Firstly, the soundtrack:
That's Love Is All Around by The Troggs for those who can get it on their devices... It's about the only song that me and Boyf agree on so we played it an. awful. lot.
So, I don't know if you picked up on this but it was a surprise holiday. Kind of. Weeks ago I'd talked about how I wanted to go on holiday for my birthday and we'd talked (well really I'd talked) about going camping on the Isle of Wight. That kind of fizzled out and then I didn't have any money and I hate this weather so I wasn't going to bother doing anything. One day, out of the blue Boyf told me to book some time off because he'd booked us a holiday! I couldn't believe it! He wouldn't tell me where but he did eventually tell me it was camping because we had to borrow most of the bits from my 'rents given that all of his gear is like one man tents for titting about in the wilderness. I need a tent with a reception room and a spare bedroom goddamnit.
So, I had no idea where we were going when we set off but he did really want to take the bikes and I'd told him that it needed to be by the sea and down south and he'd told mum it wasn't 'that far away' so I must admit that flat, slightly southern, sea-sidey Norfolk had crossed my mind. I persuaded him not to take the bikes in the end, mostly because did I ever tell you about the disastrous bike ride that was like hell on earth? But secondly because I was worried about the sheer weight and size of stuff we had to take in his little Corsa.
Anyway, we started off on the way to Skegness. Which was a bad sign. But as we neared our destination I started seeing buses marked 'Norfolk' which was exciting. I've never been to Norfolk before but I've heard from so many people how lovely it is. Then we got stuck in a massive traffic jam just outside of King's Lynn and then Boyf took a wrong turning and had to get back in the jam to get back out again. That was a barrel of laughs! We started noticing that the place names were turning a bit sea-sidey (like blablablahport and little blablah by the sea that sort of stuff) and then all of a sudden we were at the campsite! It was lovely! There were rabbits EVERYWHERE! And people that seemed to live there?!!? They were perhaps a bit old fashioned... when I went to pick up the full gas bottle he told me to 'wait for him, you don't want to get your pretty dress dirty'. Hmmm. And then in the club house bit there was this poster:
Which they seemed pretty proud and protective of.... Right-o.
Anyway, we headed straight for the beach after putting the tent up AND it turns out it was a bloody nature beach. Do you know what I mean? I came up against it in Weston too. All stones, seagulls and no toilets. Not good. It was pretty and we spent a couple of evenings trying to catch a lovely sunset and we finally did on the bonus extra day that we decided to stay!
Can you see what I mean? I'm sure this is lots of peoples idea of a BRILL beach. But I want beach huts and ice creams and dressed crabs. Anyway.
We came back and spent two hours trying to light a barbeque that was far too small:
But ended up with a feast:
It was more than that. Obvs. But I was so bloody hungry I didn't have time to photograph - imagine!
The next day the weather was looking pretty ropey so we headed to Castle Rising Castle. Which was apparently very important to England back in the day and to Queen Isabella herself but is now a bit of a shell. We had a lovely time wandering around and taking loads of photos for the Rascal Box.
I saw the most amazing fireplace that WILL be a shawl at some point. Or perhaps a top down yoked sweater.
And just because:
I found out what corbels actually are.
Then we wandered around Castle Rising itself:
Where we saw LOADS of those tall pale yellow flowers. Can anyone identify them? I fell in love and need them in Boyf's garden and I know they're common but it's like I saw them with new eyes. They all seem to be pale yellow down there and brighter pink up here. Hmmmm.
Then I had Pimms.
Natch.
In the evening with barbequed (more successfully) a bloody £10 piece of meat! £10!!! It was nice but I'm not convinced it was worth it.
The next day the weatherman told us it was going to be sunny so we went to the beach. It didn't look promising but at about half ten the sun suddenly came out and it didn't go back!
That was the main beach at New Hunstanton and then about a mile down the
road there is Old Hunstanton that is quite simply the nicest beach I've
been to in years. There a little patch of shells running right up the
beach:
Once you get past that your in the British equivalent of the Maldives:
Look at how beautiful that water is! And more:
This strange ankle to knee depth bit went on for metres and metres and then you finally reached where you could swim and nobody else bothered to go out there so you were on your own looking in at the beach that was crowded and noisy and busy (in the best possible way) singing songs and floating and bobbing gently along on the waves. Heaven.
This was as the evening started to set in and people where heading off home. WHY!? WHY WOULD YOU EVER LEAVE THIS PLACE?!?!
But we did. Because Boyf got it in his head that he wanted fish and chips on the beach but there was no fish and chips in Old Hunstanton. So we walked back along the top of the cliffs that the council have planted with a load of grass and some seats, through some gorgeously old fashioned gardens, past the hubble and bubble of a Victorian seaside town to the fish and chips which were delicious and we've finally worked out that even though we're tubby ('fat as pigs' - thanks mum, haha) we're more than happy to have a fish each and share chips. Trust me, this has been a revelation. What?! You mean you don't have to eat ALL THE FOOD?!?!
Feeling uncharacteristically romantic Boyf decided that we'd watch the
sunset on the nature beach. And that was a bit of a damp squib but what
we did see was jellyfish! I'd run out of the water earlier convinced
that I'd been 'got' by one and he'd brushed it off. Then he had what
looked like sunburned knees but when we got back to the tent they were
red and angry and kind of damp and veiny in a way that sunburn isn't
(sounds as disgusting as it was). As we sat down on the nature beach we
started listen to a loud and happy family who were out on the muddy
watery bit where the tide had gone out exclaiming loudly about how many
jelly fish there were and how big they were! They were also swearing a
lot (in a nice way if that's possible) and having a whale of a time. We
got chatting to them and found out that the girl had autism and the boy
had tourettes and that they therefore have more important things to
worry about that swearing. The mother told us that she'd seen a
Portugese Man O' War!!!! I'm not entirely sure I believed her but Boyf's
legs looked pretty angry - he's not dead though. Anyway, this is not a
man o' war:
But it is a jellyfish. Blurgh.
The next day we decided to do a bit of culture and ended up at Sandringham. I actually didn't enjoy it like I thought I would. Lots of military stuff (and you might know how I feel about that...) and cars. But I did get this lovely photo of Boyf with a halo around him:
On the way back from Sandringham Boyf got an e-mail saying that some
stuff at work had been magically sorted out which meant we were free to
have an extra day! And as the weather hadn't been great and I'd only
managed to swim once we jumped at the chance!!!!
Boyf decided that he didn't want to spend the whole day at the beach (very. nearly. dumped). So we started driving and found ourselves at a lovely little Abbey that had been left to rot after all of the monks had died of the plague.
Boyf decided that he didn't want to spend the whole day at the beach (very. nearly. dumped). So we started driving and found ourselves at a lovely little Abbey that had been left to rot after all of the monks had died of the plague.
It was looking a bit boring until I found a shrine hidden away.
I must admit I had a read through of the letters. I didn't know if I was supposed to but I did. Heartbreaking stuff. Especially the letter written by a kid just learning to write to her mum. Blurgh.
We cheered ourselves up (or Boyf cheered me up) by going back to the
beach! I'd forgotten reading material and the knitting had gone wrong so
I spent three hours watching the sea and people, swimming a bit,
messing with stones and shells. Lovely. Found a crab:
And I took this photo of Boyf which just about sums him up:
Look at his little (handknitted) socks and shoes! And it occurred to me, before I went on holiday, that I've never actually introduced him to you. I objectify him on a daily basis by calling him Boyf rather than his name and this is all because I didn't want anybody to get attached to him lest he turn out to be a wanker like the rest of them. But I think we can safely say, after nearly a year of him not being a wanker, and him organising the super perfect trip away that he deserves a name. It's Chris. :)
And then finally we managed to get to see a proper sunset. Ahhhh. Dead
romantic. Apart from the bastard screeching kids scrabbling in the mud
and getting in the way of a perfectly good photo.
And that's it! Sorry there wasn't more knitting. We did drop into a knitting shop on the way home but to be honest it wasn't much good so I won't bother going into the details (it seems that every shop I visit nowadays isn't much good - could it be me shopping in a different way???).
Love Eleanor.
I love you.
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