{"id":5333,"date":"2016-10-28T11:02:12","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T11:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=5333"},"modified":"2016-11-13T21:33:47","modified_gmt":"2016-11-13T21:33:47","slug":"stage-17-great-yarmouth-to-winterton-on-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2016\/10\/stage-17-great-yarmouth-to-winterton-on-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Yarmouth to Winterton-on-Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

I walked this, stage 17 of the Grand Norfolk Hike<\/a>, on a changeable summer’s day in July 2016.<\/p>\n

Setting out<\/h3>\n

The hike was an impulsive decision.<\/p>\n

Left on our own\u00a0for the weekend, Smithy dog and I were sitting back drinking coffee and diggin’ some\u00a0Oscar Peterson<\/a>, when the urge for adventure suddenly hit upon us.<\/p>\n

We checked various timetables and consulted with a Great Yarmouth taxi firm. \u00a0Yes, it could be done but we’d need to step on it.<\/p>\n

\"Martin<\/p>\n

The dog\u00a0and I caught\u00a0the 1.30pm train from Ely to Norwich, leapt onto the waiting\u00a0connection\u00a0to Great Yarmouth, sallied forth into a waiting cab and arrived\u00a0at Winterton-on-Sea beach by 3pm.<\/p>\n

On the beach<\/h3>\n

And oh what a joy it is to stand at the end of the land\u00a0and take it all in. \u00a0The first sighting of the sea never fails to lift\u00a0and inspire me. The sound, the smell, the colour, the size, the power. \u00a0I take in huge gasps of air while Smithy strains at the lead, desperate for his freedom.<\/p>\n

Okay, so it’s not the brightest of days and a light rain falls intermittently but that hardly bothers Smith or I.<\/p>\n

I release\u00a0him\u00a0from\u00a0the lead and off he bounds\u00a0in eager delight, ready to greet other mutts and drink seawater that he’ll later recycle back onto the beach.<\/p>\n

\"beach-clouds1\"<\/p>\n

The\u00a0sand is soft and cool, I remove my sandals\u00a0and head off slowly in the direction of Great Yarmouth, 10 miles or so to the south.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0beach remains\u00a0largely empty, the weather moves quickly from sun to cloud and back again.<\/p>\n

\"beach-panorama\" <\/figure>\n

Smithy enters the sea for a quick paddle and emerges looking like something akin to a rare sea monster.<\/p>\n

\"smith\"<\/p>\n

Marvellous dunes, dark clouds burdened with rain.<\/p>\n

\"dune-clouds\"<\/p>\n

The wind farm is always in sight, out in the sea, where wind farms should be.<\/p>\n

\"rocks-and-turbines\"<\/figure>\n

A\u00a0solitary gull keeps watch.<\/p>\n

\"gull\"<\/p>\n

I’m thrilled to spot\u00a0a seal, Smithy barks at him, the seal floats lazily in the shallows, unconcerned with us.<\/p>\n

\"seal\"<\/p>\n

We reach Yarmouth<\/h3>\n

We pick up the pace and after a few hours arrive at Great Yarmouth.<\/p>\n

The Boating Lake Coffee house is closed and probably won’t open at any time in the future.<\/p>\n

\"boating-lake-coffee-house\"<\/p>\n

We wander along the seafront, looking for a sign to the train station. \u00a0We pass restaurants heaving with holiday makers digging into huge plates of fish and chips.<\/p>\n

Smithy looks up at me, a question unsaid in his eyes.<\/p>\n

We arrive at the station. I give Smith the last of our\u00a0water and some scooby snacks which he gobbles greedily\u00a0before settling down\u00a0for a well deserved nap on the platform.<\/p>\n

\"smith-pooped\"<\/p>\n

So, all-in-all a fine day’s hiking along the glorious Norfolk coast.<\/p>\n

The Grand Norfolk Hike is almost complete!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stage 17 of the Grand Norfolk Hike<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,12,151],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5333"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5925,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5333\/revisions\/5925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}