The Handbook to the Rivers and Broads of Norfolk & Suffolk

by G. Christopher Davies

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 clustered. Also, for what reason it is hard to say, many of the old and worn-out fishing 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 fishing 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 fishing 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 quantity, 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.

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-fishing 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.”

So ended our cruise.