8 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



A tide-table stands at the foot of the Haven Bridge, on the 

 south side, on whose clock-like faces the times of each high 

 water at the bar for the day are noted. Allow one hour 

 later for Breydon. A walk to Burgh on the five and a half 

 miles zigzag of " walls," on fine days, is interesting ; and an 

 examination of the grey ruins of the old Roman walls will 

 repay the journey thither. A good pair of field-glasses will 

 interest the stroller as he journeys. The north side of Brey- 

 don affords quite another aspect. One should make for the 

 tollgate near Vauxhall Station, pay a halfpenny, walk along 

 the New Road as far as the second gate beyond the first half 

 a right-angle turn in the road, cross the two gates, the narrow 

 bit of marsh, and the railway, in spite of the notice board, and 

 then ramble on in a westerly direction to Berney Arms. A 

 noon train usually starts for Norwich, passing Berney Arms, 

 and setting down passengers if required. It is a fourpenny 

 ride to this one-man railway station, which is separated by two 

 marshes and three gates from Berney Arms, a quaint, cheer- 

 less alehouse, that draws more than half a barrel per fortnight, 

 and supplies any who ask for them with a jug of coffee and 

 rich, sweet cheese and bread, or allows the visitor to munch 

 his own refreshments. A chat with the natives, and the 

 smelters one sees here, is always a source of interest, and not 

 infrequently of amusement. The walk home is by no means 

 uninteresting or tedious. The huts of the smelters and the 

 wildfowlers dot the monotonous level with bits of colour. 



There is one Breydon picture, framed in a circle of verdure, 

 that always bewitches me. To enjoy a view of it I start by 

 tram from Southtown Bridge, getting off at the Boundary 

 Road, a mile journey. From here a three-miles' walk across 

 the bridle paths and through country lanes, from which 

 glimpses of Breydon may be snatched at intervals, finds one 

 on the edge of the old estuary. On reaching Burgh church a 

 right-angle turn is made down-hill, and Berney Arms and the 

 confluence of the rivers Yare and Waveney lie before one. 

 If a wherry and a yacht or two are passing at this moment a 

 most beautiful picture is presented. A few yards from Burgh 

 church is the Roman well, where one may refresh himself; 

 and the ruins of the Camp are but a hundred yards farther on. 

 Pursuing the right turn one comes to Breydon walls, along 

 which one may ramble back to Yarmouth. 



