My last stop. A long weekend in the
Norfolk Broads then back home to Australia. What better way to do the
Broads than to follow the 'Coot Club' route.
Arthur Ransome wrote thirteen books in
what is known as the Swallows and Amazons series. When I was in the
UK in 2010 I did the Swallows and Amazons 'Wildcat Island Cruise', see the blog of that day here. This time in the Norfolk Broads I'm
following the adventures of another set of Ransome's characters, Dick
and Dorothea, visitors to Norfolk, and the members of the Coot Club,
all local sailors on the Broads and keen bird watchers.
The Coot Club members live in the
picturesque village of Horning on the River Bure and their adventures
take them up and down the Broads rivers and dykes and the various
broads themselves.
At Horning there is a
glamorous river-boat named the Southern Comfort which cruises down
river from Horning to Ranworth Dyke, through the dyke and into
Malthouse Broad taking 1 ½ hours for the round trip. This is one of
the routes taken by the Coot Club sailors, except that in the 1930s
when Ransome knew the Broads, one could sail into the nearby Ranworth
Broad which is not possible today as it is a protected area. Our
skipper on board the Southern Comfort points out the various places
mentioned in the Coot Club books.
Dick and Dot are just learning to sail
and so the children, being supervised by the elderly lady - herself
an old sailor - who has hired a yacht, sail up to Horsey Mere for
some lessons in the quieter waters to be found there. An ancient
bridge at Potter Heigham proves to be impassable for many craft so
they keep to the more southerly waters making Horsey an altogether
more peaceful spot.
At Horsey I found a National Trust
windmill and a wildlife cruise, independent of the Trust. Ross, of
Ross's Wildlife Cruises, is a complete original. His old boat, the Lady Ann is home
to a swallow's nest where numerous broods have been raised over the
last two seasons. The BBC have recently filmed a segment on board
about the swallows.
Ross's tour lasts for an hour or more
and he makes it up as he goes along. He decided on a whim to take us
up the neglected Wexham New Cut dyke to show us a derelict windmill.
He chatted away as he manoeuvred the boat up the narrow dyke but his
sharp eye was constantly on the lookout for interesting wildlife.
We were just a short way up the dyke
when a kingfisher dipped across the water and disappeared into the
bushes. These shy birds are not readily seen so we considered the
trip well worthwhile from that point on.
What our skipper doesn't know about the
wildlife of the Broads is not worth knowing. With a marsh harrier
overhead and assorted dragonflies flitting around the boat we made
out way to the old mill, who's skeletal sails and crumbling brickwork
present an eerie picture among the whispering reeds.
We had a demonstration of quanting, the
method of moving a boat along by means of a long pole, when the boat
had to be turned in the narrow dyke and moved over some very shallow
water.
The trip was enjoyed by all and I asked
Ross if he would sign my Coot Club book. It turned out that he was a
kindred spirit having auditioned for a part in the film version of
Coot Club in the 1980s and been in the final three but missed
getting the roll.
Of the other ports of call entered in
the ship's log of the Teasel, sailed by the Coot Club, I made
it to Ranworth, Acle, Potter Heigham, Beccles and Reedham where I was
staying. All great places for cycling and enjoying the beauty of the
Broads.
The waterways are much busier now than
in Ransome's time and who knows, he might have to share some of the
blame for that himself.
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