Hunstanton

Friday

For our 40th Wedding Anniversary, we spent a long weekend in Hunstanton, on the North Norfolk coast.  The journey up to Norfolk was relatively uneventful, although we did stop at possible the worst designed service we have ever stopped at. FourWentWays is on the A11, south of Cambridge.  There is a lovely big roundabout, off which there is a tiny entrance, the road narrows as it goes through what appears to be a pedestrian area into a higgledy-piggledy car park that was partly flooded.  We snacked at Greggs, not a good choice, but perhaps the only option.  The toilets were awful, nowhere near large enough for the numbers passing through.

Arriving in Hunstanton in the early afternoon, we parked up by the theatre because we had promised not to arrive before 3pm. At the Princess theatre, we dropped in at the booking office and in front of a poster with the words "SOLD OUT" emblazoned across it for tonight's performance, I asked "You wouldn't have anything for tonight would you?"  We had interrupted him, he was just processing a cancellation.  If you don't ask - you don't get! 

We booked for the following night as well.

A quick sandwich and cup of tea in the 'cash only' sandwich shop meant we were fuelled up and ready for the rest of the day. We then drove to "Rosamaly" to book in and chose our room - "The Honeymoon", with a four-poster bed and very pink.  There was little space in the room, but plenty of storage under the bed.  We went to investigate the town.  It is a planned town and benefits from not having grown up randomly over many years.   

That evening we ate at Henry's, who claim to be the third-best Fish and Chips in the country.  They are good, but third best? - maybe, not.  The theatre is just around the corner, so on to see Gilbert O'Sullivan.  A very enjoyable evening and a good chat with the remaining 4 of the party of 6, whose cancellation we had benefitted from.  I remembered more of his songs than I expected to.

Saturday

After a lovely breakfast, we drove a little way up the road to Titchwell Marsh RSPB reserve and spent most of the day looking for birds.  Here's my list:

Canada geese
Mallard. m+f
Blue tit
Chaffinch
Common gull
Moorhen
Coot
Avocet
Brown bird, long pinkish straight beak, tip is black, white underneath - black tailed godwit
Brown mottled duck, black beak
Lapwing
Sandwich Tern
Pink footed goose
Great white egret

 

We had lunch at the reserve, but it was fairly basic, and not too good.  Following some ice cream, we left the reserve mid-afternoon and returned to the B&B.  There we ate salads that we had bought earlier in the day and got ready for our second theatre trip.  Marty Wilde also put on a good show, with lots of well known rock and roll songs.  But the mood in the theatre was quieter - the audience that bit older, so no tearing up seats and partying.

Sunday

Another lovely breakfast and an Anniversary card from our host made breakfast that bit more special.  Afterwards we walked up to the lighthouse and a little along Hunstanton beach.  The cliffs are amazing.

We got so far and then had to turn back to get to our Sunday Lunch at Legge Cafe.  On the way, we read the plaques about St. Edmund and the Wolf.  There was a classic Morris Minor show on the green in aid of the Air Ambulance. How these now ancient cars are kept is such good condition amazes me.

This one looks very like my second car, and is also an ex-police car.  However, they did a better job on this one, there is no dent in the roof where the blue light was removed.

Lunch was excellent.  There was a lot of banter between the regular customers and the owner.  You can tell a restaurant is good when it has regulars that return again and again.  Now very, very full, we walked around the parks and greens of Hunstanton for a while.  The town is well-kept.

There is not much to do in the evening.  We tried the other fish and chip shop because there was a choice of that of Pizza, nothing else was open.  It was not so good.  Then we went and had a game of bowls at the 10-pin alley.

Monday

Our last breakfast with Bob and Sandy, after which we headed to Ely and visited the Cathedral.  Deciding not to take an octagon tower tour as we were not feeling fit enough. Still, we wandered round and appreciated the architecture.  The place was full of school visits.  We had a very good sandwich, and a free cake (because of the wait) at "Marmalade and Jam" for lunch and wandered along the canal, getting ice cream from the historic ice cream van.  Ely is a lovely city.

We made our way home, but the warm weather and a full stomach meant I needed a break to wake myself up a bit, so we stopped in Saffron Walden for a cuppa.

A very enjoyable weekend.