The Fisherman's Return, Winterton

Just round the corner from Winterton beach there's a very nice pub called the Fisherman's Return that does pretty good food, decent beer and wine and has a real fire. The cottage pie was just over a fiver and was very fine on a crisp cold December day. The fish pie was also very good. The regular menu lists stuff like burgers and baked potatoes (picture of one side here) while the specials board had fancier stuff like lamb shanks for a tenner and skate in a white sauce of some description that I can't remember. The rooms that they rent out look pretty grim on their website though.

The smaller bar (and here) had a nice atmosphere and a small fire.

Winterton beach itself is lovely and mostly deserted except for the dog walkers. There's a tea room by the car park that does sandwiches and cakes and public toilets just over the road. September to March you can park on the roadside avoiding the 60p for an hour charges.

Google Maps

Fisherman's Return
The Lane
Winterton-on-Sea
Norfolk
NR29 4BN
T: 01493 393305 or 393631

Scruffs Crufts

Scruffs Crufts was held last weekend, Sunday 10 August 2008, in Happisburgh and was a lot of fun. It was held at Hall Farm Forage and you could check their website to see if it's running next year. Looking at the website I realise that you can sponsor a class ("Dog with the waggiest tail" or my own favourite "Prettiest non-pedigree bitch") for as little at £10. Maybe next year I'll sponsor a class.

There are more pictures here.

Slags on the Beach: Happisburgh

Slags on the Beach, originally uploaded by Catfunt.

There's a walk from Happisburgh to Cart Gap along the beach and the low sandstone cliffs are on your right. It's a short walk. You can see the houses along the top of the cliff that are gradually falling in the sea. It's very sad to think of people losing their homes. The walk is punctuated by the sea defences that are breaking up on the beach letting the water roll up against the cliffs which in turn fail and fall into the sea. When you get to Cart Gap if you leave the beach and walk back along the lane towards Happisburgh once you pass the houses there you can get back onto the coastal path and walk along the cliffs.

When I first walked along here three years ago the path was at the side of the farmer's field, the one with the lighthouse in it. Now it's actually in the field and the what goes right up to the edge that has fallen into the sea.

Erosion now means that the RNLI lifeboat station here can no longer launch boats and is used for training.