Our first full day in North Norfolk has been blessed with far better weather than was first predicted – even if we did have to occasional slight spatter of rain. Today was spent orientating Dee and her parents who don’t know this part of the world, so it was enjoyable acquainting them with the delights of Cromer and Sheringham and fun for me rediscovering places I’d not been to for donkey’s years. I’m not going to go into great detail as It’s late and we’ll have a busy day again tomorrow. Instead, I’ll leave you with a couple of pictures. One is (yet another) pier. I seem to be amassing quite a collection of pier shots, having snapped two in a fortnight! This time it’s the 1902 built (and grade 2 listed) Cromer pier which is 151 meters long and boasts its own lifeboat station.

It’s a lovely place for a stroll where you can watch people fishing or crabbing. Cromer is famous for its shellfish and the crabs are delicious. The lifeboat station at the end of the pier’s well worth a visit. Inside are plaques listing the various rescues the Cromer lifeboats have been involved in over the years, some of which are truly heroic. They’re a testament to the bravery of the crews, all of whom are volunteers.

Moving on Westwards we popped in to Sheringham which has a different atmosphere to Cromer, despite the two towns being similar. One thing the latter that that the former doesn’t is the North Norfolk railway, a preserved line that runs Westwards to Holt. We didn’t have time to travel on it, but I did nip in to get some photographs. Here’s BR Standard Class 4 No 76084 about to depart with an afternoon train. This loco was built at Horwich in Lancashire in March 1957 – which makes it only a couple of years older than me. It spent its entire working life (of only 10 years) in the North-West before being taken to Barry scrapyard in South Wales in 1967. It languished there until 1982 when it was preserved. It finally returned to steam in 2013.

Tomorrow we’ll explore more of the coast Westwards….

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