Cley Boat Club was formed in 1994, with the idea that people using the old Cley Channel for recreation might need a collective voice with which to safeguard their rights of access following the installation of the new flood defences. From those beginnings, the club grew and widened its activities to include boating and social events.

Membership stands at about 30 households, and consists mainly of people who live or work in Cley next the Sea, on the North Norfolk Coast. We have a newsletter, printed about every two months, and during Summer months, we organise various events, including samphire picking; creek crawling; picnics and parties.

In 2005, the Environment Agency re routed the outer end of the channel, making for a quicker and easier journey into Blakeney Harbour and beyond.
Our boating activities are still a little constrained by the narrow and twisting nature of the upper channel, and most members use small motor/ sailing boats of under 14 feet in length! But we do have Fun!!

Cley was once one of the country's foremost harbours, and the Cley Channel could accommodate ships of 150 tons and above. However, embanking and the ever encroaching silt meant that the channel narrowed until it reached its present narrow and tortuous path, only being prevented from closing completely by the flow of the River Glaven, and by some tidal scouring. It remains a quiet and peaceful sanctuary leading from the mill and the village down to Blakeney Harbour and, ultimately, to the sea.