Horning to Yarmouth
Wednesday 16th April

A beautifully sunny and warm day greeted us for the start of our summer cruise and we were glad to be aboard Lady Martina. We were able to put down all of our windscreens, mast and flagstaff, and cruise the entire distance from Acle bridge, where we had stayed overnight, to Great Yarmouth. There is only around 10'6" headroom at low water, but fortunately we are at spring tides and so should have plenty of clearance at low water. Listening out on Channel 12 for Radio traffic we heard about boat movements around 1600 BST involving bridge lifts at the Haven Bridge, so we radioed ahead and got permission to join the lift.

We arrived at Yarmouth Yacht Station in a strong ebb, so we pulled alongside and moored up using reverse engines and bowthruster. We found some foul ground near the quay and heard propeller noises but everything appeared to be OK. We timed our cruise under the Bure bridges to arrive at the Haven Bridge at 4pm and just about survived the hazard of oncoming Easter Holiday hire boaters, one of which was on the wrong side of the narrow channel.

The bridge lift was delayed awaiting the arrival of the final yacht so we spent sometime stemming the following tide until the other boats were ready. Once safely under the bridge we came alongside the Town Hall Quay. Moored up with plenty of spring mooring lines and fendered with large fenders and a suspended ladder to hold off the vertical timber baulks. The limited facilities at the Hall Quay used to include a water hose but this seemed to have been locked in a cabinet - further negotiation with the harbour control secured a promise that this would be unlocked "first thing" in the morning.