Norfolk's chalk river, looping past watermills and grazing marsh through Fakenham and Norwich to meet the Yare
The Wensum is a chalk river, though it does not look like the Hampshire sort: it runs slower, over a bed of gravel and silt, through a wide Norfolk valley of grazing marsh and fen. That mix is why it is protected along its whole length, and it holds a good head of brown trout, along with white-clawed crayfish and brook lamprey in the cleaner reaches.
Mills are the thing to look for. The river drove dozens of them and several still stand at the water, the one at Lyng among the prettiest. Pensthorpe Natural Park near Fakenham has turned old gravel workings on the river into lakes and gardens, with paths throughout. Downstream the Wensum becomes an urban river, running under the walls of Norwich Castle and past The Cow Tower before joining the Yare below the city.
Riverside Walk through Norwich follows it for a couple of miles, and Norwich Station stands on the bank.
