Here the canal cuts through a marshy wooded area called Dilham Broad and again curves to the east before resuming its southerly course to pass under Tonnage Bridge.

Below the bridge, it passes through Broad Fen, an area containing many drainage channels, and meets Tyler's Cut or Dilham Dyke, which runs off to the west.

[7] The bridge is a modern concrete slab[8] which carries the A149 road, with around 7 feet (2.1 m) of headroom, making it only passable by small pleasure craft.

The work also discovered part of a wooden causeway, which ran from the site towards the ford which existed prior to the first bridge being built in 1797.

[13] The river turns to the south and passes a channel leading eastwards to the staithes at Stalham and Sutton.

Stalham Dyke turns to the north-east, to reach a network of jetties and boat years, while Sutton Dyke continues dues east to the staithe, passing through Sutton Broad which is no longer open water, as the navigation channel is flanked on both sides by reedbeds.

[5][7] The river banks of Barton Fen are crowded with trees, marshes, and reeds, the latter formerly harvested and used for thatching for centuries past.

[14] It has a surface area of 170 acres (0.69 km2) and since 1995, much work has been carried out to increase the amount of open water and to dredge polluted mud from the bottom of the broad.

The broad is a nature reserve managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

[5] It is believed that Lord Nelson learnt to sail on Barton Broad prior to joining the navy when he was aged 12.

[7] The church building of St Michael is grade II* listed, and much of the fabric dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, although it was restored in 1839 and 1844.

[19] Turf Fen drainage mill is on the west bank, and was built around 1875 to drain Horning marshes into the river.

There are a number of nature trails, passing through sedge beds, marsh meadow and carr woodland.

The site includes Toad Hole Cottage, a small marshman's house which was refurbished in the 1980s, and is furnished to show what life was like in the 1880s.

Visitors can also walk through the gardens, where there is a tea room, but the grade II listed How Hill House is an educational centre, and is not open to the public.

[17] Below How Hill the river makes a wide horseshoe bend, passing Neaves Drainage mill as it heads towards Ludham Bridge.

The boat, around 3 m (9.8 ft) long, had been hollowed out by hand from a single piece of oak and was found at the bottom of the river between Honing Hall and Brown's Hill.

There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish.

The reasons for the quality being less than good are largely a result of the physical modification of the channel, and for the North Walsham and Dilham Canal section, the volume of surface water and groundwater abstracted for agriculture and land management.

Like most rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) and perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), neither of which had previously been included in the assessment.