YARMOUTH TO SOMERLEYTON.
[Picture: Decorative drop capital] On reaching the yacht, after rowing
back with the first of the flow, we started with two reefs down to beat
over Breydon, on which the wind against the tide raised a respectable
sea. There was a great deal of weight in the wind, for it was veering
towards the south-west, having been north-west all night, and a strong
south-west wind is generally full of puffs and squalls. Many times we
had the water over the coamings of the well, and the lee plankways were
always awash.
"This is something like fun!" gasped Wynne, as he eased off the jib sheet
to a squall, and the salt foam dashed in his face; "but there won't be
much skin left on my hands by the time we get to the top of Breydon.
These enormous jibs are horrible things to have to work. If the yachts
had finer bows, they would not want nearly so much head-sail, and would
go as fast, if not faster."
This was heresy to our man, who had seen no other rig for river boats all
his life, and he and Wynne had a heated argument on the matter, without
either being much the wiser.
On reaching the top of Breydon, we turned to the left, up the Waveney,
for half a mile, as far as Burgh Castle, passing over the dreaded Burgh
flats, where a wherry and a yacht were both hard aground, waiting for the
tide to float them off. The deep water channel is not near the line of
posts as one would imagine, but close along the west shore. We touched
two or three times, but did not stick, and at last moored alongside a
wherry, and landed to inspect the ruins on the top of the hill. No one
passing along these waters should miss the ruins of Burgh Castle, a Roman
station of great interest.
There is a very extensive stretch of massive wall, with towers at
intervals, and at the corners; and we spent a considerable time in making
sketches of the ruins, and admiring the extensive view.
We could, if we chose, continue on up the Waveney, but the next five
miles of river are narrow, uninteresting, and with a heavy run of tide,
while at the end is a fixed bridge--St. Olave's, where the mast would
have to be lowered. So we turned back into the Yare, and sailed up to
the mouth of the new cut at Reedham. This is a ship canal, about three
miles long, connecting the Yare with the Waveney. The tide flows and
ebbs from the Reedham end of it. It is perfectly straight, and if the
wind should be straight up or down it, there is nothing for it but to
tow. Now, however, we had a beam wind, and tore along merrily enough.
But trouble was in store for us. The canal is wide enough, but it is not
kept "didled" out ("didling," or "dydling," being a Norfolk term for
dredging, with scoops at the end of poles, and lifting the mud on to the
banks), and the sides are very shallow. In the distance, we saw a large
_billy-boy_, or topsail smack, from the Thames, and as we approached, it
became only too plain from the rake of her mast, that she was aground in
the very middle of the channel. We got the mainsail down directly, and
ran along under the jib, and then, as we expected, ran aground alongside
of her. A wherry coming behind lowered her sail, and stopped in time.
The smack was laden with rice for Messrs. Colmans' Works, and her
skipper, instead of going round by Yarmouth, had tried the short cut by
Lowestoft. After much shoving and towing we got past, and left the smack
patiently waiting the rise of the tide, or the arrival of a tug.
[Since the foregoing was written, the Cut has been much improved in depth
by dredging, and piling the banks.]
There is very good fishing to be had in the cut, and the banks are sound
and dry, which is a rare thing on these rivers. There is a lift-bridge
at Haddiscoe railway station, near the end of the cut, which takes some
time to get opened; this is a great inconvenience, and even a serious
matter when you are sailing fast, as there is not room to come about.
They also sometimes fail to open the bridge wide enough, and some time
since a large yacht had her mainsail torn as she passed through, by its
catching on the corner of the uplifted bridge. A toll of 1s. for each
yacht is taken, and a man holds out a bag on the end of a pole to receive
it. The toll for wherries depends in amount upon whether they have the
bridge opened for them or go through with mast lowered, and at night a
chain used to be put across to prevent them stealing through unobserved,
but the chain was frequently "charged" at full speed, and broken.
In a quarter of a mile we emerged into the Waveney, and, looking back, we
could see St. Olave's bridge, a rather handsome structure. There are a
few houses grouped rather prettily, and a good inn, the "Bell," close by
the Bridge, a quarter of a mile from Haddiscoe station, and about a mile
from Fritton Decoy, a favourite lake for fishing, which we shall
afterwards mention.
[Picture: Somerleyton Hall]
We then passed through a railway swing bridge, where the East Suffolk
Railway passes over, and sailed without further incident some two miles
further to another swing bridge at Somerleyton, where the Lowestoft line
passes over. This bridge is the worst on the rivers to pass when wind
and tide are against you, as they so frequently are, and I am always glad
to be well clear of its piles and projections, through which the tide
swirls so swiftly.
The reach below the bridge used to be the best in the whole river for
pike, but the greater run of tide in recent years and the salter water
has spoiled the pike fishing, for which one has now to go higher up the
river.
There is a very good inn at the top of the bank to the west of the line,
called the "Duke's Head," and a very beautiful belt of woods skirts the
marshes on the east side of the river, where some delicious "bits" may be
obtained, and birds, butterflies, and flowers abound.
[Picture: Dace] Somerleyton village is well worth a visit, for the owner
of the estate has built some most artistic cottages and houses, which,
with another score of years' wear, will be beautiful. The hall, occupied
by Sir Savile Crossley, M.P., stands in a sylvan park.
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