Month: January 2020

County Top 3 – Norfolk

Beacon Hill – 103m / 338ft – 20/01/2020

After a week away supporting the Spine Race along the Pennine Way I felt fresh motivation and the need to kick start the County Tops challenge. With a few free days and decent weather forecast for the east of England I persuaded Cath to come along with me in the motorhome (still going by the name of Betty) to knock off a few of the easier ones.

So after a quick pack up of the van and some last minute route planning on Sunday evening we left on Monday morning in beautiful sunshine for the drive down through Lincolnshire and into Norfolk, destination East Runton. We were probably about 2 hours into the drive by the time I realised I had left my printed off maps at home. Clearly there was no turning back so it was going to be a bit of a memory exercise and heavy usage of the OS maps app on my phone. The pleasant drive into the flat fen lands of East Anglia terminated with us parking up near the beach as planned. Norfolk county top is the lowest in the UK outside of the City of London, but will be one of very few that actually involves an ascent from sea level.

Coastal path sign at East Runton car park

We quickly got the walking gear on and set off westward along the pebbly beach towards West Runton. The pier at Cromer was visible to the east and some hardy surfers in wetsuits were profiting from the lovely weather.

Looking back to Cromer pier

The beach section was about a mile long, Cath enjoyed searching for fossils, PJ had a great time running around sniffing out things that only dogs can and I was map checking to make sure we had a suitable beach exit as the cliff top path was about 40 feet above us and showed plenty of signs of erosion and land slip caused by recent rainfall no doubt. There was indeed a road from the beach at West Runton which we took and then headed inland on a public footpath through a couple of fields before crossing the main road into the village.

Finding our way through some houses we crossed a railway line and then took some trails heading gradually upwards into woodland with a communications mast seeming to be our objective.

Up through the woods

We came to a flatter clearing and a small road track which we followed back eastwards before arriving at another clearing marked with information about an old Roman settlement.

Beacon Hill

Just like that we had reached the highest point in the county of Norfolk, confirmed by a local walker whose dog evidently thought we had no right to be on his territory!! We could see the sea through the wide gap in trees, not a bad little spot to stop and take some photos.

View out to sea

With the mission to tick off another 4 county tops over the next 2 days only just begun and the daylight starting to fade we found another woodland track off the hill which eventually crossed a field and back into the village of East Runton.

Back down through the woods

Very notable was the architecture of houses with walls made of large pebbles cemented together. Overall quite nicely surprised by this place, an area we have never visited before, we found our way back to Betty after a decent walk, the rounded up 4.6 mile total distance just keeping me on my rule of 5 miles for each!

The OS maps app recorded route

After a quick drink we were back on the road heading for Suffolk and looking for somewhere to stay overnight near Bury St Edmunds with temperatures forecast to fall below zero we would be putting Betty’s heating to the test.

County Top 2 – Lincolnshire

Normanby Hill Wold Top – 168m / 551ft – 30/11/2019

It’s taken me a while to get this one written up, Christmas etc just an excuse really, but having just spent a week supporting the Montane Spine Race my motivation is back. I’m planning more walks this week so I thought I’d better get up to date before the memories start getting confused.

So County Top no.2 started with a drive out over the Humber Bridge into Lincolnshire and about 25 minutes later I was parked up outside The Salutation Inn in the village of Nettleton just south of Caistor. The plan was to follow the Viking Way trail from the village as far as Acre House Farm and then skip across a couple of fields to find the trig point and return by the same route.

The morning was cold sunny and clear, the overnight frost had left some ice on sheltered roads but had not really bitten enough to make the boggy, muddy fields any easier to negotiate. Route finding out of the village was easy, a lovely church, tea room and farm with horse stables before out into the fields.

Following the course of a stream meant the path was quite waterlogged and muddy typically at gates where cattle congregate. Nevertheless PJ and I managed to find suitable solutions and avoided getting too bogged down. Eventually it got easier as the path began to rise up into the wolds – PJ got spooked by some nesting birds scattering as we disturbed their hiding place in an old quarry hut and I struck up a brief conversation with a trail runner out for a training run.

I reached the muddy farm track at Acre House not knowing if a left or right turn would be the best way to get to the fields I needed to cross to access the trig point. Of course (and I’m sure there will be more of these situations) I made the wrong choice, found no entrance and had to double back past the farm and along the road a short distance to find a gate that opened easily. There was no public footpath so with PJ on a short lead I found my way around the edge of two fields, finding the trig point easily.

I was expecting a farmer to come out asking questions and had been rehearsing some possible replies, however it did not materialise so I took a few photos and recorded a video before retracing my steps back to the road. Unlike East Yorkshire, the views from Normanby Wold were quite expansive, especially to the north and west. Over the brow of the hill to the south was the dome of a radar station.

On reaching the road I had a choice to get back to the car, muddy fields again or minor road descending gradually with the vista to the west for a while longer. I chose the road!!

There was hardly any traffic, a couple out for a stroll and what must have been a squaddie running with an enormous Bergen style backpack which looked like it weighed about 30 kilos. Not long after passing on his way up the hill he came back the same way – I noticed his calves were like bricks sticking out of the backs of his legs!

After descending gradually at first the road suddenly became quite steep and at the same time very icy, so much so that I slipped a couple of times in my worn down shoes. Without further mishap we reached the village and I thought a coffee at the tea room would be nice until I realised I had left my wallet in the car. So we went straight back to the car to discard muddy shoes and towel off muddy paws before the short drive home. 2 down, several more to go. Lessons learned – PJ is ok when there are no animals around, I may need to be patient trying find access points to private land, don’t leave wallet in the car!