You care about where goods come from, but how much do you know about how they’re transported? The Coastal Exploration Company has revived low impact, sustainable trading routes for Norfolk businesses, moving local produce between King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth, up to Norwich, stopping at destinations along the way. And you can travel as a passenger!

Up close, you’ll experience the old ways of trading cargo by sea, on the whelk boat (which can take 750kg). You’ll meet heritage boats at harbours, embarking on a journey very few in modern Britain will ever experience. For centuries Norfolk was full of small bustling ports, made wealthy by commerce with the low countries of mainland Europe. Now most of these ports have silted up, leaving odd relics in the tidal mud, with the routes of this lucrative business recorded only in history books. Blakeney, Cley, Wiveton and Thornham are just a few of those commercial trading ports whose busy working communities have faded into the past

Feel the wind on your face and salt on your tongue as you ride the wind under wide skies on sea and rivers, following in the wake of Norfolk traders and merchants. Transporting cargo under sail, you’ll become part of a thread connecting you to generations of seafarers whose traditional knowledge has been handed down over centuries. The schedules work in harmony with the elements, dictated by tide, weather and light. You can’t rush nature. And there’s something immensely satisfying about being part of it.