Trip 18, Woodhill Park, East Runton, Norfolk.
After an easy drive to Norfolk because there was no holiday traffic, we arrived at East Runton. We had taken advantage of a 3 nights for 2 deal so we had a fully serviced pitch and it was level – a bonus.
Sue had suffered on the drive and her elbow was giving her so much pain that I sent her to lay on the bed while I sorted the van out. Thankfully after a while Sue’s pain became bearable.
We had lunch and the sun was out so I suggested a short walk. I failed because we left the campsite and followed the main road into East Runton. We then checked out the fish & chip shop but it is closed during the week , we are now a meal short.
While deciding what to do we walked down the slipway to the beach and for some reason carried on walking towards Cromer.
After less than 30 minutes walking along the beach we were sat in the bar on Cromer Pier having a beer.
We left the bar and went in search of a chemist to get Sue some pain killers.
We found a Boots in the town centre and bought some stronger painkiller pills and some heat cream. Next stop was the Coop to look for something to replace the missing fish & chip tea. I managed to sneak some donuts into our shopping basket, well until the checkout when they were discovered by Sue, too late I had already paid for them.
We made our way home along the beach as the sun went down, and we arrived at the campsite as dusk settled in. 7 miles walked this afternoon.
Tea tonight is Sea Bass, Prawns, salad and garlic bread.
Day 2:
Rain was forecast and sure enough it started at 7.00am and continued. Sue had had a bad nights sleep due to her painful elbow so she slept in later than me, I tried to be as quiet as possible until she woke properly.
The rain stopped at 11.15am so we went for one of our short walks. We headed for West Runton along the cliff top. The cliff has fallen away in places since we were last here in 2020.
At the West Runton visitor site there were some new information boards which explained how the fossil of a Woolly Mammoth was found in 1990. The fossil was about 85% complete.
We headed for the beach, past the tea rooms which are closed until next season. There were more information boards about the W Runton Mammoth 🦣.
We reached the beach and headed back towards E Runton. There is quite a bit of evidence of cliff erosion, probably from this year. We came across a small flock of Common Sandpipers searching for food on one of the slippage sites.
We left the beach at E Runton and climbed the slipway to the village. We stopped at the Fishing Boat pub on the way home for a Swift pint. It is a pub for locals and there was very little atmosphere but the drinks were OK.
We got back to Iona just as the rain started. A short 4 miles today. We had lunch and spent the afternoon reading.
Tea tonight is a Chinese style curry made from scratch in Iona.
Day 3:
The sun is out so we are going to head for Incleborough Hill which is behind East Runton. The first part is a slight climb on a track, this leads to a bridge over the railway and the path then continues to climb.
The hardest part is the next section which climbs at over 45° to the top of Incleborough Hill. The last section takes us to the plateau where you get a fantastic view of the coast. We can see the campsite and Iona in the distance.
We left the plateau and followed a path down towards West Runton. There is a Camping & Caravan site nestled in the trees and the footpath followed the boundary fence, eventually coming out near the Golf course.
We left West Runton village and headed towards the coast and the slipway down to the beach. We are now where we were yesterday at the Mammoth information boards.
Due to the bright weather there are more people on the beach today. The tide is out and we followed the surf line back to East Runton. We left the beach and followed the road back to the campsite. Our walk today was just over 6 miles.
We had lunch and spent the afternoon reading in the van before getting tea ready. Tonight we are having a Coop special, fish pie with potato wedges, so nearly fish and chips but not quite.
Tomorrow we head home, unfortunately this is probably the last trip this year but we have been away on 19 trips and we have spent 70 nights in Iona.
Iona’s Travels 