Week 19 18th to 24th Feb

We leave Suffolk to go on to Norfolk this week, it has been startling to see just how completely different two neighbouring counties can be!

Monday 18th February – day 114

Well, a first today, having gloated only a few days earlier, that we had not been bothered by frost and frozen pipes since we set off on our trip, you guessed it we woke to frozen pipes!!! My hero was out there in his flip flops trying to smash the ice in the barrels then we could have a cup of tea, and we had to defrost the fresh water pipe in the caravan!! Mind you the view was crispy white and sparkly and looked lovely from our bed (which we got back into to drink our tea!!)
We are leaving Suffolk today, and heading for Norfolk, the easiest journey since setting off again in January, straight up the A 140! We are in another field on our own, but right next to the facilities this time which is great, although the walk to the loos at Stonham Aspal was very picturesque!
We were going to go into Norwich once settled, to do some shopping, but a real pea souper of a fog came down, so we battened down the hatches for the evening.

Tuesday 19th February - day 115

So, Norwich today - after a lazy morning. We arrived in town later than hoped as we spent too long in B&Q trying to find an attachment for the hose (take the water to the barrels, not the barrels to the water, yeh!)
But no luck in the end, after an exhaustive search, no fittings fitted so mission aborted and off to see the sights.
The first stop was the Cathedral and what a joy that was to see. It is a very elegant building, with the second tallest spire in the country!
It also has the most impressive number and quality of ceiling bosses we have ever seen. Each one was carved out of the stone that had already been placed, so all work had to be done in situ (and some of the ceilings were very high!) Then each of these intricately carved bosses were painted and gilded, so if you look up you can see little scenes like Noah’s Ark, or the Last Supper, they were too high to catch on film, but the bosses in the cloisters were also magnificent and close enough to photograph! At the end of the cloisters we saw a SIGN, it read…................................... refectory - well we could not ignore it so we followed it all the way to the serving counter. Today though, as well as the joy of a little Earl Grey, we bumped into a neighbour, Jackie Tongue, from Malmesbury who is touring with a Repertory Company performing The Bright Blue Sea, by Terence Rattigan, and they are in Norwich for the week. She very kindly organised some heavily discounted tickets for us, to go tomorrow night, so that is what we are doing!
After a happy catch up, we left for a walk round the town centre, and were impressed with all we saw. Norwich, like York, has an old and distinguished cobbled shopping area, called Elm Hill, which we lingered in to browse the antique shop windows, before walking along the river and on further into town. I think that we should try and catch some more of this lovely place.
Wednesday 20th February – day 116

Off to Cambridge today, but need to keep an eye on the time as we have are off to the theatre this evening, yippee!
We made our usual prompt start, and arrived in Cambridge by early afternoon! We did have enough time though to take a tour of all the colleges. I may be dense but it had never dawned on me that the church had been responsible for most of the early academic institutions in England, and therefore each of the colleges had its own enormous mini cathedral, especially Kings College! All the buildings and grounds were very fine, cared for and gazed at by generations of visitors but the pretentions of a superior intellectual atmosphere was almost oppressive, so we popped into a rather splendid arts and craft shop for a little hedonist comforting, but left there quickly too - feeling poor!
We made it back to Norwich in good time to park up and walk through town, along interesting old streets, through the market, and in front of the very modern Forum – all glass and style, to get to the newly renovated Theatre Royal for a splendid evening of live entertainment. The play, The Deep Blue Sea, by Terence Rattigan was stirring stuff, a real roller coaster of emotional upheaval, cleverly set on a set of skewed perspectives. The cast, as well as Jackie, included Simon Williams and Greta Scacchi (who played a very dramatic leading role) We had arranged to meet Jackie in the bar afterwards, it was a joy to spend a bit more time catching up and talking of the performance, as well as updates from Malmesbury, but there was quite a surreal moment when she introduced us to Simon Williams, who was also in the bar, I think we managed to stay cool, but it was a significant enough moment to get a mention here, obviously!

Thursday 21st February – day 117

A dull day today, but first day of miserable weather for a while! Undaunted, we are off to explore the Broads. We took a circuitous route along the back roads to try and find the lovely rural Norfolk, but it certainly was not in the same abundance as seen in Suffolk. There was however a moment when we stepped right back into the 19th century! We have discovered that there are few places where it is possible to cross the marshes, but there was a ferry at Reedham, which took any number of pedestrian passengers and 2 cars (the cars had to pay £3.70each!!) the 30 yards across the river, pulled along by a rusty and noisy chain, stopping only on the journey for speeding river craft, but only just!! We eventually arrived at Beccles and stopped to walk the river path and marshes. It was of course late afternoon and we had the place to ourselves, high reed beds and low ditches made it feel a little remote and not a little eerie, even though we were not far from the main road, but joy of joys, along the way we found a very productive pussy willow tree, and could not resist a few branches to take back to the van, I am looking at them now as I write, these really evocative childhood memory stirrers!
Our final visit was to Lowestoft for a walk along the sea front and a cuppa, but there was so little to inspire that we drove on right through and carried on home.

Friday 22nd February – day 118

What a windy night we had - yes outside the van, and still windy when we awoke, but it is doing the good job of blowing the clouds over. We are going back for a closer look at the Broads, as we didn’t really see all they had to offer yesterday, so less meandering and straight to Wroxham, the so called capital of the Broads, it is definitely where a lot of boating holidays start. We didn’t stop to explore but went on to Hickling Broad, which looked promising on the map. Fortunately for us we missed the turning that I was looking at on the map, and ended up at Hickling Heath, and what a bonus, it was utterly unreal, with what we discovered on closer inspection was a group of thatched roofed boat houses sitting low in the reed beds. Apart from a row of dreamy little houses it was quite away from the hustle and bustle of the larger marina 200 yards down the road. I think we could have settled there awhile, but we wanted to search out some windmills, but the only one we found of note was this one - without its sails -
but which was more intact than many of its counterparts as it still had its top section in place at least! Then on to Caister-on-Sea for a walk along the coastline to California! On arrival we were indeed surprised to see 30 large wind turbines just off the shore, erected by Powergen in 2004 (yes we did read the info board!) The coastline was unpromising really, sandy and pebbly underfoot but no enticing views to draw you on. We walked to the sand cliffs that were mentioned on the map, but even those did not stir the senses!
Final stop again was a ride into Great Yarmouth with the same thoughts as last evening, but it so reminded us of Blackpool – all amusement arcades and pleasure beaches - that again we decided not to stop, but came on home.

Saturday 23rd February – day 119

Today we are off to walk a bit of the Norfolk Coastal path, but start with Cromer first for a look at the premier holiday town in Norfolk! Which, it has to be said appears a little shabby and in need of sprucing up. The beach area, although sandy has a fair sprinkling of stones which will make building sand castles and interesting project. We take a walk along to the small pier, with a theatre and café at the end, and as usual we were in need of some Earl Grey refreshment, so a short stop is definitely required. The walk along the front shows that most of the houses around are large and Edwardian, but they seem generally to have been converted into flats, either for full time occupancy or holiday lets. Well we have had a look, so now on to the coastal path, and memories of Cornwall!!!!! (not)
We park up at Welbourne, with plans to walk to Cley next the sea (or maybe Blakeney - 6 miles total – but flat for most of the route) however after half an hour we were still struggling across slippy shingle in search of a path, and it doesn’t feel much like fun! Eventually the path firms up and we begin to make progress, until it disappears again, and now we were in marshland! But Cley is in sight so we stride (?) on. Although unpleasant under foot the rewards are being to make themselves known, as we first came across a group of delightful ducks, with bronze Mohican hair do’s called Teals, and later we spy a couple of Avocets, Lapwings and a flock of Dunlin or Sandpipers, (not really sure which).
With not a little gladness for the firm path under foot, we headed through the marshes to Cley - to discover that we had only made it as far as Salthouse, (a mile short!!) but as the bus is still 50 minutes away we carry on and take another loop around the marshes listening to the birds revving up for the dusk chorus. We arrived back at the car in time to see the sky deepening to a crimson red and gold glow …….. joy!
Sunday 24th February – day 120

We are going back to Blakeney and Cley today, for more bird spotting and walking the marshes. The weather forecast is not promising, but has started well, so picnic packed and off we go. Blakeney is possibly the most charming town visited so far, and bonus, there is a collectors/ antique market. There is the usual over priced tat, but in one corner, almost hidden from view was a little stall selling wrought iron door knockers, coal shovels and pockers etc etc. Behind the stall was a rather shy couple who seemed pleased that someone should be interested in their wonderfully simple naively crafted artwork. I am not sure whether they were not just as engaging as their goods, and 10 minutes later we left the stall with a beautiful oak leaf shaped door knocker and a long handled chestnut roaster – wonderful.
We parked by the quay to walk the loop that runs through the marshes to Cley next the Sea. The scenery may not have been stunning, in fact it would have been a little eerie had it not been so full of people meandering along wearing binoculars, but the bird life was amazing. It will take some researching to find out what the names of all the ducks alone are! We do know that we also saw a Barn Owl, a Curlew, a lovely little Stonechat and a flock of Brent Geese.
We walked across the marshes toward Cley and were greeted with a fine view of the best looking windmill in East Anglia, Chris was almost undone (but still managed several photos!) It no longer mills the wind (after last nights curry, I think that is our job!!) but it is now a Bed and Breakfast –and a lovely one at that. Cley was also very charming, we were glad that we had made the effort to return, particularly when we spotted The George –where we were able partake of ……. A cup of tea!