Summer in Seven Part 7 – Norfolk

Or, more precisely, North Norfolk. Mostly. Ish. More or less…..

Monday and with the wedding weekend over it was time to head up to North Norfolk for a bit of rest and relaxation, our destination being a cliff top site just near Mundesley.

The journey up was erm, interesting. It all started easy enough. Back on the A12, then the A14 before joining the A140 heading for, and then skirting around, Norwich.

So far so good and in fact it was going pretty well until the sat-nav app took us past North Walsham, a logical point at which to turn off.

Now, North Norfolk, like lots of rural Britain, has some pretty narrow roads and it seemed – at the time anyway – that we went down most of ‘em. Roads that came about when the horse – and maybe a cart – was the widest mode of transport. Not chunky SUV’s and lardy caravans. It was a little unnerving – although slightly less for me as Trev was driving! Almost audible relief greeted the arrival of the coast road, although even then fir some bizarre reason it wanted us to do a u-turn before coming back to the site entrance. We ignored it, pulled in and it promptly announced that we had ‘reached our destination’. No thanks to you I thought!

Check out our site arrival video on You Tube HERE

Mind you, the view was worth it. I don’t think we’ve ever had a better one:

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Having eschewed breakfast before leaving Colchester it wasn’t long before the outside kitchen was up and running for the days bacon fix. A lazy afternoon ensued and a quick research expedition to one of Mundesley’s pubs. Nothing new to be sampled but the local – well, local to Norfolk – ale, Woodforde’s went down well.

Tuesday, the forecast was for rain but given that we didn’t fancy doing much that wasn’t a problem. In fact we spent all day in or around the ‘van. It remained grey but the rain never materialised while I spent most of the day on the laptop catching up with blogs and associated stuff.

Wednesday saw the weather much improved and the first of our trundles down memory lane – the North Norfolk coast was a regular destination for both of us for holidays and days out as kids – but first up was inland North Walsham, not an obvious stopping point on the tourist trail, before hitting the coast at Cromer.

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The sun was out and it was busy – and it was great to see one of Britain's traditional sea side resorts doing so well.

Next up was Sheringham which had always been my favourite of the two, possibly because it had a great joke shop near the station which I loved as a kid. I think I bought a plastic skull there once – so yes, the fascination with the macabre goes way back. The car park that I remembered being by the station too was still there – occupied by a travelling fun fair, and a weave through some side roads revealed there was nowhere to deposit Rosie for a couple of hours or so, but heading back along the Cromer road we spotted signs to a temporary park and ride site a couple of miles outside of town. It would have been helpful if we’d have spotted it earlier – when we drove right passed it – but there it is.

Sheringham is one end of the North Norfolk Railway also known as the Poppy Line. This was on our list of to do’s so we called in to check departure times, only to find that one was imminent. Result! Not only that but it would be running a set of ‘Antique’ restored carriages – for which a small supplement was payable.

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Departure was prompt and were soon trundling our way out of the station, roughly parallel to the coast for a while stopping at Weybourne  where the loco sheds are and the restoration and maintenance is carried out.

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Shortly after the track bent inland before arriving at our final destination of Holt about five miles away. We elected to hang around but a old London Routemaster Bus meets the train for the one mile run into the town centre during the summer.

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There looked to be a campsite right by the station and we though what a great location it was, particularly for railway enthusiasts. However a closer glance on arrival suggested it was very much a er, temporary one given the abundance of twin axle vans with accompanying red gas cylinder and 16’ plate Ford Transit….

We took lunch at the station – well, coffee and an ice cream and boarded the next train back – no antique carriages this time but more like the ones I remember from days out to London as a kid. The loco was much larger – and in black too. Impressive!

Click HERE to see a video of her arriving in Holt.

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Back in Sheringham it was even busier. I resisted the lure of the Waltzer at the fairground – another trip down memory lane at least partially aborted by the price. Last time I went on the Waltzer is was 50p. Anyway, the aforementioned joke shop was a thing of the past sadly but there were plenty of others doing a good trade as we ambled down to the seafront, before heading back to the car.

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Blimey. Only one day and the word count tells me enough is enough. So standby for another dose of North Norfolk soon. ‘ish. Probably….