Knots landing

On Friday I had seen the forecast for the weekend and it was set to be mild and clear and I had a hankering to go to the coast.   Usually we go to the Essex Coast but I had seen that in Norfolk at high tides in winter there is a spectacular flight of thousands of knots and other waders like this.

I actually didn't read the RSPB website properly or I would have realised that this only happens at very high tide when there is nothing left for the birds to stand on.   I enthused Trev with the idea and before you know it we had booked a hotel and were set  for a weekend away.

Very glad that I did misread it because we had a lovely time and we wouldn't have gone otherwise.

strange colouring of cliffs in Hunstanton

On the way up we stopped  in Hunstanton.  A walk along the prom of sunny Hunny was excellent.  We got some sunshine, some fresh air, we could look at the birds and as we headed south towards Heacham we d ogle at the extraordinary buildings along the coast.  Clearly planning permission isn't an issue.  Some looked like scout huts and some looked like public toilets.  People had got hold of some land and built whatever was cheapest but, bless them, they were all called things like Waikiki or Copacabana!

Our hotel was The White Horse in Brancaster Staithe further up the coast.  To get there we drove through Thornham were we used to have a caravan in the 60s.  My goodness it has become gentrified.  The newsagent and grocery have disappeared  and been replaced by the Village Deli.  The pub which owned our caravan park has stopped being called the Chequers and is now called the The Old Coaching Inn and the other pub in the village has gone from being the Cherry Tree to being the Orange Tree.  The entire village had gone through enough Farrow and Ball paint to drown a diplodocus.   Very different from when Mum and Dad considered buying a cottage there for £300!

The hotel was lovely.  Backing on to the salt marshes with lovely views and the haunting sound of the birds and  huge flocks of geese flying overhead.  The food was lovely too.  Thoroughly recommend it.

Trev outside our room

On Sunday we set off for Stretesham beach where we were going to see this bird spectacular.  The day started out like this.

View from hotel

But by the time we got to the nature reserve it looked like this!

The fog!

We kept expecting Magwitch to appear from the salt marshes.

  We had a very nice walk anyway and then wended our way home.