N
Swing bridge Yarmouth SC
Pontoons
Pontoons
King’s Manor
FarmThe Red Lion
Norton
River Yar
Freshwater
The Causeway
YARMOUTH
0 5 cables
Isle of Wight
Lymington
YarmouthThe^ SoCowes
lent
shore via a swing bridge. We dutifully went to
the local marina office and just caught the duty
manager before he closed. Evidently there’s no
discount for being upriver, but we would have
needed the swing bridge code for the return
had a kind boat owner not already told us.
As the channel becomes progressively
narrower and more tortuous upstream, it
is best to take a dinghy up with an outboard
rather than the boat. This is especially true
if lunch is liable to run on at the Red Lion,
the notable watering hole on the west side
of the causeway just beyond the church. The
reed-banked river will take you for a mile up
to the causeway and the significant building
to be seen on the right is the ancient King’s
Manor Farm, mentioned in the Domesday
Book. The navigable limit of the river is at the
causeway, where you can leave the dinghy and
go up the road past the church to the pub.
Wildlife is plentiful on the Yar. You may spot
a barn owl hunting by day or, if you’re lucky,
the elusive red-billed water rail, though you
are more likely to hear its call, often compared
to a piglet squealing in distress. Swallows,
Canada geese and kingfishers are
a common sight in summer, as are
lone little egrets and detachments
of black-tailed godwit, silently
probing the mud. In winter,
a legion of wildfowl takes
up residence on the river –
the biggest flock being Brent
geese – where they pass the
long nights in seclusion and
presumably relative comfort.
In summer when the tide
is up, Yarmouth Sailing Club
races dinghies on Saturdays and
Sundays, but the blissfully quiet
Yar is generally little used, and
most of the time you will find
yourself sharing it with only the
wildfowl and waders.Once past the swing bridge, you
can enjoy the relative seclusion
of the river away from the busy
crowds of the Solent