The enormous power of nature feeding and calming our souls

Today’s walk had to be shorter than normal as I had a very important meeting; I had to be on Southwold Pier by 11.00am to be photographed with a couple of my walking supporters Robert Gough who owns the Pier and Terry Hunt the Editor of the East Anglian Daily Times and Evening Star. Terry has been out for walks with me before at Ickworth, I remember as part of the National Trust Walking Festival. This was fantastic for me, as Director at the Trust, it meant I had a good excuse to walk for a week, meeting people to walk with at many of the Trusts locations. Now I do the same but for different reasons to help promote peoples general health and well-being and to help Healthy Ambitions with its One Million Steps Challenge which launched last Monday.

To begin today’s walk I left the car at Walberswick Church.  Walberswick is a lovely village nestling in the Suffolk Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and its called that for a reason, it is outstanding! Walberswick, I’m told its Saxon for wyk or sheltered harbour and Walbert from a notable or powerful chaps name of the time, probably the land owner. It is great looking into the history of the names of villages of the UK it is worth going into your local book shop to get a book on the history of place names, autumn and winter dark nights are coming, reading that and looking at maps in winter inspires you to look forward to spring and summer walking for the next year I hope.

Turning left into Palmers Lane you are treated to some beautiful old cottages and lovely gardens before vistas of the coast and Blythe valley no wonder this is the area of outstanding beauty.

Crossing the river by the footbridge and turning right brings you to the start of the Southwold Harbour walk. The Harbour Inn on the left is the site of many a meeting of friends. Its where the Powell family meets the Jones Family  after Christmas day for fish and chips and a bracing walk round Southwold so happy memories for today’s walk. I love this harbour walk. Always good to chuckle at the cars parked just that little bit too far forward as the tide comes in, no real damage just very wet feet when they want to get to the driver’s seat.  The wall of the Harbour Inn has marks to show the height of the tide in history a stark reminder about sea level rise and what the next mark could be! Walking east up the harbour road is a pleasure. The sights and  smells of boats and people are a pleasure to watch; the mix of a sailing cleat with a pair of Hunter wellies,  posh Guernsey in the local ships chandlers shop, see the old pitched shed or railway carriage selling fresh fish and produce - its all tremendous. The mix of buildings, sheds and lean-to’s reminds you of the gently eccentric British people and long may that last. Southwold means so much to so many people local and visitors alike.

Erosion and the power of the sea are never far away on this coast and the groynes, harbour walls and the like are under constant discussion and repair. Should we? Shouldn’t we? is a constant debate, economics versus peoples livelihoods are always at the fore with discussions taking place in village halls, council chambers and pubs all referring to this special piece of the Suffolk coast. Either way its a constant reminder of how we have to adapt to climate change and sea level rise, after all debate is healthy but a head in the sand attitude is not!

I walked past the lifeboat sheds, these brave people still braving their lives, in all weathers, true heroes with true grit these local people and so I take my hat off to them – or as my son would say ‘total respect man’.

For 10 years I was an auxiliary coastguard at Gorleston. I was ok, I stayed on land in the lookout or the Land Rover, these guys were the ones leaving the Harbour to a ship in distress, they faced the real challenge, manning the radio wasn’t quite in the same league. Do visit them when you are next near a lifeboat shed and pop a couple of quid at least in to the donations cairn.

Turning north along the beach was a joy, behind me this day was a front,  a bank of grey cloud coming up from the south. London I had seen that morning was in rain but I was in sun. It was fabulous to see the bank of grey cloud slowly creeping toward us, nothing you could do about it, the enormous power of nature makes you feel a little helpless. No real threat but I watched the cloud coming knowing what it brings, fascinating. Aren’t you always inspired by the natural world?

I reached the famous or is the infamous beach huts. The names make me smile as I walk past even though I have seen them all before and even though they are the cheesiest bunch of predictable names you can get, I love them. I imagine the hours of debate in a home over what they are going to call it discussing over the dinner table ‘dunroamin’ to ‘Ma’s bar’ just fabulous.

The pier looming and very busy for the time of year, I had assumed schools going back it would be quieter but no, instead full of those that holiday after the schools, although some of the conversations and antics in some of the open beach huts where, I have to say, very reminiscent of school children! A real reminder how we love to be by the sea and how the natural world feeds and calms our soul.

I met Robert Gough and Terry Hunt with our illustrious and champion photographer (and BBC Radio Presenter) Steph Mackentyre on the pier. I love the quirky atmosphere here, so totally British. I also love the coffee and the customer care on the Pier, an all-round enjoyable experience. I always think that so many memories have been formed here. My own children used to love visiting 'Nannies Caravan' at Church Farm near Aldeburgh, so many anchored memories in generations and so important for children to have some freedom too. A chance to do some roaming, getting wet and muddy, falling off the sea wall, climbing trees and even playing crazy golf, it all feeds later life and we need to re anchor children into the natural world for them to take on the reins of managing it for the future.

On the pier we talked business, tourism, walking, health and nature and it struck me how blessed we are in Norfolk and Suffolk to have such a natural world underpinning the economy and health of people. Central Birmingham I am sure is very nice and the people born and living there are I’m sure very proud of the place but aren’t we lucky here in Norfolk and Suffolk?

We were photographed with the lighthouse in the background. A lighthouse not only an icon for the town but the key lighthouse now as Orfordness has been decommissioned with Lowestoft being the northerly light now. These lights, all automatic now, like automated railway signals the old ways moving forward, soon no signal men pulling levers or lighthouse men cleaning the lamps, even some of the lights have gone LED rather than traditional bulbs saving property and energy. That’s life progress, it is important to move us forward and of course this region plays such an important part in the research and production of this new technology.

After the photographs, I walked through the centre of town, back past the water tower to the harbour, over the bridge and back to Walberswick church. A shorter walk but a good one nonetheless, as I returned  feeling all the better for it.

I have all but completed my walk round Suffolk, just a couple of bits to fill in one round Newmarket and shingle street to Felixstowe but I have done those before so I am relaxed about fitting them in this year having achieved my personal One Million Steps Challenge by August 13th. A lot of my challenge steps were done by walking to the station, walking to meetings, not using the car and going to the shops with a rucksack rather than the car so it is easy to increase your walking and your step count as part of your day and you don’t always need to do the 15 mile hikes I have been doing. I have now set my goal to achieve Two Million Steps by Christmas, with that in mind I am this autumn  planning to walk the Pedders way from Thetford to Kings Lynn and will write those up on for this blog, so do pop back and visit my blog if you can from time to time but for now may I say good walking, take care and get outside and walk you will feel so much better for it you will see some amazing stuff and it will do your health good too which can’t be bad. This final walk will also be summarised and featured in next Monday's East Anglian Daily Times and my thanks go to them for featuring some of my walks around Suffolk helping me to raise the profile of walking for well-being in Suffolk and Norfolk.

Regards Richard

An intoxicating walk of willow and marsh

This was always going to be a walk of willow and marsh and it did not disappoint, and there were some awesome other creatures and nature as well. Continuing my trip along the Angles way, to almost complete the whole trail. To do a walk round Suffolk I knew would entail key public transport at some point either to get back to my car or to do the walk entirely. I have to say it is much easier in the East of the county than the West. There is a big difference between these two sections of the county; In the West you have large numbers of single occupancy farmland or institutionally owned farmland , sparser villages altogether a more remote and distant land however  in the East there are smaller farms and it could also be that the East has a history of engagement maybe? There’s also the coast which leads to a greater Holiday industry too not to mention the Ports, rivers and trading therein and the staff needed to accommodate. Altogether a very a different feel between the two halves of the County from a walkers perspective anyway.

This walk I had planned to do by driving to Brundall in Norfolk, catching the train to Lowestoft. From there, boarding the train to Beccles and then walking back to Lowestoft. At the end of the walk, I would return to Brundall either by train, providing  times permitted as they only run every 2 hours, or there was the half hour service the X1 bus that would hopefully take me from Lowestoft to Acle and then the train back to Brundall. It sounds even more complicated when explained like this, however it actually worked like clockwork.

My train journey was actually slightly complicated and I mused the difference pre Beeching would have made. However it is a very picturesque journey to Lowestoft across the marshland. I then left Lowestoft and arrived at Beccles and jumped off the train ready to begin my walk. There’s an hourly service between the towns of Ipswich and Lowestoft now due to a new Beccles loop that has been opened allowing trains to pass. Beccles was a big station. It used to be the point where the trains from London would either go to Gt Yarmouth or Lowestoft. I tried to imagine in the Victorian and Edwardian times just how many people would have passed through this station. In those days factories would close for two weeks, unpaid of course and people would come by the train load to the sea side. There would be Yorkshire week, Scots week, Luton week etc. where shoe factories would charter special trains to go to Gt Yarmouth or Lowestoft. A huge industry which together with Fishing, Wood, Grain and exports made Gt Yarmouth and Lowestoft buzzing places.

Here at Beccles you can almost hear the ghosts of those past travellers in the air. As you leave the platform over the footbridge remember this use to go over several lines, so now it seems an odd shape. The station itself, now a furniture store, would have had porters, waiting rooms, warm fires in the winter and an efficient and punctual Station Master who would have lived in one of the bigger houses close by. If you look at the buildings as you leave the station you see what would have been the Station Hotel, a couple of pubs and a shop now all turned into houses their function lost or changed. I mused  the excited voices of times gone by, the bustling businesses  the steam and heaps of coal this scene in your, your mothers, or perhaps your

grandmothers life time.

Leaving my imagination and the ghosts I walked back towards the river on this edge of the town. Beccles and its sister market town Bungay just five miles away were centres of trade, agriculture, with important rivers. These were rich towns; look at the merchant’s houses and church in Beccles high street or Bungay high street for evidence of its past existence. All around the town you see evidence of what was the wool trade and an agricultural industry or wealthy blacksmiths, people mending boats, unloading cattle for sale etc. These market towns thrived as centres or hubs for the surrounding areas. Now of course the printers have almost gone the cattle markets and Wherries certainly have, and the two mighty market towns are now somewhat dormitory towns to that bigger hub Norwich. I know I generalise here and people will object to being called a dormitory town but deep down you know what I mean.

Arriving at the river I walked through a field of what was disturbed land. Evidence of this is the huge swathes

of Horseradish together with nettles and brambles. I must say isn’t it a great year for blackberries after that cold winter? It smelt wonderful as the sun warmed the leaves and as I walked through, the movement made the smell waft up to meet me wonderful for the nasal passages! It was here I also saw what I think was the prize view on the walk and I was only 15 mins into it. Flying past with speed was a Clouded Yellow Butterfly; such strong flyers it was hard to keep up with it, let alone photograph it.(Hence the reason for the stock photo below rather than my own) Basically a migrant  or immigrant arriving here in the 1940’s they say they now over winter and are able to breed but cold or wet winters take their toll.

I walked up the river wall, passed the great archaeological dig that has been carried out several times over the last five years. Wooden oak posts, 67 of them actually and a platform were uncovered in what would have been a landing stage or walk way. In ancient times 2000+ years ago the river would have been roughly where it is now but much less canalised and walled. The river would have gone out of the flooded river valley what is now Lake Lothing near Lowestoft. Ships would have come up here to Beccles easily and the fresh water, the grasslands, the trees and the higher ground made it ideal for settlement and trade, again showing what a strategic position many of our villages and towns in this part of the world originated from. Think of the trading which would have taken place from parts of Europe and the South, this would have been a thriving hub even back then. Don’t you just Love Norfolk and Suffolk?  As I walked on I also thought how we have become conditioned and hidebound by political boundaries.  Water, birds, butterflies in fact all natural capital isn’t aware of these boundaries.

The river wall carried on and for the stretch of the walk the river was tre- lined, only giving the occasional glimpse of the river itself. It was so quiet. I have noticed on some of these walks around Suffolk how you can get to places for a short time where the traffic is masked, the aircraft are gone and all you get is wildlife and natural sounds. This was the case as I walked up the river. It certainly was a scene of marsh and willow. Huge Crack Willows, as they are locally known, grow tall, split, fall over, regenerate and re grow leaving a knarled fibrous trunk that rots while the newly fallen section roots and grows its a great way to make sure you survive. The occasional Oak I spotted too but it was Willows and Alder for most of the way.

It was a hot day so the smell of the marshes was sweet. Hemp Agrimony in flower wafted in the air full of insects and bees, coupled with the general smell of the marsh which is intoxicating. I came across a building and like in the last blog on Breydon, this housed the drainage pump. Again from the stains of the ground this was once a diesel pump, now electric, showing the progress of time.

As I left the building I saw the tell-tale signs of blue engineering bricks. These hardened bricks are used in places where strength and support are needed. Classic signs of something big and probably Victorian. Getting closer it was the bridge supports for the old railway line to Gt Yarmouth. As I mentioned earlier, Beccles was where the line from Gt Yarmouth joined what is now the East Suffolk Line to London via Ipswich. Branch lines to Lowestoft and Bungay, then Harleston and Tivetshall, now just a crossing on the modern Norwich to London Line. This bridge was once the mainline to London from Gt Yarmouth, how things change.

Moving on I stopped again at one of the fishing platforms to look at the river and have a drink. A blue flash caught my eye. For a micro second I thought it was the reflection of my drink bottle in my glasses but quickly realised it was the flash of a kingfisher disappearing up stream. A great sight I love kingfishers. Most of their colour comes from the light refracting in the feathers, underneath the feathers are quite black. A great fisherman and a sign the life in the rivers which is good. Quite conscious now of the boat traffic I moved on

I had noticed along the bank from Beccles it was mown quite close. Looking at the re growth it looks like it was mown some time ago. I felt a bit annoyed as I calculated this might still have been in the breeding season for many birds and insects. Having spent 25 years managing land and landscapes I know these things have to be managed but its timing and methods that make the difference.

 I soon came up to a sign that said the path ahead was being mown and sure enough two great flails were cutting the bank and berm between the soak dyke and the river wall. Soak Dykes, so called as they soak away any water seeping through the river walls, sometimes called Borrow Dykes for the reason that the mud was borrowed to create the wall, are important for wildlife.

Now I know the Environment Agency is responsible for these walls and keeping them clear helps keep the wall from being damaged by vegetation and obviously  prevents flooding.  The drainage engineers will always say that prevention of flooding is the primary concern, to save life and limb. I wouldn’t want flooding for anyone but at times I do think we are a little obsessed with neatness.

We have been conditioned as humans and especially over the last 100 years or so that neat is good scruffy is bad, but this isn’t the case. We need that variety of height, species, and diversity of habitats to ensure nature or our natural capita survives. Our obsession with neatness comes with a heavy price for nature there has to be a balance surely? I hope that the case here is that the banks are cut every 3 to 5 years rather than annually and in stretches at different times so we achieve bank stability but also maximise nature’s chances of the nettles being the host to butterfly eggs and other life giving and essential insects.

I have to say though this was the most fantastic walk for dragonflies. I know timing is right, but  there were chasers, darters, hawkers all over the place and at least two species of blue damsel fly as well. Constantly around me dragonflies were flying eating and mating. So impressive to see two dragonflys mating on the wing, imagine the red arrows flying with that precision! Maybe my analogy is going wrong here about mating and flying and the red arrows I meant the precise flying, oh never mind you know what I mean J I wasn’t carrying my dragonfly book but ruddy darter, blue chaser and migrant hawkers were certainly around me.

Continuing on I said hello to two chaps who appeared to have walked from Lowestoft. They were looking for Barnby and one looked worse for wear! So I showed them where they were on the map which path to take and bade them farewell. The walk from here on the wall widened out and you could see a long way either side of the valley. You could also see in the very distance the tower and grain silos of Lowestoft port. Sometimes I like this because it gives you  a land mark or a focal point but also the devilish side in your brain says it shows how far you still have to walk as these silos are right by the train station in Lowestoft - at least 5 miles away!

The marshes were still grazed by cattle, a great thing for this part of Norfolk and Suffolk, huge beasts of many varieties great to see; natural marsh beef must be tastier and better for you than housed grain and silage fed cattle. It made me think about the Archers and the debate over the super dairies Brian Aldridge wanted to build. Economically sound I’m sure for a business accountant farmer, morally good? It’s a debate of our times as farming, industry and life becomes more industrial and efficient. I can see both cases but question if it’s good in the long run for people and natural capital, I do wonder if we don’t just need to stop and think occasionally.

I passed Castle Marshes, a Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve, and continued to Carlton Marshes SWT reserve where I knew I had to get to for the turn back into Oulton Broad. As I turned inland on the footpath from the wall to skirt round the end of Oulton Broad, I noticed the first piece of arable land on the walk. Not the best crop I have seen, I did wonder how this stacked up economically I have to say. I always seem to be complaining about footpaths damaged by ploughing and this was again noticeable. I know having driven tractors all my life and ploughed many a field that it is not easy to always drop the plough where you want it if you are trying to finish a job but it is just lazy to just drop the plough over a footpath and carry on knowing the plough will cut into where people walk.

I walked up to Carlton Marshes nature reserve and popped in to make sure I was on the right path, a lovely lady made sure I knew which path to take and I carried on my way.

Oulton Broad hoved into view with its yacht stations, boats, parks, seats, and ice-cream all essential parts of Oulton. Essentially the most easterly of the peat diggings that formed the boards, it is separated from Lake Lothing and the sea by a lock. Fresh water it is part of the Broads scene. Busy in the east and quieter in the west. When I was a lad, as they say, we used to come here to watch power boat racing. Getting one of those Ice creams, I am so partial to a Mr Whippy (my son and I are on a life quest to find the best 99. Diamasco van at Great Yarmouth harbour hold the title at the moment served with a welcome by Richard, it is one of the most fabulous 99’s you will ever have. Closely followed by a Kelly’s 99 at the Welsh show last year!) Anyway back to the walk.

On the map there was a footpath going under the railway bridge and back to Lowestoft from the mini roundabout near the Wherry Hotel. I found it; it has to be the smallest footpath I have seen and the battered sign holding in there was a welcome direction. A section no wider than one and half people to me to the railway bridge and beyond.

I have to say I love the natural world, without a doubt it is where I am most comfortable but I do love heritage, buildings and our built history and archaeology. I am passionate about reading landscapes, interpreting them and that of course means the social and heritage parts as well as nature.

 I was part of and Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the East of England for nearly 10 years. It was the most enjoyable exciting and challenging thing I have ever been appointed to. The HLF Team in this Region are absolute stars and a lot of the heritage grants, opportunities and delivery is down to that great team working with applicants to get the best for the money that you give from your lottery ticket as 4p in very pound goes to the Heritage Lottery. Without this money, buildings, museums, art,  history, market towns, nature, railway engines, life boats,  you name it Heritage is all around us, and HLF have been so key in increasing value to Tourism, and the economy as well as conserving, preserving, and enhancing our heritage and communities. Visit their website and see the great work they have done. I recommend it, you never know you might be eligible to apply for a grant for a project near you, they will soon tell you.

Back to the path and why I diverted into talking Heritage Lottery for a second, the path now takes you through some of our industrial past. Not only do you see Lake Lothing, a drowned valley we have spoken about in previous blogs in the Stour but one which has an interesting past. It is thought that the Danes and Vikings especially, exploited the drowned valleys and easy boat access to penetrate far into East Anglia especially, Norfolk and Suffolk. Again, as with the blog on Breydon water ,the Lake was open to the sea it is thought till at least medieval times before a sand bar covered the entrance. It was re-opened and trade continued when the route to Norwich was re-established and the New cut opened.

The footpath goes through boat yards and works sometime right in front  of the workshops, You can imagine

this was a shoreline before the concrete and the fencing, and boats were hauled up, being repaired by marine carpenters and experts, pitch and tar was boiling in vats to be painted onto the wood for sealing and repairs, a hive of industry and it is the SAE today, boats everywhere in various states of repair or construction fascinating array of winches, steel ropes oils rust and slipways - I love it.

From here the path crosses the railway again this time by bridge. You drop into what was clearly heathland of some kind at some point. Sandy soils, ferns and bracken, gorse and a pine tree, a real relic of landscapes past. The community and council have created a footpath system through what is now a community wetland. I saw several mothers with young children looking over the ponds, one with a net, pond dippin,. all at home in what some would call wasteland. I was heartened that people didn’t see this as scary and a no go place despite it being secluded over grown in places, and probably not where they want to be at night but during the day they could claim this as their own.

Emerging from here you walk along the main road alongside the docks, or what were the docks. Converted to shopping experiences here were warehouses and businesses with easy access to rail and boat. Things change but again the historic architecture is all around if you look up about the shop fronts or behind the new buildings often great examples of old workshops or warehouses can be seen. The rows of terrace houses were again another age, Victorian I suggest, now homes for many people some cutting hedges, polishing window’s and chatting as I passed, you could sense a  real community here I thought.

I arrived at the bus station from the high street; ‘left at O2’ someone told me and so I waited only 10 minutes to get the bus. The X1, a bus from Lowestoft to Peterbourgh via Kings Lynn. Wow what a trip to do on a bus! Hmm not sure that ‘great’ is the right superlative here; think of the communities villages and places it serves on the way. I jumped on with some trepidation, the X1 is not known for its friendly bus drivers, its reputation you hear however received is legendary, but that’s the challenge and I did get a smile from this bus driver, he was fine.

A bumpy old journey of nearly an hour got me back to Acle and a short walk to the station to catch the train to Brundall and finally my car. Yes I could have just gone from Acle to Lowestoft at the start but I wanted to experience different types of public transport to see if I could get them to work and they do in the majority of cases, you just need to plan and work out the journey times and connections. I enjoyed this walk. It was hot, I got though plenty of sun cream, but very enjoyable with lots to see and experience.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this latest walk, I’ve now completed my own personal One Million Steps challenge walking around Suffolk, and so I've decided to keep going and aim for two million by Christmas!! I hope I’ve inspired some of you to take up the Healthy Ambitions One Million Steps #OMS challenge too – it all begins on Monday 16^th and that’s also the date you can see a précis of this walk featured in the East Anglian Daily Times. To see who is walking #OMS around Suffolk check out the website or follow their progress on Facebook 

Until next time, happy walking

Richard

Ancient County Borders and the Calorific Value of Mud!

After a period of walking in what I can only describe as lifeless prairie of West Suffolk and Newmarket, I then hit the wonderful heaths and forests of the Brecks and the start of the Waveney valley more on that later. The skies in West Suffolk were wonderful and villages and hospitality was great, it was just too lifeless for me. Industrial farming has taken its toll over the last 30 years. I know farmers are responding to society needs etc. but some more than others also put effort into margins, corners and hedges, creating a bit of a mosaic in the monoculture to give nature a chance and I thank them for it, this important part of farming and the European grants to enable this are essential.

So in this blog I decided to have a bit of a change and go to the other end of the Angles Way to the ancient Norfolk and Suffolk Border and South Breydon Water. In times past the border used to be the River Waveney and Yare confluence. South Breydon used to be Suffolk and North Breydon Norfolk. Many a battle of landowners, councils and merchants have been fought in words, taxes, levy’s and even fisticuffs on this border in the past.

Taxes on traffic using the River Yare to Norwich caused Lowestoft to be disgruntled and Norwich to be annoyed, Lake Lothing and the connection to the sea at Lowestoft were cut, deepened and changed and the ‘New Cut’ a canal from St Olives to Reedham in an attempt to take trade from Gt Yarmouth, successful but troublesome, always silting up and needing maintenance. Gorleston transferred to Norfolk in 1889 and Burgh Castle, Belton, Fritton, St Olives and Hopton finally in 1974.

So I am walking the ancient border of Suffolk I hope that counts! Starting at the old town wall tower in Gt Yarmouth (the North Tower) I walked to the Haven Bridge to get to the south of the town and what would

have been Suffolk! The current Haven Bridge completed and opened by the Prince of Wales in the 1930’s was the only road crossing till the 80’s when the new bridge was opened on the line of the old railway bridge taking goods and passengers to London via Belton , Beccles and the East Suffolk line.

Walking through what was Cobholm Island, now of course houses but originally a salt pan island separated from Gt Yarmouth by streams long since gone, however people from here still call themselves Cobholm Islanders. This was all once Suffolk. This is all a very old part of the two counties, people will remember the Herring industry, Yarmouth a major port for timber from Latvia, Estonia, and Georgia big three masters bringing the timber from the Baltic for use in building all over Suffolk and Norfolk. Gt Yarmouth of course was also the first English town bombed by a Graf Zepplin. Bombs fell near St Peters Church in the south of the town causing fatalities.

Eventually, after walking through Cobholm you emerge under the old railway line now the A12 onto a playing field and what was the old municipal dump now of course grassed over and landscaped.

The Angles Way takes you up the flood defences on the south of Breydon. Breydon Water is our most easterly estuary. It is internationally important for wintering wild fowl and waders. Some people look over

Breydon and see just one thing – mud! Yes there is a lot of it, its roughly 4 miles long and 1 mile wide but it is the biggest estuary between the Wash and the Thames so is vitally important for birds.

 Each square metre of mud has the calorie value to birds of 18 Mars Bars to us, full of worms, invertebrates and other food for birds. The value of Breydon has been decreasing over the last 30 years with the loss of soft backed crabs, rag worm and lung worm decline, plus the decline of shell fish, fish, eels and other food values.

A strange fish called the Smelt, used to have a ‘run’ into Breydon in the

late summer from the North Sea. A strange fish smelling of Cucumber when you pick it up, a white fish caught by local men and shipped in salted boxes straight to London as a delicacy, packed onto the train at night it was in the fish markets by morning, a lucrative addition to the household income before the WW2 that’s for sure; Smelt are still in the North Sea but numbers are small and have no real commercial value in these parts now.

The walk up the flood wall was stunning, sunny hot and a breeze blowing from the west. The channel on Breydon for boats is clearly marked by red and green posts. 7/8ths of the mud is an RSPB reserve. Breydon has a real history, one of the earliest declared nature reserves in 1888 a local nature reserve the first in Norfolk in 1968.

Arthur Patterson one of the mystical locals, born in the rows of Yarmouth was a peddler, salesman and then a truant officer. He wrote the first definitive guide to the site Wild Fowlers and Poachers in 1929. Strangely the book was typed and manuscripted  by the next generation of mystical naturalist of the Boards - Ted Ellis.

My first job when I left college was to work for Coypu Research helping to set up the Coypu eradication scheme in the early 80’s Coypu or Nutria were brought from South America for the fur trade and they took to the Broads as their home.

I was a ‘field worker’ and together with those wonderful companions Cyril Clarke my boss and Jenny Thomas my fellow trapper. We used to occasionally take Coypu to Ted Ellis for his dogs, but he was partial to the odd bit of coypu meat. Coypu are of course no more in the UK.

Back to the walk, as I could go on for hours about the history of this site. The sea walls have just been up graded across the whole of Broadland as part of a 20 year scheme to make a great vantage point for viewing the estuary.

Boats and holidaymakers constantly chugged by and reminded me of the great website called Literary Norfolk with writings and poems of Norfolk. I saw this one about Breydon and loved it I hope they don’t mind me repeating it here credit to them.

Breydon captured by Hugh Money-Coutts in his 1919 verse:

  

'On Breydon Water, when the tide is out,

 The channel bounds no sailorman can doubt.

 Starboard and port, the miry banks reveal

 Where safety lies beneath his cautious keel.

 But when the flood has wiped the water clean,

  - Hiding the muddy haunts where seagulls preen

 Their wings, and shake their heads - black pillars mark

 The channel's edge for each adventuring bark.

 Beware; the channel shifts, and now and then

 a post deceives the hapless wherrymen.'

I looked over the estuary to see the Norwich to Gt Yarmouth train via Reedham and I could see it stopping at Berney Marshes Halt the smallest station in England. Four trains a day stop here in the summer and the

walk from Berney to Gt Yarmouth on the north bank is equally as beautiful as the south. Gt Yarmouth is one of those rare sea side towns that boasts two railway lines; do we make enough of them I ask myself as I walk on, maybe we needn’t spend £78 million on a dual carriageway?

 On the left I overlook the Burgh Castle marshes, grazed by a mix of cattle. The collective name for all these marshes is Halvergate Marshes, a huge grassland complex which was once of course open to the sea - more about that later. The marshes produce some of the best beef. The grasses and herb-rich sward put good weights onto the cattle. Draining of the marshes was once the job of wind power and the wind drain pumps remain all over the sky line. One does wonder if the protests for these majestic mills was as loud as some today against modern wind turbines which you can also see from the wall.

Draining of water then turned diesel and finally electric, not only putting overhead cables into an open

landscape but also being so efficient shifting tonnes of water per minute, lowering the water tables. This of course meant some farmers thought the best thing was to plough and grow wheat, and so one of the biggest conservation battles ensued. The debate raged and national organisations such as RSPB and Friends of the Earth fought to keep the open grass landscapes. Some hundreds of acres were lost to the arable crops but the government scheme the Environmentally Sensitive Area or ESA’s were born here with payments to farmers not to plough but to graze and to keep water tables high.

Andrew Lees of Friends of the Earth and Dr Martin George, two of the stalwarts of the battle, were key figures in the success of the ESA, plus many others too many to mention, (maybe they should all come out in my memoirs?) fought hard to keep our Broadland marshes; one of those Andrew Lees, killed in the Far East, has his ashes scattered near Berney Marsh Mill.

Today, as the photo shows, wind drainage and pumping still exists. Pioneered by the RSPB and by a wonderful chap Mr Dave Barrett created these new-style wind pumps from a Dutch design. The first ones, using an old Ford Escort 1600cc gearbox, reenergised sustainable and green pumping on the Halvergate marshes and all these pumps are from Dave Barrett’s design, clearly a great wetland manger.

The journey continued to the confluence of the Yare and the Waveney. Great slow moving rivers but with a lot of water and consequently a good flow increased by the tidal influence, therefore not a point you would want to fall from your boat!

Here I saw a Marsh Harrier quartering over the reed bed and marshes. Is funny to think that in 1974 there were only one pair of Marsh Harriers left in UK and they were at Minsmere in Suffolk. Suffolk is a monumental place when it comes to rare birds and bringing them back from the brink of extinction; Avocets, Marsh Harriers Bearded Tit, Bitterns Stone Curlew to name a few, so Suffolk is very much a County that should be proud of its bird life.

The views from here show the huge vista which was the open estuary in Roman times. Great Yarmouth didn’t exist and the sea came into the River Bure Valley probably via Winterton about 15 miles away as well as what is not the Yare. Hence Burgh Castle a huge Roman fort, on one side of this vast Estuary with Caister, probably originally the other Roman fort on the north shore. Near Norwich the great Roman Town of Venta Icenorum the Roman capital of this part of the world now at Caistor St Edmund south of Norwich.

Some say it was serviced from the sea and the two forts described were there as protection from invaders.

Burgh Castle is a great place. Not only offering great views over the miles of grazing marshes but full of history and memories, worth a pause here to let your imagination flow and wander. You can almost hear the roman voices some Latin, and the boats unloading and loading their trade and the soldiers, plus the wind whipping around the cattle – it’s worth just standing for a moment to let it all sink in.

Leaving the fort I continued up the river Waveney passing reeds taller than I to my left with tantalising glimpses of Berney Mill. Passing the now holiday camps and the boat yards you eventually turn inland towards Fritton and another Forestry Plantation on what was originally heathland. After the First World War, when timber was scarce, lots of trees were planted on ‘wasteland’ or ‘sheep badlands’, the Brecks, North of Norwich, the Suffolk Coast and Fritton. This land has lovely windblown sand if you look at the base of the trees under the leaf litter and areas of erosion, dark grey glacial washed sand. Of course the next episode of this land is to be quarried for sand and gravel to feed the voracious house building machine.

I walked back along footpaths sheltered by trees across farmland to what was the little village of Belton, now a commuter village growing as they do. I found the Kings Head Pub with the bus stop to take me back to Yarmouth. Within 10 minutes the bus came along. I have to say I do like the fact you can text the code on the bus stop and you get a text back again with all bus times - a neat invention!

A great walk with a difference through so much history. Natural History, built history peoples history and peoples influence from Roman building, invasions, medieval building, wartime raids and changes to modern building and influencing. That’s why I love walking around Suffolk and Norfolk so much it charges your imagination, as there’s so much to see and so much to learn. I hope I’m inspiring you to also get out there and walk; trust me, it does you a world of good mentally and physically and inspires your grey matter and at my age that is no bad thing J

If you’d like to take up the Healthy Ambitions One Million Steps Challenge which starts on 16^th September you can find out more here http://www.healthyambitions.org.uk/onemillionsteps/l/ and sign up for your free Pedometre and Water Bottle. 

Bird list

Common gull

 Black headed gull

Herring Gull

Lesser Black backed gull

Common tern

Turnstone

Sanderling

Avocet

Shelduck

Curlew Sandpiper

Greenshank

Redshank

Hobby

Marsh Harrier

Green wood pecker

Gt Spotted Woodpecker

House sparrow

Great tit

Blue tit

Lapwing

Egret

Grey Heron

Meadow pipit

Sedge warbler

Swallow

Sand Martin

alvergate Marshes as the collect