Nine years in Norfolk

I came here with grand plans of exploring a new part of the UK – being close enough to London to pop in for the day was now an option. Even a stepping stone away from France or many of the large airports where I could jet off to a European country for the weekend. Well let’s see what I actually did, or at least what I remember…

But first lets back track a bit – why did I come here? Simple, a job opportunity presented itself at a time when I needed a change. So managed to move here in a weekend – finding a house, starting my job and getting all the essentials moved here in the space of about 72 hours. I also remember being told it rains less in Norfolk however on the year I moved in there was a hose pipe ban alongside 7 flood warnings, so not sure what to think. It also hit a chilly -15°c for about 2 weeks straight, this was when I was renting a house with less than adequate heating.

I then spent several months exploring this new location usually by bike, as Norfolk is flat, it was easy to ride around and try and get my bearings. However I did soon realised that when cycling in Norfolk you must constantly cycle as there is no nice gradient to freewheel down and give your legs a rest. So each weekend I would head off in a different direction to see what was there, occasionally getting lost and sometimes stumbling across something exciting. I soon realised that Norfolk has more back roads than main roads and sometimes the smallest of villages are signposted to, but not the major ones or the way home are missed. There is also a great pride in having a village or town sign with the name on usually decorated with the history of the place or depicting a scene of the work that used to occur.

I soon realised that navigating by churches was also a bad idea as there are approx. 650 of them in Norfolk and lot of them built in a very similar fashion out of the same materials and occasionally in very strange location near nothing else. Turns out that a lot of the churches were built to show off wealth and not actually used but also some where built to allow field workers the ability to go to church without having to go back to the town or village.

As previously mentioned Norfolk is flat, which is great for running and cycling as very few hills to slow you down. However I like hills, the view for the top, the sense of achievement going up them and looking down on where you started. Also hills produce much more interesting rivers as they flow down them. Now Norfolk is renowned for the Broads and various other rivers so you would have thought as a paddler this is an ideal spot and it is nice to explore a lot of Norfolk by kayak. Floating round places not many others see, coming across large stately homes in the middle of nowhere or reed bushes filled with wild life, or even the odd sunken Wherry. Yes paddling round bits of Norfolk has been fun over the years, but again I am quite lazy and realised as soon as you stop paddling you drift to a stop, also if the reeds are too big there is very little actual view other than storks. There is however 1 trip which I have failed to do whilst in Norfolk and that is to circumnavigate Norwich, although several trips have been planned and achieved by others I always seemed to be elsewhere when they occurred or got postponed due to bad weather.

Being at the bottom edge of the UK, Norfolk has a lot of Coast line, approx. 90 miles of coast. There is a great range of coast from big sandy beaches to pebbly beaches and ones with crumbling cliffs. It is also the place where I have seen the greatest number of seals – as each year thousands of seals descend on a few of the beaches to give birth each year and is quite a sight. The beach often gets so crowded with seal it is very tricky to tell the rocks and seals apart. As a cautionary note it is never a good idea to actually go on the beach during this time as it disturbs the seals but they can be appreciated from affair.
One fun experience I had which allowed me to view a large portion of coast line was cycling the organised Norwich 100. Which as the name suggests is a 100 mile bike ride and takes in a large portion of the north Norfolk and each coast.

Snetterton race track is also situated in Norfolk and hosts some quite big name races including UK Super bikes, British Touring Car championship and the UK Truck racing along with many other club races. I have been to several races there over the years and although never really followed any type of motorsports it is a nice day out with many grassy mounds to sit on and watch the entertainment, also is quite a simple format to understand – first over the line gets a shiny cup. I enjoyed it because of the range of different races and teams which turned up from the fully sponsored teams down to father and son hand built machines. Getting to walk around and see them all up close in the pits and car parks made it more fun than just watching them speed round the track.

Although I rarely made it into London from Norfolk, I recall only 2 actual trips into London. One for a day trip and the other to watch the Para Olympics in 2012. It is close enough to frequent the Olympic built canoe and kayak slalom course which was built on the outskirts of London. This I did many times, as it allowed me to enjoy great white water in a convenient location and facilities. Along with paddling alongside some of the top level kayaks in the UK, it was a fun course which challenged me to improve my kayaking and work on skills in a safer environment. (I say safer because there is always an element of risk to kayaking) Although I did not do slalom training on the course it is a great course for white water training and keeps the skills up when trips to real rivers occur.

The benefits of living in Norfolk for me can be boiled down to two, low crime rate and low traffic. There are very few places I have been in Norfolk where I have felt unsafe and most people are generally quite polite. Several times I have forgotten to lock something and been happy to find it still there when I return. I appreciate that this is not true in all parts of Norfolk and I am a very small sample size. With the exception of the centre of Norwich I find the level of traffic very low compared to other parts of the UK. So much so I have to remember there might be other cars when I drive to other parts of the country. Although this lack of traffic is very useful as many of the roads, as previously mentioned, are quite small so getting too many cars on them causes issues. Both of these things do make living here quite quiet and peaceful, it is very easy to escape the noises of people and listen to nature.

Norwich Theatre has quite a wide range of live performances on which I have visited over the years, most memorable were Yamato Drummers of Japan, Michael Jackson tribute, We will Rock You and the Banff film festival has also started to be hosted there. They were all a high quality production in a relatively small venue which allowed me to view and appreciate it more.

I am sure there will be many more things I remember or miss about Norfolk once I leave but until it is not there you do not appreciate it.