February Half Term ~ Fun and Frolics in Norfolk, Part 4

Saturday Morning

Bluebell the motorhome is parked up on a nice small little Certified Location in West Norfolk, near to Kings Lynn, called The Old Appleyard.

 
On Thursday morning we reluctantly packed up Bluebell the motorhome and moved from our sea view pitch at The Flint House, travelling about an hour or so around the coast towards Kings Lynn. The reason for the change of direction was Castle Rising, one of the finest preserved 12C keeps in the country. This site is about 5 miles away, and our plan was to cycle there on Friday.

 On arriving at The Old Appleyard we were greeted by the friendly owner and instructed to keep on the top of the field as the lower ground was still a bit wet. A small little stream runs to the bottom of the Caravan field and there are lovely field views to enjoy right from your pitch. Noticing that the entrance to the field was on a slight slope, and with no rough to grab onto at the entrance , it was with trepidation I attempted to get Bluebell up onto the pitch. After 3 attempts I managed it, but not without causing some damage to their wonderfully neat grass, which I felt pretty bad about, but I suppose if you’re going to open all year round and not have hard standing then it’s to be expected! 😕 Still, I felt bad!  

We had a chill for the remainder of the day, watching the sun set and re charging our batteries. Keith was busy preparing our walk for tomorrow, realising that a walk we have already done from our AA box of walks was only a mile away from us, so the decision was made to walk from Bluebell to encorporate this walk rather than cycle. We had a tawny owl very close to us, and were sent to sleep hearing it’s call. Lovely.

Luck was on our side on Friday morning, the day dawned beautifully so we got up promptly and had an early start. We were on the walk just before 10am, a rarity for us! The walk took us along a small road from Grimston to Roydon, and luckily there was a footpath alongside the road for the whole walk down to Roydon. We picked up our route at Roydon and the next thing we knew we were at Castle Rising.   

  If you’ve not visited Castle Rising, we really recommend it, it’s fantastically preserved by English Heritage and costs only £4 to go in. We decided not to this time, as we’ve visited before and we still had lots of miles to walk. It seemed that actually the start of the walk was a little bit further than we’d anticipated, more like 2.5 miles than the 1.5 that we’d previously thought. This meant an extra 5 miles onto the already 7 mile circular! Gulp! 

After a quick flask of soup we carried on with our best foot forward. Sadly, the rest of the walk was disappointing and not how we’d remembered it, the highlight definitely is Castle Rising, there wasn’t a massive amount to see on the remainder of the walk. Annoyingly, the walk was nearly all on small roads, so in actual fact it would have lent itself better to a cycle. Never mind, we will know for next time.   

 After exactly 12 miles we hobbled back into our Caravan field, feeling very tired, that was more than we had walked for a long time! Nevertheless, despite feeling a bit disappointed with the walk, we were proud we’d managed such a distance, and within 5 hours too. Plenty of time for a nap and a chill for the remainder of day/evening! 

Today (Saturday) and it’s time to head home. Boo! Although the weather has conveniently decided to deteriorate, so we’re leaving feeling chuffed to bits with how much good weather we’ve had!  We’re planning on stopping at nearby Castle Acre for a leg stretch, and that’s all it will be, as we are both aching after yesterday’s near half marathon!!  

(Pics from Castle Acre below)  

   
  
  
 
We had a nice stroll around the castle, which is free to explore, however were left reeling at the fact that there were many children using these walls as a playground, climbing all over them whilst their parents egged them on. We couldn’t believe it, it’s our 3rd visit here and this has happened every single time. We decided to take a wander up to the Priory where we knew English Heritage have a manned reception to mention this. The warden was horrified and came back to the castle, and of course they’d all gone! Hopefully it will get flagged up, as this is one of the best preserved Norman Motte and Bailey castle earthworks in the country, to think of the damage that is being done as people climb them, and not to mention what would happen to the site if someone fell of and got injured. … 

On this visit we popped into the church to see the medieval 14th century wooden Pulpit and screen panels.  Worth a look.

   
So that brings us back up to date, as after our morning at Castle Acre we travelled home, unloaded, washing on, hoovered and cleaned Bluebell etc- we’ve had a brill week, and been especially lucky with the weather. We’ve done only 230 miles, walked 40 miles, and spent less than £200. 

  
We’ve come home to our new copy of our BritStops bible, so are hoping to get away for a mini adventure sometime in March. In April we are nipping to Japan, like you do(!) sans Bluebell obviously, to see the Cherry Blossom festival, but in May we will be out for another adventure in Bluebell, 10 days in Scotland then a month in Germany and Austria in August! All of which we’re looking forward to!

Until next time

Lx