Flim Flam

Our next camp site in Flamborough turned out to be a little field with space for 5 ‘vans, and further up is a much bigger field with a smattering of caravans dotted about. There were a few vans lined up on the right, one of which had a warden sign in it, but as no-one was around we just picked a pitch on the CL and set ourselves up.

We’ve taken the dogs on a walk from the site down Danes Dyke, an ancient bank and ditch earthwork that dates back to the Bronze Age and is now part of a nature reserve. The paths took us past the golf course and down on the beach where the dogs had some fun and Linda had a paddle (Phil kept warm in his jumper, still recovering from man flu!). We headed back through the woods spotting our first group of Bluebells in flower as well as an abundance of other colours.





Phil woke up feeling a bit better the next morning, but Linda woke up with a bit of a sore throat, so we are now concerned for her well being and survival.
In the morning we headed out to Bridlington. The town is a strange mix, with arcades, fairground rides and cheesy souvenirs mixing with lovely Victorian B&Bs and houses along the sea front and a ‘normal’ town centre behind it all, given all the other horrid seaside resorts we have visited on our trip we didn’t think we should like it, but the town was strangely endearing! We had a wander around and bought Prince a new collar from a pet shop (lucky him!) and then visited Bridlington Old Town, a lovely area of narrow streets and little shops and pubs, and a huge church which was bordering on the size of a cathedral!
Back at the van we had 3 new neighbours arrive in the time we were away, all setting their units up ready for the bank holiday. We had a chat with our motorhome neighbours Ron and Maggie, they are both retired and bought the motorhome a few years back, they go to Spain in it every Jan/Feb and have also had other Europe tours, we chatted for a while about life on the road and they said they were from Bexhill in East Sussex which is by the Kloofs site we stayed on, they were here for the weekend, so we saw them a few times!
After lunch we headed out to Flamborough. We parked on the side of the road on the way to the headland and walked towards the lighthouse, on the way we passed some strange little houses which looked more like shacks, we also passed the golf course and stopped to watch a group of 4 teeing off (no pressure then). We also passed the chalk tower, built in 1674 it was built as a lighthouse and is the oldest surviving complete lighthouse in England. We walked down to the headland and onto a lovely beach in a cove surrounded by the white chalk cliffs, part of the beach was sandy and the rest was a well polished and clean chalk plateau, very unusual. We headed back up the cliff path and up to Flamborough lighthouse, it is open to the public, but closed on Fridays, typical! After a walk along the cliffs watching the sea birds nesting we headed back to the car just in time for it to start raining..

We had decided that we wanted to head back down towards the Humber, to go and see Spurn Head, a huge spit of land that sticks 3 miles out into the mouth of the Humber estuary. We took the dogs for a walk along the beach down the Spurn, on the way down we could clearly see the remains of the old road and railway which are now being slowly taken by the sea. We also saw the remains of the WW1 Coastal Artillery Batteries, the emplacements have now fallen into the sea due to erosion and you can clearly see the huge foundations of these concrete defences. Once back at the car we tried to drive down the Spurn, but were thwarted by the warden who said that as it was a nature reserve dogs were not allowed, even if we kept them in the car. Princey called him racist and showed him his teeth which didn’t help! (this is a complete lie by Phil! - editor).

Linda wasn’t feeling very well when she woke up the next day due to the cat flu she had picked up from Phil, so we took it a bit steady. We went to Scarborough and walked up to the castle which is the dominant feature on the skyline. The castle and keep itself is now a ruin, but is still very impressive. We had a walk around the castle grounds, exploring the keep and the battlements. At one point we overheard a child saying to her dad ‘I couldn’t live in a castle, it’s too cold!’, appropriate words we thought as the north wind made a good effort at chilling us to the bone. Afterwards we drove down to the beach and parked on street, dogs out, we headed down the promenade and down the steps to the beach, at the bottom of the steps there was a big pool of seawater blocking our access so we had to climb over the wall to dry sand. Linda very elegantly crawled and tumbled her way over the wall to the amusement of some spectators above! After a brief play in the sea we realised the tide was coming in and we were being cut off, so it was back to the wall and a bit more climbing. This time Smudge was a bit more reluctant to go through the water and tried some climbing herself before we forced her into the water, we tried to get her to enjoy it by sending her several times, but unfortunately the torture didn’t mean she enjoyed the pain!

Today Phil had the great idea of taking our ill, battered bodies to Dalby Forest to do some walking and biking. Arriving at the forest drive you have to pay a £7 toll, and then you can drive down the 9 mile drive and park at any of the many car parks. We chose the car park at Dixon’s Hollow, where all the MTB tracks start from. A quick bite for lunch and we were off, Linda going for a slow plod with the dogs on a badly marked footpath and eventually following part of the bike routes. Phil rode the black route which was used as the world cup course only the weekend before, the course was short but good fun with some nice steep and tricky bits on the descents, there was also a bike park to play in with some jumps, log riding, slalom course and other things-for-silly-little-minds. Great fun was had but due to our illness we were both very snotty when we were back at the car. On the way home we drove through Thornton-Le-Dale where we have stayed previously, and happy to report that the village has lost none of it’s charm.

We have now moved to a lovely little site in the North York Moors, in a tiny village called Lealholm.

Lincolnshire Wolds

Move day today, we did our packing up of the van before saying bye to our neighbours and heading off. After meeting Vic at the Broadlands site we are now packing the van differently when we move, with more weight at the front up to its maximum 100kg, Linda drove this time and we have both noticed a huge improvement in the van’s stability on the road, so thanks Vic! We left the site at around 11:00 and arrived at Nutty Cottage Caravan CL at about 12:30, the welcome from the ownerwas great and she gave us lots of tips for places to visit in the area, and said we could roam in her fields and woodland with the dogs, the site consisted of a newly seeded field which was extremely dry after the weather we have had so we had no problem pitching, and we were in place in no time.

We were woke up early this morning by our neighbour who was having trouble with starting his BMW X5, he asked if I could drive Tonks over and give him a jump, which I duly did. It turned out there was nothing wrong with his battery as his starter was merrily whizzing away but failing to bring the beast to life, He elected to call a local dealer.
Later on we drove the scenic route to the Humber via the villages of Market Rasen and Brigg before we reached the Far Ings nature reserve where we parked in an empty car park and began our walk along the banks of the Humber. The Humber Bridge was soon in sight and despite being such a modern construction it still draws your eye away from the surrounding scenery because it dominates the flat landscape, a number of photos later we came to the Far Ings visitor centre where we stopped on the picnic benches and had our lunch in the hazy sun. We continued our walk until we had passed under the Humber Bridge’s bulging belly and then followed the footpath until we were on it’s top. It was impressive from underneath, but walking along the top past the huge cables that span the Humber does make you wander how it stays upright. It was quite busy on the footpath with cyclists and fellow walkers, but not as busy as the A15 only a few feet to our right and about 5 feet above us. Once on the other side we walked down through the small country park to the rivers edge where there is a disused windmill and a pub. It would be rude not to, so we sat on the bank and had a pint while having a giggle at the wedding party inside the pub (family fat were squeezed into one corner of the pub’s uninspiring interior), and the born again biker boy who turned up and started taking photos of himself with his Honda. Before our journey back over the bridge we stopped for an ice cream at the visitor centre, where there was an interesting display on the construction of the bridge. We were very relieved to see Tonks after our 9 mile walk, and we drove back to the van this time via Grimsby and Cleethorpes, sad to say that they live up to Grimsby’s first 4 letters with both sea fronts being stuffed with tacky shops and amusement arcades, we weren’t inspired enough to stop and get out so we headed straight back.

Phil wasn’t too good today, and his sore throat from the previous day was threatening to turn into something more sinister (oh oh – man flu alert).
We took the dogs a brief walk on the field before chatting to Brian, our next door neighbour, as he was packing up to head home which was a shame, after waving him off we headed out to take the dogs to the beach. Soon after leaving it started raining, and steadily got heavier until we got there, we drove out of Sutton on Sea and down a quiet lane to a ‘car terrace’ - a car park on the edge of the sea where your car gets to look out to sea while you play in the sand. We took the brolly to try and fend off the torrential rain and the dogs had a bit of a play on the beach before we gave up and headed home

The next day it was soon obvious that Phil’s sore throat was turning into a near fatal bout of Man Flu. We thought we’d take it easy so we headed into Louth for a mooch. We headed into the town centre and found some on street parking by Louth Church, which has the tallest steeple of any town church in England, and was very impressive. We ambled round the church and into the nice little town centre where we picked up a few bits before heading back to the car. On the way back to the van we drove down the Bluestone Heath Road, as recommended by our book from Neil and Nicky, it is an ancient path that runs for 14 miles from Welton-Le-Wold to Calceby, and because it sits on a ridge line on the top of the Wolds the views are fantastic all the way along. We had a few stops at some of the viewpoints as well as a stop to watch some single seater cars racing around the Cadwell Park circuit (you get a good view from the road).

Phil decided not to go out today as he was about to die at any moment and his body would be easier to recover from the caravan site.
Linda took the car out to Saltfleetby Nature Reserve and went for a walk in the reserve, saw some old blokes playing about with a tractor and boat and then walked back along a track alongside the marsh, carrying on past the car and visiting a part of the reserve at Rimac which has been landscaped with new paths and signage explaining why the sea is getting further away from the land here. The drive to and from the reserve was across very flat land reminiscent of the Norfolk Broads with straight ditches dividing the fields. On the way back to the van I visited Saltfleetby Parish Church as I spotted its wonkey tower from the road and it looked very interesting. The church is no longer in use but is maintained by the Church Trust and local people. It was lovely inside with just a few pews remaining and a large font at the rear of the church with whitewashed walls and lovely woodwork. There is a small community here now but in the past there was a busy port before the sea started to recede. It reminded me of Dungeness, not so bleak and much greener but with odd houses dotted here and there, funny little roads that didn’t go anywhere and a near derelict car showroom (it was definitely open as there were cars outside the first time I went past!)
Meanwhile Phil watched two episodes of The Wire in bed, and generally felt sorry for himself, how very brave in the face of this near death affliction.

We have now moved over the Humber Bridge and on to another small site at Bridlington.

The Queen's Norfolk Retreat

We arrived on Sandringham Caravan Club Site at about 1:00, we had a nice welcome from the wardens and drove round the site to choose a pitch. The weather was great with a lovely warm sun, and due to the volcanic ash from Iceland there weren’t even any vapour trails from planes, so we had our lunch sat outside the van before taking the dogs into the massive open woodland next to the site.

Linda was very excited the next morning and woke up early because her Mum and Dad were arriving today. It was a scorching hot day, so after taking the dogs for a walk in the forest we had our sandwiches sat outside the awning in shorts and t-shirts before relaxing in our chairs reading books/newspapers while the beef and ale casserole was cooking in our electric oven (Thanks Jude and Steve!). Linda’s parents landed earlier than expected (thanks to David’s lead foot), so we settled in to enjoy the casserole.

The next day we headed for Kings Lynn, and because David knew it so well it was decided we would follow him there. We ended up following him round the whole town, turning round several times and getting beeped at by angry locals on more than one occasion! Still at least we found the free car park that they knew about. Oh no, I lie, we didn’t, we parked on the market square for some extortionate sum! After having a look at the river Great Ouse, which is much more picturesque than it may sound we had a walk around the town centre and ended up at the Tower Garden where we had some coffee. The tower is the Greyfriars Tower, and is the only above ground remains of the 13th century Medieval Franciscan Friary, and is the finest example of a medieval bell tower left in the country (there are only 2 others in England). After a walk back through town and a quick stop in a few shops (and Gregg’s café for tea and pastys) we headed out of Kings Lynn up to Hunstanton, where the Parry’s were staying. On the way there we stopped at a few pubs to check their menu’s for this evenings tea, after following Mr ‘I Think I Know Where I’m Going’ for a while and turning around a few times, we’d been in more pubs than you can shake a stick at and not had a single drink! We eventually arrived at Hunstanton and drove past the B&B they were staying in before parking on the sea front so that we could take the dogs for a bit of exercise. We walked past the disused lighthouse (now a house) and down to the beach at St Edmund’s Point, a huge expanse of flat sand meant that Prince and Smudge got a great run around before we headed back to the van to freshen up for tonight’s meal. We ate at The Plume of Feathers in Dursingham Fantastic steaks, rare breed pork burger and scampi ensued until we were all stuffed, and after drinks and scintillating conversation we headed to our separate residences for bed.

We headed out to The Wash this morning to go for a walk along the sea defence. We drove past Kings Lynn and over the Great Ouse and then headed out on lanes that were steadily getting narrower and narrower until eventually it turned into a dirt track up a steep little bank, we drove up it and spotted a tiny car park on the other side (as the OS map had promised), so we parked up and headed across the field towards the sea defence (a huge long mound of earth!).

Once we were up on the embankment the view opened out even more than it had already and we could see right across the mud flats to the hills of Sandringham and even Hunstanton up the coast. We walked along the sea defence for a total of 4 miles before we headed back to the van. Once at the van we decided to pack some butties and go for a walk in the Sandringham estate, past the other campsite and up the road we were soon at the front gate, we weren’t allowed in with dogs, but were allowed to the church, so we walked up the path to the front door where the lady inside said we could take the dogs in, a new experience for them! Inside the church it was very ornate with a lovely polished alter and lectern, quite a surprise compared to the unassuming exterior. We carried on our walk past the visitor centre/shop and stopped by the woods to have our sarnies. We carried on enjoying our walk through the estate past a viewpoint (a wooden structure opened by Her Majesties Agent) and past ER’s gates until we were back at the campsite, 4 miles walked again! Then it was out again to the Plume of Feathers where we had burgers, and fish and chips with Linda’s Mum and Dad.

The next day we met Linda’s parents again and headed out to Wells-Next-The-Sea (although nowadays its not so next-the-sea as the tide brings in more and more mud and sand), we parked up alongside a lovely little grass square surrounded by houses and 3 pubs. We then followed a little path out to the sea front and walked along a path that follows the route of the miniature railway, looking back towards Wells it gave us a great view of the little fishing harbour with the boats rowed up and the busy shops on the front. We had a walk back along the front before heading back to the car to drop the dogs off so that we could get some lunch. Back at the sea front again we hot-footed it into one of the fish and chip restaurants where we had a great lunch if not great service from the not-so-over-enthusiastic staff. Then it was back to the cars to continue up the A149 to Blakeney, which we drove through, turned round and drove back! We did see a wildfowl sanctuary, and a nice looking pub though! We drove on along the lanes until we got to the little village of Letheringsett, there is a working water mill here which we stopped at and we all bought some freshly ground flour. In the shop you could hear the mill working away with all the heavy machinery operating and the millstones constantly grinding. Back at the van the dogs had some bones we had got from the butchers on the grass in the sun and we sat out reading with a brew!

After walking the dogs the next morning we headed to Sandringham House for a look around. We got an ice cream each before paying our £10 each to go into the gardens and house. The gardens were lovely, and just coming into spring a lot of the trees and bushes were in bud if not in bloom, we decided that Queenie must be quite pleased with her gardeners. The tour of the house was brief, but interesting, we got to see the Queen’s sitting room, dining room, office and ballroom all of which were as grand as you might expect with not a single comfortable sofa to loll in. Out of the house we had a walk to the stables where the museum is housed. Lots of old cars, trinkets, collections and thingymebobs kept us entertained for a little while before we were back out and strolling in the grounds again, this time we walked to the 2 lakes and then around the front of the house and had a lie on the Queens lawns before heading out to the car and back to the van.
We met Linda’s parents in the Coach and Horses, Dersingham this time, a very warm welcome, and after some great beer and a great meal we were all convinced to have a pudding! It was a really great way to end a lovely visit, and we said a slightly tearful goodbye to Linda’s parents in the car park before heading back to the van. On the way we went via the Sandringham Forest drive, a very narrow one way forest road which takes you through a quiet part of the estate, at this time of day it was silent down there and we felt a bit sneaky as we drove through, we did catch a brief glimpse of a deer in the road before he ran off.

We have now moved to a little 5 van site just outside Louth in the Lincolnshire Wolds

Norfolk Broads

Broadlands Caravan Club site is a lovely place, just yards from one of the Broads rivers, and a pub within walking distance! A little drive down the road was our nearest town, Wroxham. On arriving in the little town centre, which was heaving with tourists, we were a little worried about the dominance of Roy who seemed to have taken over the town centre. Who is Roy you might ask, well it made us wonder too as he seemed to own most of the town. We parked in Roy’s car park, got the dogs out by Roy’s garden centre, walked past Roy’s department store and went for a little walk in Roy’s small park next to the river, we crossed the road and passed Roy’s fishing shop and Roy’s Toy shop before dropping the dogs at the car and doing our shopping in Roy’s supermarket. Weird.
We managed to tear ourselves away from Roy’s World and came back to the ‘van where we packed a picnic and headed out of the site up the road to the river. While it is called the River Ant it looks much more like a canal, and there doesn’t appear to be much water flow in it. As it was such a sunny day there were lots of boats moving around on the river today so we headed along the footpath for around a mile before finding somewhere to sit with our feet dangling over the water to eat our picnic. The picnic also contained 2 bottles of cider so as those went down our waves to the passing boats became more and more enthusiastic up until the point where a lady waved at me and when I waved back she quickly looked away in case she attracted more of the lunatics attention!

We’ve also been into Norwich, a lovely old city with lots of character, we headed to the castle first and had our lunch sitting on the grass in the castle garden, while we were sat there we spotted the no dogs sign, so had to tell Prince and Smudge to do their best human impressions while we finished our picnic. We then headed around the castle keep with a great view over the city before heading into the town where we had a walk around the cathedral and the narrow streets, as well as having a look around the permanent market square with its tiny stalls squeezed into tiny spaces.

We had decided the night before that we were going to do a walk across the broads today, and so we planned a route along the Weavers Way, it was a circular route that was around 8 miles.
We drove to the village of Halvergate and parked Tonks on the road before heading out on a farm track. As expected the walk was extremely flat, as the whole route only passed over 2 contour lines on the OS map. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the view was fantastic, but early in the walk I did comment that it was unlikely that the view would change. It didn’t, as we moved on it just meant we were looking at stuff in the distance from a slightly different angle! The closer scenery did change frequently though, and we saw new born cows and sheep, lots of swans and other bird life, several farms, lots of windmills in various states of repair, lots and lots of water (ditches, ponds, rivers, sea) and even a pub! Around half way we crossed a level crossing and went up an embankment to reveal a great view of Breydon Water (the river Yare’s estuary) so we sat on the river bank and had our picnic with a great view watching lots of river boats passing us by. We carried on along the estuary until we came across a small pub in the middle of nowhere, the Berney Arms didn’t look very appealing from the outside, but we gave it the benefit and had a pint and a half of what tasted like cats piss! Wish we hadn’t bothered! We swiftly left and had a quick walk around Berney Arms Mill, a well preserved black mill with huge white sails, before carrying on the return journey to Tonks. At the next level crossing there was a tiny train platform which services the pub and the visitors to the mill. Phil posed for a photo on the track and was lucky not to be killed by the many trains wizzing by, we then carried on along the flats, past some more cows fields and back on the farm track to a welcoming Tonks! 9.7 miles in total meant we were all tired when we got back, and both of us a little sun burned, after a well deserved shower we had a barbeque for tea.


We also visited Felbrigg Hall, a country estate which was only handed over to the National Trust in 1967 by it’s then owner Robert Windham as he had no benefactors. The Trust have since kept it exactly as Windham had left it, which makes it feel unusually lived-in.
First we took the dogs around the grounds and did around 4.5 miles in 2 circuits, first we did the woodland walk which took us through Felbrigg Great Wood, a place mentioned in a book Neil and Nicky bought us about beautiful countryside (and it was), back at the car park we saw our neighbours from the campsite who were also walking their dogs before going in the house. Then we did the church circuit which took us past (and for a quick peek inside) the estates church and then on to a man made lake before returning to the house. After stopping at the café for tea and cake we put the dogs in the car and went for a wander inside. First was a look around the walled garden with its pristine borders, exotic plants and unusual layouts. We then headed into the house where we wandered around the opulent surroundings and amazing collections of paintings and artefacts, the rooms were very grand as you would expect, but it did look like the Squire had just left it as he’d lived in it.
We then drove up the road to Sheringham Park, where the National Trust also own and manage a vast area of woodland and countryside, the hall however is still in private ownership. We did one of the many circular walks, a 3 mile loop that took us through the woods past the grand looking hall and up to a “Gazebo”, a huge platform in the woods that towers over the trees and gives you fantastic panoramic views of the area. Smudge didn’t like the steps on the way up as they had gaps so she took a lot of encouraging to get up there! On the way back we passed the front of the Hall again before coming to a small temple which liked like a cross between an eccentric folly and a tiny bandstand.
We then headed on to Mundesley where we took the dogs onto the beach. Prince went mad, running up and down like a mad thing chasing stones and having a great time, don’t know where he got the energy! We had a quick walk up and down but as it was now a bit cold we didn’t hang around any longer. Once back in Tonks and on our way back we spotted Stow Hill Mill just outside the village of Mundesley, with a sign saying ‘open to the public until dusk’. We quickly pulled over for a look, it is a great big corn mill which has been painted black with white sails, entry was a bargain at £1.50 and at the time we went there was no-one there and you just pop your money in the honesty box. Inside the mill is a fascinating history of the mills use, and subsequent fall into disrepair, and then details of its recent regeneration in 2002. As you climb up the narrow staircases you see more and more of the mills interior workings and the views from the windows get better and better. A real gem of a find that we were glad to stumble across.


First stop the next day was Hickling Broad, the largest of the broads, and only up the road from us, it was recommended as a place to visit in our Readers Digest beautiful countryside book. When we got there we found there was nowhere to park, but we did find a nature reserve car park, they wanted £3.50 and wouldn’t allow the dogs in so that was that. We later found out that the best (only) way to see the broad is by boat! We continued up the road to Sea Palling, a small village next to a huge beach, we walked over the dunes and down to the beach which is protected from the waves by some huge off shore rock barriers. After a bit of a play on the beach we rejoined Tonks, and a bit further up the road spotted a huge thatched barn with a sign saying café open, not ones to turn down some tea and cake, in we went!
Tea and cake duly consumed while sitting in the sun we went into the barn for our free audio tour, it was interesting to learn that the huge Waxham Barn had been built as a sign of wealth by the landowner, and only had to be so big to gain one-upmanship over his neighbours. The barn had lost its roof in the 100mph winds during the storms of 1983, which caused substantial damage. During the more recent restoration the new thatch roof took a year to complete using 15,000 bundles of reeds! The original beams were used where possible, and you could still see that some of them were made up of salvaged ships masts.
We carried on along the lanes until we reached the national Trust owned Horsey Mill, a water pumping mill which suffered extensive damage, again in the 1983 storms, after which the Trust took ownership and have restored it and opened it up to the public. Whilst the mill no longer operates, a lot of the machinery is still in place and you can get a real sense of how it worked, pumping water out of the fields and into the rivers to make the land dry enough for farming. There are still hundreds of these disused mills all over the broads, now replaced by diesel and electric pumps, and one board in the mill explained easily how they work: The mills pump water from the ditches by the fields into the higher level waterways of the rivers and canals, imagine it as water on your bathroom floor, being pumped up into the bath and then being released down the plug hole (into the sea).

Next we had a trip to Thetford Forest Park, where Phil went off for his ride and Linda went walking the dogs. Phil did a 17 mile ride which incorporated the “Black” route, I put black in quotes because it can’t really compare with any other black I’d ridden, and most people with any degree of bike handling skills could manage it, it was good fun though and nice to be out on a track where I didn’t have to worry about navigation, I’d say the track was like Cannock Chase trail, tight, twisty and lumpy singletrack but with none of the uphills and none of the downhills of Cannock! While out I met a couple of lads on the only downhill section so we had a chat and I did a couple of runs down with them before heading back. Linda followed one of the waymarked walking routes through the forest, it was quite busy with other walkers, and the dogs were chasing occasional squirrels, 6 miles in total meant the dogs were tired out when she got back.

Next up was the mandatory trip on a boat! The guy on the desk slipped us some life jackets, gave us the briefest of briefings and we were off, accelerating out of the harbour and under the Wroxham bridge as fast as out boat would carry us (about 4mph). The 2hrs gave us plenty of time to head to Salthouse Broad, so that’s where we headed, past all the lovely riverside properties on the outskirts of Wroxham, and out into the heaths and broads. Phil was captain of the ship to start, and we soon came upon Wroxham Broad, a large lake where we spotted a mooring at the side so we decided to attempt a stop. Phil wiggled the steering wheel in a random fashion which somehow made the boat bump into the side where Linda deftly threw a rope over and hopped on to dry land. She then jumped on to the front of the boat to grab the other rope just as it started drifting out again! Somehow, through a great deal of luck and no judgement Phil managed to get it back to safety and Linda tied the front on. We stayed there for a few minutes and had a drink looking out on Wroxham Broad before Linda took over the captaincy and we continued on to Salthouse Broad. A much smaller lake, Salthouse had a few day hire boats and a few holiday boats on it, Linda managed to avoid the slow motion melee and turned us around for the return trip. On the way back we went across the middle of Wroxham Broad, which was much busier with faster moving dinghy’s whizzing about (don’t know how you do it Mike!), we got shouted at once by one of the instructors before hot footing it out of there. Phil became el capitan again before we reached the end of our trip and after a botched first attempt at reversing the owner shouted a few instructions and we glided back into dock with the greatest of ease and grace and only a minor shunt. After that excitement we needed a calm down so we went to Woodford’s Brewery and Pub where we had a quick look in the visitor centre before going to the pub for some good grub and beer.

Next morning Phil suggested going to the café up the road for a cooked breakfast which Linda thought about for half a second before agreeing! We sorted the dogs out and then headed down the road to the café at around 11:00. There was only one other couple in there who were just finishing a coffee, so we grabbed a table and ordered our breakfast! As we ate 2 other families came in, one of which had a father who loved the sound of his own voice, and could be clearly heard over the noise of the mini digger outside! Once we’d finished we popped into the art shop and gallery next door, we had a look at a good few of the pictures before we got chatting to the artist Linda H Matthews. She told us a fascinating story about her previous career and how she took up art and set up her own studio and business, and is now working on books and DVD’s as well as doing evening classes, an interesting and inspiring story. That afternoon we had a walk to Salthouse broad along a lovely woodland footpath and boardwalk, as well as getting to know our neighbours Vic and Veronica, who we shared storied and a few drinks with, and Vic gave us some useful tips which we put into practice when moving to Sandringham site the next day, thanks Vic!