Day 1 – Tuesday 3 August 1999 - Cley to Sheringham

9.5 miles walked today

9.5 miles walked in total (average 9.5)

We’re off!

We’ve started at Cley for no other reason than that my Lonely Planet Guide to Walking in Britain said it was a good place to walk from.

It’s been a bit of a palaver to get organised and packed.  The last time I was in Norfolk – at the beginning of July – Amanda, Shannon and I popped into Great Yarmouth to buy my daypack, mapholder and water bottle.  Or so I thought …

Apparently the girls were on a mission to see what I wanted for my birthday (which was yesterday) so I was made to put everything back on the shelves.  Anything I didn’t get would entail a mad dash to Norwich yesterday to buy it.  But all was OK.  Thank you Mum and Dad for my rucksack and mapholder.  And to Amanda, Shannon and Nicholas for my water bottle and magic ruler.

Mum dropped us at Cley Windmill this morning and we were walking at 10.15 am.  It was a difficult walk for the first few miles as the path followed the shingle above the beach.

Almost as soon as we started walking along the Cley Marshes, Nicholas had spotted a machine gun pod and was enthusiastically showing how it worked.  A while later, we again looked for military equipment as we walked along the back of the Muckleburgh Collection, but all we managed to see were a couple of huge jeeps charging around with more tourists on than they should legally be carrying!

The beach along the stretch to Weybourne was absolutely filthy – we weren’t sure whether it was household waste that had been dumped or whether it had been dumped out at sea by fishing boats.

Lunch was very welcome at Weybourne and this marked the start of easier walking on grass, over the golf course to Sheringham.  Everyone assumes that Norfolk is very flat, but, once you’ve walked it, you know otherwise!  Nicholas strode ahead manfully and got bored at the top of the hills waiting for me to catch up.  Halfway down a particularly horrid descent, we spotted a wallet which meant climbing up again to the coastguard station to hand it in.

As we got into Sheringham, we stumbled across a lifeboat exhibition with three old lifeboats on show.  The first was built in the very early 1900s, costing £1,000 and complete with oars!  Thank goodness things have come on since then.

Tonight we’re staying at the Youth Hostel – we’ve already made our room as smelly as possible by shedding our boots and trainers.  We’ve exhausted the possibilities of the TV lounge and small library and it’s only 8.30 pm.  Time for bed!