2 Norwich – Wroxham – Potter Heigham

Route 2 begins in the leafy suburb of Eaton, on the south-western fringe of Norwich, where the bus threads between the neat closes and the old flint cottages around The Cellarhouse before dropping down towards the city. As the route curls in past Judges Walk and Town Close Road, glimpses of Eaton Park's bandstand and the wide green lawns give way to Victorian terraces and the rooflines of the Golden Triangle.

Into the centre, the bus works through St Stephens Street and Castle Meadow, with the great Norman keep of Norwich Castle rising above the rooftops and the market's striped canopies spread out below. A pause on Prince of Wales Road puts the ornate frontage of the Royal Arcade and the spires of St Peter Mancroft and the Cathedral within a short walk, before the service pulls in at Norwich Railway Station, its handsome French Renaissance facade facing the River Wensum.

Beyond the river, the character shifts quickly. The bus climbs through Thorpe St Andrew, following the wooded ridge above the Yare, then out past Dussindale and the park and ride at Postwick. Fields open up on either side as the route reaches New Rackheath and Salhouse, a classic Broads village of thatched cottages, a round-tower church and the sign for Salhouse Broad tucked down a lane through the oaks.

Wroxham and Hoveton sit either side of the River Bure, joined by a low stone bridge that the bus crosses slowly enough to take in the lines of hire cruisers moored below. Roys of Wroxham, self-styled largest village store in the world, dominates the corner, and the platforms of Hoveton and Wroxham station are a stone's throw away, with the Bure Valley Railway's narrow-gauge locomotives often simmering at the buffers.

From here the route enters the true Broads. Reed beds, staithes and the masts of yachts show intermittently between hedgerows as the bus passes BeWILDerwood's treetop walkways, then drops into Horning, where the Swan Inn looks straight out over the river and small ferries putter across to Cockshoot Broad. Ludham follows, with its handsome Church of St Catherine, before the road bends down to Potter Heigham. The final approach reveals the famous medieval bridge, its low arches a rite of passage for Broads skippers, and the boatyards, chandleries and Lathams department store that mark the end of the outward run.

Route 2 makes a proper day out from the edge of Norwich into the Broads, with easy hops on and off wherever the mood takes you. Board at Eaton or, more usefully for visitors, at Norwich Bus Station or the Railway Station, and you can be watching reed beds slide past the window within half an hour.

A short stop in Norwich itself is well worth it. Castle Meadow drops you a couple of minutes from Norwich Castle and its museum, the open-air market beneath City Hall, and the medieval lanes running down to the Cathedral Close and Elm Hill's crooked timber frontages. Grab breakfast at one of the cafes on London Street before rejoining the bus.

As the bus reaches Salhouse, walkers can hop off and follow the lane down to Salhouse Broad, a quiet stretch of open water with a small beach, canoe hire in season and a footpath through the oak woods towards Wroxham Broad. It is one of the gentlest introductions to Broads scenery you will find.

Wroxham and Hoveton form the natural pivot of any day out here. Roys of Wroxham sprawls across several buildings for gifts and provisions, and the neighbouring Hoveton and Wroxham station is the base of the Bure Valley Railway, a nine-mile narrow-gauge line to Aylsham. Riverside cafes and hire yards offer short boat trips if you want to swap wheels for water for an hour.

Continuing east, families should keep an eye out for BeWILDerwood, the treehouse and rope-bridge adventure park inspired by Tom Blofeld's Broads-set children's books. A stop or two later, Horning rewards a longer pause: wander down to the staithe, watch the yachts drift by from a bench outside the Swan Inn, and if time allows take the tiny pedestrian ferry across to explore the marshes.

The route culminates at Potter Heigham, where the medieval bridge is the star turn. Walk down to the riverbank to watch cruisers tackle its tight arches, browse the chandleries, and stop for fish and chips or a pot of tea before catching the bus back. Between the city, the villages and the water, it is a full day of Norfolk in a single ticket.