Bad news from Rockland Broad

MARK Cocker's latest Country Diary for The Guardian makes grim reading.Rockland Broad, it appears, is heavily polluted. Anecdotal evidence from local naturalists has been confirmed by diseased clams found on the Broad's bed. Tests showed they have been infected by heavy metals perhaps stirred up by recent dredging. "It seems we now have some of the answer to what has befallen Rockland," he writes, "but can these effects now be reversed? * Read the column in full here

The Search for Surlingham Inner - Part II





Searching for Surlingham Inner

 

YOU set off from Coldham Hall. You paddle up river and then turn left down to Bargate. You paddle under the chain that stops the hire boats running aground on the wherry wrecks and keep left. A tiny channel emerges, wide enough for a canoe, hardly enough for its oars.

And then keep going. Within seconds a tiny flash of silvery blue heralded my first kingfisher of the year. Welcome to the secret-ish passage to Surlingham Inner, a mysterious broad only accessible by canoe. From here you can make it down to the Outmeadows. According to the late Jack Points this area was all grazing meadow until the disastrous floods of 1912. "Six inches of rain fell during these few hours," he wrote in his book chronicling the history of Surlingham. "Sluices were broken, dykes silted up and pumping mills carried away. All the grazing marshes were inundated for the whole year and many of them never had cattle on them again. The Outmeadows near Surlingham Broad are now under water at every tide and the road that led to them has disappeared beneath undergrowth." These were huge changes to the landscape wreaked in the course of just one day ...and less than a century ago. Now? It's a great place to explore. Give it a go.

* Read part one of the search for Surlingham Inner here

Prime-time Broads ...but which Broads?

I'VE thoroughly enjoyed Griff Rhys Jones's River Journeys on BBC1 over the last few weeks. Swooping aerial shots, travellers' tales and gnarled locals enjoying their prime-time time moment, you know the score. Tonight GRJ is on the Broads ...but on which bit of the Broads I wonder? Mark Wells, the creator of the Wherryman's Way, speaks very eloquently about how the guide books always focus on the Northern Broads: a bit of Bure, a bit of Thurne plus - say - St Benet's Abbey and Horsey Mill. No sign of the Yare, no sign of Rockland Broad, Berney Arms or the other wonders of the Wherryman's Way. So does Griff escape the cliches? We'll have to wait till 9pm tonight.

Welcome to Lady Julian

YOU wait 86 years for a new bridge across the River Wensum and then two turn up within a decade.
This picture shows the new superstructure for the Lady Julian Bridge in Norwich. It should open by the end of the month, connecting the Riverside with an increasingly gentrified King Street.
And those other bridges in chronological order? The Novi Sad bridge dates back to 2001 while the present Carrow Bridge was opened in 1923. The previous Carrow Bridge had crossed the river directly opposite Carrow Hill - the other side of what was to become Norwich City's ground. * More details on the new bridge's name here.

Hardley Mill: Setting sail again

BY MY reckoning it's 62 years since Hardley Mill last looked this good.
The new sails are on and this entire stretch of the Yare Valley looks the better for it.
As I walked back along the river towards Hardley Dyke this evening it made me think about how else this landscape had changed over those six decades. The answer, I suspect, is not a lot.
Farmers were still out harvesting - though with more machines and fewer people than they would have had in 1947. Geese still gather in the dusky stubble and warblers still hide in the reeds. I guess the Chinese water deer which bounded away from me, might not have run wild in those days, and there are certainly plenty more boats moored along the dyke. The major difference is how we use this environment. A major trade route has become a watery playground. Windpumps were once essential, now they are picturesque. But there's no denying that a Broads scene always looks better with one in the background A huge well done to everyone involved in the Hardley Mill project for reaching this major milestone.

* Earlier posts chart the moment the cap went on, and later the stocks.

Langley Church on norfolkchurches

I GREW up in a part of the country where churches were the central point of the villages they served. Norfolk, I soon discovered, does things rather differently.
In the Yare Valley at least, they seem to compete as to which can be the furthest away. Both Surlingham churches lie off the beaten track; Reedham is distant, Claxton sits on up on the hill, Carleton St Peter lies in a field all on its own. But while this presumably makes things awkward for both priest and parishioners, it does make for great walks. I discovered Langley's church entirely by accident while on the Wherryman's Way circular walk number 6. You can't see St Michael's from the road at all; you have to take a footpath off The Avenues and get beyond a protective ring of trees. Half of Langley's residents have probably never been there. I mention it here because it has become the latest church to be written up by Simon Knott of norfolkchurches. Take a look at his excellent website - surely the best in the county.

Heckingham: haven for butterflies

A GLORIOUSLY warm summer's day; the kind of day beloved by the England cricket team at Edgbaston and butterflies in the Yare Valley.
After two weeks on holiday I was back on the Wherryman's Way, paying homage to my favourite WW church; St Gregory's at Heckingham. Inside it was as lonely and as peaceful as ever. Outside an amazing array of butterflies soaked up the sun's rays. As well as this Meadow Brown, I also spotted a Peacock, a Tortoiseshell, a Small White, a Speckled Brown, a Wall and a Chalk Hill Blue. (See more pictures here.) Is it me, or is this becoming a boom year for butterflies?

Berney Arms Windmill : open at last

AT LAST English Heritage has opened up the Berney Arms windmill. It may only be on Mondays during July and August, but after years of drift and delay it is undoubtedly a start. The best news of all is that English Heritage has teamed up with Steve "Tug" Wilson (see earlier posting) to make the visit possible. Now you get a great view of Breydon Water on board Steve's beautiful Southern Belle followed by what I am sure are spectacular aerial views from the top of the mill's 70-foot tower.

* To book call Steve on 07906 020225. The trips leave every Monday at 11.30am and 2.15pm.

E J Moeran - The Wherryman's Way composer.

I'M NOT sure many people have heard of E J Moeran. I certainly hadn't until a chance conversation with the then landlady of the New Inn at Rockland St Mary a couple of years ago. Moeran was a twentieth century composer. His critics said his music was too derivative of Ralph Vaughan Williams, while a dedicated hardcore of fans call him the "greatest unsung genius of English composition". So what's he got to do with the Wherryman's Way? Well, Moeran grew up in Norfolk. And later in life, his Fantasy Quartet for Oboe and Strings was composed while he lodged upstairs at the New Inn - hence the landlady's interest.
This "reedy neighbourhood seems to suggest oboe music," he wrote to a friend. Now Moeran's music is destined to become better known. Today's Daily Telegraph sees Simon Heffer celebrating the fact that EJ's one and only symphony is to be played at the Proms - for the first time in seventy years.
*Read the full story here.
*Listen to an extract from his symphony here.

Cetti, Cetti, sang sang

LANGLEY Staithe is always alive with birdlife at this time of year. And today I bagged my first definite Cetti's Warbler. (And by the way it's pronounced Chetty, or else you're not going to get the dreadful pun in my headline.) Reed warblers are more numerous in these parts and the RSPB says that Cetti's have only arrived in this country as recently as 1973. Bill Oddie describes its song as "Chip, Chewicha, weecha". But for me it's the cocked tail that distinguishes it from a reed warbler. ...That and what the RSPB call "rich chestnut upperparts." Incidentally I needed its online bird identifier to be sure. With audio and video as well as a description, this website is great for all us novices.

Bramerton on Sea - complete with shells

TIME for a gentle geology lesson from Bramerton Common. Wander into the woods and have a quick scrabble in the dust beneath your feet. Because, as Broads author William Dutt put it in 1902:

“At Bramerton the beds of sand, clay and shingle known as the Norwich Crag are exposed. This crag is rich in fossils, and visitors seldom have much difficulty in obtaining at least a quantity of shells.”

In other words, Bramerton might be almost 20 miles inland, but the earth it sits on, has all the attributes of the seaside. Now in the age of SSSIs, digging for shells is probably actively discouraged here. But given that the Crag goes down for 12 metres and has survived for at least 1.8 million years, I don't think you can do too much harm with a short sharp stick. I found the shell pictured above in less than five minutes.

So what does all this prove? Well, that all those years ago sea levels were much higher. So much so that Bramerton and Norwich would have been on the coast. Because the crag is exposed to the surface here, Bramerton is famous-ish in geological circles. The "Bramertonian Stage" is the name given to the part of the Pleistocene geological period when this mix of shell and sand was first laid down.

But hey, they all know that at the bar of the Woods End, don't they?

Back to the future for Yarmouth's third crossing?

HOW should people in Great Yarmouth cross the River Yare? We seem to keep changing our minds. Back in April I was talking to regulars at Ye Olde Ferry Boat about the ferry (seen here in the 1950s, pic: Jack Harrison) which used to run between Gorleston and South Denes Road. It came to an end in 1997 because the local council said it could not justify an annual subsidy of - if memory serves - £30,000 a year. Now that same council is preparing to spend either £80 million on a bridge or £180 million on a tunnel, just upriver from where the ferry used to ply its trade. So here's a radical idea to save a few quid. Ditch the bridge, ditch the tunnel and subsidise a modern ferry. Allow bikes on board, cut down on traffic, encourage people to walk, talk about carbon footprints ....all that sort of stuff. And be true to Yarmouth's history in the process.
* Read the full story and see a video demo of the proposed "third crossing" here.

After the storm

A FURIOUS summer storm swept through Norfolk tonight. It was the kind that leaves a pack of Brownies screaming as the electricity fails - step forward my eldest and two dozen of her excitable mates.
But as the rain rumbled eastwards the setting sun reappeared in the west, leaving the countryside around Loddon bathed in a warm evening night. I headed up to Langley and then chased the sunset through the back roads of Claxton and Carleton St Peter - familiar enough territory for those who have done the Wherryman's Way circular walks. For a while it seemed impossible to take a bad photo - everything was in super-focus and rainbows kept appearing behind me. Reaching back twenty-five years into my A-level English Lit course I seem to remember poet Gerard Manley Hopkins calling it "blade light". That felt about right tonight. The other difference was an almost complete absence of birdsong. Perhaps they get scared - much like the Loddon Brownies.

Wherryman's Web milestone

THIS is self-indulgent so I'll keep it short. But this week saw The Wherryman's Web's 1000th hit. Or at least the 1000th hit since Statcounter started counting in mid-March. 95 per cent of you are from the UK, with the US, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany and South Africa sharing the remaining 5 per cent. Within the UK, London scores the highest, with Kent, Essex and Derbyshire all higher up the league table than Norfolk. It's been good fun, but I don't see Google quaking in their boots just yet.

The search for "Surlingham Inner"

MY CANOE covered a lot of new water today and I was feeling quite pleased with myself until I came across an annoyingly knowledgeable website on my return.

I launched at Coldham Hall and headed up river, turning into the channel signposted to Surlingham Broad. Surlingham is the only Yare Valley broad which the Wherryman's Way is forced to ignore. Indeed to my knowledge it is impossible to get to by foot, although I am sure there is a local or two out there who could prove me wrong.

Anyway I headed down to the open water they call Bargate, (or is the The Bargate?) where a collection of people on a collection of boats looked supremely happy doing very little in the sunshine. Then it was on to Surlingham Broad proper where the "Shallow Water" danger signs deter all but us paddlers. It seems to go on for ever down there: lots of channels and - according to the OS map - lots of turnings. It's probably quite easy to get lost.

But it turns out that next to Bargate is another stretch of water known as "Surlingham Inner" with its own secret entrance. The website says it is "visited only by canoeists willing to get scratched by tree branches, wade through duck poo and get stung by nettles in the process of getting to the inner broad."

It's got to be done one day hasn't it? If you fancy the challenge, you can find the details here.

Wherryman's Way: what's your favourite stretch?

HUMPTY Dumpty brewery partner Stephen George has been in touch. It turns out he and his family have become big fans of the Wherryman's Way over the last few years. For him the best bit is the stretch between Loddon and Reedham. "I love walking over those country lanes coming down to the ferry," he writes.
Which got me thinking. What's your favourite spot? Breydon Water, Wheatfen or maybe the newly-restored Hardley Mill? For me, the best places also happen to be the most inaccessible. All those windmills in the middle of nowhere between Reedham and the Berney Arms for example. Or The Slaughters, hidden until Rockland Broad until low tide. But having toyed with the ruins of St Saviour's Church and all that history bound up in Reedham Ferry, I'm plumping for Hardley Flood (pictured). It's stunningly beautiful, especially at dusk, and yet there's never anyone else there.

Humpty Dumpty had a great walk

EVER thought of the Wherryman's Way as one long pub crawl? No, me neither. But those nice chaps at the Humpty Dumpty Brewery in Reedham think otherwise. Read their take on the walk here.

The early bird at Hardley Staithe

HARDLEY STAITHE 6AM: Reed warblers, swallows, pheasants, greenfinches and wood pigeons. The sounds of cuckoos and Cetti's warblers. And on the way home a barn owl looking snowy white on the apex of the roof at Hardley Church plus a fox slinking across a field. Peace and quiet. Don't amazing things happen when there's no Match of the Day on a Sunday morning?

A new broom at Coldham Hall

COLDHAM HALL is about to be leased by the couple who run both Brundall Gardens Marina and the Garden House pub in Norwich. David Linder and his wife Debbie hope to sign the deal in early July and could "quietly open again" in September. They would leave the day to day running of the pub to daughter-in-law Natalie Linder. A grand opening for the pretty riverside pub is pencilled in for March 2010.

"Our vision is for a 50-seater restaurant offering good quality food, plus typical pub food for the rest of the pub," David told me this morning.

"If you think about a cross between the Ferry House at Surlingham and the Rushcutters at Thorpe you're about there. But the pub's in a pretty poor state at the moment. We've got to clear everything out and start again."

The Linders have spent the last 30 years in the boating business, but branched out into pubs two years ago by taking on The Garden House. Mr Linder says he hopes his Brundall experience will mean he understands what waterborne customers need. As well as subtantial investment in the pub, he plans new quay-headings and a make-over for the substantial gardens. In days gone by, the pub used to include a passenger ferry boat taking people to and from Brundall. In my sad historical way I wondered if a Brundall marina owner might be just the man to re-instate the link.

"It would be great to do it, but it would just take too much investment," he told me. "In reality I can't see us ever getting round to it."

Ah well, we'll settle for a re-opened pub with a brand new kitchen shall we?

Ted Ellis - One hundred years on

FRIDAY marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ted Ellis, the man who became known as "The People's Naturalist". Edward Augustine Ellis was a natural communicator who wrote columns for the EDP and regularly appeared on BBC East. But he is best known now for "discovering" Wheatfen Broad - a remote habitat on the outskirts of Surlingham. He came across it in 1933 - entirely by accident - after falling into conversation with its owner Captain Cockle.

"It was a turning point in Ted's life," explains Eugene Stone in his biography.

"For, unbeknown to the captain, his land - from a scientific point of view - proved to be 150 acres of the richest, most diverse fenland habitat in East Anglia."

Many years later the Ellis family moved there. And as a result, Wheatfen became the best-recorded fen in Britain. Mr Ellis died in 1986, but his work continues through the Ted Ellis Trust. Off the beaten track, but on the Wherryman's Way, Wheatfen remains an incredibly unspoilt and peaceful place.
* Watch an interview with Ted Ellis's son here.