North Norfolk beckoned

We had booked a week in the lovely Brancaster Staithe some time ago but had to cancel it thanks to the Welsh "Firebreak".  (BTW The famous Welsh government firebreak didn't do enough to beat back the Covid numbers once folks were released to go mad again and so now extra rules are being introduced such as pubs cannot serve alcohol just food??)

Luckily for us, we had re-booked it for just after the English full lockdown finished so we knew we would have a nice cottage to stay in, which had been empty for 4 weeks. The only downside was the drive across in horrid wet and windy conditions. 

All worthwhile though, The cottage (look at Pump Cottage ) was lovely and ideal for a little dog with wooden and tiled floors. Trips out and about included to Wells where we could continue our gallery of old lifeboat pictures:

 

both afloat and resting on the mud / sand in half-tide berths:

The closets of the three has a connection for the captain - she was built as the Caister-on-sea independent lifeboat and called the Bernard Matthews (yes, those hated turkey twizzlers did help fund her). Caister was the captain's "born and bred" spot.  After the RNLI withdrew their lifeboat, a local charity was setup and operated the first (and then only) all weather lifeboat outside of the RNLI in the country. Have a  look at  Caister lifeboat website .  The history of the 1903 lifeboat disaster is here and again, worth a read.

It seemed cruel to "park" the older timber boats on the mud somehow:

Wells has become very trendy compared to the town that the captain remembers from visits made when he was significantly younger and lived in Norfolk. There again, so has most of North Norfolk with Burnham Market becoming "Chelsea-on-sea". The roads are no bigger or better maintained though. This brings the usual list of plusses and minuses with it. The best bit is that the London second-homers were not in residence so we didn't have to wade through streets full of little Camillas and Rodericks being indulged by their noisy and self important parents. OK, not fair we know but based on prior experience in the Solent, not far from reality.....

In Wells, the weather decided to play up a little and treated us to a stunning full rainbow over the marshes:

but as we only had the phone camera, you get it in two parts:

Once it cleared up we could enjoy the typical North Norfolk coast scenes again:

Izzy loved the beach at Wells, as did we:

and she followed the instructions on the sign perfectly (for once) before turning into a sandy monster:

Walking back into the town from the beach as the afternoon sun was dropping low into the sky gave some lovely views over the patterns left in the sandy harbour area, again the phone camera struggled to do justice to them but here is a flavour:

Almost "other-worldly".

Brancaster Staithe was a frequent little walk. With the usual detritus left dumped pretty much anywhere by the local fishermen: 

We were amazed to see an old Fordson tractor still "in harness" with a very modern attachment that had been fitted quite recently based on the rust levels:

Somehow it seems cruel to still be working the poor old tractor when most of its siblings will be restored and attending vintage tractor rallies.

The beach at Old Hunstanton was a great hit with the dog. It seemed that she had acres of space all to herself:

and plenty of "lows" (shallow water patches on the beach) to paddle in. Happy happy (if a bit soggy) dog time. Hunstanton gave us the chance to expand our library of lighthouse images too, only this one is converted into holiday accommodation - like so many places in the area:

Built in 1844 it was retired in 1921 and has been a dwelling since. The coastguard lookout building nearby has also become a holiday let, just way less glamorous: 

At least the furniture should fit against the walls better than in a circular lighthouse tower.

Hunstanton was great off-season. So unlike many towns now, the shops were mainly local individual offerings and they seemed to be doing OK. Long may it continue.