caravan life

Beyond the marshlands at Thornham….

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Another lovely sunny day, still a nip in the air but the wind has dropped some. We have decided to make today our last day exploring the Norfolk Coastline.

Continuing our journey along the northern tip of Norfolk, today we park up in Thornham, a pretty sleepy Norfolk village.

From the village we walk the mile or so along lanes to reach the coastal path. There was in fact some parking at the end of the lane, but we enjoyed the peaceful walk. Here the coastal path sits on top of the sea wall above the surrounding marshland.

We crossed an area of dunes and this fab beach lay in wait….

Well social distancing certainly won’t be a problem…

As Poppydog waits patiently for a bit of freedom….

We walked back along the beach to where we left off at Holme Dunes Nature Reserve.

Before taking a last look at this wonderful coastline – until next time.

I have been living, maybe naively, pottering along as we do, with very little human contact, that firstly, we are not endangering anyone and secondly, that we are keeping safe. However, I also appreciate that each county has its own health facilities based on it’s permanent residents and so we are heading home to Cornwall.

A blast along the beach at Holme-next-the-sea…..

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A lovely bright sunshiny day, but wow a seriously cold blast of wind running along the beach. Today we headed to Holme-next-the-sea a small village just around the coast from Hunstanton, to pick up from where we left off yesterday. There is a car park, chargeable, but we were lucky enough to squeeze into a bit of roadside parking for free! I don’t know why I have become so obsessed about parking for free but I have! Beyond the dunes this fabulous beach lay waiting….

The sand is soft but with quite a lot of stones in it and quite a few people out, no doubt, like me, enjoying the opportunity to get out whilst we still can! As we head off in a North easterly direction the wind is ferocious, making walking into it, as we are, quite a challenge and just to add to the mix, blasting a fine layer of sand with it!

Fortunately the tide is far enough out for us to walk on the wet sand away from the low flying soft sand and save Poppydog from a sand blasting!

Here the beach resembles a moonscape and dodging the pools distracts me from the biting wind. After a couple of miles or so we reach Gore Point, where the beach inclines towards the east and Holme Dunes Nature Reserve begins.

After a quick foray inland where it is much more sheltered from the wind, we decide to about turn, admit defeat to the wind and save the next bit of beach to another day…

What a fabulous parting shot as we rejoin the beach at Holme Dunes and get blown by the wind all the way back!

From Snettisham to Heacham….

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Another fine day here in Norfolk – is spring on the way? Whatever, we are going to enjoy it anyway. Today we headed back to Shepherds Port and our sneaky parking spot, but this time we are walking northwards towards Hunstanton.

I’m afraid I just can’t resist a shot with marram grass in it!

The beach here is still mostly stony so lying on it might be a bit lumpy and sand castle building a no no and as the tide is high again I’m not sure what the swimming conditions would be like – time will tell.

For a couple of miles the beach is backed by the sand covered sea wall and behind that a large Nature Reserve with wetlands and marshlands. Fabulous dog walking country. As we walked along the dunes / sea wall which incidentally we pretty much had to ourselves, stretching in front of us is South Beach, Heacham.

Here the brisk breeze is being put to good use as a few kite surfers glide over the surf at a fair rate of knots!

The beach is empty and Poppydog has found a ball, so we pause a while, for me a sit in the sun to watch the kite surfing and for Poppydog….

Her own little game of fetch cum hide and seek – who knows? But if it keeps her quiet, entertained and running off some energy then it is good by me.

Now please don’t think me facetious but I believe we are self-isolating as best we can in these very strange times. Keep well and safe.

Chasing seagulls at Ingoldmells….

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A rather nice sunny day, still a tad chilly but the wind has dropped for a while at least. A bit of a domestic day for us today making the most of the fine weather to de-sand the van and do a bit of washing. All done, we set off for a walk along the beach. North of Seathorne, the beach is backed by the huge Butlins Holiday Park which is all fenced in with only one access point and though there appear to be plenty of people in the holiday park they don’t appear to be beach types and so we have the beach to ourselves.

And poppydog gets to do what she likes best, run free and chase seagulls…

This one in particular was definitely ‘playing’ staying up above but never too far away….

One happy, wet and sandy hound….

Oh well it wouldn’t be right to have the van stay sand free for too long!

Couldn’t resist another photo of Seathorne – we shall miss this view….

Back to Chapel six Marshes for a run around….

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A pretty wild night keeping us more awake than we would like but followed by a reasonably sunny day – still a bit breezy but sunny. We decided to pop back to Chapel six Marshes for a proper look at the Wind or Sound Tower.

Now the inside is supposed to tilt to line the viewing windows to line up – well it didn’t tilt but they did line up!

And wow what a lovely view to the north (above), straight ahead….

And to the south….

It is also supposed to attract the wind and create sounds – well it didn’t do that either! Maybe the wind is blowing in the wrong direction? Shame as it is a fascinating structure. Still whilst we are here we might as well venture down onto the beach, as it is surprisingly quiet, for some exercise.

Poppydog was soon tearing around alternately chasing tennis balls or gulls, whichever catch her eye.

We didn’t walk far as we have done this stretch before, just enjoyed our little patch of quietness.

Until a dirty great black cloud came along to ruin our fun and cut short our stay – we just made it back to the car in time for it to start lashing down.

Back on site only a few miles down the coast not the merest hint of any rain!! I love how the weather is so incredibly localised, along the coast and how you can often see it coming, even if you can’t always get out of its way!!