Norfolk Day 7

 

We left the Royal Hotel in Mundesley for the last leg of our journey. Today's walk is about 8.5 miles which is just as well as putting the boots on this morning was agony. As we were getting ready to leave we bumped into Andrew the man who has been collecting and delivering our luggage. He kindly took our group photo this morning before loading up our luggage. I was very tempted to ask for a lift as I am feeling so exhausted today but I am almost there so best foot forward.

We walked back down the hill to Mundesley beach.

You know you are near a popular beach when you see sun hats and ice cream being sold.

This is a memorial to the many brave Royal Engineer Personnel who were killed while clearing British land mines from the Norfolk coast between 1944 and 1958.

This is a nice touch. It is called a happy to chat bench.

We walked down to the beach and passed these brightly coloured beach huts.

We had followed the signs for the Norfolk Coastal path and they led us onto the beach. As I mentioned yesterday this us not easy walking.

After a brief walk along the sand, we spoke to a lady who was out walking her dog who told us that we needed to find the alternative route inland. There is a path along the beach all the way to Cromer but you can only do that if the tide is on its way out! Being townies we never thought to consult the tide timetable. The only way was up and off the beach. The walk up this path was no easy feat. 

I thought if I took advantage of the bench halfway up I would never get up again.

We soon found the inland pathway which took us along roads, round fields and through small bits of woodland. All the while the only thing we could hear were RAF jets. They were so high we couldn't see them but the noise was deafening. I assume they were on patrol from RAF Mildenhall. 

This romany caravan has seen better days.

We finally reached the small village of Trimingham and decided to make our way back towards the coastline.

We found the path along the top of the cliffs but made sure we kept well away from the edge.

Cliff erosion had left a zigzag pattern to its edge.

It won't be long before these jagged points of land are lost to the sea.

The path took us inland slightly to the village of Overstrand.

A quirky garden with driftwood and stone sculptures.

A post box knitted topper to celebrate the Coronation next week.

Although we only had a couple of miles to go we couldn't resist popping into this cafe for a cup of tea and toasted teacake.

Back to the crumbling path again.

We could just about see the pier at Cromer in the distance.

The walk took us past the Royal Cromer golf course which slowed thd boys down as they watched and criticised a  couple of golfers' swings.

Adjacent to the golfcourse is the octagonal tower of Cromer lighthouse.

With a sigh of relief we come into the town of Cromer where we found the beginning of the Weaver's Way trail and where we will end our walk along the Norfolk Coastal path.

We are all delighted to have completed this year's walk. A total of 77 miles and apparently over 200,000 steps but I wasn't counting. We have decided that this will be the last of our linear walks but not the end of our annual get togethers. In future we will stay in one place and go out daily on different walks. This will allow the possibility of having a day's rest if needed. Due to Covid, our last walk took place in 2019 and we all felt the difference of those intervening years. 

Our last evening together until 2024 when hopefully we will be all present including our 6th member who is nursing a broken arm and couldn't be with us this week. Hope you've all enjoyed joining me on this walk from the comfort of your armchairs. Thank you for your many comments and I will be back reading your posts asap.