A Berney Arms Adventure!

Preparation

Check weather forecast! If cold or wet you need to know as it is a very exposed area with very limited options
Check the train schedule, as the service is sparse. Also if you miss your return train you may well be in the middle of nowhere for a long time
(Which if you have not checked as per first suggestion will feel an extremely long wait and you may well curse this writer at mentioning such an odd place to visit).
An Ordnance Survey Map (OS) will greatly enhance your walk in the area

Note: Recently I heard that the Pub is not open. Please check in advance as it is the only shelter for miles!

Berney Arms – the middle of nowhere

I never defined a ‘Best Train Ride’ as having to be long and thus I include a trip from Norwich to Berney Arms in East Anglia in England. It is just 16 miles and takes 30 minutes. There are a handful of trains daily each way. Disclosure: In my twenties I lived in Norwich for a short time and came to appreciate this provincial and charming English city.

Norwich has a cathedral, complete with lovely grounds, a castle, a quirky market on a sloped square and, allegedly a pub for every day of the year (a bit doubtful on veracity of this claim, but what the heck). East Anglia is famed for its Real Ales in any case. Just across the river on the east side of town is the Station from where your adventure to Berney Arms will commence. Berney Arms is in the Broads; a network of leisure waterways, renown for their beauty and wildlife.

Now the exciting part about Berney Arms station is that it is one of just 2-3 stations in Britain that is only reached by rail. It is quite simply a very short, single platform in the apparent middle of nowhere. As it is flat all the walks in any direction might be classed as ‘easy’ (except that they might be muddy and mightily exposed – especially if the wind is from the east and straight off the Russian Ural Mountains!). In the main direction you will come to the famed Berney Arms Pub.

Constant Rumours of Closure

Note: check that the pub is still open and if so when, as rumors persist of its demise. (Otherwise you’ll need to take that popular British thing with you. A picnic.).

A short train trip but a real sense of adventure will be yours should you make the effort to go to Berney Arms!