Thursday 29th September – Thursday 6th October

Last year the Tea Vanners’ meet was in the Lake District; this year we, confusingly, went East to West Runton, near Cromer – a motorhome and two campervans.

Thursday 29th September

We are going earlier / staying later than the rest of the Tea Vanners so we can meet up with David’s sister, Karen and her friend Gary.

First we need a top of LPG in the motorhome tanks. (Liquified Petroleum Gas for the hob/oven/heating). After a recce of possibilities we found a garage in Thetford which would provide. While we were there we topped-up with diesel – it is 178.9p a litre – eeek! £110.49 and the motorhome is still not full.

We are travelling to one of our go to places, The Caravan & Motorhome Club site at Incleboro Fields, West Runton, Cromer – https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-sites/england/east-anglia/norfolk/incleboro-fields-club-campsite/. Nice pitch …. we skidded around rather trying to get on a ramp, we are almost level; almost but not quite!

Disaster – the fridge isn’t working!! Husband went off to buy a plastic box with a lid in which to put our supplies, together with a big bag of ice. I rang a couple of mobile caravan engineers; they did not ring back!

Mileage = 102

Friday 30th September

We picked up Karen and Gary, and took them to lunch at a lovely country pub, The Hunworth Bell at Hunworth, near nowhere at all! https://www.facebook.com/hunworthbell/?locale=en_GB. Great, friendly service and lovely food.

Karen is only recently out of hospital and has had, let’s say, a bit of a time! To be out and about with a beer and roast lunch to enjoy is unexpectedly brilliant.

We dropped Karen and Gary home and returned to the motorhome for a lie down; we were both totally stuffed with great food.

I keep flicking the fridge on and off, eventually, for no reason at all, it works – yay!

Saturday 1st October

The Tea Vanners arrive late morning, parking in a beach car park a mile or so from the site as you can’t ‘check-in’ until 1.00pm. They paid for the beach car park; Husband drove in to pick them up and didn’t pay …. that error cost him £60 a few weeks later – ooops!

Elevenses outside and then a ‘bits and bobs’ lunch in the sunshine – glorious.

Early evening we walked down to the beach; the tide was out leaving a wide expanse of sand to enjoy.

Dinner this evening was at the Upstairs Restaurant at No.1 Cromer https://www.no1cromer.com. I didn’t think it was quite as good as on previous visits, but OK.

Sunday 2nd October

To National Trust Felbrigg Hall, Gardens & Estate https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/norfolk/felbrigg-hall-gardens-and-estate.

First some elevenses, then a walk through the walled garden, on to the church and the lake; returning through the woods to the house for a light bite.

This evening an early dinner at Rocky Bottoms https://www.rockybottoms.net, a fairly new, fabulous fish restaurant on the cliff top. They also have a shop selling crab and other seafood delights.

Plentiful wine and cheese back at the motorhome; the balloon may be scary but the ghastly over-coloured cupcakes bought by Husband for dessert were scarier still. I put them in a food bank so they can light up someone else’s insides!!

Monday 3rd October

Today we parked in Sheringham and caught a steam train on the North Norfolk Railway https://www.nnrailway.co.uk just one stop to Weybourne.

We walked into the village and had a coffee outside Ali’s of Weybourne, a village store with a café https://www.tideaway.org.uk/the-village-store/. The message below featured on the wall outside.

The walk takes you down to the beach and along the coastal path. It’s Norfolk so it’s pretty flat, except the climb up Skelding Hill to the Lookout Station – phew!

Yea, coffee and cake in Sheringham at The Sitting Room Café https://www.thesittingroom.cafe and then back to the site for ‘chill time’.

Husband is on catering this evening so drinks and nibbles outside the motorhome followed by a massive paella cooked on the BBQ. We ate inside … brrrrr.

Tuesday 4th October

The other Tea Vanners are homeward bound today, just time for a bacon sandwich though!

Wednesday 5th October

Back to see Karen and Gary, this time for a Full-English Breakfast by the sea. The Cliff Top Café at Overstrand did us proud. Its own website doesn’t seem to be working; I hope it’s still there! https://www.visiteastofengland.com/attraction_activity/the-cliff-top-cafe

Afterwards, Husband and I continued to East Ruston Old Vicarage gardens https://eastrustonoldvicarage.co.uk. An absolute treat, well worth another visit at a different time of year. We just managed to get back to the car before a deluge.

Dinner: Starters – fresh, dressed crab bought in Sheringham – fabulous! Mains – beef stroganoff bought from Tesco – very average.

Thursday 6th October

We are booked through to tomorrow (or are we?!) but we will leave mid-afternoon as we have done before. Check-out time is 12.00pm.

We set off for Cromer in brilliant sunshine and enjoyed a lovely walk along the seafront, down the pier and around the town.

Husband took a lot (and I mean a lot!) of photos – illustrating ‘lines and shadows’ – just a few here.

What we really need is my kind of art!!

We found a new place for a light brunch in Cromer, which is to be highly recommended. The Hatters Tea Shop https://www.hattersteashop.co.uk.

We meandered back to the car and then to the motorhome. We were just sitting chilling when my phone rang; it was the site warden asking if we were OK; “yes” said I. Only you should’ve left today, says he. When you’re retired you do occasionally lose touch with what the actual date is! We packed up in super-quick time and left before we were charged for an extra night! The warden was very nice about it …. happens all the time he says! Ooops.

Mileage = 94 miles

Total trip mileage = 196 miles