Wherryman's Way

The Wherryman's Way is a 37.5 mile route from Norwich to Great Yarmouth. It mostly follows the River Yare, though it starts near the River Wensum a mile or so (as measured along the river, rather further on the walking route) from the confluence of the Wensum and Yare in Whitlingham Country Park. Actually the Wensum is the longer and larger river upstream of the confluence, so it could be convincingly argued that this is a walk along a single river. The route takes its name from the wherries, large cargo-carrying barge whose black sails were a once common sight on these waters.

The Wherryman’s Way runs through the heart of the Norfolk Broads , a landscape which is essentially artificial, with the broads having been formed by the flooding of peat workings and gravel pits. However, the landscape also includes open marshes, reedbeds, grazing meadows and riverside villages, and the broads are home to a wide selection of wildlife. There is also human activity to watch on the river.

There are couple of previously published guides to the Wherryman's Way, but I don't think there is anything still in print and, in any case, the route seems to be diverted quite regularly because of flood protection works etc. Fortunately, the diversions we encountered were well signposted on the ground. The permanent Wherryman's Way signs show a wherry and its reflection; they're very pretty but don't show direction unless accompanied by a finger post or arrow. Our reference source of choice is, as always, Ordnance Survey maps, and on this occasion almost the entire route is given on OS Explorer Sheet OL40 "The Broads" with Sheet 237 "Norwich" only needed for the extreme Norwich end of the walk.

We started our walk on the Wherryman's Way on Easter Saturday, 3rd April 2021 and completed it on Sunday 9th May, after five legs of rather varying lengths.

Click here for our first day's walk on the Wherryman's Way.