The reach below the bridge used to be the best in the whole river for pike, but the greater run of tide in recent years and the salter water has spoiled the pike fis.h.i.+ng, for which one has now to go higher up the river.

There is a very good inn at the top of the bank to the west of the line, called the "Duke's Head," and a very beautiful belt of woods skirts the marshes on the east side of the river, where some delicious "bits" may be obtained, and birds, b.u.t.terflies, and flowers abound.

[Picture: Dace] Somerleyton village is well worth a visit, for the owner of the estate has built some most artistic cottages and houses, which, with another score of years' wear, will be beautiful. The hall, occupied by Sir Savile Crossley, M.P., stands in a sylvan park.

[Picture: Decorative chapter header]

CHAPTER XIV.

FROM SOMERLEYTON TO BECCLES.

[Picture: Decorative drop capital] The angling in all this part of the Waveney is extremely good, and the bream and roach are of large size. It is not nearly so much frequented as the other rivers or the upper part of the Waveney, and is practically unfished, on account of the difficulty in obtaining boats, there being no boating-station nearer than Oulton Broad, five miles away. Still, it is worth while rowing from Oulton Broad, half way to Somerleyton, for the takes of bream there lately have been wonderful, both as to size and number. The river is broad and deep, and one part is as good as another, provided that you select a sufficient depth of water.

We had no time to fish, and as a matter of fact I cannot stay to fish, if there is a good breeze blowing; sailing first, fis.h.i.+ng after!

We lay to at the mouth of Oulton d.y.k.e, to get our lunch, which we had put off rather too long. The d.y.k.e is nearly as broad as the river, and a mile and a half long, leading to Oulton Broad, which we intended to visit, after going up the Waveney to Beccles. At the junction of the d.y.k.e with the river there is an excellent fis.h.i.+ng spot, with a great depth of water. While we lay there, a large two-masted vessel, a brigantine of 100 tons, came along the d.y.k.e at a good pace, with topsails only set, and looked as if she were going to scoop all the water out of the river with her great bluff bows. Her crew were pointing out to us, as we lay on the Waveney, and presently the hail came across the narrow neck of marsh, "Do we turn up past you to go to Beccles?"

"Yes, sharp to port; right around!"

The topsails came down, and the mainsail went up with great celerity, and with the aid of her aft canvas, and the helm hard over, she came round the acute angle of the sharp bend with creditable quickness, looking a veritable Goliath on those comparatively narrow waters. As she was now head to wind, down came her canvas, and half-a-dozen men went ash.o.r.e with a long line to tow, and tow they did all the way to Beccles, 13 miles, by which time they must have had enough of it. She was in sight all day over the marsh.

After lunch, we sailed up the Waveney, having to tack a good portion of the way; but the river is so tortuous that some of the reaches can be sailed whichever way the wind is, without tacking.

"How remarkably clear the water is!" remarked Wynne.

"Yes, those weeds you see are 14 feet at least below us, and the river is deep close up to the banks. It is a very pleasant river to sail upon."

"And what a lot of small fish there are!"

"Yes. The Waveney ought to be the best bottom-fis.h.i.+ng river in England, it is so deep, clear, and sweet, but the poachers used to harry it dreadfully, with their long, small-meshed nets, and it was even _trawled_ up by smacks, to get bait for sea-fis.h.i.+ng, but the Norfolk and Suffolk Fisheries Act has stopped all that, or nearly all, and the river is rapidly recovering itself. There are some very large perch in it, and wherever you see the bank gravelly and free from reeds, the bottom will be hard too, and a haunt of perch. Look at those bulrushes."

"What huge ones, and what a quant.i.ty of them!"

"Yes, the marshmen sometimes dry the heads, and rub them up to stuff pillows and cus.h.i.+ons with."

On the north bank is the church of Burgh St. Peter, the tower of which is built in gradually-lessening steps, and presents a very strange, un-English appearance.

The sail up to Beccles is a very pleasant one, and pretty bits continually present themselves. Two miles below Beccles there is a swing railway bridge, which is tolerably easy to get through, as there is not a great rush of tide through it, as under the bridges lower down.

Beccles church had been a prominent object all the way, and when we arrived at Sayer's Grove, so prettily sylvan a place that we decided to stay there the night, we went in the useful jolly another mile to Beccles bridge, 23 miles from Yarmouth, until lately a narrow arched stone structure, but now replaced by a wider and more convenient bridge.

Pa.s.sing through, we skirted the town of Beccles, until we came below the church, a sight no one should miss who is in the neighbourhood. Viewed from the river, it stands on the brow of a hill, in a commanding position. Landing, we climbed up a series of steps and reached the churchyard, whence a splendid view westward is obtained, the river winding in and out through the green marshes towards Bungay. The south doorway of the church is richly ornamented, but the peculiar feature of the church is that the tower, a very high and ma.s.sive structure, is separate from it.

Beccles is a quiet, old-fas.h.i.+oned place, with good railway accommodation, as a glance at the map will show. It is a cheap place to live in, as there are no heavy rates, these being defrayed by the letting of valuable marshes belonging to the town. It is a healthy little place, and pretty withal, and would, I think, be a capital place for retired persons with small incomes to settle in.

The river is navigable for wherries and small yachts, for about ten miles further up to Bungay, but the navigation is rather troublesome, and there are two or three locks to be pa.s.sed through.

It is worth while to row up the river a few miles to s.h.i.+pmeadow lock.

The river all the way is very pretty, with crystal clear water, and the lock itself is quaint and old-fas.h.i.+oned.

[Picture: River Waveney]

After laying in some stores we returned to the yacht, and spent a peaceful evening in the shadow of the wooded hill, beneath which we were moored.

[Picture: Decorative chapter header]

CHAPTER XV.

OULTON BROAD.

[Picture: Decorative drop capital] In the night we were awakened by the sound of very heavy rain pattering on the deck and cabin roof, and presently we discovered that the recent very dry weather had opened the seams of the wood, and sundry persistent droppings evaded our attempts to escape them.

"My nose is wearing away with one dreadful drop."

"Then open your mouth and catch it. Oh!"

"What's the matter?"

"A drop went splash into my eye!"

We made merry for a time, but presently it clearly became a case of "a drop too much," and we sat up in despair. Just as things were getting uncomfortably wet, the storm pa.s.sed off, and the morning dawned with a wondrous clearness and brilliance, while the air was full of the sweet, earthy scents that arise after rain. The reeds were fresher and greener, and the gra.s.ses and flowers glittered in the sun, like the radiant ripples on the water. And so, amid the songs of birds and the quickened joy of nature, we bowled along down the Waveney at a merry pace, and in two hours we had reached the mouth of Oulton d.y.k.e, the sharp turn into which necessitated a heavy gibe.

[Picture: Oulton Broad]

A mile and a half of this and Oulton Broad opened out before us. This is the most civilized of all the Broads, and is always gay with yachts sailing about, and populous with yachts lying at their moorings. It is of an irregular shape, and in the bight, or "ham," at the north-east end of it, the yachts are thickly cl.u.s.tered. Also, for what reason it is hard to say, many of the old and worn-out fis.h.i.+ng smacks of Lowestoft are brought into this corner, and moored against the bank, where very many of them have sunk, and all are picturesque in the extreme. Some large sea yachts also use this bight as a laying-up place for the winter. The river yachts and sailing boats are of every size and rig, and a paddle in and out among them is of interest to a nautical mind. At the lower end of the lake is a lock which gives access for sea-going vessels to Lake Lothing, which is a tidal lake, two miles long, ending in Lowestoft harbour and the sea. By the lock is one of the most charming hostelries it is possible to conceive. It ought to be called the "Angler's Rest,"

were it not already called the "Wherry Hotel." Here there is capital accommodation for anglers, and boats, bait, etc., are provided at reasonable rates. There is also another comfortable inn, called the "Commodore," and there are two smaller inns, the "Waveney Hotel"-the landlord of which, George Smith, is an excellent waterman-and the "Lady of the Lake." The railway station is close by, and is now called Oulton Broad Station, but was formerly Mutford, that being the name of the village at the east end of the Broad. The village is very prettily situated between the two lakes, and is only two miles from the sea.

There are lodgings to be had there, and for a place combining the attractions of lake, river, and sea, it has few equals. Of course, the Broad is within easy reach of Lowestoft, the most attractive watering-place on the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk. It has a fine pier, good houses, cliffs, a capital harbour for yachts, a harbour for fis.h.i.+ng vessels, where the artist will find much that is picturesque, and an old part of the town on the higher ground to the north, which has many features of interest. It has not the noise and bustle of Yarmouth, but it is gay enough for reasonable people.

At Lowestoft, facing the harbour, is the club house of the Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club, and annual visitors to Lowestoft would find it an advantage to join the Yacht Club for the sake of the conveniences afforded by the club-house.

Oulton Broad has plenty of fish in it, and the fis.h.i.+ng is free. When the rivers are flooded, and the rank water off the marshes pours into the river, the fish of all kinds crowd into the purer waters of the Broad in surprising numbers. Formerly it was noted for its perch, but for some time they appear to have decreased in numbers. Lately, however, they have been more freely caught. In a few more years the benefits of the Norfolk and Suffolk Fisheries Act will be more widely felt, as the abundance of small fish in the rivers plainly testifies. Pike are present sometimes in great quant.i.ty, but the supply seems to fluctuate considerably. For a few weeks each season they seem to be uncommonly numerous, and large catches are made. Then they fall off, and none are caught for some time.

The shooting on the Broad is also free, and in the large room at the "Wherry Inn" is a most attractive collection of fishes and birds, which have met their death in this locality.

The most interesting and tantalizing inhabitant of the Broad is the grey mullet, large shoals of which may be seen disporting themselves on the surface. They run to a large size, and seem to average two or three pounds in weight. Anglers cannot catch them as a general rule, but some persons say that they have succeeded, using small hooks baited with strange baits, such as the beard of an oyster, or a bit of boiled cabbage stump. I fancy that by using a fly cast, buoyed at intervals by bits of cork, and having small hooks baited with gentles, and then paying out a long line so as to cover a shoal, some sport might be had. At all events, the experiment is worth trying some day when there is no wind for sailing. The mullet, when alarmed by a net or other obstruction, has a habit of leaping high out of the water, and frequently leaps into boats.

Once, while I was sailing through Reedham Bridge, a grey mullet, of four pounds in weight, leaped into the jolly-boat towing astern, and was captured.

[Picture: Ruffe] At Oulton the mullet are often shot with arrows having heavy lines attached, while they are accidentally confined in the lock between the Broad and Lake Lothing.

Well, we spent the rest of our holiday at Oulton, and as I was saying good-bye to Wynne at the station, I asked him what he thought of the Broads.

"The finest places for boat-sailing and bottom-fis.h.i.+ng in England. I shall bring a boat here in the winter for wild-fowl shooting on Breydon, and I shall certainly come again next summer."