Chapter VIII: Up the Ant, to Barton and Stalham

[Picture: Decorative drop capital] Wynne had undertaken the office of steward, and so far we had fared sumptuously, but as we were tidying up on Monday morning, the fact became apparent that the provision lockers were nearly empty.

"The fact is," he said, "I thought there would be a better chance of buying things, as we went along, than there appears to be, for with the exception of butter and eggs, we might as well be on the prairies. What shall we do?"

Now, provisioning is a very perplexing thing, particularly when it is for several days, and as I knew that at Norwich made-up hampers of provisions for fishing-parties could be obtained, we telegraphed for one to be sent to us at Wroxham station, and departed in hope, with a light but fair wind. We trailed a pike-bait behind, and caught several jack, and two or three good perch. We were three hours getting to Wroxham, and while the mast was being lowered, Wynne went to the station to meet a train then coming in. He returned in glee with a hamper of good things, and our difficulty was at end. Once we spent a Sunday at Wroxham, with nothing procurable to eat but biscuits, and once, at Barton, we were obliged to fish for our meals. Meat so soon goes bad on board a boat, and one does not always care for tinned things. A good wrinkle is to have a bottle containing a strong solution of permanganate of potash on board, and then a few drops placed in a pint of water will make a most efficient deodorising liquid, with which you may safely sprinkle the meat, and wash out the lockers.

As the day advanced, the breeze got up, and by two o'clock we were at the mouth of the river Ant, ten miles from Wroxham.

As we turned up its narrow and shallow waters, our man said,

"We shan't get very far up this river, sir, with a craft drawing so much water as this."

"No, but we can get to Ludham Bridge, and there I have arranged for an old lateener to be waiting for us."

[Picture: Woodland Pool--Irstead] We touched the ground several times before we got to the bridge, about a mile up, thus showing that a very fine Broad is practically closed to the possessor of a large yacht of the usual type. We left the yacht below the bridge in charge of the man, and Wynne and I transferred ourselves on board a six-ton lateener, very broad and very shallow, with bluff bows; a boat sixty years old, if a day, only drawing about two feet of water. She had an enormous lateen foresail, and a mizen, and she subsequently formed a picturesque object in Wynne's sketches. A wherry was coming through the low and narrow bridge, and, as the water was high, she had some difficulty in doing it.

The wind was fair for a large portion of the way, and we bowled along very fast. Where it was ahead, owing to a bend in the river, there was no room to tack, and one of us would jump ashore with a line, and tow. The Ant is just like a canal, except that it has no tow-path. The fishing in it is remarkably good, particularly at Irstead shoals, where there is a stretch of water about half a mile long, with an even depth of four to five feet, and a firm, level, pebbly bottom, a curiosity in this land of boggy streams. This is an excellent spot for perch and pike. It is marked by the presence of a church on the western bank, and is one of the few places on these waters where a person who cannot swim can bathe with safety or comfort. The muddy bottom, of course, prohibits wading. As you approach the entrance to Barton Broad, the bottom becomes muddy again, and the Broad itself is full of mud; there being large "hills" where the water is not more than two feet deep. The navigable channels wind between these hills, and are marked out by posts. The Broad is a mile long, and very pretty, and the entrance to it is four and a half miles from the mouth of the Ant. In our light-draught lateener, we ignored the channels, and sped about all over, often, however, finding our speed diminished, as the keel cut through the soft mud, and turned up yellow volumes of mud behind. It is a curious fact that in some Broads and portions of Broads, the mud is of a light yellow colour, and in other portions black. As all this mud is the result of decayed vegetation, this difference is singular.

There is an artificial island in the Broad, where a picnic party were then enjoying themselves. We sailed away into the long bight which leads towards Neatishead, where the bowery woods, fringing the water, spoke of welcome shade, but we were brought to a stop by the mud, and had some difficulty in getting back. On this very lovely Broad, we found we had much better stick to the channels, which were wide enough, and explore the shallows in the jolly. The fishing here is remarkably good. I do not think any objection is made to angling for coarse fish, but permission must be obtained for pike fishing. The Broad, though the water is fresh, is affected by the rise and fall of the tide. Going on one night in the dark, I missed the channel, and ran so hard on to a "hill," that in the morning when the tide was at its height, we had to lay the yacht on her side by means of lines and tackles to the nearest channel posts ere we could float her off. The Broad is easy of access, by going to Stalham railway station, and hiring boats at Stalham, whence a row of about two miles will bring you on to the Broad.

[Picture: Entrance--Barton Broad]

At the north end of the Broad, a wide dyke leads northwards. This divides into two about a mile from the Broad; the left-hand one leads to Dilham and North Walsham, becoming a canal, with locks and water-mills. We took the right-hand one, and on coming to another sub-division, took the left-hand one, the right leading to a grown-up piece of water, known as Sutton Broad. The course we chose led us over Stalham Broad, which, though marked on maps as a piece of open water, now only consists of a tract of marsh, with a dyke kept open through it. Stalham is at the end of this dyke. Here there are two good inns, the "Swan," and the "Maid's Head," and there are plenty of good boats for hire at the waterside. Stalham has a station on the Yarmouth and North Norfolk Railway, and as a fishing station is considered very good.

We caught a pike in the dyke, at luncheon time (ours as well as his), and a big fellow of about fourteen pounds in weight was said to haunt the spot. We saw a large fish strike at some roach, but he would not look at our spinning-bait. Within sight of the dyke end is a tumble-down house, with a thatched roof, broken-backed, and altogether so jumbled and ancient-looking, that it makes a capital subject for a sketch.

In the afternoon we sailed quietly back to the cutter, and took both boats back to the Bure, and down it to St. Benet's Abbey, which we reached by moonlight.

[Picture: Carp] Wynne had taken a great fancy to the lateener, which had been lent to me by a friend, and as we wished to explore the Broads about Hickling, all too shallow for the cutter, we decided to take both yachts up the Thurne to Heigham Bridges, and leave the cutter there, while we took the lateener up on the wide, wild waters above the bridge. The next morning we devoted to pike fishing, at the mouth of the Thurne, getting our bait with a casting-net. We got up very early, and were moored in a convenient spot, and all rigged up ready to start before the mist had risen off the water. I do not intend to go into the details of our sport, which was not out of the way, but by one o'clock we got six pike, from four to ten pounds in weight, and put back four under-sized fish. This was with live bait, without moving more than one hundred yards from the same spot.

[Picture: Carrying reeds, Barton]

[Picture: Barton Staithe]

[Picture: Stalham Dyke]

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