To the North Sea

I can say I've been to the English coast - what a joy! Certainly November isn't the most ideal time for a trip to the English seaside but then again, you have to seize your moment and see what you can see when you can see it! I wanted to see the North Sea and so away we went across the countryside and toward the seashore. The North Sea separates England from the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway - so imagine; if you will, that Elsa was out there somewhere.... 

 

 

The weather was forecasted to be rainy but thankfully the rain itself held off until near the end of the day. We had to stop in at the Base Exchange at Mildenhall on the way to the seaside and it took a wee bit longer than planned - but soon enough we were parking, pulling on coats and scaling a small dune to walk down and peer across the North Sea and into the wind. The beach was littered with shells and rocks since it was low tide and I merrily collected a few that are now on display in my living room!

 

Obviously there weren't too many people wandering the beaches - but there was a wee pup named Diesel who hopped around at my knees as if I had something tasty hidden in my pockets (I didn't) and ended up being called a "bloody cheek" by his owner. After gathering shells, snapping some pictures, taking in the little beach huts and scrawling a message in the sand it was off to Wooten's Fish & Chips for lunch! We made a quick stop by the gates of Sandringham - because that was all we could see - the house is closed until the Spring but I'm sure that's where the Royals will be when Christmas rolls around. You see - Sandringham is where the royals spends Christmas each year and that's where they do the walk to church on Christmas morning... although who knows if that will happen this year with the COVID.

 

I'm not a huge fish eater myself - so I chose to have an Onion & Cheese Pie with my chips and honestly it is one of the best things I've eaten in a long time! The weather still wasn't exactly hospitable for eating outdoors and so we ended up fogging the windows of the car as we ate our fish, chips and pie alongside a park in the town of King's Lynn. When all was said and done, we had to hop out of the car to shake off the crumbs and the whole car smelled like fried fish but man if it wasn't all so very delicious and just writing about my Cheese & Onion Pie makes my mouth water!

We perused the square at King's Lynn, walked down the the canal and snapped a picture at a unique looking pub called The Crown & Mitre before deciding to route our way home through the town of Ely to see Ely Cathedral - a cathedral that was built all the way back in 1083! Of course the COVID prevented us from going inside but what a stunning sight it was just to walk around the outside in the dusk and imagine everything that the building has seen - almost a thousand years of history! 

Alas - the rain that had held off all day long arrived as I was wandering the outside of the cathedral and so we decided to call it a day. I should mention that it was only about 3:30 in these pictures but the sun sets in the U.K. in the Fall/Winter at 4 PM - so night was already on the horizon! 

We returned to Bury and ordered Giggling Squid for dinner; some of the most delicious Thai food I've ever had, the Sticky Chicken was definitely my favorite! I'm sad to report that now that I'm back in the US, I tried to look up the closest location on my Maps App - and the closest location is back in the U.K. *sigh* After dinner we binged the final three episodes of the fourth season of The Crown - a perfect way to spend a Friday night, if you ask me!