One of the things I have been trying to do ever since I moved to Norfolk as a student was to explore the county a lot more. Fortunately, because of the nature of my degree, I have been able to visit many of the countryside, yet I have never been able to relax and go at my own pace.
As I am no longer a student and have decided to stick around in Norwich for another year before moving on, I have always wanted to complete the North Norfolk Trail, a stretch of beautiful coastline, surrounded my several nature reserves.
As I don't drive, we had to use local public transport to get to the North Norfolk Coast. This involved getting up very early and catching the no.2 Konnect bus (you can also get the X44) to Sheringham, which cost £5.50 return, followed by the Coasthopper bus to Blakeney (£5 return) where our walk started. I'm not going to lie I do think the Coasthopper needs to have more regular service or larger buses as we had to stand for the whole 40 minute journey from Sheringham to Blakeney.
Blakeney Harbour
On arrival we were greeted with the most wonderful weather, clear skies, autumnal crisp air and light winds. Perfect for walking. We walked through the village of Blakeney until we reached the harbour. Having not actually planned the walk, and with the hope of reaching Holkham, we headed west along the coast path.
On walking along we were greeted with many "Good Mornings" and "Lovely weather isn't it?" by the fellow local walkers. The first part of the walk from Blakeney to Blakeney Point (where the seals are) was very busy. Below is a wood carving of a seal. Here you can get a ferry to watch the seals that congregate on the shingle and sand of the spit.
The second part of the walk was very quiet in comparison and full of windy turns and muddy and waterlogged paths, which were good fun to navigate, unfortunately for my companion who was just wearing trainers, these proved rather difficult and therefore provided me with many giggles along the walk.
After 2 and a half hours of walking we decided to stop at Wells-next-to-sea, a popular village/town full of little shops and places to eat.
We decided to stop at Wells Deli and I treated myself to a sweet chilli sausage roll and a tropical smoothie after the 10 mile walk. It was delicious, however was on the pricey side. We then relaxed and the tiredness sunk in to the point we didn't leave the café for well over an hour.
We then went to the bus stop, only to discover that it was no longer receiving the Coasthopper bus back to Sheringham. Thankfully the bus driver who came along and told us this let us on for free and drove us to the right bus stop, where we piled onto a full bus of people and travelled back to Sheringham where we then proceeded to get the bus back to Norwich. Exhausting day full of travelling but I do recommend it.
Can you recommend any local walks in Norwich?
Zoe
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