Holidays and Travel

A Day Trip To Cromer

~ beetleypete ~ 65 Comments

Monday was bright and sunny, and also felt warm, with a forecast temperature of 17C. (63F) After such a long period of cold weather interspersed with rain, we decided to make the most of it and drive to the holiday town of Cromer, 45 minutes away on the north coast of Norfolk. For anyone who would like to know more about the town, here’s a link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromer

We arrived at lunchtime, parked the car, and headed off. I was keen enough to be wearing my shorts, but we also wore warm coats, as the coastal winds can best be described as ‘blustery’. Out of season, and with the children at school, it was very nice to see no crowds at all.

Clicking on the photos will take you to Flickr, where they can be enlarged.

Cromer Pier has a popular theatre presenting plays, shows, and live music. It is a good spot for crab fishing too, and was recently completely refurbished after storm damage.

P1000288

P1000293

P1000298

Julie heading onto the pier.

P1000290

The streets of the town have some very old houses in different styles.

P1000283

P1000285

P1000297

In the town centre is the imposing 15th century church of St Peter and St Paul.

P1000295

The town sits high above the beach and promenade.

P1000294

P1000291

Stopping in the open air for a coffee, we could feel the heat of the sun when sitting out of the wind. Before leaving for home later, we had a drink at The Red Lion, a very nice pub that also offers luxury hotel rooms with sea views. https://www.redlioncromer.co.uk/gallery/

This was followed by a meal of fish and chips at Cromer’s sea-view restaurant, Number 1. (Not my photo)

All in all, a great day out. Spoiled only by returning home to discover we had no heating or hot water, so I have just contacted the heating engineers this morning!

A Trip To Great Yarmouth

~ beetleypete ~ 64 Comments

Today (Saturday) was the warmest day of the year so far, reaching 21C. Despite the warmth, there were dull skies and very strong winds. We decided to go to the East Coast of Norfolk for the afternoon, leaving at midday and heading for the small resort of Caister-On-Sea. However, on arrival at the car park there, we were unable to park as the machines only took coins. We didn’t have any, and there was nowhere nearby to get change.

Undaunted, we left the town and headed to the partly-ruined Caister Castle, which houses a car museum.

It was closed.

That left the option of driving a few miles south to the busy seaside town of Great Yarmouth, which we did. Popular since 1760, and greatly developed in the Victorian era, this large town is a holiday destination for many people in England. Sadly, it has lost most of its Victorian grandeur and replaced that with gift shops, amusement arcades, and fish and chip shops. But we do love a bit of ‘retro seaside’, so parked the car and headed out.

Depite the coastal gloom, I took some photos. (They can be enlarged on Flickr by clicking on them)

The once-famous Winter Gardens contained exotic plants and tea was served in a genteel fashion. Opened in 1904, it lost it’s appeal some years ago, closing down in 2008. It has since fallen into disrepair, though there are plans to restore and reopen it.

P1000262

P1000263

The Empire Picture House opened in 1911, showing silent films. It has had various uses since, and is now a nightclub and street food venue. Fortunately, the wonderful architecture has survived.

P1000267

P1000268

The main pier in the town is the Britannia Pier. It has a theatre, amusements, and a small funfair.

P1000270

Traditional donkey rides are still available on the beach under the pier.

P1000274

The beach and seafront.

P1000265

P1000271

P1000264

The 41 mile drive home was traffic free, and we ordered a delivery of Chinese food for our evening meal. A pretty good Saturday!

Picture Postcard England

~ beetleypete ~ 68 Comments

Far away from the big cities and the usual tourist traps and destinations, there is so much to explore and enjoy in England. Much of the country has remained unchanged for hundreds of years, and old buldings in lovely villages and towns are preserved and lovingly maintained.

Whitby Abbey and the town beyond. Yorkshire.

Eynsford, Kent.

Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

Lincoln, Lincolnshire.

Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

Knaresborough, Yorkshire.

Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

Chester, Cheshire.

Castle Combe, Wiltshire.

And you can still find traditional thatched cottages in almost every county.

Holiday Storm Clouds

~ beetleypete ~ 43 Comments

As I mentioned in other posts recently, we had excellent weather for our week by the sea in Lincolnshire. Only 90 miles north from Beetley, it is an easy journey, and not at all tiring to undertake.

Late on Sunday afternoon, the last day of our holiday, we were considering where to eat dinner later. Julie walked to the local shop to buy some soft driinks, and when she returned she remarked that it was beginning to feel very humid. She also mentioned that behind us to the west, the sky was “looking very dark”.

Moments later, those dark skies passed over our cabin, and began to gather on the seafront close to our accommodation. I decided to photograph them, as they looked very impressive.

(Clicking on the photos will take you to Flickr, where they can be enlarged.)

DSC00537

DSC00539

It got so dark, the photos look black and white. In the next one, you can see the clouds in front of our hotel dipping down to almost touch the beach.

DSC00538

Seconds after I took that, a thunderclap so loud made Ollie jump up vertically from where he was sleeping on a rug inside the door of the cabin. That was followed by torrential rain, of monsoon standard. I haven’t seen such rain since we visited Singapore in 2002. I decided to put my camera away, as lightning illuminated the skies all around, and the rain came down even heavier. But I stayed on the porch to watch the storm, one of the best ‘free shows’ I can remember.

The guttering and drains couldn’t cope with the sheer volume of water, which was cascading off the rooftops like a waterfall. At 6:30pm, we decided to eat in the hotel, not willing to chance a soaking further afield. A mad dash across the hotel garden took us into the bar area. Staff were there using mops and a carpet shampooer to suck up water that was running under the doors. Some of the internal lights had blown, but other staff were doing a great job of serving drinks and taking food orders.

Those of us hardy enough to brave the storm enjoyed our meals and drinks, everyone chatting across the tables with the good-old British ‘Stiff upper lip’ spirit.

All in all, it was a memorable last night of our holiday.

A Holiday Attraction (Or Was It?)

~ beetleypete ~ 62 Comments

Always on the lookout for something different to do on our holiday in Lincolnshire, Julie spotted the website for Claythorpe Watermill.
https://claythorpewatermill.com/

The 18th century mill was used to grind corn, and the original building is 300 years old, with some Victorian additions added after a fire in the 1800s. Only 9 miles from where we were staying, it is accessed by a single-track road that can cause a few problems when a car comes in the other direction. We left Ollie at home that afternoon, as he was already tired out from his earlier walk.

Parking is provided free there, and the small admission charge of £2.50 per person is only required to view the ‘Animal and Bird enclosures’. You can use the outside areas and cafe facilities at no charge.

Free parking and a modest admission fee should have given us some sign of what to expect, but we went anyway. On arrival, it looks very picturesque.
(Clicking on the photos will take you to Flickr, where they can be enlarged.)

DSC00523

DSC00522

A few people were sitting around outside on that nice afternoon. Some were eating full meals, others drinking tea or coffee. But we headed inside to pay for our tickets, keen to see the ‘Animal and Bird enclosures’. As the man took our money, he apologised that the Bird Section was closed. This was due to an outbreak of Avian Flu some time back, and he had decided not to reopen them.

Oh well, there was still the Animal enclosure to enjoy, as well as being able to cross to the other side of the water. Also the machinery of the watermill, and some of the history.

Arriving at the Animal enclosure, we thought we must have taken a wrong turning. All we could see was a bored-looking goat, and then two giant rabbits. I photographed them as proof.

DSC00532

DSC00534

We did get to cross the water and see the view from the other side though.

DSC00535

DSC00536

Still, there was always the water wheel and inner workings. Or maybe not. The wheel had been taken away many years ago. (Our fault, for not reading the website properly.) However, some of the previously working parts are displayed.

DSC00529

We had to conclude it was actually quite funny. A watermill with no wheel, a closed bird exhibit that from what we could see mainly consisted of some chickens, and the ‘Animals’ that were two rabbits and a goat. We had a good laugh about it, decided to file it under ‘So bad it was good’, and Julie ordered tea and cake which was served outside. (And was very nice)

Just don’t travel a long way to see it. You have been warned!

Our Short Holiday

~ beetleypete ~ 52 Comments

It was great to go back to Sutton-on-Sea, the small seaside town we are so familiar with, and the cabin with a porch that we love to sit out on. We were lucky with the weather too, as there was something of a mini-heatwave around England while we were away, and we were able to escape that discomfort by being close to sea breezes.

On our last night there, we were treated to an incredible thunderstorm, with the centre of it right on the beach which is around 200 yards from our cabin. It didn’t inconvenience us in the least, as it was over by the time we left the next morning. All the other days offered near-perfect weather of 22-25C (71-77F), and blue skies once the morning sea-mist had cleared. The constant sea breeze meant that we were never too hot, although we both wore hats on some days because of the strength of the sun.

Keeping a tradition, my cousin Ian came to visit with his wife, Annie. They live close to Lincoln, which is only 38 miles west of where we were staying. We had fresh-caught fish and chips for lunch, eating on the table on the grassed area beside the cabin. That was followed by a walk along the seafront before they left to go home.

As we have been to the area so often, I didn’t take many photos. However, I did manage to take some of the threatening clouds just before the storm, and also during an afternoon trip to a 300 year-old water-mill. Posts with those photos will follow later this week.

We don’t do any cooking while we are on holiday, despite having a well-equipped kitchen and modern oven in the cabin. For us, one of the joys of our short holiday is to avoid preparation and cooking. There are enough different restaurants in the town to offer eating out most evenings or lunchtimes, and a good Chinese takeaway just across the road that we like to order from.

The journey home yesterday was trouble-free, and to round off the last day of our holiday, we ate out in Dereham last night.

Ollie was pleased to be home in more familiar surroundings, enjoying his rugs and sleeping off a chicken dinner. When we got home, I took him around Beetley Meadows and he was happy to be able to mark all the usual spots on what he regards as his ‘territory’. Other than two forthcoming family weddings, that is our travels complete for this year.

All being well, I am sure we will be returning to the same place in September 2024.

https://www.suttononsea.info/

Ollie’s Holiday

~ beetleypete ~ 50 Comments

This year, our holday was a little different for Ollie. He soon settled into our rented cabin, obviously familiar with it after so many stays in the same place. But his mobility issues now mean that we cannot do so much with him, as he tires very quickly. A short walk up to the promenade and along part of the beach front is as much as he can manage, with another walk in the evening around the grassed areas of the hotel grounds.

He still enjoys sitting on the porch with us, watching the people (and many pet dogs) relaxing in the large hotel garden. He attracts some attention, and gets a fuss from many of the other hotel guests or visitors, as well as the staff who remember him from previous years. Being Ollie, he still hates to have his photo taken, shying away from any visible camera, even a phone camera these days. But I managed to get one photo of him lying down, using my Tablet camera. Sadly, he flatly refused to look at me, hence you can only see this back view.

To avoid stressing him out with having to constantly get him in and out of the car, we decided to leave him in the cabin during a couple of short trips we made this year. He had no issues with that, as he had been out for his walk first, and eaten his dinner before we left.

Next Saturday we are staying overnight at a family wedding, so Ollie will be sleeping next door with our neighbours. He loves to see them, and enjoys the company of their cat, Alfie.

An Alphabet Of My Life: H

~ beetleypete ~ 51 Comments

H=Holidays

Some of my earliest memories are of going on our annual summer holidays when I was a child. They were always in Britain, and usually by the coast, or an easy drive to the sea. I was constantly car sick as a child, and with no motoways then, the trips from London to Cornwall took so long, we stayed overnight on the way. Cornwall was favoured, as we could stay with one of my dad’s relatives in Penryn, a man I called ‘Uncle John’ who was in fact my dad’s oldest cousin.

It always seemed to be sunny and hot in those days, and our two week holiday consisted of sand castles, ice cream, and huge beaches like Praa Sands, and Newquay. Evening meals would often be fish and chips, or the famous Cornish Pasties.

Then when I was 11 years old, I went on a school trip to France. That gave me the bug for foreign travel, and I eagerly went back on more organised trips to places further south in France, like Biarritz and Royan. Those trips were always by sea ferry followed by train-travel, and I loved how everything seemed so different to England, and more exotic.

By the time I was 14, I considered myself far too old to go on holiday with my parents, and they travelled without me. But as my mum had no desire to leave the UK, they continued to holiday there. As a result, I spent a considerable time not going anywhere on holday, and just stayed at home.

When I met my first wife, she was incredibly well-travelled and had already been to every continent except Antarctica. She was eager to introduce me to places she knew, as well as those she had not yet visited. I went on an aeroplane for the first time at the age of 23, to travel to Tunisia. Once we were married two years later, we could afford to take two holidays every year, and my travels really began. We went to Greece, Crete, Turkey, the Soviet Union, (Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev) France, (three times) East Germany, West Germany, (Berlin) and Kenya.

After we split up, I lived with a much younger woman for a time. She was also interested in travel, and we took a long trip to Soviet Central Asia and a part of Mongolia, including Tashkent, Samarkand, Dushanbe, Ulan Bhator, and Alma-Ata. With the holiday starting and ending in Leningrad, I got to go back there too. We also visited the WW1 battlefields in Belgium and France, staying in Ypres and Arras.

Then I married again, and with my second wife I visited Egypt, taking a Nile cruise. We also had a long weekend in Amsterdam, and a week in Paris. Other holidays were closer, including the Cotswolds and Pembrokeshire. We also went back to Cornwall, but had a rain-soaked holiday in Looe. One highlight was a trip to Northumberland, taking in Seahouses, Alnwick, Holy Island, and Bamburgh. Whitby provided another holiday location, and we explored North Yorkshire from there.

Following a second break up, I travelled with a girlfriend to Bruges, Normandy, and Edinburgh. Then I went to China alone, to visit a friend who was living and working there. He lived in central Beijing, and that offered me a memorable stay in and around the capital of China, where I finally got to see The Great Wall.

Once I met Julie, we had to consider her children. We took two of them (the younger girls) on enjoyable holidays to Somerset, Bulgaria, and Turkey when they were still at school. But we were also able to get away alone later, going to France, (Carcassonne) Morrocco, Singapore, Malaysia, Barcelona, Ghent, Rome, and Prague.

That trip to Prague in 2011 was the last time I left England. I retired the following year, moved to Norfolk, and we got Ollie. Holidays were now something to also accommodate our beloved dog, and since then we have returned every year to the Lincolnshire coast, save for one year when we rented a cottage in Kent.

I had finally lost the urge to travel abroad, and allowed my passport to expire in 2016. We didn’t want the hassle of airports any longer, and the problems of car parking and dog-kennels. We had seen some great places, and were now content to stay in England.

My holidays had finally turned full circle.