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The
"really useful" links page......... |
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Below you will
find lots of links to
sites that I have found useful in the past.
Click on the logo for the link. |
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If
you know of a really good site that is missing from this list let me know! |
Mike's
favourite sites:
|
| East
Coast |
 |
The Norfolk
and Suffolk Broads is Britain's largest protected wetland and third
largest inland waterway, with the status of a national park. It's also
home to some of the rarest plants and animals in the UK. The Broads
Authority was set up in 1989, with responsibility for
conservation,
planning, recreation and waterways. A useful web site with details of navigational
information, facilities
and engineering works, tolls
and other info. |
 | The Norfolk Broads.com web site is a comprehensive guide to East Anglia with the Boating, Broadland Holidays and Tide Tables for
the Broads National Park, East Anglia and the East of England. Content
ranges from these Tides Table to boat repairs, refits and Marine Supplies,
moorings, hire boats and sailing.
|
 | The Norfolk Broads.org site contains
information, maps that enable a virtual tour of the whole of the Broads area, a huge range of links to businesses & other information, a nifty tide calculator/viewer/printer, and a huge gallery of photographs including over 40 aerial pictures. |
 | The Wherryman’s Way is a 35-mile recreational route following
the course of the River Yare between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. You can download each of the 12 circular walks
which are also available in a booklet. Each walk comes
complete with directions and an excellent map with distances,
estimated walk times, path surfaces and facilities available. Other
useful tourist information on the locality is available on this
site.
|
 |
The Suffolk
Coast and Heaths Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty is located on the coast of East
Anglia. It covers 150 square miles and includes wildlife-rich
wetlands,
ancient heaths, windswept shingle beaches and historic towns and
villages. There is a network of footpaths and bridleways, large
areas of Open Access land, three long distance routes, varied terrain
and a wealth of interest along the way. On this site are
details
of circular walks and points of access. |
| nsba |
The Norfolk
and Suffolk Boating Association represents boating people
in
Norfolk
and Suffolk. Their web
site is a treasure trove of useful up to date boating information
covering the Broads, including bridge
dimensions, tide
tables for various locations
on the Broads system and information about Lowestoft
Harbour and Mutford Lock. |
 |
Pete's
cruising guide to the Norfolk Broads
is illustrated with navigation notes, maps
and photographs, covering the rivers, towns and villages that make up
the Norfolk Broads. A wealth of detail, a town by town index and plenty
of historical background make this an ideal introduction to the broads.
|
 |
Masses of local
pilotage information for the rivers
of the East Coast - Deben, Ore,
Walton Backwaters and more to come. Includes those invaluable charts to
navigate the river entrances. |
 |
Brightlingsea
Harbour is a small mixed leisure and commercial port,
situated
in Brightlingsea Creek close to the mouth of the Colne Estuary where it
meets the Blackwater and Thames Estuaries. The site includes details of
the harbour Facilities &
Services , and useful
information for visitors such as harbour regulations, moorings
and water taxi. The site is still under development and not
all
pages are populated yet. |
 |
News
and updated
information for the current edition of the East Coast Pilot,
which
covers the area from Lowestoft to Ramsgate |
 |
Waveney District Council
manages Mutford Lock
and Southwold Harbour.
This page provides information on these harbour services. It includes
a recommended entry plan for Southwold harbour and lots of
other
information about this popular location. |
 |
Harwich
Haven Authority's role is
to balance the needs of
commercial and recreational users in the harbour. It
publishes
annually more than
20,000 copies of The Yachting Guide to Harwich Harbour and its Rivers.
The site has plenty of information as well as various downloads for
Notices, navigation
and
tidal information, and other useful information for
the area including the yachting
guide. |
 |
The Online
Pilot Guide claims to be the free pilot guide which tells
you
what you really want to know - practical information on
leaving
and entering ports safely, up to the minute tidal and weather
information, where to berth when you get there, what to see, where to
eat, local maps, and unvarnished opinions. It covers the East coast of
the UK and continental ports along the channel from Brittany to the
South Netherlands. There is a one page entry for each port with the
important information and links to marina sites, tidal info,
webcams and so on. |
|
| River Thames |
 |
Loads of
information about the River
Thames covering every
recreational aspect; this site, "Visit Thames", is run by the
EA. For boaters there is information on
the facilities are at each lock
as well as much more river
information for boaters. There is the EA's on-line River
Thames conditions
update service which displays current advice to
river users.
Information is provided for each reach of the river between Cricklade
and Teddington. This information is updated regularly when warning
boards are being
displayed at locks and as river conditions change. You can also sign up
to the EA's email and RSS service if you would like to receive
automatic updates. This is an excellent site. |
|
The
River Thames and Boaty Things
contains just about everything you would want to know about this
fascinating
river. It's
particularly aimed at boat owners but there is plenty of interest for
all who have a love of the Thames, from geology to swan upping, via
pollution, policing, and place names - amazing! |
 |
The Environment Agency
(EA) are
responsible for the tidal Thames from Teddington to its
source. The main site for the Thames is the EA's "Visit
Thames"
site (see
above). The EA also look after other rivers such as the River Medway. There
is useful River
Medway info on this site such as the bridge
profiles. |
 |
The
Port of
London
Authority (PLA) is responsible for ensuring
navigational
safety
along the Tidal Thames, promoting
use of the River and safeguarding the environment. Plenty of useful
information regarding the tidal navigation including tide
tables for
the Thames and the estuary area between Richmond, Margate and
Walton-on-the-Naze, and Notices
to Mariners. |
|
| River Medway |
 |
Medway
Ports is the statutory harbour, pilotage and
conservancy
authority for 27.3 nautical miles of the River Medway, from the Medway
Buoy to Allington Lock at Maidstone, and the Swale. A site of
limited interest to leisure boaters except for Notices
to Mariners. Interesting link to MCA site page on the wreck
of the SS
Richard Montgomery. |
|
The Environment Agency
The EA also look after other rivers such as the River Medway. There
is useful River Medway info on this site such as the bridge
profiles, down-loadable maps and a guide to the
river. The EA are
also responsible for the tidal Thames from Teddington to its
source. |
|
| General Cruising and
Waterways |
 |
Waterscape.com is Britain's official guide to canals, rivers and
lakes.
This is the leisure website for British Waterways. There is loads of information about boating and a very useful page
dealing with stoppages.
The site lists all stoppages on British Waterways and Environment
Agency
navigations (and the Norfolk Broads) as soon as they are notified,
though emergency work may
cause sudden unlisted closures. You can select a navigation and a time
frame, and the site tells you what stoppages there are. Nifty!! |
 | This is the business website of British Waterways,
the organisation that looks after some 2,200 miles of the country's
canals and rivers. On this site you will find details of how to obtain
a license for a boat. To find out more about leisure boating on the
waterways, visit British Waterways leisure website, www.waterscape.com which has masses of
information and maps for every inland waterway - see above for review. |
 |
Founded
in 1908, the Cruising
Association represents the interests of cruising sailors
worldwide and
makes available up-to-date cruising information. This site has masses
of information including a well organised library of links to other
nautical web sites. |
|
The Inland Waterways Association
has
enabled hundreds of miles of disused canals to be restored for use by boaters,
walkers and
anglers. Restoration of many more derelict canals is
underway,
thanks to IWA's members, canal societies and trusts, sympathetic local
authorities and others who support the work of waterways campaigners
throughout the country. |
 |
The
Royal Yachting
Association is the
UK's
national organisation representing the interests of everyone who goes
boating for pleasure |
|
Weather, Tides, etc
|
|
The Met Office site is
an excellent source of weather information. There is a marine
index on the site from where you can get to the up
to date Shipping Forecast and the Inshore Waters Forecasts.
On this
site you will also find the UK
regional forecasts , handy if you are inland. |
|
The National Data Buoy Centre
provides live data (up to the hour) from weather buoys situated around
our coast. The buoy of interest for channel hopping from the East Coast
is Sandettie.
|
|
OnlineWeather.com
is an easy to use site for short and long range forecasts. Inland
forecasts are based on named towns or post codes, with hourly
forecasts and 1-15 day forecasts. There is a sailing
section
with inshore forecasts for specific locations, on the East Coast (Great
Yarmouth, Felixtowe, Thames Estuary and Margate). One of the best sites
for this type of information.
|
 |
The Weather Outlook
provides
forecasts and data for the UK and parts of Europe. This is another
postcode/named town based forecasting system really only useful when on
land. There are: 16
day icon forecast - Monthly
weather forecast - Seasonal
weather forecast . What is really useful is the 16
day forecast for the Netherlands which is in English! |
 | Metcheck's
non-fee-paying pages provide loads of weather information for your
area. Home in via post-codes for inland, or an interactive map for inshore forecasts.
Whizzy animated graphics make the site a joy to view (it's not
overdone). The inshore forecasts cover three hour increments and
include wind direction/strength and wave direction/height. There are
forecast pages for golfing and mountaineering as well as other pursuits for when you get to your destination! |
 | It's
impossible to explain what is on Ant Veal's Great Weather site there is
so much. There must be hundreds of links to just about every weather
related site you can think of that deals with our region - current
conditions, forecast conditions, charts, satellite and radar data,
webcams, climate stations - you name it. You have to visit this site to
marvel at it! |
 |
This site
provides Sunrise, Sunset
Calendars and Local Time for any location in the
world. You can print your
own custom
sunrise and sunset calendar. Moonrise and moonset time and
moon phase information is also available. There is a list of predefined
cities or you can enter your own location and get a calendar for
anywhere in the world. There is also a
shareware download, Sunrise
Sunset Calculator. that provides you with a daily
report
on the sunrise, sunset and various twilight times for your location.
|
 |
frbateaux is a French site with English language pages. It offers tidal data
for the week ahead for a long list selected
ports in France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, UK, Belgium and the
Netherlands on the coasts of the Atlantic, English
Channel
and North Sea. |
|
Organisations
|
 |
Here is where
you can get the Notices
to Mariners amongst other things. |
 |
Maritime
and Coastguard Agency.
Covers all aspects of safety at sea and includes the site where you
can submit
your
CG66 on-line. There is an interesting article about
the wreck of the SS
Richard Montgomery in the Medway Estuary. |
 |
The main
responsibility of Trinity
House is to be the General Lighthouse Authority
for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, responsible for
a range of general aids to navigation, 'signs of the sea', from
lighthouses to radar beacons. Includes an impressive gallery of
pictures of all the light houses around our coast, as well as
NTMs. |
 | The Yacht Designers and Surveyors Association is a professional
association that offers experience and
up-to-the-minute knowledge of the latest advances in marine technology. The site contains useful guidance for buying a boat, measuring a boat for British registration, having a boat built or repaired, certification under the MCA Small Commercial Vessel Code of Practice, and certification under the Boat Safety Scheme.
|
 Boat
Safety Scheme |
This site tells
you everything you need to know about the Boat Safety Scheme. You
can down load the complete
guide to the Boat Safety Scheme examination. The site tells
you what
the BSS is, how it works, and who manages it, and how to find
an examiner. Quite informative. |
 | CHIRP
for Maritime is a Confidential Hazardous Incident Reporting Programme
for the shipping industry, fishing industry and leisure users. The site
explains how CHIRP works and you can download the quarterly feedback
newsletters containing a selection of reports combined with
CHIRPs response. You can also file a report through this site.
|
 |
The Ofcom
Licensing Service site
allows you to update your VHF radio license details, apply for new
licenses and check the details of any current licenses that you hold. |
 |
The RNLI - Last
year RNLI lifeboats
rescued almost 8,000 people, an average of 21
people a day.
Everything you need to know about this well loved British
institution so important to our safety
at sea - including how to donate. |
|
 Cruising diaries, blogs
and private sites
|
 |
Exploring Europe by
Boat is a
first hand account by Ian and Dot of several extended Summer cruises on
the continent. One along the French Inland Waterways in 2000 and two in
the
Dutch Inland Waterways in 2002 and 2004 - covers some of the Belgian
Canals too. Packed full of useful information including details of
maps, guides and paperwork.
|
 |
The excellent Lady Martina cruising
log from 2002 to 2007, sadly no longer active. Here you will find a
link to the updates
to Louise Busby and David Broad's book Inland Waterways of the
Netherlands.
Lots of other useful information includes a comprehensive list of the
guides to the East Coast, The Netherlands, and French waterways. You
can carry on reading about David Broad's exploits on his new blog
|
 |
This
is just one page of Georges Canal Boating in the UK
and Europe.
There are dozens of links on this page organised into Continuous
Cruises, Shorter Trips, Active Blogs, Photo Blogs and Inactive Blogs.
It is mostly narrowboat related, but there are some interesting
references to the French Canals. It's quite a list!
|
|
| Marinas |
 |
The
Marina Guide
provides information about marinas, cities and themed
cruising routes in the lower North Sea, Channel area and Irish Sea. It
has links to numerous marina websites, though there are some notable
omissions from the list. |
| Updated
14 February 2009
|
Updated 30 April 2009
Copyright © 2006-2009 Mike Hawkridge | | | |