North Norfolk in Film
As we were getting through the summer, I’d realised I had done very little camping this year. Normally on a big road trip like my one to Scotland we’d be camping most of my time. But as we are now all a bit older, and supposedly a bit wealthier, we only camped one night and spent the rest of the time in hotels and hostels. Still, can’t always complain about having four walls and a roof when the rain is hammering down.
Initially I had planned a camping trip to the Norfolk Broads in June in order to hunt down Swallowtail butterflies, but work commitments meant that had completely fallen through and the season for them ended. Instead, I repurposed this trip for August where I could explore the North Norfolk coast and do something else I had long neglected – birdwatching.
The North Norfolk coast is an easy place to navigate as it is served by a single main road, the A149, with smaller roads radiating of it. A well-placed campsite near Binham put me in a good place to spend less time in the car and more out and about. The first day I spent at Holkham Beach, the second at RSPB Titchwell (just about dodging the torrential rain and thunderstorms), the third at RSPB Snettisham, the fourth exploring the coastal paths around Blakeney & Cley next to the Sea and the final day a quick trip to Cromer before heading home.
It's not hard to see why this part of the UK remains popular with tourists, with its vast picturesque sandy beaches, quaint and attractive seaside towns, and the opportunity for a great range of outdoor activities such as birdwatching or fishing. There’s no shortage of coastal paths here either and vast areas of sand dunes and interesting structures like grand windmills and ruined boats mean you’ll never run out of interesting things to see. Although I did make a pretty big mistake not realising the path back from Cley to Blakeney wasn’t circular and running out of time I took a dangerous trek over the salt marsh at low tide. Thankfully in this case I was ok, but this is not something anyone else should attempt as if you hit a deep bit of mud that you start sinking into, it could put your life at risk.
Next week’s blog will go into a lot more detail into the wildlife I saw and captured on (digital) camera so this week will be a selection of images taken with my Kodak Retina iiiS & Intrepid 4x5 cameras. Sadly, I accidently ruined my first four frames of Ilford FP4+ in large format which is extra disappointing as I really would have liked the one of Cley Windmill. But it’s all part of the learning process, and better to do it here than on my trip to Yosemite one day.
If you have any great memories, recent or not, of your time in North Norfolk then I look forward to hearing about them in the comments down below. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy these images and look forward to seeing you again next week.
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