Chapter XIII: 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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