England Coast Path Scratby to lowestoft Part 38

Mileage 19:53

Time 6 hours 59 minutes

Elevation 285 Feet

The Route

The forecast for today is hot, & it is bang on, as we leave California sands a lady staying in one of the others chalets calls out "it's going to be a hot one" it's only 08.30 & the air temperature is already rising fast.

As we walk down the road & onto the beach we can feel the heat reflecting off the sand, as the breeze disappeared the temperature rises even more the loose pebbles & sand under foot is making progress slow, but luckily some of the walk is on the sea wall where we can speed along! 

Now walking on the harder sand at the waters edge we are slowly approaching Great Yarmouth. The beaches are busy, families enjoying days out, sand castle building, cheap games like throwing the stone in an empty bottle, kite flying, crocodile floats, swimming & just lazing in the sun this is the theme for the day all the way to Lowestoft. 

Pavement, easy walking shops amusements big wheels it's all going on, Lesley has her ice cream for the day, we continue along missing a sign as we were on auto pilot just walking talking & people watching we  end up walking down the dead end road to the river head with no way across, luckily we realised before reaching the end but I think it cost us about four extra miles 😀 On the positive side we found a nice café away from the crowd for a coffee, biscuits  & a cool down.

On we go & see that the trawler Lidia Eva has an open day so we spent forty minutes or so looking over her. https://www.lydiaevamincarlo.com/home.html

One of the volunteer crew members asked what we were doing & we explained trying to walk around England,  oh he said I did it in an old lifeboat back in 2018 taking three Months with donations from passengers.  

We were keen to get back on the path & failed to get any pictures of her but if you visit the website you can find out more information.

Back on track it's over the bridge now walking on the opposite bank of the river past the lifeboat station & past one of the biggest golden sandy beaches i have ever seen, along the promenade, time for another snack  a crab salad chili sauce new potatoes followed by a chocolate shortbread, well that's what I had.

Back on our feet fed & watered we are speeding along the promenade but it abruptly ends & we are back on the soft sand slowing us down. Eventually back on the sea wall it's good for a while until a cliff fall forces us up onto the cliff top, past mobile home sites & a very kind gent washing his deck with a hose we ask for a spray he gives us a lovely gentle shower 🚿 cooling us off. The last few miles are on the road as there are no open paths into Lowestoft due to cliff erosion it's been a long hot day & we are now officially in Suffolk.