CHAPTER XIII 



GREAT YARMOUTH TO HORNING 



ALMOST all the rivers which carry their freshets to the sea 

 find an outlet into the Yarmouth Roadsteads. Roughly 

 speaking, there are between forty and fifty Broads, having a 

 total area of about 4000 acres, any one of which may be 

 reached from the rivers which converge at Great Yarmouth. 

 No wonder the tide runs strong, and the local wherry men are 

 wise in their generation when they demur at orders which 

 direct them to proceed without regard to ebb or flow. 



From the experience gained in coming from Oulton, the 

 advantages are foreseen of laying plans for navigation with a 

 due respect for the tide time-tables. Leaving gay old Yar- 

 mouth behind with its ancient walls and turrets, its quaint 

 rows, streets, curious houses, its hospitable inhabitants and 

 pretty fisher-girls, we somewhat reluctantly proceed upon our 

 way up the North River towards the heart of the Broad 

 District. For ten miles the going is anything but comfort- 

 able, the river is narrow, mud banks jut out into the stream 

 at many points, often being found quite in the middle ; plenty 

 of other craft are met with, passed and repassed, to the 

 hindrance of themselves as well as others, and the scenery is 

 neither attractive nor interesting. 



Along the whole stretch of river to Acle, a distance of 

 twelve miles, little worthy of note on either hand is passed. 

 To the south, a flat expanse of marsh land extends for miles, 

 with nothing to break the sky-line except an occasional water- 

 mill ; on the north the upland is visible, and after passing the 

 Two-Mile House the ruined tower of Caistor Castle may just 

 be seen rising therefrom. Leaving the three-mile, four-mile, 



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