Month: July 2026

We are now just a “two plus doggo”, for the remainder of our little trip down here, but we made the very most of the day with our friends in the best way we all wanted to.

We all slept well. We all had a lie-in. We all just chilled out and had a “picky breakfast” of stuff we could eat that we had in the fridge or ‘to hand’.

That meant Italian cured meats, smoked and blue cheeses, wild strawberry jam, toast, grapes & yoghurts. With a good cup of tea!

The dogs were fed (dog food as well as bits of a continental cheesy, yoghurt-liddy treat), and our friends packed, and we loaded up the van for our day trip out, as our friends packed for a return home.

It’s only a 15 minute easy drive into Cromer, so to make the most of the day, we parked up at the long stay parking at the top of the cliffs and then all walked down to the pier & beach front.

When we left the pier after a mooch about, I was pleased to survive given I’d read the wallboard history timeline and is doesn’t suggest longevity!  I did find out that it was the same pier that was used in the closing act of ‘Alan Partridge Alpha Papa’. 

We then meandered up into the narrow streets of the little town, stopping at art galleries, craft shops and the Wildcraft Brewery Tap (which has a dog-friendly menu, btw, so kudos for that!).

We found Davies Fish Shop and bought 4 dressed (I wasn’t expecting them to be dressed as clowns, tbf) Cromer crabs and a pot of fresh mussels, before nipping back down the road to get a couple of bags of chips and parking ourselves up on benches in front of the very grandiose 1830s Hotel De Paris, designed by the “Gaudi of Norwich”, George Skipper.

Good food was had, more nattering and laughing (a more or less constant whenever we meet), before it was time to wander back up to the car park and say goodbye to our wonderful friends & their absolutely gorgeous doggo, Archie.

Our parking time was up as well so we decided to head west along the coast and reacquaint ourselves with the area. We were last here on hols back about 16 years ago (based on Lurchio being definitely about 3 or 4 years old at the time).

We stopped and had a walk around Sheringham before moving further along the coast and all the way though Weybourne, Salthouse, Cley by the Sea and Blakeney, before turning around and heading back to find somewhere to have a stroll over the Cley and Salthouse Marshes & see if we could spot any decent birdlife.

A little lay-by was found and we fed Toby, before heading along a die-straight walkway towards the beach with our posh binoculars (thanks to Jane’s dad, we have some fancy Zeiss 10x40s and some Leica pocket ‘spotters’).

We shouldn’t have worried about spotting anything, as we had birdlife galore! By the time we got to the bird hide, we had already seen Little Egrets, Pied Avocets, lapwings, swallows, terns, shelduck, redshank and swans, so to see Egyptian Geese and an actively hunting Western Marsh Harrier on our way back was an absolute Brucey-bonus!

We headed back to the van and it was about time for some tea (food, eaten circa 5-7pm, to be clear).

On the way back we called in to The Ship Inn in Weybourne which looked lovely and has great reviews. Sadly they didn’t have a table so we headed towards home via the coast road, before spotting ‘The Village Inn’ in West Runton.

We headed inside and this time our luck was in as there was a table for two next to the bar, and we were 30 minutes away from last food orders.

Jane was delighted to find out that the ‘Soup du Jour’ was cauliflower, fennel & apple, with Cauliflower being one of her favourite veggies. So her order was easy – that with skinny chips. I went for the Korean style chicken burger, with kimchi, salt & pepper chips.

We finished up a very enjoyable meal & headed the shortish journey back to  our accommodation in The Boat House, where Jane, Toby and I all just crashed out, albeit only after we realised my head and face were so sunburned, I looked like ‘Jerry The Berry’! 

Ay well! Another great day was had! So now on, to tomorrows adventure!

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We (I’ll detail shortly) are now in North Norfolk!

I finished a 5 day stretch of work on Monday, which for a knackered old fella like me, in the 33+ C was a blessing! My grade-4 osteoarthritic knees are being given a well-deserved rest!

During which time, Jane had managed to trip on the back doorstep, fall and land cheek and eyebrow first onto the tarmac! Thankfully that cushioned her knee, wrist and knuckles which then hit the ground, copied her forehead and bled profusely.

Over the remaining few days at home, I did get used to the looks and questioning of Jane, and I’m genuinely pleased that the lady at Boots who assisted in finding suitable steristrips did take her aside and ask if she was “ok or needed help”. 

But come Friday lunchtime when Jane finished work, we packed the van up and then battled with our usual foe – selfish people picking up their kids from Thorn Grove School, who seem to think it’s ok to park across our driveway.

Once defeated, we headed down the M6 and across the A14 to the M11, and A120 to a little village in Essex where our wonderful friends live in a beautiful old wonky house.

Not too much detail to add here as this is a couple of days enjoying each others company, chatting, eating and supping beer & nice wine. All in a very laid-back way.

After a very hearty Full-English, a tour of the new buildings and a dog-walk, us two chaps headedover to Nethergate Brewery & Tap room for a 2pm brewery tour (pre-arranged & presented by said friends, who know me very well!). We went in the 1971 convertible MGB, top down and the half hour journey was brilliant – zipping through windy country lanes.

There were 8 of us on the tour, hosted by Victoria from Nethergate, who introduced us to the history of the brewery and its growth and moves across three sites to the currently-being expanded site. We supped a couple of halves of their core range before the tour and then ‘quite a bit more after’.

So much so that our ride there in a fab little 1970 MGB, had to be hastily re-organised and our respective partners came and picked us up and drove our van and the MG home.

We did meander home via some quaint little villages and a pub, of course!

At home, we had a takeaway Thai banquet and readied ourselves for the inbound boredom of a pointless Third/Fourth place World Cup game. Suffice to say it over delivered with England holding out after a 4-0 first half to beat France 6-4!

The morning after was a sedate and very healthy breakfast before a drive north through Suffolk and up to Norfolk.

We stopped off at Snape Maltings on the bank of the River Alde, home to independent shops, galleries, a restaurant and dog-friendly café and famed for its concert hall.

We mooched, bought & ate, before heading further north to Aldeburgh and a stroll along its steep, pebbled beach for a leg stretch and some fresh air. In the meantime, we had booked a 7:45 table at a dog-friendly restaurant that’s only 7 minutes from where we will stay. Yea, I know! The Workd Cup Final starts at 8pm, but we have our priorities!

We stopped for swift half in a very nice pub, the Cross Keys, and another chinwag before we all realised that even if we drove straight to the pub, we’d be almost half an hour late!

There followed a “Panic drive” made significantly worse by most of the area being dug up for new road infrastructure to support the Sizewell C Power plant. It was chaos and stress for the first half hour of the 1h45m drive!

We did end up heading straight to the Suffield Arms (having called them to explain and apologise).

What a fantastic evening! The Mediterranean tapas and Josper-cooked (a high-end, Spanish-made hybrid oven/charcoal) grill were superb, as was the service, their very dog-friendly attitude, the building & decor, and the big TV that we could keep an eye on through the first 90 minutes.

We then headed the short jaunt to our AirBnB home for the next few days where we watched the Torres goal that won Spain the World Cup. 

Speaking of cups, it was cups of tea all ‘round, before crashing out ready for tomorrow!

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