Sunday 26 June 2011

Sunny Sheringham

I decided to be energetic this weekend and go for a walk on both Saturday and Sunday. I was them particularly impressed with myself that I stuck to this resolution despite the news that Sunday was to be the hottest day of the year so far, with the mercury hitting the 29 degree mark. I took myself off to Sheringham to take on one of the walks in the Bittern Line Railway Rambles book.

The route started at Sheringham train station and took me straight through the town and on to the seafront. It was at this point I started to realise just how much I have enjoyed the almost deserted nature of the areas I've walked in so far. It being a weekend in June the town was full of families enjoying the sunshine, meaning that for the first mile or so it was pretty difficult to build up any sort of a pace.

Soon, however the trail took me away from the seafront and up to Beeston Bump where some good views of the coast line open up. It was good to find myself having the opportunity to do a bit of uphill walking, even if Beeston Bump isn't nearly as big as I remember it seeming as I was growing up!

view from the, not as tall as I remember it, Beeston Bump

The route then took me back down 'The Bump' and past the edge of the Beeston Regis nature trail before taking me across the railway line and into Beeston common, past Beeston Priory. The common was unlike landscape I've walked through before, I could certainly hear a lot of nature (rattling, clicking, buzzing etc) but I couldn't quite see it which I did find slightly un-nerving....


Beeston Priory

After the common I moved into Sheringham woods, which I have to say is the only part of the walk that slightly unnerved me. It seemed very isolated which put me on edge at first, I then struggled to follow the directions in the book which is surprising as I've always found them so easy to follow on every other walk I've done. The main problem was that there had obviously been significant tree fall since the book was written, meaning that working out what was and what wasn't a path was difficult, and I wasn't able to find the promised blue waymarkers, maybe they were on the fallen trees! I took the decision to find my way out of the woods and then try to find my way to the next part of the directions. I was then extremely impressed with myself that I had only left the woods a path earlier than I should have so finding my way onto the next marker was straightforward.


is that my path???


The route continued along a grassy path into Upper Sheringham and through the village into the stunning scenery of Sheringham Park, a National Trust attraction. I then walked through, past Sheringham Hall and up a steep climb to 'The Gazebo' - a tall viewing tower giving great views of the North Norfolk coast which were particularly spectacular in the sunshine. Following this I headed to the cliff-top path to head back into Sheringham.


view from The Gazebo

I followed the coast path back into Sheringham, admiring the see views. At one point I was treated to some air acrobatics from two bi-planes circling the cliff top which was an unexpected bit of drama for the afternoon. The path led me back to the seafront and therefore once again the crowds. All in all though a lovely walk with some spectacular views made all the better by the bright sunshine and fantastically blue skies. I'd definately do this walk again, although probably on a cooler, less busy day. I did however learn from this walk that it really isn't a good idea to forget your hat on the hottest day of the year, and that even if you want to build up a good pace you really need to stop and reapply your sun cream - suffering on both counts now.....


beautiful

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