Jane’s Walk 2023 – Day 11
The rain has disappeared today, and it is another beautiful sunny day. We are so lucky. We walk along a beautiful sandy beach with a cooling sea breeze in our faces. The sea remains quite rough after yesterday and is quite stimulating to be alongside. The sand banks tower above us, at least 100ft high in places. I notice signs warning against climbing on them and the danger of erosion. I suddenly realise that instead of being sandstone cliffs, they are made only of sand that crumbles in one’s hand when touched. No wonder there is a danger of erosion. I have totally forgotten that there is practically no stone in Norfolk!
There are lots more seabirds around today. Cormorants are on the tops of many wooden sea defences, stretching out their wings to dry. As well as the usual Black Headed Gulls, there are the larger Herring Gulls in different arrays of plumage from white to a speckled brown and white, which I imagine are the young ones. Sandpipers in profusion and the enchanting little Sanderlings, running along the beach in flocks. Moses tries to chase them, and each time, they fly for a short time and then start running again.
We lunch in Mundesley and then back along the beach. Moses has been sending us up the wall, barking at us, as he wants us to throw a stick for him into the sea, but there is no wood anywhere, so I give in and buy one of those ball throwers that everyone on the beech seems to have. For a short time, he is happy until he punctures the rubbish ball, and it sinks into the sea, and we are back to the barking!
We meet a young seal sitting in a wet pool away from the sea. It starts to run towards the sea, and I grab Moses. It looks distressed and is breathing heavily. Looking back, I see it returning to its hole in the sand. We pass under what I am told is England’s largest gas distribution centre. This vast site distributes the gas from the gas rigs in pipelines under the sea.
They also send gas back across the North Sea to Europe. We ended an excellent walking day at Rudram’s Gap.
