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| Weybourne Cliffs |
So why do people go to to the North Norfolk coast in thick-grey-skied, wind-lashed, freezing February?
Is it because the cliffs at
Weybourne look like a 70s Doctor Who planet? And if you walk along the top of them, dodging the wayward golf balls from the links, you get to a half-shutdown
Sheringham? The town's best chip shop doesn't open again until March but the fishermen will stand on the beach all winter. And the ice cream from Ronaldo's tastes just as good for afters no matter how cold it is.
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| Weybourne Fishermen |
Maybe it's because the Skylarks have just started to sing above those cliffs again. Trying to convince the sceptical numb-fingered that spring really isn't that far way.
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| Weybourne Skylark |
Is it the miles of deserted, sandy beaches at
Holkham? The notorious naturists don't seem convinced. Or the mobile coffee guy that boosts winter birder business by scattering seeds for the Knot, Dunlin, Black-headed Gull and, on a good day, Snow Bunting clientele of
Salthouse?
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| Salthouse Dunlin |
Does the food and drink make the 140-mile trip from west London worthwhile: traditional bhunas and bhajis at
The Taste of India in
Holt; perfectly charcoaled steaks at
The King's Head up the road; a citrusy pint of Blackfriars
Spring Tide from
Great Yarmouth with sea views at the excellent
Red Lion in
Cromer; a real fire and pints of
Woodforde's Wherry at another
Red Lion beside the endless marshes at
Stiffkey; hand-raised pork pies from Alexandra Howells' deli in
Wells; a pint of
Norwich-brewed
80 Shillings Ale at Camra's Norfolk Pub of the Year 2011 - the
Windham Arms in
Sheringham?
Keep those pints in mind on a 5pm no-sunset visit to the raptor roost at the haunting
Warham Greens: ring-tailed Hen Harrier, a hundred-mile-an-hour Merlin and a couple of hunting Marsh Harrier are enough to tempt the triple-layered. Grey Partridge in the fields and Little Egret in the marshes keep it interesting.
And on the way home, at last, the chance of a Barn Owl on the main road through
South Raynham.
We'll be back next February. And every month between now and then.
