The haunting cry of visiting Pinkfoot Geese is the sound of a Norfolk winter. Immerse yourself in their world surrounded by Norfolk’s spectacular salt marsh. To find the lonely lagoons, you need a boat guided by the Coastal Exploration Company’s first class sailors who know the secrets of these hidden channels.
Carried by the flow of tides there’s no rush, you’re held by natural rhythms. When the waters are static, before the tide turns, you’ll stop for hot soup. Listen. All around you marram grass shivers in the wind and rare bird calls unspool over the shimmering salt marsh. Smell the mud’s fresh mineral tang and feel Norfolk’s good food warming you from the inside out. You might be enjoying artisan sourdough, cheeses, home-baked pies or cakes, all sustainably sourced and locally made.
This unique part the world is one of the UK’s last true wildernesses. Wind drives clouds across the sky and white wing feathers catch the light, shifting your focus from the distant horizon to small birds at home over a vast sea.
You’ll depart at the very start of the tide from the East Quay at Wells, as the sea flows into the salt marsh. The journey lasts between 3-4 hours, in a traditional 1960s wooden mussel flat travelling under sail and oar through the protected north Norfolk creeks, or by crab or whelk boat if the tide is very high. You’ll return on the outgoing tide, brought safely back to the Wells pontoon.