Pearl Anniversary Pt I

Evening in the Fens

I don’t like to rush things so I’ve given us just over a week to drive the 100 miles from home to Harwich to catch our ferry to Holland.

Actually its not OUR ferry, we don’t own it, it’s just a ferry which we hired for the North Sea crossing

This one

actually we didn‘t hire the whole thing

Just this bit

Our van is totally self sufficient and so we simply wandered across Norfolk and Suffolk loosely in the general direction of the sea port at Harwich. We are becoming very good at selecting nice, quiet, safe and free wild parking spots. This was bedroom No One

Bedroom One of the Trip

Bedroom 2 was in a tiny woodland just off of the A47 called Poppy’s wood. Totally quiet and peaceful with very pleasant walks through the woodland listening to all the birds singing in the evening sunlight.

Poppy’s Wood, Bedroom Two

Bedroom Three held out the promise of beautiful walks around Filby Broad, Ormesburyt Little Broad and Rollesbury Broad, not to mention an evening stroll into the village of Filby.

Filby Broad, Bedroom Three

It failed to live up to it’s expectations though. There was only one short footpath which let to a tiny boardwalk viewing platform and a walk to the village would have involved dicing with death on a narrow main road. Still we had plenty of TV downloaded and lots of sweets, crisps and peanuts.

Great Yarmouth Seafront, Bedroom Four

We spent a couple of days exploring Great Yarmouth, I don’t think I’ve ever been here before but I do think I’ll come back again for another visit after we’ve ‘Done’ Scotland again.

Bedroom three at Great Yarmouth was right on the Seafront beside the sand dunes, absolutely no ‘No Parking’ or ‘No Camping’ signs which surprised me. I suppose it’s so far out from the centre that not many people go there but with a bicycle it’s only ten minutes into the town centre.

A very busy Great Yarmouth

As an antidote to the seaside crowds we also visited an Elizabethan House where, in the room I’ve shown below, reputedly, Oliver Cromwell and others had a secret meeting where they signed the death warrant for Charles I. I think Charlie stopped sending Oliver Christmas cards after he found out about that.

Bedroom Five was still in Great Yarmouth but the opposite end of the seafront this time, not far from the power station, again it was lovely and quiet with just one other van parked just behind us around the corner.

Great Yarmouth, Bedroom Five

We then decided on a break from the seaside and went inland for the next night and I found a lovely spot right in the middle of the Norfolk Broads reached by a long and bumpy gravel road where we spent the evening in splendid isolation watching a buzzard catching prey in the surrounding fields.

We watched a tiny lapwing attacking it if it flew too close to it’s nest and then a short eared owl came out to hunt for it’s tea as well. In addition to this aerial spectacular we also watched baby calves playing in the nearby fields, it turned into a fantastic evening and I went for a hike across the fields to photograph several disused windmills.

Bedroom Six, In The middle of nowhere

Howard’s Drainage Mill, River Fleet.

Back towards the coast again for the next night and we pitched up on the seafront at Lowestoft. This wild parking spot I found on “Park4Night’ and it was a little bit noisy when it got dark as a generator started up to power the lights which came on all over the unoccupied office building in front of Skippy. This was probably the worst parkup of the week.

Bedroom Seven, Lowestoft

I seem to do better choosing wild parks if I just play it by ear and choose somewhere which looks good to me. Our next bedroom, opposite the pier at Southwold was a perfect stopover, No noise, no problems and a public toilet just beside the pier which opened at 7am.

We had a good look around the old town and spent a long time chatting to the owners of this brilliant little chemist, cum general store.

Bedroom Eight, Southwold

I had intended to finish this off on the ferry but the ‘free’ WiFi was so slow it was unusable and I’m far too tight to waste money buying the paid for version. This is actually being finished in Rotterdam at our second Dutch Aire of the trip.