Weavers' Way

The Weavers' Way starts by the pier in the seaside resort of Cromer and runs for 61 miles in a generally south-easterly direction to reach the sea again at Great Yarmouth. It is named after the weaving industry that was introduced by 12th Century Flemish immigrants and flourished in the area. The route crosses rolling farmland, woodland and cuts across part of the Norfolk Broads. It uses footpaths, minor roads and a disused railway.

We walked the Weavers' Way in a series of short legs, when weather and time permitted, between February and October 2010, returning home to West Norfolk at the end of each day. The walk is a slightly further from home than other long distance paths that we have walked in this way, with no part being less than a one hour drive away, so we decided not to take two two cars (leaving one at the start and one at the finish of a leg) as we have done elsewhere. This meant either parking in one place and walking 'there and back' or using public transport to get between our finishing and starting places. So progress was quite slow. However, again in contrast with other 'local' long distance paths, we didn't know any part of the route well, so the slow progress gave us the opportunity to explore this delightful new territory.

In addition to Cromer and Great Yarmouth, the route passes through or close to several villages and towns including Aylsham and North Walsham. It also passes stately homes (including Felbrigg Hall and Blicking Hall - shown - both of which we visited as part of our exploration of the area), a large number of beautiful flint churches and many windmills and wind pumps. On the first part of the path there usually seemed to be two or three churches in sight (sometimes only about a kilometre apart) and in crossing the broads the wind pumps were even more frequent.

The countryside is wonderfully varied and there was only one section (Stalham to Potter Heigham) which we considered to have too much road walking. There is more than 10 miles of walking along disused railways - this might have been boring but wasn't, perhaps because we split it between a number of our short 'legs' of the path. The route through the Broads was slightly disappointing, partly because of diversions caused by food defence work on the river banks and partly because the reeds make part of the broads (especially Hickling Broad) all but invisible. In addition some of the broads area is rather touristy - though we managed to find quieter places too (not always on the path). Perhaps the truth is simply that the Broads are best seen from a boat and that there simply aren't any footpaths in some of the best bits. However the crossing of the Halvergate and Wickhampton Marshes, on the final leg of the path, more than compensated for any earlier disappointment. It's a beautiful and attractive landscape.

Paradoxically, the Halvergate and Wickhampton Marshes was the only place where we lost our way. In general the route is very well signposted. It is described in the Norfolk County Council's leaflet 'Weavers' Way' (75p from the Tourist Information Centre in Cromer). However, as always, we enjoy the added detail provided by the Ordnance Survey 1:25000 maps. The Weavers' Way is covered by Explorer sheet 252 (Norfolk Coast East: Cromer and North Walsham) and Outdoor Leisure sheet 40 (The Broads). We bought a secondhand copy of 'Lanton's Guide to the Weavers' Way and Angles Way' (1992) but the route had changed in several places so the guidebook was not particularly useful.

The Weavers' Way joins the Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path at Cromer and the Angles Way at Great Yarmouth. The Angles Way (which we walked in 2010-2011) then joins the Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path (which we walked in 2006-2007 and again in 2012) at Knettishall Heath, thus completing a 227-mile loop around most of Norfolk.