Norfolk Broads UK

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Hardley Windmill View

boatman — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:57:19 +0000

The view from the top of the restored Hardley Windmill is breathtaking, the flatness of Norfolk and the large skies are striking on a great summers day. The visitor centre and mill are usually open at the weekends.

Windmill looking towards Cantley

Looking in the opposite direction towards Hardley Staithe, a beautiful place, where many fine vessels are lying. It’s definitely worth the walk to have a look inside and admire the brilliant view from up top.

View Towards Hardley Staithe

Norfolk Broads Hardley Windmill

boatman — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:08:06 +0000

Hardley Windmill is now looking closer to completion, the view below of the Windmill and the Wherry moored alongside, provide a sense of the past activities around the local staithes, when Wherries carried their loads like coal, reeds and bricks.

Hardley Windmill & Wherry

The Windmill can be seen from all over the area and in it’s more restored state, it defnitely adds beautifully to the River Yare views and Norfolk Broads scenery. Below is a different view of it taken from towards Cantley.

Hardley Windmill

Norfolk Broads Landscape

boatman — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:33:11 +0000

With the Norfolk Broads land and sky it’s fun to try and work out where the river progresses further along it’s meandering ways. For example in this picture near Langley Dyke, apart from the immediate and obvious reed bank in the foreground, there is a bend to the left in the middle of the picture and then another bend to the right gong past the front of the Cantley Sugar Factory.

Towards Cantley Landscape

The river seems to almost randomly wind it’s way, making it difficult to figure out where you’ll end up, when you follow the next few bends. Here’s a later picture of the refurbished Hardley Windmill, (taken from the river back towards Cantley Factory) looking like it’s always been part of this scenery.

Hardley Windmill

Norfolk Broads Windmills

boatman — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:18:13 +0000

I love Windmills on the Norfolk Broads, they all seem to have their own individual character. Indeed, some of the Windmills have their own ‘fan club’ like Hardley Windmill Trust. The renovated ones look tidy and clean and punctuate the Norfolk bank horizons beautifully, breaking up an otherwise predictable linearity.

Norfolk Broads Windmill

The windmills left more to nature, like this one below, still are fascinating and stand as symbols of a bygone era. The local birds like to make nesting use of them.

Norfolk Broads Old Windmill

Hardley Floods

boatman — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:36:23 +0000

Hardley Floods is designated as a Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is a fascinating place for bird watching judging from the not insignificant number of fully equipped Twitchers passing by. There is a great (sometimes muddy) footpath with some sturdy bridges where you can stand and watch the wildlife go by on both the river Chet and in the floods.

Hardley Trees

The local ducks are intriguing to watch as they float by feeding on the tide.

Feeding Duck

Boat Views

boatman — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:43:04 +0000

The colours out on the Norfolk Broads are astounding, ranging from deep blues to greys which certainly aren’t dull. Each time you venture out on the rivers, you’re never sure what you’ll see. The reeds along the banks often range from strong orange golds to deep dark greens all in the same day. These two pictures show the some of the colour variety out there.

Windmill

The metal structures found create quite an atmosphere.

Pylons

Boats and Banks

boatman — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:58:00 +0000

The river banks hold many fascinating surprises for the keen eyed boat person, from dragonflies to ducks, if you can stay quiet and cut your engine. I think a canoe or rowing boat is the best for quietly approaching undetected. You never know what you may see peeking over the river banks, in smaller boats you get more of a chance to get closer to unsuspecting wildlife, like this owl.

Owl

A more common site whilst cruising in your boat are the geese.

Geese On Bank

Tree Holidays

boatman — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:35:50 +0000

Trees and holidays; in our younger days, my friends and I would spend many happy hours climbing trees. Those overhanging the water had an added excitement of one slip and you’re in the drink, but you did get a better view of any boats going past. Health and Safety probably wouldn’t allow it these days. So here’s some trees you can find on the Norfolk Broads, you’ll have to see if you can work out where they are.

Tree Sunset

Sometimes someone gets in the way of that tree picture you’re trying to take.

You are being watched

Norfolk Broads Water

boatman — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:54:15 +0000

This water the Norfolk Broads is largley composed of is fascinating. What I find amazing is the way the same stretch of water can look so different at different times of the day and of course different seasons. The sounds you hear on the Broads range from gentle lapping of wash against the reeds, the hammering thud of the water at higher speed and the clicking, dripping sounds of the tide running past when you’ve moored up for the night. I love to watch water flowing under the many bridges across the bank footpaths.

Flow

The water colour is often somewhat brown but clearer in the shallows.

Water Shadow