It was a lovely early autumn day with the hedgerows full of sloes and the acorns and horse chestnuts starting to drop from the trees. It was the Yare Navigation Race that really prompted us to do this walk as this then provided added reason to get to Reedham. The race has been an annual event along the river since 1976 and is organised by the Coldham Hall Sailing Club. It entails sail cruisers navigating the distance between Coldham Hall near Norwich and Breydon Water and back, a total distance of some 30 to 34 miles depending on the exact placement of the turning buoy on Breydon. This is a timed race with Skippers allowed to choose their own start time which leaves it up to their skill and judgement in getting the best out of the winds and tide. The perfect course would be to meet the turn of the tide at Breydon and thus have the tide with them for the whole route. The results are worked out on a local handicap with a percentage of each yacht's time being added or subtracted to their elapsed time to give the corrected time.
At Reedham, where the railway swing bridge presents a particular hazard, the yachts are timed out of the race whilst they negotiate the narrow bridge channel. This provides a perfect vantage point to view the race as the boats start to circle up and down the quay each time the swing bridge closes. This scene made a pleasant backdrop to lunch in the Ships pub garden that borders the river by the bridge.
Up to 72 entries are allowed in the race but not all complete the course. In 1980, only twenty eight boats finished when the wind died completely and a thick fog rolled in with one yacht, the Condor, being sunk after hitting an unseen channel marker on Breydon. In 1985, only twenty one completed the course because of near gale force winds which resulted in much damage to the yachts including one which lost four masts. During the last few years the number of finishers has been reduced by the wind falling off in the late afternoon. On this particular occasion the wind was enough to carry the boats swiftly downstream past Reedham. Looking at their
website it would appear that all 50 of this years entries completed the race with the winner, number 369 Moonshadow skippered by a T Moore, achieving an adjusted time 5 hours 6 minutes and 58 seconds.
The walk also coincided with the Ferry Fest, a weekend music festival held on the grounds of the Reedham Ferry camp site. Acts included Scott Wright, Dumbfoundus, Tom Pearce, Lee Vann, Axel Loughrey, Killamonjambo, Crumbs for Comfort, James Veira, Solko and many more. Maybe another year we may spend the weekend at the event but thats for another blog post!
The Cockatrice
An interesting building worthy of note is the isolated white house at Norton Staithe which is located on the final stretch of road leading up to the Ferry and marked on the OS Map simply as Cockatrice. This unassuming building was a pub of the same name and part of the Norwich brewery's Steward and Patteson tied estate. It is said to have finally closed its doors in 1922, though there is some speculation that it remained open up until 1930 as related in Arthur Patterson's book
Through Broadland by Sail and Motor where he describes a visit to the hostelry in that year, as well as indicating that it used to be the haunt of smugglers known as Breydon Pirates. The building dates from the early nineteenth century and it is not clear why it obtained such a name of Cockatrice which is most unusual and probably the only example in England. A cockatrice is a heraldic term for a small but dangerous mythical monster which has the head, upper body and legs of a cock and a lower body which tapers away to a reptilian, or dragons tail. It is said that its bite was venomous and that its eyes could kill a man simply by staring at him. The creature is said to hatch from an egg that is laid on a dunghill by an elderly cock rather than a hen, which is then hatched out by a snake or a toad. The only method to kill this monster was to make it see its own reflection either by placing a mirror at the entrance to its den or by wearing glass armour when going into battle against it.
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