seaside walking...& socks!

I've got to confess it took some internal discussion to brave the cold today and make the effort to drive up to the coast for the next bit of my beach exploration. This week has presented its own challenges and I think the 'keep things in order' bit of me needs some consistency so keeping to my self-imposed target seemed important somehow.

The next beach round the East Norfolk coast is Waxham. This is not a new one to me - I hadn't been for years but it was the haunt of my late teens. Once some of us were able to drive this was our 'go to' for evening barbecues in the dunes or on the beach. Bit of a no no now I think, the authorities are much more protective of what's left of the Norfolk dunes which have seen so much erosion over recent years. But it is the stuff of my memories and there were some happy times here, pre-children, when it was easy to get up and wander along the dunes looking for that perfect secluded spot. Somewhere, there is a rather faded photo of a few of us with big 80's hair and batwing jumpers (anyone remember those?!!) on Waxham beach.

This isn't one of the more commercialised beaches - there is no car park, so you just find a spot by the side of the pot-holed road and walk up to the ramp over the sea defences...

I think this is a lovely approach to a beach but it is what makes it something of a challenge with small children. I can remember trying to bring two toddlers and a baby here, having had to park the car at the end of the road and walk all the way back with the paraphernalia required for small people - blankets, picnic, windbreak, toys, buggy (hopeless in the sand but think we thought the baby might sleep in it!) etc etc... After a few trips like that we found alternatives for favourite family days out, so its a good few years since I'd been here.

And it is a beautiful beach. Once you go over the top of that dune ramp, this is what greets you...

Granted, the concrete sea defences are a necessary, but not especially atttractive backdrop, but the sand stretches away from you, even when the tide is quite a long way in like today. Off towards Horsey to the south east and curving round towards Sea Palling looking west...

This stretch of coastline is peppered with rocks that have been dropped to try to arrest the apporach of the sea, each marked with tall stakes in the sea.

I have been really lucky with the weather on these weekend walks and today was no different - the temperature gauge on the car said 3C but there was a bit of warmth in the bright sunshine and next to no breeze.

The breakers seemed full of light...

and we cast long shadows across the sand...

The old sea defences were wooden groynes, which have been supplemented now by these huge rocks...

I know there is good reason for them, but I can't help thinking they look a bit out of place on these beaches - there are no rocks like that in Norfolk, that I know of.

We walked along the beach to Sea Palling - as you get further along here the beach becomes a bit more shingly...

before getting more sandy again, with clear footprints from the people who come here with their furry friends...

There was a considerable range of sizes of dog, if the prints were anything to go by!

The seashore shelves away quite steeply here and we hadn't really noticed how far in the waves were coming...

...until we found ourselves hopping through wet sand to the rocks...

I'm always amazed at just how fast the sea approaches. You think you have loads of time, then suddenly its there!

Sea Palling, although not far up the coast, is a much busier resort. Not so much this time of year, but in the summer it is full of families. There is a car park, amusements, a couple of cafes and a chippie and has a much more 'English seaside' kind of feel (complete with some slightly bawdy menu signs in the style of old seaside postcards!)

It also has a lifeboat station and they were out exercising today...

I have every admiration for these crews, who often have long family histories of involvement with the lifeboats, and provide an essential service in this area where we have so much coastline. The RNLI is a charity I readily support, though today I could only empty the rather paltry contents of my purse into their bucket.

The path up to the dunes at Sea Palling takes you to a point on the Norfolk Coast Path...

This path extends the original Norfolk Coast Path long distance trail from 45 to 63 miles, with an extra couple of sections from Sea Palling to Weybourne and then on to Cromer. The original path takes you from Cromer to Hunstanton and there are plans to open a further stretch from Sea Palling in the other direction. Maybe one day, I should repeat this walk and properly do the coastal walk, as a linear walk rather than several little walks at each beach stretch. Would need to find a bit of time off work though...!

Tom couldn't resist the smell of the doughnuts from the cafe...

There is something particularly delicious about these hot, fluffy, sweet treats on a cold day at the seaside. Never quite understood why they are always sold in fours... although the fact that he managed to polish them off in record time perhaps accounts for it!

On the way back we spotted this submerged stairway...

Makes you realise how far up the sand has drifted, I wonder how much higher it will come?

We walked back along the dune ridge - it seemed much narrower than I recall and from here you can see just how close the farmland is to the sea under those open Norfolk skies...

The sun was behind the clouds by this point and had taken the temperature down with it so we were quite glad to be heading back towards Waxham's little church and the car...

I was also very glad of my latest sock knitting spell - maybe its in my mind but I'm sure these homemade woolly socks are warmer than their shop-bought counterparts...

I tried a different pattern this time and although I like them, think I will probably stick to my old trusted pattern in future, all that ribbing made these much slower. They look a bit uneven in this picture but I promise they are the same length! In fact for the first time ever I bothered to try to match the starting point so that I have (almost!) two matching socks!

On to the next pair now, with some lovely Regia wool - has become something of a therapy at the moment!

Next week, Eccles on Sea, somewhere I've driven by on numerous occasions but have never gone down to the beach, so don't really know what to expect there. If the weather is kind I might make it a longer walk and head on to Happisburgh, where there is a lighthouse that featured on Challenge Anneka many years ago...

Til then...

S x

Horsey Gap - last of the seals...

North Norfolk is well known for its seal colony, which every winter makes its way onto the sands at Horsey, where hundreds of pups are born. This year there were record numbers, over 700 I think. They are fed by their mothers for about 3 weeks, then left to their own devices, shedding their fluffy white coats for a darker waterproof one and learning to feed themselves from the sea. The seals are on the beach from November time to end of January/early February and they draw big crowds. 

It used to be possible to just wander along the beach but now it is a much more organised affair and a pathway is roped off along the dunes to prevent the colony being disturbed by the crowds. Last time I came up here was before Christmas, late one afternoon, when there was hardly anyone about and this whole stretch of beach was full of seals. Today, mid-afternoon, in bright sunshine, the place was heaving with people and most of the seals have gone back to the sea.

Norfolk is renowned for being pretty flat but this does mean that from even a slight vantage point you can see for miles across the countryside. Looking back inland from the dunes, the fields stretched into hazy hedgerows, with the wind turbines strikingly prominent in the distance. I rather love these and think they are quite fitting in a landscape that has harnessed the power of the wind for many years - like modern-day windmills...

The sandy beach stretches away Eastwards towards Winterton, where I walked last week...

After a 20 minute walk along the dunes I spot the last few seals on the shoreline...

They look fat and healthy basking in the sun and the pups are so much bigger than when I was here a few weeks ago. Pretty relaxed don't you think...?!

The blue sky and sunshine were deceptive; a fringe of frost on the sand and thick ice on the puddles gave away how low the temperature was, though the contrast with last week was marked with no chilling wind today.

From the other side of the car park, looking Westward along the coast, the frost was clearly visible...

but the breakers were much gentler this week highlighted by patches of sunshine...

The dune grass glowed golden...

I am enjoying these regular visits to the coast - North Norfolk may not have the variety of coves that the UK has elsewhere but the stretches of sand and open sky are hard to beat.

And the late afternoon winter sun on the way home was pretty special too...

Next week might be a 'two-in-one' - Waxham & Sea Palling are close together so, all being well, that's where I'll be heading.

S x

beautiful, windy Winterton...

Yesterday morning was bright and cold, with a strong blustery breeze that had been whipping through the trees all night. Perfect for the next beach stop on my list and a 'blow the cobwebs away' walk.

Winterton is somewhere that has always been off my go to list. As a child, I was affected by the conveyed trauma of my parents, after a friend of my younger sister drowned there having been caught by the fast rising tide on a sandbank. It became the beach that we just didn't visit and I suspect in my imagination it became a much darker and more terrible place than it needed to.

Almost 40 years on, and with a determination to visit the 'unvisited' places, it seemed more than time to put that memory to rest. And, in fact, Winterton is a rather beautiful place. A wide stretch of low sand dunes leads from the village before opening out onto a vast stretch of sandy beach, looking towards Horsey on the left...

and back towards Hemsby looking to the right...

We were there early, on the beach by about 9.15, with the sun low in the sky and the offshore windfarm just visible in the distance. When I was at Hemsby last week, this was just visible through the low cloud to the naked eye but undetectable on photos.

It was very windy, with the temperature in the shelter of just 3C in spite of the sunshine, considerably lower with windchill taken into account I suspect, and there were few people about other than a group of hardy runners and a couple of photographers trying to capture photos of the impressive breakers; they were much braver than me, laying on the shingly sand close to the tideline, pointing their long lenses towards the waves, some of which were 5 or 6ft high, with the wind whipping spray off their tops... 

It is impossible to ignore the sheer power of the sea as it crashes onto the beach - there are breakers on the sandbanks much further out and the shoreline has the appearance of having been scoured into  lunar-like undulations...

It was difficult not to take too many photos, it was so beautiful; the two photographers would walk a little way, then lay down again and take more pictures - I'd love to know what shots they managed to capture.

The Norfolk coast is a wide sweep around the curve of the county and you get a real feel of that here. As you stand on the beach the sea is visible as you look out across more than 180 degrees of the horizon...

There was a really lovely light which altered according to which way you were facing; with the sun behind us, the dune grass glowed golden as it stretched away...

The blue sky was reflected in the pools collecting in the pockets left on the sand...

...and facing the other way, the grass had a silver quality...

We walked back through the dunes, definitely warm coffee in mind by this point!

One last glance at the sea...

...before heading back towards the village across the dunes...

Up by the lighthouse is a quirky collection of roundhouse holiday chalets, inspired over 35 years ago by a local businessman's visits to South Africa, thatched in keeping with local Norfolk roofing skills.

Winterton has its history in fishing and farming and retains a quiet village feel amongst the holiday lets, with pretty narrow streets of old cottages...

Back at the beach is a cafe with decent coffee, warm snacks and homemade cakes - perfect before the drive home.

I'm glad I went. Beautiful stretch of beach - it was a strangely emotive experience but the sea is powerful and to be respected on any stretch of our coastline; don't feel any need to avoid this particular bit any more.

Next time, Horsey beach - I wonder if the baby seals will still be there?

S x