Day 308: Sheringham to Waxham
Distance: 23.36 miles
Ascent: 1948 feet
Weather: Sunny Spells
Accommodation: Wild camp Near Waxham
After a relaxed rest day being looked after far to well by Richard, I was dropped back at Sheringham and on my way just before 8. I have roughly 80 miles to reach Thorpeness by Thursday (in 4 days time) and with good weather forecast for today and tomorrow I will aim to push these days long to allow for the day into Thorpeness to be a short one.
From Sheringham the coast path actually climbs up onto the cliffs and over the Beeston Bump but with the tide far enough out I decided to head along the beach instead. Here and for most of the day there were timber defences to protect from cliff erosion. These cliffs looked very fragile and in fact there had been a couple of recent large collapses.
At West Runton I headed up onto the low cliffs and followed the coast path, albeit with an annoying small inland diversion around some static caravan parks, before slowly dropping down to the promenade at Cromer. Cromer had all the coastal must haves; pier, fish and chips, amusements and a promenade.
The weather was pretty perfect for walking with sunny spells and mid teen temperatures. After Cromer I dropped down of the promenade and onto the beach for a couple of miles and with the tide out I could walk on the firmer sand and with a thin layer of water on the sand reflecting the sky above it made for a beautiful vista.
At Overstrand I followed the coast path up the track and onto the now slightly higher cliffs. The views from up here were magnificent and though the path had fallen of the cliff in places it was easy going for the next few miles to Mundesley even if again there were a couple of short diversions around static caravan parks. I had my picnic and also grabbed a few supplies in Mundesley before setting of again.
From Mundesley there was a bit of walking along flood defences before following the coast path up onto the low cliffs for a few miles. At Eccles on Sea I rejoined the beach for a couple of miles passing some huge gravel barriers out to sea which are obviously to try and reduce the coastal erosion in this area.
At Sea Palling the path heads behind the dunes, and with it already being 3pm and with only about an hour and a half of light to go and knowing I was going to be putting my new tent up for the very first time ever I didn’t want to be heading to much further. I decided I would get beyond the hamlet of Waxham in a mile and then pitch at the first good spot I found.
It took a while but eventually I found a good pitch spot right near the path. I was a bit apprehensive about putting the tent up for the first time but just had to get on with it. It is quite fiddly to put up and did take me a fair amount of time to erect but once up I was very happy to get inside and I think it is slightly more spacious than the old tent. I think it will take me a while to get used to/confident with this tent, and it does have a few small design flaws but I am extremely grateful for kindness of the Baldocks to give me this tent as it helped me through a major issue and barring incident will get me through to the end.
A good day, and after all the luxury which I have loved I am strangely glad to be back under canvas.
