LEG 7 - DAY 4: Hunstanton - Great Yarmouth and Gorleston

LEG 7 - DAY 4 from Rad Hart-George on Vimeo.

After two big days on the road, covering 375km in a heat wave, we thankfully had a cooler day today, with only a 130km ride to contend with, and in near perfect conditions. The North coast of Norfolk was stunning (if not slightly hillier than expected!) and we churned through mile upon mile of rolling farmland, interspersed with beautiful villages and the occasional windmill. 

After a quick stop at Hunstanton RNLI station (which houses an impressive hovercraft as part of it's fleet, for rescue jobs across the shallows of The Wash) we got underway and headed east, across the north Norfolk coast.

Wells-Next-The-Sea was our first station stop- a bustling seaside town with the RNLI station positioned at the end of a long sandy promontory at the estuary mouth- a really stunning setting. After a quick look around the boat and chat with the crew (and once Rad had stopped faffing with his kit) we ploughed on east.

Sheringham was our second station of the day-  a small seaside town overlooking another white sandy beach. A lovely lady from the shop welcomed us and filled our water bottles, before we were off again.

On our way to our third station, Cromer, we came across a beautiful church green and hamlet where we stopped for an early lunch in the shade of the church spire. One of our best lunch stops to date.

Next along the road was Cromer- a larger and bustling seaside town, with an historic centre and large pier, at the end of which was a fantastic RNLI station. The mechanic who was at the station welcomed us, and gave us coffee and the use of their computer for updating the blog, before ploughing on. 

Happisburg was our penultimate station- a remote station at the end of a long single track road leading to yet another beautiful white sand beach. From there we took a rough unmade track for 4km (not ideal on already tender backsides!) east, before re-joining the main road. 

After yet more beautiful (and thankfully more Norfolk-like flat) countryside we pulled into Great Yarmouth and Gorleston. Passing the fairly impressive bustling commercial dockyards we arrived at Gorleston RNLI. One of the crew, Panos, had very kindly offered to put us up at his fantastic hotel (The Cliff) just down the road, so we went on immediately for a hot shower and a beer with Panos and Paddy the Mechanic. A great day.