Into Norfolk
15th
We got on the road and aimed north towards the Norfolk border as we had found a site in Strumpshaw at the steam museum and livery yard ///reach.apricot.undercuts £12 per night plus £3 for EHU and all of the usual facilities plus horses (and horsey girls...)
We pulled into the lane and realised that the satnag had taken us into the wrong entrance. We soon found the correct one and parked on the grass with a view across the fields.
We settled down for the evening with the electric heating on and slept really well.
16th
Today, we fancied a walk and had to get some cash out for the fees so we togged up and set off to the village where we also bought some Guiness 0.0%.
On the way back we popped into The Shoulder of Mutton for a swift pint and discovered that there was a band on at 4:30 to celebrate tomorrows St Patricks day so we arranged to come back and join in.
Back at the van we got the ebikes out of the trailer and made them ready for the road and then relaxed for a couple of hours before heading back to the pub to enjoy the Irish music by
That was a great afternoon and returned to the van happy and ready for bed.
17th
Back on the road today so we emptied all tanks and put 50 litres of fresh water in the tank, slipped the envelope with £30 into the letter box and pulled away.
The idea was to get closer to Cromer as we had to collect a parcel from the post office and we fancied a walk along the promenade but soon we were pulling into the car park of a pub stop at The Nelson Head Inn at Horsey, ///mural.meaning.postage popping into the pub to check that it was ok for us to stay overnight.
The staff were lovely and welcomed us. We said that we would be back for a drink or two later but first we were going to the beach!
It was bloody freezing on the beach and we were glad to get back to the relatively warm van for a couple of hours before sneaking into the pub for a lovely pint of porter followed by an equally lovely session IPA and a chat with the locals, each of whom had a dog, 5 locals and 5 dogs!
One of the locals reminded us of Gerald from Clarksons farm, he was obviously three sheets to the wind and sounded just like him. We couldn't understand a word!
18th
That was another peaceful nights sleep. We awoke to a wind blowing the palm trees, yes palm trees!
Andy phoned the post office in Cromer to confirm that the parcel had arrived and then we set off.
Soon we were parking just outside the post office and Andy went in to collect the parcel and a couple of chicken wraps for brunch.
The parcel was from Amazon via Andy's daughter, Jenny who had posted it on from home as it contained spare parts for our faulty deisel heater. The glow plug decided not to glow so we ordered a new one and a system board, just in case.
Parcel collected we set off for Cromer promenade car park where we parked for a couple of hours.
We walked along the front, eventually giving in and sheltering in a lovely coffee shop called Huckleberry's where we had mochas in the basement.
Whilst we were having our mochas and warming up Andy phoned Kevin from Northrepps airfield CL to see if there was availability there tonight, there was so, we drove there and parked up with a view straight down runway zero-four!
///existence.excellent.presumes
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the sunshine watching the aircraft come and go.
19th
The airfield was very quiet over night and we both slept well and awoke to the pilots getting their planes out of the hangars and setting off on their flights for the day.
We decided to get the ebikes out of the trailer and head into Cromer for another of those lovely white chocolate mochas.
On the way back to the airfield we popped into Lidl and then Andy got some cash out at the Natwest ATM ///storms.flute.loaning to pay for our stay.
Back at the airfield we opened the wine etc. and sat in the sun for a while to finish off another great day.
20th
Another lovely sunrise welcomed us as we awoke and Andy made the first cuppa of the day. Chairs out and we sat in the sun for a while watching the paramotor pilot set up and get ready for his flight. Soon after that the other aircraft were woken up and prepared for theirs.
Soon it was time to go and so we packed away and sorted the tanks out, said our goodbyes and thanked Kevin and hooked the trailer up.
We had to pop into Halfords to pick some bits up for the bike pump, (boring) and then Lidl for beers and Andy phoned Henry, a friend that we had made when we had the seasonal pitch at Hertford, and he invited us to stay with him at his cottage near Sandringham, so off we went aiming the van west and after about 40 miles we arrived at Henry's.
Pulling into his garden through the very tight gate we parked and sat and shared a few beers and stories until we all got cold and went into the cottage where he cooked us a lovely chilli con carne.
21st & 22nd
We spent a couple of nights with Henry and on Saturday, Steve (another friend from Hertford) turned up and we all had an evening meal of Hunters chicken and sat and talked until it was time for bed.
Henry had kindly insisted that we plugged into to his supply so we were able to charge all of the devices etc. and he even allowed us to empty our toilet cassette!
23rd
Today we were going to continue our journey north heading towards the Theddlethorpe area, near Sutton on sea where we had found a pub stop at The Kings Head. More on that on the next page.
Now, off to Lincolnshire it is!