Meantime

I seem to remember a lot of very similar comments about another establishment when it reopened. Noisy soul ripped out of the place, too clinical etc etc etc. It now regularly wins awards and is a firm favourite with many. The White Horse at Neatishead had so many similar comments when it reopened. Give them time to get established, to iron out any teething problems and most of all give them time to finish it off and get the restaurant side up and running.

Wetherspoons and Greene King have had an app for years now so that you don't have to go to the bar, doesn't mean you can't if you really want to. It's just extra choice. Why do people have to look for all the negatives before they've even stepped foot in the place? Personally, I thought all the old tat hanging off the ceiling in the old Yare was a fire risk. I think I'll decide once I've tried it!

The section I've highlighted in red is now a cycle / footpath. Quite an interesting map as it also shows the line that used to run from Aldeby through Haddiscoe and onto Yarmouth through The Waveney Forest. I've also just read that during the second world war explosives were placed under the railway bridge at Potter Heigham ready to be detonated to blow the bridge up should there be an invasion. They were never removed and were discovered again in the 60's when workman with oxy acetylene torches were cutting up and dismantling the old bridge. Apparently, they moved pretty sharpish when they realised!!

It is a shame that not more have been saved or opened up. There is a cycle and footpath that runs from a public footpath in Normanston Lowestoft, diagonally towards the seafront. It ends at Station Road which I guess is the giveaway that it was an old railway line originally. It probably branched off towards Gorleston. There is another good footpath that links East Ruston with Stalham, it forms part of The Weavers Way. It comes out at Stalham High Street, the end where the old hotel used to be. I'd read somewhere that a lot of the A149 follows the route of the old railway, and when you look at the map it becomes obvious that as the A149 bears inland after Stalham, the railway would have carried on along The Weavers Way. I believe the footpath between East Ruston and Stalham whilst forming part of The Weavers Way is still privately owned and is a permissive footpath. At section along the path there are still some of the old railway gates.

Watch it! You'll put Vaughan off his lunch.

The good thing about The Waveney Forest is it can easily be explored from the boat by mooring at The BA public mooring at St Olaves. If you walk away from St Olaves you soon reach a dyke where you head inland before turning left and skirting around the edge of the forest. Eventually the public footpath peters out to a dead end, officially, but there are many unofficial footpaths to explore from that point that take you through the forest. You could do a circular walk through the forest, out to New Road, turn right along New Road and then right at the end back towards The Bell Inn before returning behind the bungalows to the mooring.

I guess. It was released as a single during his Ziggy Stardust era, but the origins of the song date back to 1968. He was asked to write a song for Claude Francois and after the lyrics were rejected Paul Anka rewrote it into Frank Sinatra's My Way. Bowie annoyed at the success of My Way, used it a s a template and wrote Life on Mars as a parody of My Way. The Thin White Duke era was more like 1975 onwards. Now there's thread drift!

I only really discovered the forest as a place to walk about a year ago, despite coming to the Broads for over 20 years. I tend to use the Ordnance Survey app to scope out places to walk and then use Google maps street view to scope out possible parking places close to my planned walk, which is how I found the parking down New Road. Doing some Googling recently I found there is quite a military history to Waveney Forest. Bell Hill near to Staithe Belt used to be a military battery. Some interesting place names around there. Skeleton Wood, Tinks Wood. Foxburrow Hang. The path of the old dismantled railway through the forest is quite easy to follow, just a shame you cannot follow it all the way to Belton. I took the public footpath from Sandy Lane which runs down towards a dead end on the marsh. On the left is part of the golf course and on the right is a holiday park. As you get to the point where the path of the old railway line crosses the footpath there is locked gates in the golf course fence and the holiday park fence. I did wonder if some ancient right of way was being blocked, otherwise why have two gates in two different private properties right where the line would have crossed?

I never managed to get into The Decoy Tavern when it was open. Sadly it is now surrounded by Heras fencing and I believe is to be demolished and turned into five new homes!

I walked along the public moorings and then behind Burgh Castle Marina and Goodchilds eventually ending up at The Fishermans inn. A stroll down the side and along the river's edge that leads past Burgh Castle until I reached the top end of Breydon Water. I still have fond memories of many nights spent in the now sadly closed Berney Arms pub. I then turned away from the river and headed back inland past what I think used to be a pub? Church Farm? Bever got there when it was open, but believe it was once owned by The Richardson family? I then walked up Church Road until it becomes the High Road and popped into The Queens Head for a much needed pint. Suitably refreshed I retraced my steps a short distance to Butt Lane and followed this all the way back to Belton past the various holiday parks. Upon reaching New Road Belton I found myself at another pub, this time The Kings Head. Well I was in no rush so time for a sit down and some more refreshment. I found a couple of footpaths that allowed me to cross through Belton and made my way to Sandy Lane again where I retraced my steps back to New Road and my waiting car.

Who knew there was a forest in The Norfolk Broads? Off course we all did, we will have cruised past it many times, but probably not realised it was there. If you cruise from St Olaves down The Waveney towards Burgh Castle on your right is Waveney Forest. It is a privately owned forest with two public foot paths that partially go through the forest. One of those foot paths ends up at Staithe Belt opposite Seven Mile House. You may often have seen a clearing that leads down to the river edge and wondered how those people got there? Well they wandered through Waveney Forest and down the path to Staithe Belt. Whilst the forest is privately owned, there are many foot paths through the forest and whilst these are not designated public foot paths no one seems to object to their usage and you will find many members of the public making use of the paths. There is relatively easy access along the riverbank from the BA public mooring at St Olaves, or by car if you drive away from St Olaves bridge towards Fritton, when you reach the now closed and soon to be demolished Decoy Tavern, turn left into New Road. Head down there and about halfway down on the lefthand side there is some parking by the edge of the forest. A word of warning. The owners of the forest are sadly doing some commercial clearing of the forest quite close to the car parking, although this would appear to be better than the original plan which was to clear large areas of the forest for quarrying. For now that plan has been put to bed, but it is still sad to see parts of the forest being commerically cleared. Tuesdays 11th October I parked up in New Road and took a stroll through the forest before returning to New Road and walking up it in the direction of Belton. At the end of New Road I turned right and followed Back Lane that gradually narrows until it becomes a byway. Once it narrows to the point where it is no longer accessible for cars, it becomes a nice shaded byway which discets the golf course which is part of The Caldecott Hall complex. After a while I took a left turn onto Sandy Lane and into the village of Belton. I followed Station Road North until it turns right into St Johns Road and just off on the left is a public foot path that leads you down towards The Waveney River, just at the upstream end of The BA public mooring. At this point I'm reminded of an old nursey rhyme. "If you go down in the woods today You're sure of a big surprise" Well in this case it was this Motley Crue! The lads week.

Possibly, although all three Benacre, Covehithe and Easton are referred to as Broads on the OS maps. The whole area is now designated as a site of scientific interest. Differing estimates give the village of Covehithe anywhere from 30 to 100 years before it is gone.

There is indeed, although if you go to Southwold harbour, then it is a short walk across an old Bailey bridge to get to Walberswick, which also has one or two good pubs. Alternatively you can also get the ferry from Southwold harbour to Walberswick.

Not at all. I found it amusing. We should remember that The Thin White Duke himself referred to them as The Norfolk Broads. A point if anyone knows who I'm referring to!

Which makes me wonder what is a real Broad? The Norfolk Broads were known as such before it was realised in the 1950's I think, that they were flooded old peat diggings. They were thought of as a collection of rivers and lakes and known as the Broads. Benacre Broad could also be described as a coastal lagoon. It is fed by freshwater but regular breaches of the sand bar occur and the last in 2020 increased the salinity quite a bit.

No but one day I shall have to go and check it out. So many places under our noses we didn't know existed.

Leaving Kessingland I retraced my steps some way against a very fierce wind and having consulted the OS app decided to head inland on a foot path and turn it into a circular walk back towards Covehithe. When I reached the car I decided to walk down Mill Lane to the cliff edge. There is no public footpath marked, but enough people seem to have forged a path to the left along the cliff top and the edge of the farmer's field and it is possible to walk along the edge of the cliff in the direction of Kessingland until you reach Benacre Broad. This would make a very nice short circular walk if when you reach Benacre Broad you double backed along the beach towards Southwold to Covehithe Broad and then took the public footpath back towards Covehithe. Having mapped it out, it would be in the region of 2.6 miles.

I'm no geologist, but I could stop and look at the colours, the layers and various exposed formations of the cliffs for hours. The only problem is that Kessingland is calling and there is a pub there and I could do with a pint. The Sailors Home serves a very nice chilled pint of Aspalls.

Getting towards Kessingland and there were one or two people out enjoying the wind and the sea. They were making swift progress. Not sure I'd like being stationed in this defense shelter, especially at high tide!

This is the sand bar that separates the sea from Benacre Broad. And now I'm standing on the sand bar looking across the Broad towards The Bay of Biscay.

The picture below was taken from the bird hide and is pretty much the same as the one taken by Turnoar 20 years ago. The next picture is looking slightly more towards the sea. I have no idea why, but the water of the Broad looks much Bluer than that os the sea which is Greyer. I'm such that must be a scientific explanation, but I don't know why.

As you walk further along the beach you again come to a wooded area and behind that is the start of Benacre Broad. This is taken from the edge of Benacre Broad looking inland towards an area known as the Bay of Biscay.

This is the cliff roughly where Covehithe village is. To the right you can see some service conduits hanging from the cliff that used to feed a second world war defense shelter that is now lying on the beach. I was quite surprised that these shelters had so many comms and services running to them.

You can see from the footprints in the sand how firm the sand is if you walk along the freshly exposed sand. It really is nothing like walking on soft dried sand and means you can comfortably cover some distance. It was a windy day and the tide can get a bit lively at times, especially when the wash hits the beach from passing ships.

This is looking back along the foot path that leads you down to the beach. You can clearly see St Annes in the distance. Looking along the beach towards Kessingland the cliff in the distance is roughly where Covehithe village is, so you can see there is no safe direct access to the beach from the village.