Day 75 – Lowestoft to Mundesley

 

 Date: Saturday 25^th June  2011   Distance: 45.3 Miles

 

After leaving the car in the underground car park for free we left the Premier Inn at Norwich, crossing the road to the station opposite! The train arrived in Lowestoft before 10am. Despite the forecast saying rain till 10 or later there was no rain all the way today and it was positively balmy though mostly dull.

The cycle track took us along the sea wall, with the maritime museum, on the hill and the fishy smells of the close-by Birds Eye factory. Ambulance sirens followed us to the factory. Something must have happened there as there were two parked within the complex. This time we carried on down the seafront until we turned left to a B road to Corton.

At Hopton-on –Sea we took a track by a golf course, where signs said there was no right of way and a likelihood of fatal injury. The track was certainly used by cyclists from the tyre marks and it led to Gorston on Sea. From the top road we could see the sea so we carried the tandem down steep stairs, to the amusement of a mother and daughter sitting on their doorstep, and joined the road by the quay and industry till we reached the bridge for Great Yarmouth.

Great Yarmouth was busy, full of amusements and not dissimilar to Southend. We could ride along the promenade again but we went as far as the coastguard station and realised we’d gone too far. It wasn’t far back to a bit of main road and then the marked cycleway passing a race course, greyhound and stockcar track and then fields all the way to Caister where we had hoped to find a cafe but didn’t!

At the other end of town, off a little track to a caravan park, we found a shack cafe with a toilet for much- needed refreshment.

Exotically named California was a disappointment in that it was just a large collection of houses. It was Hensby and then on the way to Winterton-on-sea with lovely thatched cottages that we found via a track marked no public right of way heavily printed with tyre tracks. There was more emphasis on it being a no through route by another sign at a closed gate so we were set to go back. A man in his garden said we could carry on though as everyone else did and he gave us directions to the road. Everyone we saw seemed very friendly and didn’t seem to mind despite the notices. A local lady with a pushchair said she didn’t realise you could use that route as we emerged onto the road and welcomed the news. For us it had saved us using a really busy road!

This was a day of caravan sites and small apartment “boxes” too numerous to mention individually.

After Winterton-on-sea there were wind turbines on a low hill. We’d seen a lot of windmills today though many were in a state of disrepair. The effect on the landscape was picturesque nevertheless. We stopped at a National Trust mill at Horsey for our lunch break. At the refreshment kiosk there was a swallow’s nest under the “eaves” just above eyelevel and the parents were busy feeding flies to their 5 babies. The nest was a manufactured one but it saved the birds energy and was obviously a success! Bob took some great panoramas from the top of the mill. Boats can been taken from this point on the Broads to observe the wild life but we found quite a lot of wild life came to us, especially a pair of mallards sharing our lunch( snacks and sandwiches only). The nearby car park had toilets.

A couple of miles down more country lanes we stopped at a really old huge Barn used (by house-martins and) for exhibitions and there was a Craft one today. A cafe adjoined it. I liked the collage by Hilary Stenning and would have bought a picture if we were in the car. They used recycled magazines and the effect was stunning. h.stenning174@btinternet.com

Sea Palling looked interesting but we’d stopped too much already. The lanes were narrow but we passed 2 people on bikes and fields of sugar beet. Apparently there are 3 sugar factories in Norfolk!

At Whimpwell Green we saw an odd sight of an imposing tall red and white striped lighthouse seemingly standing in a field amongst a few houses. It is actually in Happisburgh and warns sailors of the sands 7 miles offshore.

We turned off towards Ostend that was just quite plain houses and more houses near the sea. Then it was Bacton with its well protected sandy beach and on the hill on the Coast road, pylons and pipes of the Gas Terminal serving the North Sea (up to 65 miles away). A Police presence reminded us not to take photos or linger too long- we remembered our little encounter near the Power station at Hinkley Point.

We passed another beautifully restored massive barn and took a part of a local cycle path at the edge of a field but decided to stick with the road in case we missed our route which took us by another restored mill at Stow.

We had a bed and breakfast booked at a house in Mundesley, a lovely village with a great community feel to it. The sea was close by and there were 2 decent places to eat, one a pub with real ale and locals and the other a hotel. We tried the pub where they were very friendly but the food was very expensive and complicated! Bob had a yellow coat on that became dotted with masses of little black beetles that seemed to plague this bit of the coast line. Everyone had to cover their beers with beer mats as they were inside the pub unfortunately. We decided to go to the hotel and were pleasantly surprised by our lovely meals and the beer was fine.

Our room had its own front door but was joined to the house on the side. It was odd hearing footsteps above when we had only a roof over us. It must have been how the building was constructed and we were tired so we slept OK. It was a nice breakfast in the morning complete with serenading from a visiting parrot.