Iona visits Hunstanton

The drive to Hunstanton was uneventful and when we drove through Hunstanton along the ring road.  We saw a caravans pitched in a school a little further on we drove past more Motorhomes parked so we turned into a sports ground.

I was here that we were flagged down and asked if we were loooking for a BCC site. Yes we said and the steward said we needed to go another 200 yards because his site was full.

We turned around and continued for another few hundred yards and saw Glebe House prep school. We turned in and made our way to the stewards. They had us on their list. After signing in, paying and filling with water , we chose a vacant pitch opposite the water point and set up camp.

After lunch we walked the half mile to the sea front. The tide was out and we made our way down to the prom and walked south until the promenade fizzled out. Then the heavens opened and a quick change into our waterproof jackets and we about turned and walked back to the centre of activity. Smiling smugly at the holiday makers in their T shirts getting wet while we were dry. However 400 yards later we were taking off our coats as the sun came out and we continued the tour.

 

We walked around the town and I found the one street I remembered from my rep days and the Boots was still there.

The local church looked interesting so we had a walk over and ventured inside. It appeared quite modern inside although it wasn’t. Leaving the church we came across the original centre of the village, designed and built by Henry Strange, his vision was a ‘spa’ town by the sea without a Spa.

He was a rich local landowner and as well as landscaping the promenade he built a hotel, The Golden Lion hotel as it is now called. We called in for a drink and sat in the garden and watched the tourists walk by.

The walk home took us through the memorial garden that is also dedicated to the victims of the 1957 storms. This includes some Americans living in Hunstanton at the time, they lost their lives trying to save people. The Stars and Stripes flies alongside the Union flag.

Back at Iona we had a couple of hours sitting in the sun before I cooked tea on the Cadac. The rain followed and the wind strength increased.

Day 2:

Wind and rain have set in so we will see how the day progresses although we are going for a walk along the beach.

After making our way down to the cafe on the promenade. We walked down onto the beach and walked north towards Wells. The beach is mainly a rocky outcrop that is covered with mussels. Then around the rocks nearer the high tide line there are hundreds of empty and broken razor clam shells.

Along this stretch of coast is a cliff face made up of layers of dark orange sediment with a thick layer of chalk some 10’ to 15’ thick.

We made our way along the cliff base and the further we went the cliff started to gently angle down until it turned into sand dunes. Here we took a path up to the top of the cliff and walked back along the Wolf trail towards Hunstanton.

We passed an old coastal lookout that could be hired as a holiday home.

Further along there was an old lighthouse, this again had been converted to a holiday home by Norfolk Council. On the top of the cliff path we got the full force of the northerly wind and we had to lean into it to make any progress.

 

The great advantage of being this high up is that we could look across the wash towards Skegness and the wind farm which was quite visible.

We walked into Hunstanton and did some window shopping, where we found a camping shop that had everything you would ever need to go camping. Luckily we could not find anything we really needed. It was too windy and dull to sit outside Sue’s favourite hotel so we made our way home.

The weather got a bit brighter by 5pm but still no sun. Tea tonight was a lasagne pre made prior to travelling. The wind is still fairly strong with the odd gust rocking Iona.

Day 3:

Sue went for another swim, this time the pool was open in the morning. While Sue swan I did the blue jobs, water, Elsan and then washing up.

We walked into town using a slightly different route. After a few charity shops looking for clothes for our Goodwood Revival 1940 later in September. We failed to find anything and we headed for the sea front. Today we did a detour through the fair and some of the old style stalls, air guns, coconut shies are still in vogue along with the more high tec thrill rides.

We made our way back along the prom and stopped at the Golden Lion Hotel for a beer, which we drank outside in the garden while the sun shone. We left and got back to Iona in time for lunch. The afternoon was spent reading until it was beer o’clock and then the Cadac bbq came out and I cooked steaks.

We sat outside for a while and then retired to Iona as the temperature dropped. Another good day in Hunstanton, tomorrow we hit the shops 😧

Day 4:

A relaxing day around Iona, we walked into Hunstanton at midday to get Fish & Chips. There is a display on the green celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing.

We found a shelter out of the wind and people watched as we ate our lunch. A walk along the prom and then back to the campsite.

Neither of us were very hungry at supper time. I cooked a couple of burgers and the remaining sausages on the Cadac.

Trip 12: 140 miles, 26.5 mpg, 31 mph, 4hr 28m travel time.