Monday, 6 July 2009

East Anglia 2009 - Lowestoft

We are doing the grand tour of the East Anglian coast, starting in early June and finishing in early July. At the time of writing we are just south of Lowestoft staying at White Beach Caravan Club Site, Kessingland. Below are the sands of Lowestoft beach.

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The water fountains in Lowestoft. If you look hard you’ll see the water!


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This is the most easterly point in Britain. The wind turbine behind Sue is named ‘Gulliver’ and is 30 metres in height.

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South of Kessingland, where we are caravanning, is the village of Coverhithe. The coast here is eroding rapidly and it is estimated that the church ruins here will start falling into the sea in about 70 years time.

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End of the road – or is it a large pothole?

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We spent a very pleasant afternoon in Beccles. We didn’t know what to expect, but we found it to be a busy market town. There are quite a few Georgian houses many with a Dutch influence. We parked at the quay which is a lively place, on the edge of town.
There are quite a few of these Beccles town signs.

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I don’t think this sign has moved with the times.

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Georgian house front entrance. Many of these houses have blue plaques.

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Houses on the Old Market in Beccles – we can highly recommend The Farriers for a cup of coffee/tea.

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The Old Town Hall with the Bell Tower behind.

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We enjoyed a visit to The Upstairs Gallery, which has won many awards.

These are some of the art works that are for sale.

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A couple of days later we visited Linda and Adrian Crocket who live in Worlingham, just on the outskirts of Beccles. We spent a very pleasant evening with them and were well fed and watered.

Back to Lowestoft and on a rainy afternoon we visited the ‘scores’.

The Scores are a unique feature of Lowestoft. They are a series of narrow lanes created over the years by people wearing paths in the soft, sloping cliff as they travelled between the historic High Street and the Beach Village. The origin of the word 'score' is thought to be a corruption of 'scour', or possibly from the Old English 'scora', which means to make or cut a line.

Sue at Mariner's Score. Earlier this was called Swan's Score due to the Swan Inn which stood there. This was the inn where Cromwell stayed when he visited the town to put down 'malignants'. I am pleased to say that Sue is still alive and kicking.


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Maltser’s Score – this is a ‘crinkle crankle’ wall or serpentine wall. Those of you who follow this blog will remember the ‘CC wall’ in Wimborne.

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The Flint House 1586 the oldest house in town.

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Earlier in the year we had made arrangements to meet our friends Roger and Margaret Watts. At the time of meeting they were touring the broads on their boat ‘Shalla’ one of the River Cruiser Class, specially built for the Broads.

We met at Oulton Broad and spent the day with them and their friends Rob and Marilyn who arrived in their cabin cruiser.

Sailing in Shalla.

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At Oulton Broad.

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From the left – Rob, Stuart, Roger, Margaret and Sue.

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Roger heaving a sigh of relief after weekenders in a cabin cruiser (see left) nearly demolished his boat. I didn’t know he knew so many naughtyical (spelling intended)terms.

Linda and Adrian visited us on our campsite at Kessingland and we all had a picnic in the caravan.

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Southwold is a must when visiting this area. the first visit we had was mainly to the pier and a walk around the area. The second visit was to the old lifeboat house (ex Cromer) and a more comprehensive walk around town.

Southwold lighthouse.

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Going down to the beach, the pier is in the distance.

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Southwold beach huts featured on nearly every postcard.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I liked your commentary on East Anglia. You know so much about the area. To think that we once lived there ..... that's what retirement does for you! Roll on!!
Jan x"

Anonymous said...

I have enjoyed your blog so far. Can't wait for the next installment. D&C

Anonymous said...

As always, some good photography Stuart. Enjoyed reading about your travels so far. Carol x