1st August, hop on the first bus out of town…to Hemsby, a popular little resort of wooden chalets set in the sand dunes. Idyllic? I’ll let you be the judge.
Sun, sea and sand, who could ask for more, and the weather is kind; no heatwave today
1st August 2022
It still looks inviting yet two years ago a wooden chalet stood here. See it’s fence and the plants that were its garden
1st August 2022
And this chalet has left its porch behind
1st August 2022
I remember as a child there were at least two more lanes of chalets. But I particularly remember the furthest, most seaward row. The drifting dunes had all but covered them.
This is wind-damage, storm damage, it is not rising sea levels. And this is regular Earth behaviour.
The damage at the next resort, Scratby, isn’t as calamitous. But then the cliffs here are compacted sand, while at Hemsby they’re merely high-rise dunes.
1st August 2022
Next resort, California (I wonder whence that name?) Here we’ve no choice but to walk the beach for the cliff-top path runs out
1st August 2022
Low-level sea defences here in the form of granite blocks brought in from Norway…which the wind- and storm-driven sand is covering. The marram grass helps to stabilise that sand
1st August 2022
Incoming tide flows into a channel it has already carved into the beach. That channel runs some distance parallel to the shore and provides shallow safe water for the children
1st August 2022
Ahead, as behind, the cliffs, complete with evidence of calving. Rainwater draining through the sandy soil carves out fault lines which eventually cause collapse. Inevitable.
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The wind-turbines on Scroby Sands, a sandbar exposed at low tide
1st August 2022
1st August 2022
And we leave the beach for easier walking…
1st August 2022
And to our delight find harebells everywhere
1st August 2022
I hope you enjoyed our walk. Yes, the Norfolk coast has its problems, mostly natural erosion. But it also is beautiful. And while walking the shore I indulged my passion for explosive waves which I’ll show you tomorrow…
