Acle to Great Yarmouth

Walked by Sally and Richard, Saturday 2nd October 2010

16 miles of walking including the final 13 miles of the Weavers' Way

Click here for all our photos from this walk.

We left home before 7.30am. The drive across Norfolk was slightly misty, but we arrived at Great Yarmouth station with plenty of time to spare before the 9.19 train back to Acle. We had time to admire the 'Three Ways Meeting Point' (the meeting of the Weavers' Way, the Angles Way and the Wherryman's Way), next to the (closed) Vauxhall footbridge over the River Bure. The station was surprisingly busy and the train was quite full, with our fellow travellers appearing to be a mixture of people on their way home from holiday and locals heading to Norwich. The train, on the 'Wherry Line', was just a two-coach affair, despite the fact that Great Yarmouth Station has at least three platforms long enough for a mainline train. The train journey back to the pretty station at Acle took just 10 minutes, and from here we followed a footpath alongside the railway line, then crossed the road into the village of Damgate (we didn't have to go into Acle itself) and so back to the Weavers' Way at the point at which we'd left it.

The path ran alongside a drainage ditch, with cows on the other side (to our right) and Damgate Marshes to our left, with the A47 beyond. Traffic on the long straight section of the A47 between Acle and Great Yarmouth was visible for most of the day. We crossed a field to a track which meandered its way to a (very) minor road. This in turn took us past Staithe Farm to the mostly ruined Church at Tunstall, a beautiful place, with the post-box (as shown in the Weavers' Way leaflet) nestling alongside.

Another footpath took us to Halvergate, on a veritable 'hill', then we followed Stone Road back down to the marshes. We were soon walking alongside swans (grazing on the plants in a drainage ditch), horses and cows and then we crossed a stile onto the Halvergate and Wickhampton Marshes, being overtaken by a single male walker. You are warned not to come this way in foggy weather, that the route may be muddy following rain and that the marshes are grazed by cattle, including bulls - and the Weavers' Way leaflet suggests that you should 'bring your binoculars to enjoy the wildlife and to spot the path waymarks across the Halvergate Marshes'. Our experience would indicate that all these warnings are justified! However it was a delightful, atmospheric place.

The walker in front of us 'herded' some cows then he disappeared into the distance. The signed route took us past Mutton's Drainage Mill, then the stiles became rather more rickety and there was plenty of mud, especially by stiles and gates etc. On one occasion we had to cross a fence topped with barbed wire, without the benefit of the cross-boards of a stile at all - I am pleased to report that I got across, though not without planting a very muddy boot on Richard's jumper. Then we lost our way completely, trying first one route and then another, but always finding ourselves on the wrong side of a drainage ditch. Richard thought he spotted a Weavers' way sign on a gate on the other side of a drainage ditch, and on the path heading back towards Halvergate - out came the binoculars to confirm this, then all we had to do was to follow the water back to a crossing. The crossing turned out to be a good modern footbridge, complete with Weavers' Way sign, though the latter was on the far side of the bridge, suitably obscured by reeds.

From this point the path was easier to follow and the stiles and gates were in a good state of repair. Berney Arms Mill - our destination at the far side of the marshes - was clearly visible in front of us. We left the marshes by way of a muddy corner, complete with cows, and we were at the splendidly isolated Berney Arms Station (two trains per day!). Slightly further on we reached Berney Arms Mill, with a wooden structure covering what is presumably the wind-driven wheel and buckets used to transfer water from ditches to the river.

And suddenly, there was the River Yare, complete with colourful sailing dinghies and cruisers. It was just about high tide and we sat on the steps by the Mill to eat our lunch and watch the action. Then we followed the northern bank of the river downstream, past the Berney Arms, the confluence of the rivers Yare and Waverney and alongside Breydon Water. Here there were water skiiers, and motor cruisers following the navigation channel marked by posts. As you go downstream, the navigation channel moves closer to the southern bank i.e. quite a long way away, with submerged posts preventing boats coming close to the northern bank.

We walked alongside Breydon Water for almost 5 miles, past Breydon Pump and the disused Lockgate Drainage Mill. It was a bit boring, but attractive, with the estuary to our right and marshes to our left. As the tide receeded, huge numnbers of birds were visible on the mudflats, and sometimes circling as a flock overhead.

The cranes and buildings of Great Yamouth were visible in front of us, with the offshore Scroby Sands Wind Farm beyond, and as we approached Great Yarmouth we could make out the lifting mechanism of Breydon Bridge. We came closer to the railway branch line to Berney Arms, which in turn joined the 'main line' to Acle and Norwich with the A47 and a holiday park (complete with blaring music) just on the other side. One final walk across a marsh (past two women with one small child and many dogs), under Breydon Bridge, past Asda, and we were back at the Three Ways Meeting Point by the station.

We continued on, into Great Yarmouth. The geography of the place takes a bit of sorting out. The town is built on a huge spit which blocks what would otherwise be a large estuary (of the rivers Yare and Waveney - this is Breydon Water). The river, now joined by the River Bure, loops round and flows in a southerly direction for 3 miles or so before reaching the sea. The seafront is rather touristy, the 'historic South Quay' is on the river, and between there is an eclectic mix, including attractive shopping streets (e.g. 'The Rows') and rather tacky guest houses. We stopped for a cup of tea and celebratory cake, then walked past the market and a modern shopping centre to the seafront by Britannia Pier. The exact end point of the Weavers' Way seems a little unclear (is it the Tourist Information Centre? we went there but there were no signs) but I'd like to place it on the sand dunes looking out to Scroby Sands Wind Farm.