Day 304: King's Lynn to Titchwell
Distance: 25.05 miles
Ascent: 1097 feet
Weather: Rain All Day
Accommodation: Briarfields Hotel, Titchwell (kindly Complimentary)
I slept well last night, and after Andy had cooked a lovely breakfast I said my goodbyes and was back on my way about 8am. The walk was back to normal today, well only sort of normal as the next few days are going to be quite full on, with some luxury, some friends joining and even lunches organised so should be much more civilised than the majority of this walk and I am really looking forward to it.
Today’s forecast was terrible with rain forecast for the whole day. I was in full wet weather set up and it was already raining as I left. I first had to get out of King’s Lynn through the industrial bits and onto the embankment. I had been worried that this part might be complicated but it was very simple and I was onto the embankment with ease. After about a mile and a half on the embankment the public right of way technically stops and it then becomes I believe the Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Wildfowlers Association area. As I always do I assume all sea embankments are alright to walk and so I continued on along the embankment. It was very strange, there were lots of little huts, some house boats on the salt marsh which I presume are to house the hunters. I cannot really see what satisfaction you get out of shooting these geese because as I was walking along there were flocks of thousands and you could shoot without even aiming and probably hit one.
The next 6 miles went smoothly, though the rain was getting heavier. Suddenly near a point where the embankment crossed a sluice gate there was construction work and I could therefore not get across the water channel. I worried for a second there may not be a simple option but looking at the map it looked like there was a farmers track that might get me across the channel and then onto a path. This was a bit longer but fortunately it got me across the channel and then joined a quirky path that crossed a lagoon on a little manmade causeway, I wish the rain hadn’t been as heavy as then could have taken a photo.
Soon after this I passed all the interesting beach huts and houses, some beautiful, some decrepit, on the way into Shepherd’s Port. From here with the rain still not showing any signs of lightening I followed a mixture of beach and paths firstly passed Heacham and onto Hunstanton. I passed a fairground that had closed for the season here and I haven’t mention this before in diaries but early in the walk I noticed there is some really inappropriate artwork in some (in fact most) of these fairgrounds. I have seen sex scene graphics on rides for young kids and many with topless woman graphics. I think people just don’t notice in amongst all the lights and noise but today I came across another one (see photo below) which was on a ride for young kids and I think most people would say was inappropriate.
From Hunstanton I joined the Norfolk Coast Path for the first time and after passing Old Hunstanton it darted onto the beach and into the dunes. It was still raining and I had resigned myself to the fact that this was going to be one of those very rare days when it literally rains all day. The path was well signposted and maintained and rolled over the dunes sometimes on gravel, sometimes on boardwalks and sometimes straight on the ground. An embankment took me inland slightly to Thornham.
Thornham was a lovely little village with some beautiful old architecture. I only had about a mile to get to Titchwell my finish point for the day but it was along a busy A road. I wasn’t sure if there was a pavement the whole way so I followed along the edge of a farmers field to the RSPB reserve and from there, there was a narrow gravel track alongside the road to Titchwell.
I was very wet when I walked into Briarfields Hotel, who had very kindly offered me a room courtesy for the night. This is a lovely hotel, set in amongst old buildings, and my room is absolutely lovely. I had a bath to warm up and began the process of drying clothes out. They had also kindly offered me dinner for tonight which was lovely and I am already feeling very sleepy so it won’t be long till I am asleep.
A wet, but scenic and successful day with a surprisingly chirpy hiker, and I am incredibly grateful for the room tonight.
NB - due to the rain very limited amount of photos taken.
