Norfolk has beckoned for many years. Bev lived in Sidestrand 55 years ago and has never been back. An OGA event meant we had the excuse to go for a long weekend this month. After calling at Loughborough for an opportune eBay bike purchase we continued cross-country to meet up with the Gaffers at Bureside Holiday Park, Oby, near Thurne. We joined the circle of vans and walked down for welcome drinks and nibbles aboard the wherry, ‘Albion’. The oldest surviving wherry still working on the Broads, ‘Albion’ was built in 1898 and now carries a cargo of people enjoying a day out rather than delivering coal from Lowestoft to Bungay.
Saturday morning dawned with beautiful sunshine but very light winds. The wherry departure time was 0930 with bacon butties if you arrived early. As we don’t have a towbar, we couldn’t bring ‘Cachalette’ so sailed on the wherry. Some of the others took out various dinghies, meeting up with us for lunch at South Walsham. After a briefing from skipper Mick, we set sail. Everyone was encouraged to help with the helm, hoisting/lowering the sail and generally enjoy the passage. The sail is enormous, and is awaiting a new ‘bonnet’ which would add a huge amount to the sail area. It’s hoisted and lowered with hand-cranked winches and just one sheet with some huge blocks. She has no inboard auxiliary engine but an outboard in the tender to assist when tacking and gybing. After returning to the campsite, everyone adjourned to the Lion Inn, Thurne for supper. The wind was much stronger on Sunday morning and Steve decided on a bike-ride to test out his new purchase. The wherry was doing two trips as most people didn’t want to take dinghies out in the high winds. After pottering around the campsite for the morning Bev enjoyed a very different afternoon sail, fully reefed but still in bright sunshine.
A few stayed over on Sunday night for an enjoyable evening around the campfire, watching the full eclipse of the moon. Monday was still bright, sunny and not so windy and we decided to take that trip to the north Norfolk coast despite some warnings from Shona that it is much more ‘built up’ than it was in the early 1970s! Always a potential hazard in going back to remembered places. The reception we got at Sidestrand Hall, still a school, was certainly not a welcome – we were allowed to drive through the gate to turn the van round and leave . . . Overstrand was lovely though! Bev remembered the ‘cliffs’ and according to the cafe owner, they’re certainly still crumbling away. After lunch of fresh lobster, coffee and cakes we drove on to Cromer, another old ‘haunt’, which was also a pleasant surprise with a deserted beach and pier. It seems the Royal Links Pavilion, where big bands used to play in the 1970s burned down in 1979 but the Hotel de Paris still stands proud above the prom. After a nostalgic chat with a receptionist in the Hotel de Paris, we left Cromer late afternoon parking the van up at the Tidemill by 6pm. Weather and tides look good for some kayaking/sailing on the river tomorrow!
