Day 129 – Sea Palling to Great Yarmouth: 15.3m: 5.4h

Everybody has spent a comfortable night but, during a waking moment, John has ascertained that there is a route around the docks at Great Yarmouth which hasn’t been included in our mileage calculations. It’s a circular route but, under the team’s rules, it has to be completed (a bit like an urban Spurn Point) and will add about another 4 miles to the walk. The impact which this might have on our plans for the next couple of walks will depend on how far (if at all) we’re able to get around the docks today. The news from Liverpool is that they beat West Ham 3-2 (having been 1-2 down midway through the second half) thanks in no small measure to Mr Fabianski making a real horlicks of trying to save a weak shot from Mr Salah. So it’s now 12 points needed from 11 games. Will they have won the title by the time we reconvene in four weeks? More immediate news is that breakfast is served promptly and so we’re back outside Reefs at 8 o’clock. Despite a note of caution about high tide being sounded by a woman walking a dog, the advice about the sea wall path proves to be correct – although we need to stay on the top step of the path to avoid any dampage from the waves. It’s only just after high tide, but we do get a bit of beach action before having to go up into the dunes around Waxham. About 3 miles further on at Horsey Gap, we take a beach access road to see whether the outgoing tide enables us to get back on the sand – and what an amazing sight awaits us. Quite a bit of the beach is visible, but much more of it is covered by a colony of seals. We were already aware from our coast path guide book that we might come across this, and a sign on the beach access road has instructed us to keep at least 10 metres away from the seals – and not to get between them and the sea – but the size of the colony is just extraordinary. It stretches far into the distance and it takes a good 20 minutes to walk past it. We reckon that there are well over 1,000 seals – perhaps as many as 2,000 – split between those who don’t seem too bothered by our presence and those who reckon that the water is a better place to be than the sand. As we continue towards Great Yarmouth on terrain which is a mixture of beach, dunes and sea wall paths, it becomes more and more likely that we won’t arrive in time to make any progress around the docks. This is not because of our uncharacteristic nature watch stop, but rather because the mileage covered yesterday seems to be affecting our pace today. We pass by/through Winterton and Hemsby, and reach Caister. We’re still over 4 miles from the centre of Great Yarmouth but, almost immediately after the Caister lifeboat station, the northern edges of the town come into view. Initially, these are rather picturesque comprising views over the Caister & Yarmouth Golf Club and, beyond that, Great Yarmouth Racecourse – the first racecourse we’ve seen since Chester over 5 years ago. However, we then come to a tarmac road adjacent to the entrance of a huge holiday village and massed ranks of static caravans. We follow the road for nearly 2 miles, tracking alongside the beach, until we get to the town promenade. After passing some water gardens and the Britannia Pier, we decide to call it a day and leave the docks until next time. It’s approaching 1:30, our train is due to leave in about 45 minutes and it’ll take us 20 minutes to reach the station. We get there in good time for comfort breaks and changes of footwear, and also for Mike to acquire four cans of beer from the neighbouring Asda, there being a marked lack of retail outlets at the station itself. These are consumed on the train to Norwich during the course of which it is calculated that, on our next two days in March, we’ll only get as far as Southwold. This does not cause a huge degree of consternation and, indeed, a debate ensues on how long we need to allow ourselves in Southwold on the second afternoon so as to appreciate fully the delights of Adnams in general and, perhaps, the Lord Nelson pub in particular. It could be that the very prospect will result in a slightly higher day 2 pace than we’ve achieved today. For now, our train arrives on time in Norwich where Mike catches his connection to Nottingham and the other three of us have the time to buy some sandwiches on the station concourse before returning to Liverpool Street.   

Day 128 – Cromer to Sea Palling: 17.3m: 5.9h

So what’s been happening since last September? Well, Boris says he has got Brexit done – although the terms remain uncertain (quite possibly none). Liverpool have a 19 point lead in the premier league and, with 12 games remaining, require a mere 15 points to ensure their first title for 30 years. Various storms have affected the country, including two in the last three weeks which have led to flooding in South Wales and along the Severn. And something called the coronavirus could soon be declared a pandemic by the WHO. But currently no declared threat of plagues of locusts.

The two most recent storms (named, very threateningly, Ciara and Dennis) may have disappeared, but the rain is falling and the wind is blowing when John, Ben and Mike arrive at Cromer station and meet Gary who has been in Norfolk over the weekend. It doesn’t take long to get back to the street leading to the Lifeboat Cafe from where we set off just before 10:45. Because of the weather, we decide to be prudent and follow the official route of the coast path, which takes us out of Cromer up to and along some low cliffs, rather than venture along the shoreline. However after no more than 20 minutes, as we approach Warren Wood, a route marker directs us down to the beach which we follow for about another half an hour. It only takes a few minutes for Gary to become the first faller of the year when he slips on one of the rather damp timber beams which have been helpfully positioned to make walking over the initial stretch of shingle more comfortable. But generally the beach is sandy and firm. It takes us below and beyond Overstrand – so we miss the sight of Royal Cromer Golf Course and the lighthouse alongside it – to a point just before Sidestrand where we return to the cliff top. The next few miles follow streets, field edges and copses to Trimingham where, on the edge of a field leading back to the cliff tops, we see what looks like a giant golf ball and is, in fact, a remote air defence radar station. We continue towards Mundesley where get back to the beach to begin the remaining 10 miles to Sea Palling. It’s now early afternoon and the rain has stopped by the time we pass below the gas pipeline terminals at Bacton. The next 3 hours comprise stretches of beach action interspersed with diversions to coast roads/paths or raised walkways at the back of he sands. We pass by Walcott, Happisburgh and Eccles-on-Sea and, shortly after 4:30, follow the edge of a couple of fields and arrive in Sea Palling. By a road which leads up from the beach stands Reefs Bar. This is where we’re planning to eat this evening and we haven’t (we think) quite reached the official end of today’s walk. This is about 100 yards further up the road at a path which (again we think) marks the start of our journey tomorrow. But we call in at Reefs for a reviving pint before completing the remaining 100 yards and then continuing along the road for another 10 minutes to our overnight accommodation, The Old Vicarage B&B. Our welcoming hosts direct us to our rooms, take our breakfast orders for tomorrow morning to expedite departure, and inform us that they will also be at Reefs this evening. Rooms are comfortable and showers efficient. Shortly after 6:30, we walk back to Reefs and find that our hosts are already ensconced at the bar. It strikes us that it’s not altogether unusual for them to be found there! The food at Reefs is standard pub fare – both in terms of what’s on offer and what we order (fish and chips for three of us and scampi and chips for Gary) but it’s pretty good, and certainly needed. We’re relatively abstemious on the drinks front – just a beer, the one bottle of wine and a sticky – which could well be the result of a general weariness among the team. Certainly, it’s a bit of a struggle to stay at the pub until the end of the first half of Liverpool v West Ham which is being shown on TV. But before we leave, our host from the B&B informs us that, even at high tide tomorrow morning, we’ll be able to walk along the sea wall path at the back of the beach and that there’ll be no need to take the path through the fields. A 100 yard adjustment to the data for today will therefore be needed. For now, sleep calls.