Treasure Island

Lindsay Want goes on a walking adventure around Somerleyton on the ancient island of Lothingland

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Now come on me hearties, don’t be lily-livered about getting out there in the fresh winter air. If one Suffolk walk ever warranted pulling on those long-johns and reaching for that silver thread base-layer, then it has to be this one.

Whether you’re an ardent land-lubber or old sea-dog, you’ll love sailing the Wherry Line up beyond Oulton Broad from Lowestoft central. As railway journeys go, it’s an unusual little voyage, snatching bright beacon flashes of the Waveney as the lazy river bends and basks beneath the new year’s early sun.

Out on the marshes, the lingering drifts of mist are spine-chillingly beautiful. But before you can say ‘shiver me timbers’, it’s time to disembark at Somerleyton station and set booted foot on East Anglia’s ancient island of Lothingland.

But before you thread your way through the frosty boatyard towards Slug’s Lane, reach for the OS map and you’ll realise you’re heading out into mysteriously uncharted territory. There’s simply no mention of Lothingland on the maps and no clue to the past, other than Lowestoft’s Lake Lothing, perhaps. In ancient times, the ‘island’ was bound to the north by the River Yare and Breydon Water, and to the west and south by the Waveney which flowed towards the sea through Oulton Broad. Today, it’s almost as if it has disappeared without a trace, leaving little more than haunting memories of Neolithic settlers and Norsemen amid a modern landscape shaped by energetic entrepreneurs.