Norfolk Coast Path

                                                    Friday

                                           Larks in the dappled

                                Sun on Weybourne cliffs guide us

                                             On our final day

Weybourne Priory, cliffs, larks

Skelding Hill past golf course

Art on the sea front

London style lunch but cheap

Abandon hill walk stay on beach

Heavy going so only get

to West Runton

Ladies have cakes - orange and maple / coconut and lime

Make for pier to complete the walk

heavens open up

Shelter until it goes over

But still raining as we leave.

 We shelter

But are still wet when we get back to Glendale.

Brian Hick April 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 18.4.24

                                                Norfolk Coast Path

                                               Thursday

                                         A warmer morning

                                 But by lunch the rain returns;

                                   Thankful for small mercies

                                         If Glendale's toilet

                                     Paper were any thinner

                                         It would not exist.

On with the walk but first we have to leave the car at Cley

And take the Hopper back to Wells, thankful that the day,

Though overcast, is free of wind and penetrating rain.

Damp underfoot the path from Wells to Morston is quite sound

Helping us to make up time

Morston oysters The Anchor alpacas and a dead mole

The rain and MUD, tea at Blakeney - no shops

Change in river course not on map

Get to Cley - nothing!

Wading through the sliding mud, it's onward till we drop

And as we get back to the car, the rain decides to stop

Brian Hick April 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 17.4.24

                                             Norfolk Coast Path

                                          Wednesday

                                     Cold and overcast

                               But today's rain comes as a 

                                      Blessing from BVM.

To Walsingham, the No29 goes all the way

But guided tours are off until late June, so we must pay

To show ourselves around the Abbey grounds and holy wells

Though cut our visit short as icy rain returns in squalls

Preferring coffee in the shrine cafe, or visit to

The Shrine Museum, the court and cells, for undesirables who

Got extra time for looking around, for whistling or singing

Whilst those who did far naughtier things are sent on via the shipping.

Soup, back in the shrine cafe, before we make a start

To walk round the Rosary Way which lies at the heart

Of Pilrimage to Walsingham - a journey for the mind

To focus ever more upon the mysteries, to find

A new way through the Labyrinth of emotions which entwine

Our seeking for the spiritual, our sense of the divine

Until within the Holy House we know that we have come

Not to an end but to a place where new quests are begun

For this place is a vehicle, a means of moving on,

A start of possibilities for life once we have gone

Back to our normalities, our families, our friends,

Where love and mercy daily find that giving never ends

And shrines, however beautiful, however filled with prayer,

Are dangerous if we come to believe that only there

Can we fulfil our purposes, experience true worth

When all the time, where're we are, we've all the gifts of earth.

The Albatros is open so we dine

On pancakes, beer and Scrabble until nine.

Brian Hick April 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 16.4.24

                                                Norfolk Coast Path

                                               Tuesday

                               Squalls from the south west;

                            Leaden skies, troubled puddles,

                                     Windswept daffodils.

                                      Dark rain in torrents

                              Freezes my right eye and cheek;

                                  Soaks through the map case.

Deepdale Marsh in driving rain at least keeps up our pace

Arriving at The Hero as if it were a race

To arrive before the party of thirteen OAPs

Who've booked ahead, all need the loo and swarm around like bees.

A kite over Holkam marsh

Dropping, waiting.

Four small birds

Too far off for recognition

Spin up, attack

Dive bomb

Until

Little by little

Driving across the marsh

Beyond the distant woods

They leave the sky

Deserted

Safe.

Brian Hick April 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 15.4.24

                                                   Norfolk Coast Path

                                                  Monday

                                        Early clear bright skies;

                                     Clouds  roll in but disappear

                                         Leaving evening calm.

The Wold Way leads us on to where St Edmund's Chapel stands

Then off across the dunes to trek the miles and miles of sand

Before The Lifeboat for light lunch - oysters & whitebait -

Which was worth it, though we had a fair old time to wait

Considering they were not full, but no one seemed to worry,

You'd think we're all on holiday, so no one's in a hurry.

Larks across the dunes

Scared by our approach

Rise, dip, soar

Till high above

They sing their safety

Laughing at our plodding

Earthbound plight.

A muntjac deer

Ambles round the golf course brush

Unseen pheasants squall to warn us off

Across the ploughed field

Hares circle

A pair of quail who dip and dive

Then lope away

To fade

Against the dark earth of the bank.

Brian Hick April 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 12.4.24

                    Norfolk Coast Path

St Edmumd, England's Saint and gentle sage,

          King and Lord of Anglia's Thanes

             Martyr to marauding Danes,

          Join us on our Norfolk Pilgrimage.

North Norfolk Coast - the wettest walk that we have ever done;

Hours and hours of driving rain and scarcely any sun,

But are we vexed? Do we give in before we've even started?

Not likely - we've wet weather gear and all of us stout-hearted.

After years of striding out in snow and sleet and hail

Nothing daunts us OAP's nothing makes us quail,

As long as there's a tea-room near and a quiet B&B

An old pub with real ale, and somewhere to have a pee.

Brian Hick April 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 10.4.24