On the Road Again!

Today's target was Felbrigg Estate. It's a little way off the A140 towards Cromer. We set off late as contrary to the forecast it had rained and was drizzling. Car loaded and we were off. Despite Nissan Connect showing a looping route via Dereham we actually went almost the same way as yesterday. The newish A1237 was again coned down to one lane and a ludicrous 10mph limit showing. Not much evidence of any work though. Quelle surprise! Once we arrived it was a case of waterproofs on and a walk to check out the walks. We decided on the blue waymarked "Church & Lake" walk. At 1.7 miles far enough in drizzle. We had a coffee and Claire took a walk to the Walled Garden. Reggie not allowed so we hung about outside. The rain stopped. Waterproof off. Rain started. Waterproof on. Claire took a few photos in there. We got part way into the blue walk when we found the field we were crossing was full of sheep. Reggie isn't the sort of dog ...

We had a late start after the rough night with Reggie. After breakfast we got togged up and chose Old Hunstanton as the destination.  The beach there is dog friendly all year around and there's a big parking area. After one false start where the satnav took us to the wrong place, we eventually parked. It's about £2 an hour. Four quid later we set off along the top of the cliff to the Lighthouse Café. Lunch for us. Good value sandwiches. So-so coffee. Nearby are two buildings. The lighthouse itself, and the Coastguard look out building. And then to the beach. Both of us had shorts on so paddling was okay but we had forgotten the aqua shoes at home. Still carrying trainers wasn't that difficult. The sea was about a quarter of s mile out and it looked as though the tide was going out.  I let Reggie off the lead do he could run free. He loves the sea and was soon enjoying himself.  We stayed there until the parking was almost up. So we walked back, dri...

The car was packed and we set off around the scheduled 1030am departure time. All was plain sailing until on the A2 we began the descent down the hill, after the Bluewater turn off,  towards the M25 for the Dartford Crossing.  Solid traffic over the flyover and the same nonsensical two lanes into one to join the already stationery traffic. We wanted to get off to get into the service area at Thurrock and so chose the left tunnel. From the A2 to the entrance to the tunnel it took 40 minutes. A further ten until we parked up. A takeaway Costa later we were on the road. We planned to stop again before arriving at Claire's sister's house near Stowmarket. The service area at Colchester across the A12 from the football ground was packed. So I aborted. In the end we stopped just before Ipswich. In total it was about 4 hours from home to the A12/A14 roundabout just south of Ipswich. We had a pleasant couple of hours with lunch and scones before the last hour's drive to the Cottage ...