last trip of the year

 

Christmas is always a good excuse to grab two or three nights away and this year was no different. Van packed we headed back to the Norfolk coast and pitched up at Cromer on the Norfolk coast. The drive down was wet and dreary but it did get better.

Last year we had Christmas and boxing day here, this year its Christmas eve and Christmas day giving us an opportunity to check out some shops. In the meantime we hunkered down with a couple of episodes of Dr who.

Christmas eve was sunshine all day although rather cool nowhere as cold as the last week or so, we even sat with the van door and window open in the afternoon ( not bad for December)

Ian grabbed my camera and charged off to get a photo of the local Banksy whilst I enjoyed a coffee and the chance to knit a few rows in the latest hat.

The biggest disappointment was a small spinning wheel shaped ornament in an antique shop, sign on the door said gone to lunch ( it was 11.30 ) shop open times 10-2. We returned a 1,15 to try to buy it and the shop had already closed for the holidays :-(

However I did score in one of the charity shops with a bag of 60 DMC skeins, 18 Anchor skeins and a reasonable size piece of aida all for £3

Christmas day was cloudy but the sun tried to break through and we had another stroll round the town still discovering new things.

The story of Henry Blogg

A plaque to Priscilla Buxton whose father founded the anti-slavery society although, as a woman, she was not allowed to join. There is a monument to her father in Weymouth.

One of the famous Cromer goats that live on the cliff face above the beach huts.

When we came around to packing up the cab, we found that Puffin had obviously had a good time and that our newest addition ( the highland coo) was a little legless !!

We are now back at home, Ian's is back at work and the van is absolutely filthy on the outside with spray from the road so it seems that our new year will be spent up a ladder in the cold washing it down..

Till my next post (December crafty round up) take care and speak soon xx

didn't we have a lovely time the day we went to .........?

 Kings Lynn.

Yep, dragged the van out again, packed extra bedding as summer has passed and headed down to Norfolk. We have travelled around the country for the last 30 odd  years by car, bike and now camper but there are still many areas that we are not too familiar with. One of these is Norfolk so we settled on Kings Lynn (why not)

As we only had a weekend, we booked the campsite that looked closest to the town and at just £22 a night it was a bargain. Clean utility block and a well-stocked site shop, about a mile from the bus route which is fine.

Arrived Friday afternoon and chilled for the evening. 

 odd

In case you are wondering, that's hand spun Aberfield yarn on the pins and Dr Who on the screen.

Saturday started misty but the sun broke through, we made the trek to the bus stop and arrived at the bus station shortly after 10. Our usual course of action is to search out the charity shops so Ian can hunt for CDs to add to the collection, and I just enjoy looking, rarely buying these days. Only having one day this time, we had decided that shops and a bit of sightseeing would be a good mix and if we spotted anything suggesting another visit then we would be back some other time.

We ended up at Purfleet Quay with its statue of George Vancouver and huge ships anchors. 

We found a ship that moved buoys around., I hadn't realised quite how big they are.

In the morning, I took some lovely photos of boats on the water, harbour area etc but whilst outside one of the old buildings I realised that my camera was on the wrong setting! so I retook some of the photos but the sun had moved so no pretty boat pics 😢

Beautiful buildings and small shops dotted the streets, a number of museums and churches have been earmarked for further exploration.

We stopped to grab a sausage roll at the bakers bearing this symbol. Sandringham Estate is nearby.

You may have noticed that I like to look at cinemas (my dad used to work in cinemas and theatres and as I child I would sometimes travel with him) and this time we spotted the Majestic Cinema.

Wonderful stained glass and so nice to see that it is still a cinema.

Another interest of ours is fairgrounds and Kings Lyn was the home of Frank Savage who invented the carousel mechanism

                                      

                                          

                                          Photo taken at Dingles fairground museum earlier this year.

The flower planters and seats outside the cinema reflected this connection.

A good day out, total charity haul just 3 cds and we will be back to explore the old town at a later date.

My usual woolly, knitting posts will resume next week xx

I'm back, shaking the sand from my shoes.

 Hi,

Sorry for being a little more quiet than usual but I've been up to my neck in wool and yarn (separate spinning post coming soon ) and we took advantage of the recent unusually warm weather and grabbed a few days away in the van.

We headed out to the east coast, Skegness to be precise. Not our usual choice of seaside place but we found a campsite just a little out of the town and a few yards from the beach. The beach was pretty deserted and the local amenities amounted to a bar, cafe, amusement arcade and in the other direction, a spar shop so it suited us nicely.

As the summer season hasn't yet started, the two attractions we had hoped to see were closed, one  only operating in school holidays  and the other closed due to covid.

The Village, a farm museum in Skegness looks really interesting but as covid had caught up with the staff we marked it down as somewhere to have a look round next time.

The Lincolnshire coast railway, narrow gauge diesel and steam line only open in the summer but the volunteers were more than happy for us to have a look round.

In the airfield next door it looked like a restoration project underway on the Lightning aircraft parked up to one side.

We spent a few hours in Skegness, wandering round the shops but staying out of the arcades that had opened up to take advantage of the warm weather, 

Hot chocolate and Lincolnshire sausage rolls made a a rather unhealthy but very tasty lunch break

On Saturday we walked over to the railway then on to Ingoldmells to see if the market was on as we are looking for some new throws to go on the seats in the van.

The coasters were just starting up as we walked along. We scoured the market but couldn't find what we were looking for but Ian did spot this sign, replica weapons and educational toys??

We returned to our quiet beach and got the kites out for a while then I managed to win yet another small model campervan to add to the ever growing collection on the penny falls and surprisingly it took less than 50 p in 2ps to rescue it from the machine.

The campsite was pretty full but very friendly, possibly because most people were from our part of the country. Facilities immaculate as you would expect from a Caravan Club affiliated site,

All too soon we had to go from this

To this,,,,

 and make our way home. (new rugs have been added )

Speak soon, xx