This is a short blog about our trip to Norfolk in our campervan and just the highlights of what we did each day.
We'd originally booked to go away to Norfolk for Christmas last year but when the Government tightened restrictions on travel we had to postpone our booking. Once the 'roadmap' for coming out of lockdown was announced we were able to rebook so we chose this week which we thought would be a lovely way to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary.
Friday
We set off after work about 13:30 stopping off to pick up our click and collect groceries to stock up the van fridge.
The traffic was busy, as was to be expected for a Friday afternoon but we made steady progress stopping off at an old A Road Anarchy cache and then a virtual at Sibsey Mill.
Saturday
We stayed overnight just outside Boston in Lincolnshire and enjoyed an early morning walk at Freiston Shore nature reserve where we did the Game Trail series of caches.
On our walk we could see a structure in the distance on the sea bank. When we checked the map we noticed that we were close to HM Prison North Sea Camp.
Here's a bit of history about the prison:
HM Prison North Sea Camp is a men's open prison located on the edge of Freiston in Lincolnshire, England and is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.
North Sea Camp opened as a borstal in 1935, having been established by a group of Borstal Trainees who had been marched cross-country from Stafford - that's a walk of over 100 miles! Borstals were youth detention centres which were run by HM Prison service and were intended to reform young people. The court sentence was officially referred to as 'Borstal Training' and was originally for offenders under 21 but in the 1930s this was increased to 23. The Borstal system in the UK was abolished in 1982 and replaced with youth custody centres.
The Borstal Trainees set up a campsite and immediately began work building a sea wall to protect the area from the North Sea. After this they began reclaiming land by manually building a further sea wall and that land then became the prison farm. Until the sale of this land in 2004 the prison had the biggest prison farm in the UK, much of this land was land that had been reclaimed from The Wash.
Further along the walk we found remnants of the track from the North Sea Camp Railway used in connection with the land reclamation scheme. A really interesting place to visit.
After this we headed into Boston to do a set of Adventure Labs and bonus.... well Mark did most of the caches while I had a mooch in the bookshop. 📚📚📚
The sun was really hot and we were glad we got our main walk of the day in early.
As we were walking around Boston we happened upon this gorgeous urban meadow. It was buzzing with bees, such a fabulous garden for pollinators.
A quick set of lab caches in Holbeach before heading to our caravan site to check in.
After cooking pizza we headed into the forest for an evening walk with Charlie. The caravan site is in the forest and a perfect base for walking and cycling in the area.
We arrived back at the site just after sunset and spotted a rabbit running around, as we got closer we realised it wasn't a wild rabbit. Apparently it belongs to the site owner and has the run of the site. We're amazed it has survived living wild. So cute 🐇
Saturday
Up very early and after a couple of hours relaxing at the van we headed out for the day.
Charlie waiting for more fun in the forest.
First stop was a virtual - War Memorial #7 - Desert Rats and the nearby multi which took us around the interesting Desert Rat Trail. The 7th Armoured Division, better known as 'The Desert Rats' were stationed in the Thetford Forest between January and May 1944 while they prepared for the invasion of Normandy. This was the only time the division was in the United Kingdom in its entire existence. The Division sailed from Felixstowe on the 5 June 1944 with the first tanks landing on Gold Beach on the evening of 6th June 1944.
We'd planned a walk in the forest for the afternoon but when we arrived at the car park it was full and the area was very busy with families having picnics so we decided to leave it until tomorrow and headed into Thetford to do three sets of Adventure Labs. It was a bit of a challenge having to come in and out of each one to complete them but we got there in the end.
There was a lot of steps up to the top but we both agreed it would've been a lot more fun if there was a slide for getting back down again.
Monday
This morning we went back to do the walk that we'd planned for yesterday. The car park was empty this time but unfortunately there was a lot of litter left in the car park by the visitors from the previous day. We picked up a bag of litter before starting our walk. The amount of litter and broken bottles in the countryside has increased so much over this last year, it's appalling why people can't just take it home with them. I can't understand why anyone would think it an acceptable thing to do. The Countryside Code has been recently 'refreshed' to try and help people who are new to visiting the countryside. I remember as a very small child in the 70s seeing the Public Information Film of Joe and Petunia and also learning by example. I never saw anyone in my family throw litter or smash bottles in the countryside.
and then the 2004 Creature Comforts one:
If you like watching old Public Information films, here's another from from the 60s, well before our time.
We walked just over 10 miles on great forest tracks.
Tuesday
Today is our 30th Wedding Anniversary! Wow where have those years gone.
The plan today was for another day walking in the forest as we'd enjoyed it so much yesterday.
We were glad of the shade in the forest as the sun was quite intense today. Really trying not to complain about the heat as we've had cold windy weather for such a long time.
Now that's how to relax
Back home to the campsite for an anniversary meal in the campervan and then out to do a nearby night cache called Jacks Watching You (Night Cache). It's been years since we did a proper long night-cache. It didn't get dark until after 10pm so we had quite a long wait before we could make start. We'd actually had a look for the start of the trail last night but just armed with phone torches we failed miserably and it wasn't really dark enough.
So tonight we were well prepared and took my MTB 1200 lumen headlight to light up the fire-tacks. It was finally dark enough by 11:45 so off we went. It was a great adventure in the dark, just difficult enough for it to be fun without getting frustrated. A couple of times we had to back track but along with the bonus we were back at the campervan just after midnight. Brilliant fun.
Wednesday
Woke up to clear skies and sunshine again this morning so decided to have another day walking in the forest - this is getting addictive!
We did the West Harling walk series and started at 50 West Harling Walk. A strange thing happened on the walk, we saw a naked rambler! 😲 Yep you read that correctly. There might have been some perfectly reasonable explanation as to why he had no clothes on, he might have just been for a wild swim and someone had stolen his clothes... ok so we hadn't seen a body of water anywhere but anyway... moving swiftly on....
At the end of the walk we headed off to the shops to get ice creams which we were definitely ready for in the heat.
Thursday
This morning's plan was to do the Floral Dance series in the woods around Cockley Clay and Drymere.
Another fab walk in beautiful forest and countryside.
We spent the evening in Castle Acre, wandering around in the evening sunshine doing the ALs and also a few other caches.
Friday
We spent the morning walking the Gate Lodge Loop. Quite a few of the caches were really tricky to find and we'd decided to set ourselves a short time limit on each one as we were keen to keep walking for the exercise. Probably be great fun for locals to be able to revisit and fully appreciate the effort gone into this.
After getting more ice creams we headed into Framlingham to do The Castle on the Hill virtual.
Ed Sheeran grew up in Framlingham and his 2017 song Castle on the Hill refers to Framlingham Castle. The song is said to be a love letter to this town.
After this we headed to Diss and spent the evening wandering around doing the ALs.
Saturday
The week has gone far too quickly. The plan today is to head towards Sheffield, stopping off at a few places on the way ready to spend the day with our daughter and her boyfriend tomorrow.
First stop - Santon Slogg in Santon Downham. A series of 12 caches on a 4½ mile walk. The walk followed the Little Ouse River some of the way so plenty of places for Charlie to cool off.
After finishing the walk we headed to Oxborough near Swaffham to visit the National Trust property and have a wander round the garden before doing the Adventure Labs.
We spent the rest of the evening in Kings Lynn. We hadn't intended to spend so long there but it was a beautiful sunny evening to be out and we just wanted to enjoy our last evening of our break.
The end of another really fun trip. It's been great to get away in the van again.
With our house moving coming up in a few months we've put aside a couple of weeks to move in but before then we have a week booked to go to Piratemania and the Mega in Lincoln and a few weekends away have been planned - let's hope the good weather lasts.
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