Weather: Sunny
Distance: 34 km (21.1miles) Total
Distance: 2706 miles
A single days walking today. The forecast was reasonable and it made sense
to walk the next section from Thornham to King’s Lynn in a single stretch. I set out at 6.45 pm and was at Thornham by
9.15 am. I picked up a middle aged
hitch-hiker at King’s Lynn and dropped him off at Hunstanton – he was off to
work at a chip shop cutting the potatoes into chips and then as a bingo caller
in the afternoon. He hitched this road
every morning because it would cost him over £25 per week in bus fares. He told me how the police had ticked him off
for hitching in a busy place the week before.
The forecast was completely wrong – it
said heavy cloud and possible drizzle but by the time got to Thornham it was
bright sunshine and it stayed that way all day.
The first part was along a nature reserve and over dunes mainly along
boarding that made the walking easier than walking on the sand itself.
At the end of the nature reserve I took
to the beach where I also found pretty good firm sand. Coming into Old Hunstanton I watched two
blokes on go-cart type things pulling themselves along using a kite type things
– there is probably a technical name for them!
What I had not realised was how complicated it was to operate them
because they had to get the kite going and them manoeuvre themselves and sit
down on the go cart and then nudge themselves along to get going.
The weird low cliffs of Hunstanton then
soon appeared. They have a light grey
upper layer and a red brown lower layer almost as if the brown was a stain of
the cliffs. Nesting seagulls squawked at
me as I walked close to the base of the cliffs.
I did not get a very good impression of
Hunstanton because all I could see from the promenade was the usual seaside
buildings of chip shops, amusement arcades etc.
I stopped at the southern end of the town for a mug of coffee and kit
Kat (£1-05) at a caravan-kiosk.
The next three or so miles appeared to
be caravan parks all the way to south of Stubborn Sands but they were discreetly
behind the sea defences. Just before
that however there was a mile or so of individually designed housed of all
shapes and sizes overlooking the beach – most of them built with upstairs
balconies to make the most of the sea views.
I had phoned up someone from the King’s
Lynn ramblers the previous day to get the lie of the land. He had told me that he had just been down to
Snettisham to discuss with some beach hut owners some no-entry signs they had
just put up. It turned out that I was still walking on the beach at this stage
so only saw the sign at the far end just as I was coming up off the beach and
onto the path I had seen a couple of cyclists using.
I kept
to the path around the bird reserve. The
King’s Lynn rambler had told me that this section was not a public footpath but
discussions had been underway for some ten years with the Prince of Wales and
local wildfowlers to try to get the path opened up. He told me that being a lone walker I could
possibly chance my arm and give it a go that I planned to do. I quite fancied the idea of appearing in
court up against the Prince of Wales! I was afraid of being spotted right at
the start by farmers so headed off across the marshes to try to get onto the
Sandringham farm land coast path without been seen. It turned out that this was
a mistake and I soon ended up backtracking out of the long grass and marshes to
the bottom of the bird reserve again, loosing some ten minutes plus in the
process. I need not have worried because
the buildings were more like store housed than farms proper. I soon got onto the coastal path – there were
no keep-out signs, but the grass was long and the first half-mile difficult to
walk.
For
the next couple of hours I was worried about being stopped by a farmer, but at
the same time happy that it was saving me so much time and not having to walk
inland. There was usually a good enough
path either on top of the sea defence or along the tack on the landward side. At one stage I disturbed a herd of cows
grazing on the sea defences and inland grassy verge. They rushed off ahead of me each time I
approached. I was afraid this would
attract attention. I eventually lost
them when they went down on the marsh side and I dropped down on the landward
side. Only once did I see a tractor and
then I dropped down on the marsh side of the sea defence for a while.
I was
pleased to see King’s Lynn starting to appear in the distance and after a
detour up a creek and back out, rejoined official footpath, over looking he
Grat River Ouse. Again there were no
no-entry signs on this end either – I can only presume that although it is
private they are not too fussed about this coastal section being walked. I passed a blacksmith with all his kit in the
back of a van – gas version of a furnace I guess about to shoe a couple of
horses. I then passed the Dow Chemical
plant – I recalled how when I was working in Minnesota I had had an interview
in Michigan for a job at this site but failed to get it. I thought that it looked not a bad place to
work – overlooking the river. On the way
out of the docks I stopped to ask where the bus station was at the security
hut. I walked into the town and
discovered there was a bus in five minutes – just enough time to go to buy a
chocolate thick shake at the local burger bar. It was a new bus and not too bad
a 50-minute journey back to Hunstanton.
I then
had trouble getting a lift back to Thornham but when I was half way there an
elderly lady stopped and drove me the rest of the way – she was also a keen
walker she said.
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