrats on mooring up by yourselves!

[chezp]

Sunday 3 May – part eight: how bad is this pub going to be?

I figured I’d better head inside the pub just out of courtesy, as the sign said that it was free mooring if you used the pub, which is fair enough. I have to say it was pretty dead in there, which didn’t enthuse me, but then again, neither of us were overly hungry after our lovely lunch. I grabbed a menu and took it back to the boat, and it seemed fairly expansive. I had a quick look at TripAdvisor, and the reviews on there were pretty terrible, shall we say? There really is no other way to put it. Oh well, if we go in expecting the worst, surely it can only be better, she says hopefully!



Not long after we arrived, we had a sudden and very unexpected downpour, especially given that the sun was shining brilliantly above us. I did look for a rainbow, but couldn’t see one. Instead, I found our little friend, who was drying off on land…



We had some down time, and eventually ventured into the pub, wondering what horrors would await us in there.



I’d read TripAdvisor reviews complaining that they weren’t welcoming. Well, all I can say is that we were greeted by a very enthusiastic woman, who was absolutely lovely. I didn’t feel that inspired when she said she’d have to get the chef from upstairs, as he was sleeping.



We put our order in, and found a table by the window to admire the views on the river…



… and we even saw a train go past in the distance.



According to Google Maps, the area in between the river and the railway is a nature reserve, and we saw a few bird watchers as we ate.

I went for the ploughman’s salad with Stilton, and I was very impressed when the bread turned up warm. In fairness, I had gone for this, as I thought it would be pretty hard to mess up, but actually it was very good.



Mark got the gammon and pineapple, and look at how much turned up on his plate. You certainly couldn’t accuse them of skimping on their portions.



I have to say we both enjoyed our meals, and neither of us could understand why this place has such poor ratings. Ok, so it wasn’t amazing cuisine, and patently the pub needs a little bit of love (and money) to bring it back to its best, but we’ve eaten in much worse places. We liked the fact that there were a number of locals in there, and how the landlady seemed to know them all. It was certainly a very friendly place.

On the way out, we went to use the toilets, and discovered just how big this place is. It’s certainly got a lot of potential.



Both meals and a shandy for Mark only came to £16.40 ($25), which we thought was very good value. I know a lot of places would charge more for a ploughman’s salad for example. I guess they don’t, as they probably don’t have the decent reviews to, but I felt that it was cheap for the meal we’d just had. Normally, we’d tip 10% anyway, so I gave her a £20 note and told her to keep it. She was so shocked and kept saying she couldn’t, but I insisted. Why not? After all, it had far exceeded our (admittedly very low) expectations.

Beauchamp Arms

Entrée 8½ 8½
Service 8½ 8
Atmosphere 8 8
Value for money 8½ 8½

Average score: 8.31

As we walked back to the boat, Mark spotted cows in the distance, so we headed that way to get some photos of them. It was a very weird set-up. In the field closest to us were cows, then in the next field, it was filled with swans, then the field behind had cows again.



While we were there, a guy came off a boat with a tiny dog that came running and barking towards us. Now I am scared of dogs – something to do with nearly losing an eye when I was a kid and I was attacked by a dog I knew very well. I didn’t know he was on guard duty and, even though we’d known each other for years, he saw me and attacked me, and scratched me in the face, right by my eye. I still have the scar today, both physical and emotional, and dogs terrify me. Fortunately the dog only barked, but I did freeze up completely.

Next: what an amazing sunset!

[lauriep]

I hope that pub gets more business, as it can't keep going if it's empty like that! You should give them a positive write-up on TripAdvisor, certainly good value for money. I really did LOL when you said they had to wake up the chef!!

[disney_duke]

Sounds like you picked the right place to moor up! Surprisingly good dinner and a great value. And... cows!

I don't blame you about the dog. We have 2 large dogs and I know they are intimidating, even though they're big babies. So I always pull them back when we approach people because you just never know. But those little ones? I don't know. I don't trust those little things! I've been bitten on the leg by one, so I totally hear ya.

[cubfancolleen]

The chef was sleeping? That's a line you don't hear every day. Dinner looked good (nothing like warm bread!), much better than your expectations. Lucky break! If it was more crowded, who knows if you would've been able to moor there?

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

I hope that pub gets more business, as it can't keep going if it's empty like that! You should give them a positive write-up on TripAdvisor, certainly good value for money. I really did LOL when you said they had to wake up the chef!!

I must admit at that point, I was beginning to fear the worst, given all the reviews we'd read!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Sounds like you picked the right place to moor up! Surprisingly good dinner and a great value. And... cows!

I don't blame you about the dog. We have 2 large dogs and I know they are intimidating, even though they're big babies. So I always pull them back when we approach people because you just never know. But those little ones? I don't know. I don't trust those little things! I've been bitten on the leg by one, so I totally hear ya.

Mark's been attacked by a small dog, so he's no fan of them either. His family had Alsatians growing up, so he has no issues with big dogs at all.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

The chef was sleeping? That's a line you don't hear every day.

No it's not - maybe he was getting some rest before the expected rush?

Dinner looked good (nothing like warm bread!), much better than your expectations. Lucky break! If it was more crowded, who knows if you would've been able to moor there?

Probably not, as I'd say there was only small for about three boats at the most.

[Colexis Mom]

Glad the pub was a pleasant surprise and you had a good experience! How great to see more cows!

[chezp]

Sunday 3 May – part nine: what an amazing sunset!

We headed back to the boat, feeling very stuffed and already very tired, even though it wasn’t 8:00pm yet. This wasn’t a good sign.



We settled down to read, and I kept one eye on the outside, as I was sure we were going to get a nice sunset tonight. I’d pop out every few minutes to get another couple of photos of it as it developed…



All the time we were watching this, we were keeping an eye out at the other end of the boat, as the moon was starting to appear, which was very surreal, to have a sunset at one end and the moon at the other.



Eventually, Mark suggested we actually get off the boat and walk over to see the sunset. Works for me and heck, it might stop us both falling asleep, which was a real risk. I was so glad he did, as wow, what a sight we were treated to!



And yet again, if you looked the other way, you could now clearly the moon rising:



I did keep a close eye on these two guys in the field nearby, just in case they decided they didn’t like us being there, but they were fine, thankfully. I wouldn’t want to deal with an angry swan.


Finally, we headed back to the boat just as we thought the sunset was over. I was out in hat and gloves, and Mark was out in his Highland cow hat. The woman from the pub was outside with a couple of regulars and they were all laughing at him. She yelled out to him that he looked “proper”, but we weren’t sure what word should come next…

Even though the sun had now set, the amazing sunset continued…



And the moon was getting stronger and stronger…



We actually lasted a lot longer tonight than we originally thought we would, as we ended up managing to watch Hawaii Five-O live on Mark’s laptop in bed, which was very neat and very unusual.

The weather today was raining in the morning, then dry and cloudy later on with temperatures in the low 60s.
The best thing today was cruising along the river once the rain cleared.
The worst thing today was the appalling weather in the morning.
The funniest thing today was Mark’s hat being called “proper”.
Today we tried the Beauchamp Arms
And the result was it’s really nowhere near as bad as TripAdvisor would have you believe.
The most magical moment today was seeing the amazing sunset.

Next: something was screeching…

[clio]

Beautiful pictures of the sunset and moonrise. I'm glad your meal was good even though the chef was sleeping when you got there.
Liz

[Pris]

What a beautiful ending to a somewhat dreary day.