BB FINAL - Flipbook - Page 18
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18
Anchors Aweigh!
All aboard Gizmo’s tour of the Broads National Park!
Over at Barking Bugle HQ we had been hearing tales about how
the woodlands, marshes, riverbanks and even the waterways
of the Broads were great places for a dog to enjoy a day, a
weekend, or even a longer visit accompanied by their humans.
We had also heard that many self-catering properties and
holiday boats also welcome dogs, as do many visitor attractions,
pubs and some other eateries.
This all sounded pawsome to us so I was very excited when our
Editor, Pupstar, suggested sending me on assignment to check
it out! I’ve always thought of myself as a bit of a sea-dog, so
when I asked, ‘Can I hire a boat on expenses?’ and got a ‘Yes’,
I thought this was an opportunity not to be missed.
I quickly discovered that there are several companies on the
Broads that are dog friendly, where you can hire a boat by the
hour, day, or even by the week. For my adventure I hired a day
boat from Broads Tours at Wroxham.
There’s loads of wildlife to spot, in fact the Broads is home to
more than a quarter of the rarest wildlife in the UK including
Britain’s largest butterfly, the swallowtail, and the rare Norfolk
hawker dragonfly.
There are also plenty of places where you can moor up to enjoy
a picnic, visit a dog friendly pub or just lie back and enjoy the
views! Look out for windmills, ruins, pretty villages and
delightful market towns.
For those of you who would prefer to sit back and relax and let
someone else take charge, Broads Tours at Wroxham in the
Northern Broads and Waveney River Tours, which go from
Oulton Broad in the Southern Broads, offer river trips with
commentary.
The thought of being captain of my own boat was quite
daunting at first but I had been reliably informed that the 125
miles (200km) of the area’s waterways are in fact very easy to
navigate. So, following in the pawsteps of Norfolk born Horatio
Nelson it was Anchors Aweigh!
The Broads is a watery triangle between Lowestoft, Stalham
and Norwich, an area that has been referred to as the Venice of
the East because it has more miles of waterway than Venice or
Amsterdam! Wow! This was far too much for me to see in a
day so it’s a good thing that you can hire boats for a week or
more, and for those of you who like to sleep on terra firma there
is a massive choice of dog friendly self-catering cottages and
campsites to choose from.
It was totally pawsome gliding along in my open-top electric
boat and waving away to fellow captains and their passengers
in passing boats.
The Broads definitely isn’t just for boating though – it has over
190 miles (300km) of footpaths, with circular walks from many
villages and moorings. Several long distance routes run through