More chip shops than Blackpool

Saturday 8th October 2016 - Near Caister-on-Sea.

We had a slow start to avoid a few showers in the morning.  We sat tight in the van and planned our campaign for next week.  After lunch with no more delusions of a new career as an MI5 spy we cycled to see the delights of Great Yarmouth.

We had told the site owner of our plans to visit Great Yarmouth.  She took a deep breath and chose her words carefully so that she didn't undermine our sense of anticipation.  She did find something positive to say and that was that a lot of European money had been spent on the promenade!  I think she ignored the rest of the town for good reason.

The following photos have been censored to avoid cruelty to the reader.

The Britannia Pier was suitably tacky for a seaside resort but the sands were gorgeous.  Not really a day for the beach though.

Great Yarmouth's version of The Tower.

I have never seen so many fish and chip shops.  At times there were 3 or 4 chip shops within 10 yards of each other.  There was no point of out visit when I couldn't smell chips....and I'm not exaggerating.

In fairness there were some buildings that were probably grand theatres in their day but we're generally sad and run down.  The shopping areas were generally tired too, a bit like the people who were frequenting them.  Even the National Trust property in the town was closed on a Saturday, so no joy there.  

The site owner had told us that the neighbouring town of Gorleston-on-Sea was more refined.  So we carried on and felt she had gilded the lily a little in its description too.  We did enjoy hearing the Bingo caller over the loudspeakers though!

This is Gorleston.  I think the photo fully caught the best feature of the town....the sand.  It's a pity these resorts have fallen so far from fashion because the raw materials are so good.  I suppose if we saw them on a sunny day with all the beaches full and holiday makers in abundance we might have a different opinion.  I'm not funny about older seaside resorts as I like Blackpool for its tackiness, trams, donkeys and fun fair.  Maybe we just saw Great Yarmouth and area at the wrong time.

We did love the day out - cycling is such a great way to get around.  Back to the van for a lovely prawn curry, so it might be Horsey Wind Pump tonight after all!!

Birthday scone!

Friday 7th October 2016 - Mautby, near Caister -on -Sea

Happy Birthday Janice.  Janice didn't want me to come right out and tell you how old she is but I devised a little mathematical problem so those clever readers might be able to work it out!  Here goes.....

Think of a number between 1 and 20

Add 53

Double it

Divide it by two

Take away the number you originally thought of.

You will have Janice's age and if Janice asks, I didn't tell you did I.

What did she want to do on her birthday, yes, what any girl would want to do.....cycle 7 miles to a small village, then catch a bus into Norwich and have a cheesy scone at the Marks and Spencer cafe.  So that's what we did.

We had visited Norwich last year and liked it.  It has a big castle, a beautiful cathedral, open air market and a nice mixture of shops old and new.

We did have another treat and had eggs benedict for lunch at a nice cafe, including a bottle of rose wine.

We don't often indulge in alcohol during the day but it was a special day.

Whilst we sat we recalled an item on the radio we had heard about the recruitment of MI5 agents and what they did.  One apparently had to pretend to be homeless to keep an unsuspected and unobtrusive surveillance on a premises.  We speculated that Janice had the skills to be an MI5 undercover agent to infiltrate the terrorist group known as the 'Russian Afternoon Tea Syndicate' (RATS) who infiltrate the Great British Bake Off and by doing so undermine our way of life!  RATS have already have great success by supporting the programmes move to Channel 4.  It is strongly believed that Paul Hollywood is already in Putin's pocket (he is quite small when you see him in real life) and it is believed that Russian state hackers have released data about Mary Berry's blood sugar levels.  Janice thinks she has what it takes to fight back by eating cakes at strategically important locations like The Ritz, Fortnum and Masons and Claridges and she is willing to do this for the Nation.

This conversation was a prime example of why not to drink wine at lunchtime!!

In the afternoon we retraced our steps back to the site to eat our M&S meal for two and settle down to watch last week's Poldark on the iPlayer.  Now that's what I call a birthday treat.

Blickling not Bland

Thursday 6th. October 2016- near Caister-on Sea.

Moving on from Cromer we did our shopping at Lidl at North Walsham.  Lidl are very similar to Aldi but seem to be better represented in this area.  They win over Aldi by having their own fresh breads.  I can recommend the pain aux raisen.  

We moved on to Blickling Hall (I know you are starting to get bored) but it was a really nice place.  

You may think it looks a bit like Felbrigg, Sudbury and Dunham but they are different.  This was the first Hall that was donated, in its entirety to the National Trust in 1940.

Lots to see at the Hall that may have been the birth place of Anne Boleyn (in a previous building at the same place, as this house was only completed in 1629).  The family of the current house were called Hobart's, pronounced Hubbard. (no, I don't understand this need for the aristocracy to spell a name one way and pronounce it differently either).  They became Marquesses of Buckingham and Lord Lothian.  The family name changed to Kerr in the early. 1900's.  The 11th Lord Lothian bequeathed the Hall to the National Trust in 1940 to avoid Death Duty Tax.

Here's Janice trying to check out a Catherine Cookson romance but they don't seem to have her novels in the library?

We travelled towards our new destination near Caister-on Sea.  On the way we passed another National Trust place called 'Horsey Wind Pump' but Janice thought we had had enough of that kind of thing, having stayed with me in a camper van for the last week and a half!

Instead, we stopped off at a place called California.  It's on the coast just north of Caister.  Normal people just go to the place they want to visit but we think of the place we want to visit and find somewhere about 2 miles away and walk to the place we want to visit (is there something wrong with us?).

I imagined how spectacular California would be and thought of the inspiration for The Eagles hit, Hotel California.....well here it is...

California itself was a holiday chalet park with a pub and a fish and chip shop.  However, the beach was lovely if rather quiet and windswept.

We walked along the beach to Caister and tried in vain to find the town centre.  We concluded that it didn't have one, just a series of holiday parks and bungalows.  We did enjoy our walk very much.

The CL we are staying at is about 4 miles inland and it has wifi. Wow!

Back to the Nat Trust grindstone!

Wednesday 5th October 2016- Near Cromer

Having had two days off the grand houses of England we were back on the trail.  Having checked the National Trust handbook there seems to be slim pickings in Norfolk.  There are a couple of places near here though.  The nearest is Felbrigg Hall, about 3 miles south of Cromer.  You will be surprised to know that the place is not connected with the Vernon family.

The house had been owned by the Windham family.  There wasn't anything particularly memorable  about the family except for William Windham the fourth, who was nicknamed 'Mad Windham'.  He had a penchant for dressing in uniform, once dressing in police uniform and rounding up dubious women after closing time! and he posed as a train guard blowing his whistle on the platform at random times!  Sounds good honest fun to me.  He also spent all the family money whilst the rest of the family tried to get him declared as a lunatic.

The Hall's walled garden was spectacular.  We had our picnic lunch in a sheltered spot and I ate a tomato and an apple that I 'found' attached to the plant in the garden.  Janice helped me eat the tomato.....very ripe and flavoursome.

Despite the sunshine it was quite windy and cool.  We cycled back to the van mid afternoon.

Later we needed to call at The Vernons Arms at South Repps village for sustenance.  The landlord wasn't sure of the Vernon history but speculated that a Vernon daughter married into one of the local big families called Suffield??  On our arrival back at the van I checked the Vernon family tree we had seen at Suffield Hall.  We found that Georgiana Vernon married Edward, 3rd Lord Suffield in 1809.  He loved her so much that he named a pub after her!!

I do like to be beside the seaside.

Tuesday 4th October 2016 - Near Cromer

We had already decided that today would be a cycling day.  We started late morning and headed for the coast at Trimingham.

Our lunch stop was at Mundesley where we had a little walk on the beach.

We also came across a windmill seeing that we had considered going to Holland it seemed appropriate to include the picture.

There was a monument for the people who had died clearing mines from the shoreline since the 2nd World War.

Our next stop was at the church at Happisburgh where I read the story of the sinking of HMS Invincible in 1801 of the coast.  It had 600 crew and only 190 survived including Admirals Parker, Nelson and Totty.  I thought it must have been top brass heavy!  On this occasion Nelson didn't say "kiss me Totty'!

Apparently 140 of the deceased were buried in the churchyard...and incidentally they didn't bury the survivors at all.

Our end destination on the coast was Eccles-on-Sea because Janice was born at Eccles, Manchester.  When we got there it was like a shanty town.  I thought that it had become a migrant camp just like Calais.  It had no shops and no tarmaced roads.  Never mind, we turned inland and returned via North Walsham for a coffee and cake.

The cycling in this part of the world is lovely.  Apart from it being fairly flat, the lanes are quiet and the villages lovely.  The houses are made from either a nice warm red brick or have flint stone walls and red tiled  rooves.

New addition to family!

Monday 3rd October 2016

I know you will all be intrigued by the new member of the family......who is it? and thinking I didn't think they could manage it!  I know I should have told you before but now I can reveal the new family member........

It's Janice's new bike.  A perfect match for my Marin bike but better looking of course.

I am in need of a rant!  What a disgrace, last night.  Burnley were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal by a goal scored after four minutes of extra time when only two minutes of extra time had been announced and the goal was scored by the arm of the Arsenal captain (sorry I can't spell his name).  He was even offside too!  Apart from that there was nothing wrong with it.....grrrrr, clenched teeth and swearing under my breath!!!!

Having moved on from our overnight stop at Belvoir Castle we needed some proper facilities. Our booked destination was a CL at Southrepps village near Cromer, north Norfolk.  We wanted to explore the coast of this area as we had missed it out on our previous summer trip to this region.

The weather is being kind. Yesterday I had been forced to wear long trousers but I am pleased to announce that shorts are back in fashion.  The temperature was up to 16 degrees and sunny all day, keep it coming.

On our arrival at the site we had a little lunch and cycled by back lanes through Southrepps, where there is another Vernon Arms pub. We haven't visited yet but we will.  I need to try to establish a connection with the east of the tribe.  There was nothing in the village church to indicate any Vernons in the area.  Onward to Cromer.  It is a nice town with a lovely beach and pier.

Wow, what a lovely......blue sky.

We couldn't resist buying some local Cromer Crab for our tea.  It went well with a rose wine.

Back to the site and my personal hairdresser did the business.  Not before time, I hear you say.  Yes, I have been a fully paid up member of the 'Tufty Club' recently!

Our tea was a very fishy affair with crab, scallops and followed by salmon and couscous.

It's all about me!

Sunday 2nd October 2016

We woke up to a nice day at Ashbourne.

This is a rather superior supermarket car park and was a lovely place to stay for the night.  Not far to go for my Sunday paper.

Mid morning, we set off the short distance to Sudbury Hall, east of Uttoxeter.  This was inherited by Sir John Vernon in 1515 but the House was built in its current grand style by George Vernon in 1660.

The branch of the Vernon family had come from Haddon Hall.

We had a Sunday lunch at......where else....The Vernon Arms.

The Vernon motto is 'Vernon Semper Viret', which apparently means 'Vernon always green'!  It doesn't sound too impressive but the literal translation of 'Semper' is loyal or committed and 'Viret' means flourishing.  So, 'Vernon always thriving' would be a better translation, well that's what I think.

We also saw a re-enactment group with bows and muskets and cooking food on fires etc.

Very interesting but you wouldn't get me doing any of that.

We had a look around the Hall and were very interested by all the Vernon family tree.  Again, some of the interiors were used in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.  The Long Gallery is especially good...

The current 11th Lord Vernon is living in Saffron Walden and he took the title by surprise recently as the male line dried up and they had to go back to a half brother called Edward Vernon who was Archbishop of York in the early 1800's and the new Lord is one of his descendants.

We have booked our Monday nights destination at Cromer, Norfolk.  However, tonight we thought we would wild camp somewhere enroute.  So.....where better than Belvoir (pronounced Beever) Castle, near Grantham.  The Castle has closed for the season but we are staying overnight on its car park.  Belvoir is owned by the Manners family that took over from the Vernons at Haddon Hall.  I am only staking my claim to the space on the car park for the Vernons.  They must owe us something!