May 8th: Seal watching at Blakeney Point

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May 8^th: Having checked the weather forecast, today seemed the best time to venture to the coast for a seal watching boat trip to Blakeney Point, revisiting a place from RL’s childhood. RL no longer owns a car but belongs to a car club - and it all appears very civilised. He pays a small monthly membership, then books the car in hourly increments. Time can be added or subtracted from the original reservation, in 15-minute increments, while you have the car - as long as no one else has it booked. The reservation fee is not high, you pay additional for the mileage, must return it in good condition … and someone else cleans and maintains it. It seems to work out cheaper than renting a car through a conventional company, and he has the benefit of reserving the same car each time.

We booked a Yaris hybrid and set off for Blakeney, arriving just in time to jump on the boat and head out to sea. We had reserved the trip through Ptarmigan seal trips, although there are a few other operators and all charge the same price. The small ferry boats leave from Morston Quay, are ruled by the tide and do not venture out into the cold North Sea but only as far as the limits of Blakeney Harbour. It took about twenty minutes for the boat to arrive at the Point, passing all manor of sailing boats as well as the lifeboat house and the 100-year old Mary, a former lifeboat. Blakeney Point is a four-mile-long sand and shingle spit joining the Norfolk coast at Cley-next-the sea. It is where grey seals and common seals come to have their pups. We didn’t see any pups, but quite a few seals. Some lazed on the sand, others cavorted in front of us … like dolphins, they are difficult to photograph – appearing like the Loch Ness monster in many of my photos! Expecting cooler weather along the coast, we had brought jackets and dressed warmly, only to be treated to Florida like temperatures.

Boat trip over we stopped briefly at the Stiffkey saltmarsh then ventured to Wells-next-the-sea (don’t you love these names?) - RL hoping for some Cromer crab, but settling for crab sandwiches and another seafood tray of cockles, mussels and whelks. I think I’ve had my fill of these now … but hopefully won’t have to wait another 34 years for such delights. I believe RL could go longer without trying whelks again. Whilst lunching on the seafront at Wells-n-t-s we joined the crowds watching a dredger at work; each questioning the other as to the procedure and objective. We walked around the small town enjoying the picturesque houses and then made for home …

But historic Georgian Holt was en route, so we stopped to explore then stopped for tea at the Black Apollo. Curious about the name, we learned that that was the name given to coffee by several 18^th century writers. Who knew! We spent ages exploring all the nooks and crannies at Holt and found ourselves in a little shop called Baron Art where I picked up a delightful little 1897 gem titled “The story of weather.” We stayed for what seemed like days, chatting to the owner, Anthony, as if to a long-lost friend. Continuing on our wanderings around town it was finally time for dinner and we settled on doner kebabs, carved from the spit, and chips. We sat on a park bench to eat them and then made for home …

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Passing Blickling Hall we stopped for a quick photo and arrived home safely, minutes before the Yaris turned into a pumpkin.

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