Holidaaaaaayyyyyyyy

Alo! Coming to you from a plane just above Germany, I’m on my way to Rome, and very excited! But more on that next time.

So it’s now officially mid term break. I didn’t quite make it to the end before taking off on an adventure, heading on a beach roadie mish with a week still left. Car hire here is ridiculously cheap, as long as you don’t care about an excess – I’m sure a car wash would have been more than what I paid for a weekend’s hire. But their loss.

So Vauxhy and I took off on a wild crazy countryside exploration that involved several flooded roads, a night time dead-end farm track detour, and a carpark that redefined the meaning of potholes, throughout which Vauxhy did me proud.

I must admit, before embarking on my journey, my expectations of the UK beaches were fairly low. I was really just craving beach, and ready for whatever shape or form that took, regardless of how anti-climactic the experience might be. My expectations were well and truly exceeded. For starters I was staying with the most beautiful little lady from Air bnb, who absolutely spoiled me rotten. She had friends over for dinner the first night I was there, and we had a good chinwag while listening to song requests and making fun of each other’s music tastes. She had just lost her dog, and I think the company was mutually beneficial, which was really nice.

The east coast golden sand beaches stretch on for miles and miles. They were suitably occupied with dog walkers and the odd (very brave) family. Between the rain and the snow, the beach experience was a little different to what I’m used to, but as the lady I was staying with said, “there’s no right or wrong weather for the beach, it’s all about how much you wrap up.” One had to admire the locals for their resilience. That hardy character the Brits are known for was evident throughout the weekend, and I found every encounter friendly and genuine. Also every single café or eating place I stopped at, there were dogs inside, which apparently is a thing near the coast. I’ve decided I quite like beach folk.

Anyway, top places I visited:

Wells-by-the-sea. The beach houses lining the beach add to the colourful character of an already incredible beach. It stretches on and on, and has a massive reserve that runs alongside the beach with foot-tracks interweaved throughout, providing hours of potential walking. As well as a marina and a beach, it also boasts an estuary that splits through (small) sand dunes, and a delightful little café with a smorgasbord and lunch trays. Within walking distance (I drove) is the stoic Holkham Hall, set with a picturesque backdrop within a deer reserve (Yep, those are a thing in Britain).

Southwold. Very unique, has this awesome pier with a whole bunch of free activities designed for entertaining families. Beautiful walk along the pier, that if you’re very keen (again, I drove), you can walk all the way around to the harbour side, another endless beach, although a bit more pebbly than Wells, but still really nice. There’s also this little village by a river that comes out in the harbour that seems untouched for decades except the cars parked outside. I had a nice walk along the river edge past all the little boats and round to another village on the other side of the river. There’s a ferry that goes across but it wasn’t operating so I was forced to walk it!

Aldeborough (pronounced Olbruh). It took me a long time to connect the word on the map to the word people were saying but I clicked at some point and I’m so glad I did. Another pebbly beach but with a really nice walkway along the edge and quaint little sheds selling food or other things. I stopped at a tea room for some coffee and a scone, but didn’t have any cash on me so asked if there was somewhere I could get some out to which the waiter replied, “Yeah there’s a co-op across the road, but take your time, there’s no hurry.” Yep. I definitely like beach folk.