Day 1.
Image reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland
After a very comfortable night in the garden annexe room, we awoke to a beautiful sunny day and were treated to a full English breakfast with black and white pudding together with bacon, sausage and egg. We were given our packed lunches on leaving.
Mark, the canoe Man arrived around 11-30 and we moved off in his mini-bus to Buxton Mill with canoes towed behind on a trailer.
On arrival we had a safety brief before launching the canoes below the mill race and then we were free to paddle away down the River Bure.
The section of the river from the mill down to Coltishall is above the navigation limit for cruisers so this is a very quiet and beautiful stretch of water. It has areas with trees on either side so is sheltered from the wind. We saw lots of damsel flies, pond skaters, butterflies and even a cuckoo flying about.
We came down to the lock adjacent to Horstead Mill near Coltishall* and portaged on to a short canal section which led back to the river beyond the old mill race. After a very short paddle down the river we came to the King George Pub which was adjacent to the river bank and was our first night’s stop. The pub stowed our canoe and our luggage awaited us in our room.
*This image is included by kind permission of Jonathan Neville whose site "Norfolk Mills" contains lots of history about many of the Mills in the Norfolk area. Read more at www.norfolkmills.co.uk
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