Monday 28 March 2022

Exploring :: The New Year in Norfolk #1 ... Wells-next-the-Sea & Hunstanton

Hi there everyone 😀

Following our early December trip to Northumberland we had only been back at home for a few weeks before we were heading off for another adventure, this time with our good friends Jackie and Phil. We were off to Brancaster in Norfolk, where we were spending the New Year, hoping for a relaxing week, exploring new and familiar places, with plenty of walks on the beach ... and no storms big enough to be named.

Following my envy of Lesley's iPhone photos whilst we were away in Northumberland I'd upgraded my phone and decided I would take all photos with my new phone for this break, to see how I got on.

We had a pretty decent journey and Martin and I detoured a little to call in at the Sandringham Estate on the way ...
... where we had a chilled out pitstop for a late lunch at the visitor centre ...
We found our cottage nice and easily and, after a few hiccups, we were soon settled in for our first night.

Our first full day and the weather was a bit grim, but we opted to have a ride into Wells-next-the-Sea, somewhere none of us had been before, to have a bit of a look around. It wasn't really the weather for photographs, but I had really wanted to see the 'Christmas tree', so braved the weather for a quick selfie ...
... and we couldn't not capture a bouy dedicated to Erin ... 
It was too wet and wild to do much, but we did have a wander up the High Street, where there are plenty of quirky shops to explore, and a pitstop in the old maltings, which was a very welcome place to warm up and dry out.

We didn't stay out long but decided on a bigger day out to Hunstanton the following day ... weather permitting.

The weather for our second full day was a total contrast ... bright and breezy, with a good bit of blue sky and even the odd glimpse of sunshine. We took both cars to Hunstanton and parked one at the very far end, before returning to park the other by the lighthouse, with the aim of a good walk along the front, a pitstop somewhere in town and then not having to walk all of the way back.

It really is a lovely and interesting walk along the front at Hunstanton, somewhere we used to visit often when I was a child. It starts off with the lighthouse and ruins of St Edmund's Chapel ...

... passes the old beacon ...
... and carries on along a grassy area along the clifftop ...


... until you reach the heritage gardens above the promenade ...


I found this part of the garden really interesting ... the posts are actually parts of the pillars of the old pier, which was pretty much destroyed by storms in 1978 ...

From here we headed down onto the prom ...
... where, no matter how many times I visit, even when its dull and grey, I still can't resist a photo of the beach groynes ...
As we hit the new pier, which really is nothing more than a huge amusement arcade, we decided to head up into town to find somewhere nice we could have a bit of a warm up. We ended up in Chives Brasserie and, whilst we only had a drink, the food looked absolutely fabulous. Definitely somewhere to try again if ever we are back in the area.

From Chives it was back down onto the prom to carry along towards towards the old funfair. I know its probably been gone for donkey's years but I still remember the old boating lake, with the bridge over to the cafe on the island in the middle. I used to love going on the boats with my grandad, whilst mum and dad had a coffee. This is an image of an old postcard, showing what it used to look like, I found on Pinterest ...
Martin and I opted to walk along the beach for a bit ... hoping to maybe find some sea glass, but there was not even the tiniest bit to be seen ...
We came back up onto the prom ...

... for a mooch through the closed funfair. Whilst a funfair always feels a little sad when closed, there is always plenty of bright colour to be found and I can never resist a few pictures ...

It was just a short walk now back to the car. I always remember, as children coming to the beach at Hunstanton, and setting up camp for the day on the stone steps leading down to the beach, which are barely visible in lots of places now, having got covered with sand ...

Having picked up the car, it was a short drive back to the lighthouse, where the sun put in a real appearance so I jumped out to capture the lighthouse at it's best ...
A bit of blue sky really does make all the different 💙💙💙🌞🌞🌞💙💙💙

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Monday 21 March 2022

Exploring :: Northumberland #7 … Berwick-upon-Tweed

Hi there everyone 😃

Well, here we are … the final post from our break in Northumberland back in December and finally … I got to visit Berwick-upon-Tweed.

We’d had a lovely hour or so wandering along the prom and the beach at Spittal, collected a great stash of sea glass, and we were heading across the Tweed and into Berwick ...
It was certainly looking like the weather was not going to be giving us a problem and, after a drive down the High Street we ended up squeezing our way through a narrow arch and finding a great spot to park, for free, on the quay area … 
... with a fabulous view of the bridges …

Having no real idea what to expect we headed back through the arch and took a left to head along the town wall ...

Well it was just beautiful ... for me ... it was kind of like York, but by the sea. It was just so pretty ...
... and, as we continued our walk around the town walls towards the sea, it didn't disappoint. There was another beautiful view at every turn ... the weather helped ... we really did get to see it at it's very best ...


As we reached the end of the row of pretty Georgian houses the views looking out over the estuary, back towards Spittal were fabulous ... with a perfect sky ...

This is the view looking back the way we had walked from ... towards the bridges across the river ...

... and this is the view towards the way we were walking ... you can see the start of the lighthouse pier on the right, though the lighthouse is way further out ... 

... as you can see here ...

And here it is looking down the sights of the ancient canon ...
From here we decided we wouldn't walk down to the lighthouse at this point, but carry on, cutting off the point, and come back to the lighthouse later ... moving the car down closer.

It really was a lovely spot though ... 



The views great in all directions, including looking back across to Spittal into the late afternoon sun ...


From here the path took us between the lighthouse promontory on one side and the back of the town on the other ...
 


We passed old fortifications ...




... the old beacon ...


... and evidence of the strength of the recent storms ...
At the crest of the hill we decided to head left back into town, which took us past the church and the old barracks ...

It was then a left onto the High Street and, after a quick stop in Costa for refreshments we headed back to the car.

It was a short drive down to the end of the lighthouse pier ... 
... and whilst we were beginning to flag a bit, there was no way we weren't going to walk to the end of the pier ...



It was a lovely walk out along the pier, breezy, but lovely ...
We made our way back as the sun was beginning to drop ... 



It really was the perfect end to a perfect day of a pretty near perfect week away 😀😀😀

I am so glad that I got to make my first visit to Berwick-upon-Tweed ... I really can't see it being my last 💜💜💜

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