DOWN THE YARE. NORWICH TO REEDHAM.
[Picture: Decorative drop capital] "Do you mean to say," said Wynne,
"that these Broads are worth my giving up a few days to seeing them?"
"If you will give up a fortnight, I promise you that you will find it too
short. You went to the Friesland Meres years ago, and enjoyed it. You
will like these quite as well."
[Picture: Pull's Ferry]
So he promised to come for a fortnight, rather reluctantly, and when, on
his arrival in Norwich, he took a preliminary canter by rail to Yarmouth,
he refused to say anything about what he thought of the country, which
looked ominous. We had hired a ten-ton cutter, and she was lying at
Thorpe, a mile and a half below the city. The man we had engaged rowed
the jolly-boat up for us, and as Wynne was enthusiastic about old
buildings, we rowed him up the river to the New Mills, a very old mill,
which spans the river Wensum near its entrance into the city. From
thence we came back along the narrow sinuous river, overhung with
buildings, many of them ancient and picturesque, under numerous bridges,
wharves where wherries were loading or unloading, using the half-lowered
mast as cranes, past the Boom Tower, still keeping watch and ward over
the river; quaint Bishops' Bridge; Pull's Ferry, where there is a ruined
water gate, often sketched and photographed; past the railway station,
into the reach parallel with King Street, where gables, and archways, and
courts delight the painter. Here, on the left bank, is another Boom
Tower, built of flint, the universal building-stone of Norfolk, faced by
another tower on the opposite bank, whence runs a fine piece of the old
city wall up the hill to another and larger tower, in better
preservation, on the summit. Then we next passed the very extensive
works of Messrs. J. and J. Colman, and below them innumerable stacks of
choice wood, out of which the boxes to contain the mustard, etc., are
made.
[Picture: Bishop's Bridge]
[Picture: Boom Tower]
"You speak of this as the Wensum," said Wynne; "I thought it was the
Yare."
"This river is the Wensum, but this smaller stream coming in on the right
is the true Yare, and from this point the united river takes the name of
the Yare. This spot is called Trowse Hythe, and half a mile up it, where
there is a mill, was once a famous spot for smelts, where they were
caught by large casting nets, used at night by torch-light, but the town
sewage has effectually spoiled the smelting. The pool below the New
Mills was also a place where the smelts were caught in large numbers, but
it is not so good now."
[Picture: Thorpe Gardens]
Presently we came to Thorpe, where a bend of the river has been cut off
by two railway bridges, and a straight new cut made for the navigation.
We took the old river, and Wynne was charmed with the view which then
unfolded itself. The long curve of the river was lined on the outer bank
by picturesque houses, with gardens leading to the water's edge, while
behind them rose a well-wooded bank. In the autumn of 1879 this reach
was found to be swarming with pike, and it speedily swarmed with anglers,
who had generally good sport until, apparently, all the pike were caught.
At intervals since, there have been similar immigrations of pike to this
reach when tides unusually high or salt drive the fish up from the lower
reaches. At the lower end of the reach is a favourite resort on summer
evenings, a waterside inn, known as Thorpe Gardens, where we pulled up.
Here there are also boat-letting stations, where cruising yachts can be
hired.
Just through the bridge, {29} we joined the main river again, and noticed
several yachts moored against the bank, amongst which was ours.
Wynne stepped on board, curious to inspect a Norfolk yacht, and he freely
commented on her enormous counter, short keel, great open well, and tall
pole-mast. In a short time we stowed all our belongings, and set
sail--mainsail, jib, and topsail--the spread of canvas rather startling
Wynne, who had only been used to sea yachts. There was a light
north-westerly wind, and we glided swiftly away before it. But ere we
had sailed a couple of hundred yards, Wynne insisted on our stopping to
sketch the White House, at Whitlingham, which, with the trees on the
hill, the wood-shaded reach of river, and the huge brown sails of the
wherries, formed a picture we might well wish to carry away. Wynne often
stopped in this way, to the intense disgust of our man, who liked to make
his passages quickly, and had no sympathy with artistic amusements.
The dyke leading out of the river by the White House is a regular harbour
for pike, which is continually restocked from the river. It is private
property, but just at the mouth of the dyke, in the navigable river, is a
good spot. At least three hundred pike were taken here last winter by
Norwich artisans.
"What graceful craft these wherries, as you call them, are!" remarked
Wynne, as he rapidly sketched the high-peaked sail of one which was
slowly beating to windward or "turning," as the vernacular hath it, up
the narrow river.
[Picture: A Norfolk Wherry] And he was quite right. There is not a line
that is not graceful about a Norfolk wherry. She has a long low hull
with a rising sheer to stem and stern, which are both pointed. She has a
tall and massive mast supporting a single large sail which is without a
boom, but has a very long gaff launching out boldly at an angle of
forty-five degrees. The curve of the brown or black sail from the lofty
peak to the sheet is on all points of sailing a curve of beauty. The
wherries are trading crafts carrying from twenty to fifty tons of cargo.
They are manned generally by one man, who sometimes has the aid of his
wife or children. They are nearly as fast as yachts, sail closer to the
wind, and are wonderfully handy. The mast is weighted at the keel with
one or two tons of lead, and is so well balanced that a lad can lower or
raise it with the greatest ease, when it is necessary to pass under a
bridge. Wherries are the most conspicuous objects in a Norfolk broad
landscape, and are in sight for miles, as they follow the winding courses
of the rivers, often nothing but the sail visible above the green marsh.
Very many of these wherries have been converted into sailing house boats
or pleasure barges, and so constitute most admirable floating homes for
those who like cruising with greater comfort than small yachts can give.
It was an hour before we got under way again, and when, after sailing
down the long straight reach by Whitlingham, we came in sight of the
eminence known as Postwick Grove, Wynne wished to land in order that he
might see the view from the top. The man burst into open grumbling, so
we asked him if the trip were undertaken for his pleasure or ours, and on
his reluctantly admitting that it was for ours, we told him it was our
pleasure to do as we liked, and he resigned himself to his fate. The
watermen on these rivers are very civil, but they look with disfavour
upon anything which interferes with actual sailing.
Well, the view from Postwick was worth seeing. The curving reaches of
the river, animated with yachts, wherries, and boats, lay beneath us, and
the green marshes were bounded by the woods of Thorpe, Whitlingham, and
Bramerton, while the ruined church of Whitlingham stood boldly on the
brow of the opposite hill.
Under way again, we presently reached Bramerton, where the "Wood's End"
public-house offers good cheer to the wherryman and boating-man.
The pleasure-steamers which run between Norwich and Yarmouth afford a
quick but less pleasant way of seeing the river, and stop at Bramerton
nearly every day in the week.
Now the higher ground falls away from the river on each side of us, and
the belt of marshes widens, the river is higher than the surface of the
land, and the water is lifted out of the many drains and dykes by means
of turbine wheels, worked by the windmills which form such conspicuous
objects in the landscape, and by more pretentious steam drainage mills.
[Picture: On the Yare, at Bramerton]
Surlingham Ferry, 6 miles by river from Norwich, next came into view.
The house, with its picturesque gables, lies in the shadow of a group of
fine trees. A horse and cart was being ferried across on the huge raft
as we approached, and the chain was only just dropped in time for us to
pass.
There is a good inn at the Ferry, with limited but comfortable staying
accommodation; and excellent roach fishing is often obtainable. The
shore above the Ferry on the same side is suitable for mooring yachts to,
as there is a fair depth of water close to the bank.
"What numbers of boats there are with people fishing?" said Wynne. "Do
they all catch anything?"
"Oh, yes, any quantity, as far as number goes, of roach, and bream, and
some good fish too, but the larger fish are caught in the deeper water,
lower down."
Coldham Hall is the next fishing station of importance. There is a good
inn there, and plenty of boats for hire at a cheap rate. Fishing and
other boats can also be obtained at Messrs. H. Flowers and Co.'s new
boating station, where yachts can be moored and laid up. As the railway
station (Brundall) is close to it, it is very convenient for anglers.
The mooring places at Brundall and Coldham Hall are not many, as the
banks are very shoal. In the reach between Brundall and Coldham Hall
only the middle third of the river is navigable for yachts; and the same
may be said of the long reach below Coldham Hall. We could see
half-a-dozen fishing boats under the lee of the point above the station.
It seems a favourite place, for I never passed it without seeing
fishermen there. But as the man had to sail the yacht round the great
curve of the river, we took a short cut across Surlingham Broad in the
jolly.
This Broad lies within a horse-shoe bend of the river, and has a
navigable channel across it. It is not deep enough, however, for yachts
or laden wherries. The Broad is largely affected by the tide, which
sometimes leaves its shallows exposed. The river, as I should have said,
is tidal up to Norwich, and the force of the tide increases with every
deepening of Yarmouth Haven. We rowed up the dyke which leads on to the
Broad, a small sheet of water, overgrown with weeds and very shallow, but
a capital nursery for fish and fowl. The fishing upon it is preserved.
Rowing across it, we entered another dyke, and emerged into the river
again, and caught up the yacht.
[Picture: On Rockland Broad]
Snipe abound on the marshes here, and their drumming can always be heard
in the early summer. The flat, far-reaching marshes glowed with a
thousand tints of flower and grass, and the iris gleamed brightly in the
lush margins of the river. We sailed quietly on, down the curving
reaches of the widening river, watching the slow-seeming flight of the
heron, the splash of fish, the bending reeds, and the occasional
boat-loads of anglers, until we came to the mouth of a dyke, about a mile
long, up which we again rowed in the jolly, to explore Rockland Broad,
where the open water is much more extensive than at Surlingham. Here
there are several eel-fishers' floating abodes, Noah's-ark-like
structures, with nets and "liggers" dangling about them. The fishing and
shooting on the Broad are, at present, open to all.
This Broad is also much affected by the tide, as, notwithstanding its
distance from the river, there are numerous connecting dykes permitting
easy flow and re-flow of water.
Back in the yacht again, we reached Buckenham Ferry (ten and a half
miles), a favourite angling rendezvous, with a railway station of the
same name close by. A long row of trees on the left bank is the cause of
daily trouble to wherrymen and sailormen, as it shuts off the wind. The
man who plants trees by the side of a navigable river, where the
navigation depends upon the wind, is the very reverse of a benefactor to
mankind, and only selfishness or thoughtlessness can permit such an act.
There is fair mooring for yachts just below the Inn, on the same side,
but they must be kept well off the shore by poles, or as the tide ebbs
they will strand and perhaps fall over. The Ferry Inn is noted for its
comfort; and its limited staying accommodation is good. The fishing is
very good both up and down the river, and there are good boats for hire
for fishing purposes.
The river now becomes very wide and deep, and the shoals near the banks,
which abound in the higher reaches, are not so frequent. I would call
the especial attention of the river authorities to the disgraceful state
of the river as far as Buckenham Ferry. Each year the shoals and weeds
increase, and the channel narrows, until in some places not more than a
third of the river-width is available for the navigation. The natural
consequence will be that the navigation must gradually cease to be made
use of, as it becomes a matter of difficulty, and the railway will take
the trade, which might be kept to the river if a more energetic care of
the navigable stream were taken. This is a most serious matter, and
ought to be attended to.
[Picture: Langley Dyke]
Next is Langley Dyke, near which are the reaches of the river where the
principal regattas are held, and by the river side is Cantley Red House
(fourteen miles). Cantley railway station is very close to the river,
and as the water is deep close to the bank, and there is some fairly firm
ground, this is a favourite yachting station, with good mooring to the
banks. Comfortable quarters may be had at the Red House, and the fishing
is good all about. A little lower down, on the same side of the river,
is another house, "Peart's," where one may obtain comfortable
accommodation, and a "dock" where small boats may be safely left.
We delayed so long on our way that the wind was falling, as it usually
does towards five o'clock on summer days: the tide had also turned, and
we had it against us, so our progress was slow. We passed the mouth of
the Chet on our right, navigable some four miles up to Loddon. Its mouth
is marked by Hardley Cross, which forms the boundary between the Norwich
and Yarmouth jurisdictions over the river. We barely made headway as a
public-house on the left, called Reedham Ferry, was reached, and a little
lower down we lay to against the "rond," or bank, and made all snug for
the night. A little further is Reedham village (eighteen miles), which
is picturesquely situated on high ground on the north bank of the river.
The railway station is close by, and is the junction between the
Yarmouth, Lowestoft, and Norwich lines. There is staying accommodation
to be had at Reedham. Yachts can be moored against the south bank above
the bridge, but should not be left unguarded, as the tide runs strong,
and wherries tacking through the bridge often jam up against the bank.
[Picture: Roach] The stove was soon alight, and the kettle on, while we
walked to the village for eggs and milk. As the gloaming deepened, Wynne
grew poetical over the scene of wide space there was about us, filled
then with an orange glow from the west, while the swallows skimmed the
river, and struck red drops of spray from the surface. Then when the
awning was spread over the stern sheets, and the lamp lit up the snug
cabin, Wynne smoked contentedly, to the envy of the writer, who cannot
smoke; and it was later than it ought to have been ere we lay down in our
respective bunks, and were lulled to sleep by the ripple of the water
against the planks.
[Picture: St. Nicholas' Church, Great Yarmouth]
[Picture: Decorative Chapter header]