It was still breezy and feeling cool outside, but we set out from our converted stable into an absolute blue bird of a morning.

Rather than taking a long, uphill and wandering route to Sherington, we blasted the first 5km of the day along the main road. While we faced an almost steady stream of traffic, only 9 cars passed us, which was a relief.

Before we knew it, we were passing the arcades of Sheringham and dropping down to the promenade, where some big waves were rolling in..

There are also plenty of the colourful ‘beach huts’ that we’d been told about. Apparently they are in high demand, costing almost the same as an actual house?!

The attraction was lost on me somewhat, especially as these ones didn’t seem to have much ‘beach’ outside during the high tide. As we cycled a workman was sweeping rocks off the promenade – returning them back out to sea. A thankless task and presumably one to repeat after the next stormy night.

Leaving town, we had to cross a railway line. As we were opening the swing gate to go through, we were so busy chuckling about health and safety that we almost didn’t notice an actual train coming around the corner! After looking left and right, we crossed quickly once it had passed!

The ‘big climb’ of the day followed, through some beautiful ancient woodlands.

Despite there not being much of a cycle path, we made good upward progress, but eventually had to concede and push.

Much to our surprise, the woodland ended at an estate with an enormous National Trust property, that turned out to be Felbrigg Hall.

With the sun shining so brilliantly and having not anticipated coming across such a place, we stopped off for a look around and a hot cuppa at the cafe, where we found a sheltered table in the sun.

It tickled me that the grand stables was now a parking lot for mobility scooters!

Riding off the estate was lovely, although turned out to be our busiest section of road, with loads of cars heading to the Hall.

We coasted downhill from Felbrigg to Cromer, passing Cromer Hall, which amazingly, is still a private residence! It looked like a nice pad.

And finally, the famous Cromer Pier came into view.

And more beach huts! (And arcades, chip shops etc).

To be fair, it was free to walk onto the pier and no one cared that we took our bikes on either. On the sheltered side of the pavilion theatre, we had lunch on a sunny bench while watching the waves. A couple of surfers got in, but seemed to be having a hard time of it.

On the climb back uphill from Cromer, we passed some giant mushrooms. There no scale here, but they were over 30cm tall!

The afternoon passed by several villages and churches….

And almost had some drama with a closed road. We took a chance and pressed on, squeezing past the barriers un-noticed.

The cycle map of the area, that Aunty Susan had given us one Christmas recommended taking the detour into the village of Trunch to view the church’s famous carved font cover. We were duly impressed!

Last stop for the day was back at the coast at Mundesley, where we found another good bench to rest on and watch a few waves.

After passing another windmill and a big gas distribution plant (less photogenic), we arrived at ‘Keswick’ (not the Lake District one), where we were booked in for the night.

Clare did us proud again, by booking the cheapest room. When she checked in with a smile, she was asked if she’d like an upgrade to a sea view room for no extra charge! I don’t know how she does it! But regardless, we’re now residing in the best room in the house! Even the bathroom of our ‘mini suite’ has this view from the shower! Delighted and grateful we spent the last hour of daylight watching the waves from a comfy armchair!

The downside of the best accommodation in the area, was that our only food option for the night was at the pub next door, which promised to provide a ‘cultural experience’ – and to be fare, in that regard, it didn’t disappoint. Initially it was hard to tell if the place was still trading, but after almost turning away, we walked through the door declaring it would be ‘all part of the tour’. Inside, we were surprised to find that there were more dogs in the bar than humans. We were offered a table that was just out of reach of the huge husky that had been tethered to a table near the bar. It eventually lost interest in us, but we did feel that we’d made a slight faux pas by not turning up with a dog or two ourselves.

Less said about the pub the better probably. We didn’t hang around after eating and returned instead to our little haven of rest and comfort.

Total Ride: 45.9km