Friday, 6th June HINGHAM – KINGS LYNN
– SANDRINGHAM – WELLS at the SEA – AYLESHAM – WROXHAM
Another busy day today, but at least the afternoon brought
some relaxation! We set out before 8.30 this morning, and Cait and Danny called
to chat as we whizzed along the lanes. I showed him a thatched house as we went
past one, and told him the roof was made of straw. His reply was, “But it’s
just pretend straw.” He really couldn’t believe it when he was told it was real
straw!
Gorgeous poppies and wheat crop as we drove along
The British summer had definitely turned on us this morning,
and it was raining steadily as we drove along. We intended our first stop to be
Sandringham, but realised how close Kings Lynn was, so drove into the historic Purfleet
Docks area there for a look first. We had an hour’s free parking, and it had
stopped raining, so we went off to look at the docks (pausing first to put on
everything we had in the car, as it was soooo cold and windy!) The docks date
back hundreds of years, and there is a statue there of local lad Captain George
Vancouver (no prizes for guessing where he explored and mapped). He was also actually
with Captain Cook on the voyage when Cook was killed. The old Customs House is
small but perfectly formed, and has a very fetching statue of King Charles the
second. We decided to explore a little further, and went into the high street
and into the Minster, which is a huge and impressive church. (Sorry if you are
getting church overload with this blog, but we’ve visited an awful lot of churches/cathedrals,
and I suspect this will continue!) Kings Lynn is very old and was a favourite
of Bad King John’s – unfortunately for him this all ended badly in 1216 when
hundreds of his men and his treasure were swept away near the town in The Wash
(huge inlet) after they misjudged the tide, he was suffering from dysentery and
basically just gave up and died.
We came out of the Minster to find it was raining again – really raining. And unfortunately we’d come out a different door, so we were a bit lost, and by the time we found the high street again we were pretty much soaked, despite our rain jackets and hoods. Interesting fact: the two layers of so-called waterproofing spray I applied to my shoes did absolutely nothing to keep water out. Anyway, fortunately we found a warm and dry café where they had toilets and hot cups of tea. Afterwards, we huddled under one umbrella to get back to the car, wring ourselves out and get warm again. From now on, we keep extra shoes/warm clothes/rain gear in the car! Fortunately I had my Crocs boots with me, but poor Lex was stuck with wet shoes.
It was only ten minutes to Sandringham, cherished home of
their majesties. The price to see eight rooms of the house was around $100 for
both of us, so I decided I didn’t need to see inside all that badly. The rain
had pretty much stopped, so we had a most enjoyable wander around, caught a
glimpse of the house, and had a good look at St Mary Magdalene’s, where the
royal family attend church every Christmas. It is small but quite stunning
inside, as you would expect. Lots of royal memorials, and two burials of young
royal children outside. We also had some rolls for lunch, and visited the shop
(his Majesty has some lovely things on sale.)
Our planned afternoon activity was a steam train ride, but first we wanted to see the northern Norfolk coastline, so we headed to Wells-at-the-Sea, a holiday magnet for the English. There were so many hundreds of cabins grouped together and huddled behind a huge sea wall. It is really strange to drive along the coastline and not be able to see the coast at all! It’s similar to the south coast, where communities have to be protected from strong winds and high tides. Anyway, by this time the rain had dried up (for a while), the sun was shining, and people were flocking to the seaside, so we did too. We paid for parking, then went up to see the sea. It’s very flat, and apparently the tides are vicious – lots of warning signs. Things obviously haven’t changed all that much since the 1200s, and there is a big lifeguard shed there. We enjoyed a walk along the inlet in the sunshine.
Then it was off to our steam train ride, which started at Aylesham. We arrived at about 2.30, in good time to buy our tickets (48 pounds) and have a cuppa in the café before boarding our train at 3. The Bure Valley Railway is sort of a mini-railway – the gauge is only about 18 inches! What happened is that the line, a normal sized track, opened in 1880 and was closed in 1982. Norfolk councils have a policy of reusing old train embankments as walking paths, but a group of steam train enthusiasts suggested a mini steam line, thus leaving room for the walking path as well. And that’s exactly what they did – the trains and path now run from Aylesham to Wroxham, and the trains carry thousands of steam fans every year. They have a great collection of little engines, and today our train was pulled by Sir Winston Churchill (visiting from Kent) and Mark Timothy! It took 45 minutes to reach Wroxham, where we watched them turn the trains on the roundabout, take on water, and then headed back to Aylesham by 5. There were beautiful Norfolk views of farms and houses along the way. A nice relaxing way to spend an afternoon!
It's now 8.30, we’ve had tea (chicken curry) and everything
is done a lot earlier than yesterday, which is just as well, as we have to
pack. Sadly, tomorrow we leave Norfolk and are heading for Lincoln.
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