Most twisting walks lead to the shores of South Walsham Inner Broad, where a regular tourist boat service chugs off from a pier beside a thatched boathouse [semi-pretty photo]. Most trips are brief, out to the next broad and back, but twice a day Captain John steers the launch much further up the Fleet Dyke as far as the River Bure. Past yachts and cruisers, past lads beering it up, past retired couples sailing into the wind. Past swans and herons, past gaggles of geese, past grebes and whatever baby grebes are called (other than aww, cute). To St Benet's Abbey, formerly one of the most important religious sites in East Anglia, now razed and ruined (apart from a scaffolded gatehouse). The land is reeded and marshy, far from any road, yet still abuzz with relentless river traffic [pretty photo]. As getting away from it all goes, you can't beat a broad.
