Flashback Friday Travel 29 – North Norfolk

I could talk happily about the north coast of Norfolk for hours given the chance – or Chelsea on Sea as many term it.  It is just gorgeous and I was lucky enough to spend many a summer there growing up, doing little more than sailing every day on the high tide and reading a book in the garden!  A beautiful place and one which we have only been back to a couple of times in the last 10 years.  It is one of my favourite areas for a UK staycation.  That balance should be addressed this summer as we have a wedding near Norwich, so on the Sunday after we will take a scenic trip home!

In 2010 we headed to Brancaster on the highest tide weekend of the year, we even took our dinghy.  Some might have called taking our boat to a little regatta as ‘pot-hunting’ but actually it was the first excuse that I had found to get Mr P out on the water here.  It is a stunning place to sail, but more about that later!

These pictures epitomise what I love most about Norfolk – wide open space, very few people and noise and massive skies.  Beautiful and happily unspoilt!

On arrival we had something important to do – we wanted to ‘walk the course’ and see the sailing area as Mr P had no local knowledge and mine was a tad dusty! The pink buoy in the picture below was one of our racing marks (nice and close to a ship wreck) so we wanted to see where the channels would be when the tide was in!  Norfolk tides sweep in rapidly and as the area is so flat, very quickly the sand banks are covered, but there is lots to be gained during a race by knowing where the biggest flow is.   As the skies are so big the sunsets are of course stunning.  We were staying in walking distance of Brancaster beach and golf course and so we packed up a few beers and walked down to the shore line for sunset.  Gorgeous!  There aren’t that many place to stay or drink/dine along the coast line as much of it is a bird reserve and the water is often so far away, to it is a perfect place to enjoy a picnic – it’s always easy to find peace and quiet.

Sailing – the main event!  6am and we were (below) getting ready to sail on the high tide!  It is very rare for me to be out of bed so early at weekends, especially for sailing which is normally such a civilised sitting down sport.  We had a gorgeous sail – the waves were big and the breeze was at the top of my ability – probably the biggest we’ve been out in together successfully (no tears or shaky legs).  The waves were so deep in fact that we could see the sand below us when we were stuck in a trough!  The club at Brancaster is such a friendly place, even though we mooched in, won the races and took away the glassware!  There were only a few boats out which is why the sailing was so good – there was fun competition but during the racing we had space to pick a wave to gybe downwind on and could take our time with manoeuvres in high winds!  It is such a great sailing water that in fact i’m thinking as I write this that we need to go back!  There are lovely family regatta weeks in the summer that are great fun – 1 race a day which will always be scenic, although be warned… they might be early starts! Apres sail in the sunshine – we headed over to the Lifeboat in Thornham for a lazy lunch to top up the windburn (looking at the picture below anyway!) and were greeted with morris dancing!  Fantastic atmosphere – we had coincided our trip with a walking tour morris dancing day in the village…My father used to do Morris Dancing but this is the first time I have watched it and been old enough to remember it!  Great fun, a real part of village and country life and culture.  There were however quite a few pubs in the village that the dancers performed at, so with their own pewter tankards accompanying them on the tour I imagine there were a few sore heads the next day and some less accurate dance formations as the day went on!

On this trip we stayed with Norfolk Hideaways who have some stunning boutique bases to enjoy your stay.  Our cottage was very near to the Ship Hotel and public house that we visited on occasion.  Our favourite meal was at the Orange Tree. Two great pubs with lovely boutique rooms worth investigating….