For the second year in a row, our trip to the Norfolk coast coincided with a heat wave in the south east, so we were delighted to hear reports from the early arrivals that Great Yarmouth was positively chilly in the evening.  The town was clearly struggling economically but has a rich maritime history and those who managed to visit the Time and Tide museum were impressed.  On the first evening most of the group gathered in the Alexandra restaurant for an excellent meal.

The next morning was hot as forecast, but we need not have feared as sea breezes came tumbling over us as we stepped onto Happisburgh beach. The cloudless sky had turned the sea a Mediterranean blue. A vast, white swathe of firm sands, damp from the retreating tide, made the going easy as we strode out to the sound of the waves.

Cafes en route welcomed us with iced drinks and snacks. We rested on rocks for our picnic lunch and some of us braved the sea. A highlight was meeting an RSPB team keeping a 24-hour watch on nesting terns and plovers with their fluffy, scurrying chicks.

Turning off from the beach, we plunged into a shady green path that ran alongside fields of wheat. This led up to a track atop the dunes where we were met with an incredible sight. Dozens of seals were swimming out at sea, their heads and backs bobbing up and down.

A short detour took us to the impressively thatched Waxham Great Barn. We continued through sea grasses and wildflowers as the church tower at Winterton-on-Sea eventually came into view, where we flopped onto the Yarmouth bus.

We returned to Winterton the following day – this time to walk rather than bus it back to town. Again, we enjoyed a beautiful mix of beach, dune and leafy path walking, with stops at well-placed cafes. We passed the Scroby Sands offshore wind farm, turbines turning, and paused for ice cream at the Caister Lifeboat station, before reaching Yarmouth’s Venetian Gardens, with meandering pools and pathways lined by exotic trees.

The final day took us from Yarmouth’s Britannia Pier on an initially inland route and then past many of the town’s South Quay buildings dating from Elizabeth I’s reign. We crossed the River Yare and continued down the estuary through a part residential/ part industrial area. We eventually arrived at Gorleston on Sea where the leader allowed a coffee stop at one of the cafes. We were expecting a beach walk all the way to the end so the promenade for the first mile or so was very welcome. Then it was another couple of miles of walking on sand which was frankly hard going in the heat. At last we approached Hopton but couldn’t continue on the beach due to the tide. Between us we navigated our way through the caravan park to the village and found the bus stop to return to Great Yarmouth. Most of the group decided to take the first bus back but the leader was keen to reach the end of the path so she and a few others headed back to the coast and soon found the end of path sign post. We celebrated our achievement with a drink in the pub and caught the next bus back to Yarmouth to pick up our luggage. Our apps recorded distances covered as around 13, 10 and 8 miles on the three days. Our journey home was marred by a buckled rail on the Norwich – Yarmouth line but thankfully the delay was only an hour.

Alison and Gillian.  Photos by Ida, Stephen and Jill