Moving to North Norfolk / Gorgeous Evening in Cromer - 22nd Aug ‘19

As with most moving days, today was a glorious hot and sunny one.

Breakfast and then up and at ‘em. The pack up process ( minus Isabella) is a breeze and the current Mrs Pitts and I hurry through the process steps like a couple of old pros. On the road by 11.15. See my pros and cons list later in the blog for Hill Farm Darsham.

Straight forward journey around Norwich and arriving at Seacroft Cromer at about 1.15pm. We have a non awning pitch so with a bit of motor moving (the pitch was much too challenging for my current reversing competence!) we were soon settled. It’s a full club site so it has all the facilities- including a swimming pool! It is situated just off the main road on the Sheringham side of Cromer. The sea is about 1/4 mile away - over a road and another campsite.

After a trip to Morrisons to get a few provisions and a bite to eat we enjoyed a bit of sunshine sitting outside Brunnehilda. Kim read and I watched the Test on my i-phone.

Dinner was vegetable paella on the Cadac - absolutely scrummy. Made even more so as I made it - well under strict instruction from the head chef that is!

After dinner we set out for a bit of a walk - need to get the steps registered! We walked out of town to East Runton to get onto the beach. From there we walked along the beach back into Cromer. There was a lovely atmosphere with lots of folks BBQing on the beach. There was a gorgeous red sky sunset as well that added to the ambience.

Coffee and chocolate just by the pier and then up into Cromer town centre - just in-time to see the annual carnival parade through the streets. Nice idea to have it at night with all the lights.

We walked back home along the main road and were then treated to the carnival firework display which we watched from Brunnehilda’s front door.

Canasta was a bit of a walk over tonight but modesty prevents me from giving you the full details.

Hill Farm Darsham CL Site:
Pros:
1) Fabulous position for Southwold and Aldeburgh
2) Fresh eggs readily available
3) Our own personal water tap
Cons:
1) Road noise from very busy nearby A12
2) We didn’t have an awning pitch. Lots of room but not allowed to pitch on hard standing
3) Facilities - while they were clean (ish) they were far from pleasant to use
4) No view - could have been anywhere
5) WiFi, although free, was awful. And no 4G!

More Southwold & Walberswick - 21st Aug ‘19

A bit of a repeat of an earlier day - Saturday? Just as enjoyable second time round though.

Yesterday finished off very badly with Kim beating me at Canasta - I unfortunately now have to consider the possibility that it may not just be luck and she may actually be better than me at the game ... nah, I was bloody unlucky!

Another lazy morning. Cereal and toast in the sunshine before heading off to Walberswick for the pleasant walk over the bridge to Southwold. We stopped at the Black Dog Deli to buy lunch before setting off. The food from the deli was nice enough but the lady serving was a little surly- which always gives the food a slightly bitter taste no matter how nice!

Very windy by the coast but still pleasant enough. We walked to Southwold and, after lunch by the beach, set off on a walk further up the coast. We were thwarted by some private property and the tide being in so we had to head inland and walk back into Southwold via the main road. A nice enough walk though - the steps are certainly piling up!!

A bit of a shop in Southwold then down to the beach for a swim. Gee it was rough - much too choppy to swim but lots of fun. More fun followed as I tried to get changed out of my swimming trunks on a busy(ish) beach. I managed it though without any drama, court orders or scaring any elderly women - barring Kim of course!

Then the long walk back retracing our steps to the car parked outside Walberswick Church - 20,000 steps and 7 hours after we left!

We both fancied a Chinese so we headed home via Halesworth. We did manage to get one but it did feel at one stage like a challenge that Bear Grylls might have set - no where in Halesworth seems to take card (strictly cash only) and there are literally no banks in the town. The cash machines are in shops and guess what shops do after 5 o’clock? Any way we managed it - it’s amazing how resourceful you get when your hungry? I don’t think we’ll be allowed back though!

We took the grub back to Brunnehilda and enjoyed it while watching the DVD of the recent Mary Queen of Scots film. Funny, we both knew it would be rubbish - the film that is not the Chinese - and we were right, it was!

No Canasta tonight - my pride can only take so much pricking!

A Rainy Day in Camp - 19th Aug ‘19

Not much to blog because not much happened. A very quiet day all round. The weather was doing it’s normal thing - I think they call it sunshine and showers?!

We slept in this morning - catching up with sleep I guess? So we didn’t breakfast in Brunnehilda but set off to the Volvo Dealer (MR King) at Halesworth https://www.volvocars.com/uk/find-a-dealer/retailers/halesworth - only about a 10 minute drive away. Turns out we have got a big screw in the tyre which can’t be repaired and guess what ... they haven’t got stock! So it has been ordered and we return tomorrow morning.

We had a long chat with Mike, the dealer owner, and then find a nice cafe down the high street to have some lunch - Focus Organic http://www.focusorganic.co.uk/. It was very good. Kim and I both commented how much the kids would have enjoyed it. Kim is being very good and keeping away from meat. My will power is not so good and I succumbed to the temptation of a sausage roll!

When we returned to Hill Farm we had some time in the sun reading - I’m ashamed to say I fell asleep. It’s true, the less you do the more tired you get!

We decided to walk the 1/2 mile along the A12 to the Two Magpies Coffee Shop. The heavens opened and by the time we got there we were both soaking wet.

Tea and cake then reinforced us for a 4 mile walk down some very quiet Suffolk lanes. The showers continued all afternoon so Brunnehilda was a welcome sight!

Beans on toast, reading and Canasta before an early night. I’m pleased to report that the natural order of things has returned and there was a new and deserved winner at cards tonight!

Walberswick & Southwold - 17th Aug ‘19

Walberswick ... there’s a name to remember! That and it’s neighbour, Southwold, gave us a very enjoyable first day of our East Anglian Trip.

It all started, as always, with a leisurely breakfast. We moved Brunnehilda the 30 metres to the vacated pitch using the motor mover. Even though it is hard standing it is far from flat so it took a bit of time to level her up.

By midday we had travelled the 6 miles or so to Walberswick. Kim has read about how pretty it was and that there was a pedestrian ferry over to Southwold - on the opposite side of the mouth of the River Blyth. She was right about both these facts.

An old boy rowed us across (11 at a time) the 50 metre wide tidal river - and for just a £1 each! Seemed like a good retirement gig to me but after some minor research I discovered that there aren’t too many ferry crossing men vacancies in or around Long Buckby! Shame.

We walked along the beach into Southwold. The water was a good temperature but not tempting enough for me to change into my swimmers and have a dip. That’ll have to wait till later in the week. We wandered through the town finding our selves a bakers called The Two Magpies. https://www.twomagpiesbakery.co.uk/ The savoury and sweet offerings were as good as each other and we had a very pleasant lunch on a bench overlooking the beach. Time for a few chapters of reading too.

We then walked along to and to the end of the little pier. From there a walk back into town and a visit to the Adnams brewery shop to buy a couple of unusual beers.

We stocked up with coffee /tea at the ever reliable Cornish Bakery before taking the longer walk back to Walberswick via Southwold Common, a foot bridge across the river and walk through the village back to the car parked by the beach.

As you can see - there was a lot of walking today so we just crashed out when we got back to Brunnehilda. Too tired to party tonight! No crosswords, cards or backgammon for us this evening?!

Whilton to Halesworth (Suffolk) - 16th Aug ‘19

Here we go again! First point of order .. this not a holiday, these are “trips” or “journeys”. We need to get out the holiday mind set ... we’re not here to bloody enjoy ourselves!! Clearly that’s not what I mean. I mean we need to just consider ourself living somewhere else for a short time. We need to just relax and enjoy our new surroundings. We don’t need to look for different things to do each day, crossing things off our to see list or be disappointed about the weather. Oh, the benefits of being retired eh? Every days a holiday!

Well everything went like clockwork. I know confidence is often a pre-cursor to disaster - and I’m sure that will follow eventually -  but we completed all our “setting off” processes without a hitch. Although the current Mrs Pitts did point out that there was quite a lot of stuff going on under the surface at her level long before I turned up and took the hitch lock off Brunnehilda! Fair point.

We left Whilton Marina at about midday. Brunnehilda was resplendent with her new name sign proudly showing on her back side. Who wouldn’t look better with their name emblazoned on their bum?!

The only challenge during the 4 hour journey (including a stop for lunch) was finding a suitable parking place for a caravan at Cambridge Services. There weren’t many and half their ones that were available were being incorrectly used by white vans! It was a bit annoying - it’s the caravaners version of turning up at the supermarket with a car full of babies / toddlers in the rain and all the parent and child places being used by old men / boy racers in their Audi’s/ BMWs. We drove round 2 or 3 times and eventually one of the white van men vacated a spot.

Hill Farm CL site is in a village called Darsham, about 2 miles outside Yoxford in Suffolk. The site is down a quiet lane about 2 fields off the busy A12 - about 6 miles from Southwold one way and 6 miles from Saxmundham the other.

Taken the sunny morning- Day 2

We pitched up very quickly and efficient (there I go again .. cocky!) in the drizzle and headed off to Saxmundham to find a supermarket. There were 2 next to each other - Tesco and Waitrose. I’ll leave you to guess which one we gave our business?!

We settled in for a peaceful evening. Essentially just reading books and listening to Spots but we did find time to have a go at the Caravan Club magazine crossword -  racey evening eh?

The site owner is back from his holiday in Spain today and he did warn us in his email that we may have to move pitch in the morning. But hey, we’re experts now!!

One final comment - I managed all Brunnehilda manoeuvres without the motor mover just my blossoming reversing skills - just saying!