Today was our 22nd wedding anniversary, so we took a couple of days off work to make a long weekend of it and drove up to north Norfolk. After much researching we had found a nice pub with accommodation, The Crown Inn at East Rudham part of the Flying Kiwi Inns chain. It is Norfolk's dining pub of the year so we are expecting some good food.
Our journey was delayed a while by me having an extended visit to the dentist - great way to start a holiday! It was very overcast & drizzly although the temperature was about 18-19. It always takes longer to get to Norfolk than you think but we got there in time for a spot of lunch, book into our room and start to relax.
One of the reasons we went to Norfolk was to see an event that only takes place at very high tides, this is when all the wading birds out on the mud flats get pushed onto the land by the tides coming right in. 50 to 70 thousand of them can be seen wheeling overhead it is a spectacular sight & sound. We leave the cosiness of the pub and venture off, as I said before it is warm but there is a strong wind and we are heading right out onto the wash so we are prepared for some cold if not wet weather. A weasel ran across the road in front of us on the way there.
The walk to the viewing places and the mud flats is about a half hour from the car park. To my right is what I think to be a river, it is full! High tide?? Oh dear, I say to Ian I think that I may have made a mistake with the timings as it appears that the tide is in. I am waiting to a rebuff as I am well known for getting my 24 hour clock timings wrong. He seemed to be quite happy though & we carried on. After climbing up a sea wall we saw the mudflats and the tide was out, and when I say out I mean out. It was flippin miles away. It was about 5 o clock, about the time that the alleged RSBP walk was to take place. We walked along, took some brooding photos, I found the place to be almost sinister with its greyness and silence, quite eerie.
We watched as the sea came nearer and the birds came nearer, some flocks of black tailed Godwits flew into the lagoons behind the sea wall ( that was what I thought to be a river) and some large flocks of geese gathered in the field nearby. It was getting nearer to 7pm and we had a table booked for dinner and really were not sure of how to get back to the pub as we had come a rather circuitous route. The sea was still flippin miles out I guess it would have been nearer 9 to 10 pm before the tide came close enough. On the way back we met a couple who told us the walks are always in the morning!! Wry smiles, but hey we would never had made it at 5am.
We got back to the Crown with just time to freshen up & get down to the bar for a glass of champagne before dinner. We enjoyed our meal although the service between courses was very slow - but it is a chilled out place so no major hassle for us. we had a bottle of New Zealand Pinot Noir which soothed us after a busy and some what frustrating day.
A night at the Crown Inn East Rudham is £125 Dinner Bed & Breakfast for 2 and they take single night bookings even at weekends. Its a steal! 3 courses and homemade bread & butter, the staff are delightful and the rooms are very contempory and comfortable. Perhaps not such a bargain if you are not staying but well worth a visit.
www.thecrowneastrudham.co.uk
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