Day 28 – Lowestoft to Happisburgh - 17th June – 22.7 nm
Team Manager decides to
give Great Yarmouth a miss, she has had her fill of British seaside
resorts for now I think. Instead she excitedly decides to head up the
coast to visit California, I have a feeling that it may not quite
live up to expectations.
It's an easy lunchtime
start at Lowestoft and I head north once again, but something isn't
quite right, the tide is flowing much faster than I expect. Something
is amiss with the tidal planning, I make good speed but I have a
nagging feeling that it may be a shorter day than hoped for. Bum.
The Norfolk coast is
quite pleasant, the tide (other than the timing!) is straightforward
and there is a welcome dearth of challenging headlands or tide races.
With a bit of easy weather it is all pretty straightforward, a sort
of sea kayaking-for-dummies stretch of coastline – that suits this dummy quite nicely.
Great Yarmouth soon
slides by, it looks a little more industrial and a little less
touristy than I remember. But after that there is nothing much to get
too excited about, the low-lying sand and mud cliffs are not
unpleasant but not dramatic either. Fine by me, a little drama-free
paddling time would not go amiss.
In an
uncharacteristically romantic moment I decide to paddle in to spend
lunch with the Team Manager on the sandy beach at Winterton. Though
of course I pay for this moment of rash decadence, as I have to return
to the beach to free the single piece of beach-borne gravel from my
jammed rudder.
I do run out of tide,
as anticipated, and land early, and slightly disappointedly, at
Happisburgh. The cliff-top campsite is a beautiful setting though;
while the nearby pub is just one of many that easily blends into a
soon-forgotten list of mediocre food and beer.
After spending a sweaty
day in The Van, Team Manager decides to go for a 'swim' under grey skies – she gets
nothing more than her knees wet and returns - the water is cold
(surely not...) and the seals are too close apparently. It took her longer
to put her cossie on.
A day that was
memorable just for the sheer fact that nothing really memorable
happened.
