Walking by the sea - sans pictures!

One of our ambitions on this trip is to do a lot of walking. Not unusual on a trip or holiday because it just seems to be one of those things that you do more naturally when you are not at home and want to observe things more carefully that are not so familiar and "taken for granted". 

My last post shared a good walk around the UEA campus with George & Daisy which lasted about 45 mins. During an unexpected visit from George's mum & dad and sister (Sean & Ruth & Martha) on Saturday night it was suggested that George & I might take Daisy to the beach for a walk on Sunday morning. Sounded OK to me ... a walk on the beach can't be so bad ...

So we set off (and I deliberately did not take my camera to be sure I gave my full attention to the walk) for Wells-next-the-Sea, about a 40 minute drive NW of Norwich ... complete with heavy jacket, scarf & beany (and it was relatively sunny!). Wish there  was a photo to share :). The link above has some images that give you an idea of what follows, just imagine the clouds setting in and the wind blowing up ... not the pristine tourist images shown.

Like every where here, first thing was to pay for the park - another reminder of how spoiled we are back home (in the country mostly for the moment, at least) and then we set off for the beach. A short walk through a pine forest separating the Holkham National Nature Reserve Broads (wetlands) from the Holkam Bay beach (shoreline to the North Sea). First thing you notice cresting the coastal dune revealing the beach are two offshore windfarms. It turns out a new marina has been constructed right next to the beach (not in the normal harbour further up the estuary ... seems commercial money interests, sorry private public partnership money interests, enable environmental vandalism here too) for the specialist vessels needed to service the windfarms. The irony of the vandalism to support the sustainable energy source really stood out (to me at any rate). 

Many colourful beachhuts (see image in above link, or think Brighton Beach in Melbourne) were the next striking feature as we set out across the sand expanse to the waters edge and set off westward on our walk. Daisy was off the lease and away! Lots of dogs (and I mean lots!) and their owners out for walks, so Daisy had plenty of company to chase and George had plenty of practice calling her back and rewarding her. I commented to George it was surprising there was so little debris and rubbish on the beach ... the context for this was the amount of rubbish we had seen along the roads driving up from London on Friday and on the way to the beach this morning. I just imagined there would be more given it was the North Sea. Mind you, the water was not clear like we are used to, but George assured me it is a lot better than on the east coast!

This also reminds me to comment on the amount of roadkill we have seen so far ... at least 2 dozen badgers, a dozen pheasants (even a live one flying across our path while driving) and numerous hares/rabbits, owls and a several foxes. A reminder I guess that this is a very rural county.

Back to our beach walk ... because we kept walking ... and one thing about walking on a beach is that I am always conscious that you have to walk back and the breeze was at our backs as we headed east along the beach! There were 4 things of note right along the beach (besides the rough sand, but it was sand and not pebbles here). First, the flint stones. Very common building material in this region. I shall include some pictures in later posts. Second, the razor clam shells. Fodder for the red billed oyster catchers. Third, the real oyster shells - much thicker and heavier than ours. Finally, an unusual dried seaweed that looked like a fine bone or fawn coloured felt or suede. If we get back up here I hope to be able to share some photos.

So, finally George headed back towards the dunes and the pine forest. To get there we crossed a serious mudflat and needed to be cautious not to end up flat on our arses, but made it! Still, we had to walk back and rather than head back along a trail through the forest we headed inland through the broad and another large carpark where a whole heap more dogs and their owners were just arriving. One of these owners approached George and asked to "borrow" a couple of pooper-bags - really! "borrow"? like you would want them back full of poop! - because she had left hers in her other coat pocket. A bit of light relief I must say. So we kept walking as George, bless his soul, had a pub in sight so we could grab a drink and go to the loo - had no idea this walk was going to be so long so no water was taken with us :(.

The final leg was back through a corner of the grounds of Holkham Hall and the Wells-next-the-Sea village itself and along the harbour wall back to our start point and the car. The wind had picked up and the final walk along the wall was into it. Many of the local geese from the Broad had flown over to the harbour as the tide had receded. So, it was back in the car for the 40 minute drive home and I certainly enjoyed lunch and a drink with it ... keen to get some walking in, but George seemed to want to fit it all in the first couple of days! That said, it has not done me any harm and it is much easier in the cooler climate to keep going. Checking the map, we did about 8 miles all up ... the 8 does not sound so much but if i convert it, 12 or 13 kms does when you are not used to it yet. Needless to say with a fit George and Daisy it was a pretty fair pace as well so I slept really well, and am looking forward to many more miles in the weeks ahead :).

To cap the day off we had a very pleasant late Sunday baked lunch with Sean and Ruth coming over. The fire was cranked up and a couple of red wines downed - no where to drive, just the internal stairs to negotiate! Also completed one book so far - Dan Brown's Digital Fortress and well into another, Panic by Jeff Abbott ... back to it!