Norfolk 2016 – Walk from Salthouse to Blakeney

View of Wells-next-the-sea Norfolk
View of Wells-next-the-sea Norfolk

We were up relatively early and were aiming to get a bus from Blakeney village hall to walk back to Blakeney, taking in a coiple of coffee stops. A made us some porridge for breakfast, and we followed that up with some toast, we were all set to walk at least until lunch time. The weather was sunny and slightly warmer than the day before.

It did not take long to get to Blakeney and the car park was not very full. We had a ten minute wait for the bus which arrived full of passengers but the bus almost emptied before we got on. The bus fare was £2 a head one way to Salthouse green. The weather was fine with wispy cirrus clouds, the type of Norfolk big sky weather I like. We took the beach road towards the sea and then turned west. The walk was a bit of a slog because NWT now let the shingle banks collapse in the winter storms.

Holkham Beach Norfolk

We stopped often to look for birds and I spotted what I thought was a Short Eared Owl, it was close in but flew away from us. Some other birds watchers further down the road confirmed by my sighting. The last time I had seen one was on the path between Cley and Blakeney quite a few years back. When we go to the East bank we noticed a new open hide had been built where a bench used to be, we stopped and tried it out, but most of the waders were over the far side further east. I took the opportunity to take a time lapse sequence of the stunning sky. We heard rumours of a Spoonbill and were chuffed to spot it close in further down the bank.

We stopped of in the NWT visitor centre for lunch which we had outside as the weather was noticeably warmer than the day before. I had a crab sandwich for a second day running. I took the opportunity to remove my thermal under layer. C took the opportunity to visit the Cley Spy shop to get replacement rain guards for her binoculars  which she had lost the day before.

Next stop would be Blakeney, and we headed into Cley then took the path that passes the Windmill rather than the busy road. Three of us grabbed an ice cream at the Cley Deli which went down well, and gave us an energy boast for the sea wall walk to Blakeney. Soon after the start of the path we spotted what might be Bearded Tits and after some perseverance we got great views which were a first for C.

News papers sold from a windows in Cley next the Sea

We were quite tired by the time we got to Blakeney and did not hang about  as there were a lot of people about. On the walk back to the car we tried phoning a few restaurants to try to get a table for 4, we we did not hav much luck until we called the Edinburgh Hotel which had a table for us. At first we were a bit worried as to why there was a table available, however when we looked at the website it looked OK and sold pub grub.

We got back to the hut and rested after the long walk. The pub seemed like a genuine local with lots of Norfolk accents to be heard at the bar. I had some great fish and chips with a very generous portion of mushy peas washed own with a pint of Woodfords Wherry and another of Nelson bot very quaffable. By the time we return to the hut we were ready for bed and soon were sleeping soundly.