I started the week with a games night.  I made some cheddar marmite rolls and picked up lots of different easy to make finger foods.  I’m still figuring out the right mix of things to have to eat and drink, but I’m getting closer each time I think.
It was great fun, and we played some codenames.  A good number of choir people showed up.  We had Abi and her partner David, Audun, Alex3, Bella, Mairi, and Raiad.  We then played a round of a karaoke based game where you had to burst into song that contains a given word as a lyric.  It was surprisingly hard and fun.  Audun cleaned up.  The hardest part was knowing the lyrics before and after enough for people to accept the submission.

We then moved to the other table and set up for Secret Hitler.  Alex did a great job replacing the app, and giving a rousing intro to the game.  Then we had a game of the fascists winning and game of the liberals winning.

Tuesday I jumped on the train to Cromer with Lata.  She organised a hike through the forests and along the coast near Cromer.  I handled the specific paths, we took over the first two days.  We arrived without fuss, checked in, and headed down to the beach to just get our feet wet.  The water was just over 8C, so quite cold. 

The first route was 13km. We set out for Felbrigg Hall, with a nice loop out through the woods and fields, then back along the coast.  The hall was idyllic and the hike to and from it was lovely.  The tree lined Victory V was a lovely place that felt like a parade ground. We didn’t go inside the hall, but walked all around it. We saw lots of lambs that were only a few weeks old hopping around, as well as deer and pheasants.

https://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/Hike-7Apr-2026/P1YNMVEypV

The second day was 24km. We started by heading back the way we came from day one, then headed for the forests. We chained together all the public foot paths through the forests and along the tracks so we only ever had five minutes at most walking along a road. There was only one point that I messed up and had us on a road instead of on the parallel path, but I couldn’t find the entrance for it. We went through a number of estates, nature preserves, and forests. It was such a gorgeous day, and the mustard fields in full bloom were amazing. There is an old style steam train that goes between the coastal towns here and I got a picture of it across one of the mustard fields. We went to Sheringham Park and sat by the temple there for a bit to have a snack. We eventually made it into Sheringham proper, after hitting the coastal trail and walking for an hour. We had a lovely lunch overlooking the water there, and saw people swimming, which inspired me. We took the coastal trail back and saw many many mobile homes that had been set up as holiday homes. Besides the lack of a good grocery store or restaurant near them it was a great little spot. We chose to walk barefoot along the coast for the last hour, and it was amazing. We had to avoid the rocky bits, but it wasn’t too difficult and the water on the feet was refreshing after all the hiking. I decided to quickly run into the water, and didn’t even put my head under, but got up to my chest. We then quickly ran up the cliff and got cleaned up before heading to dinner.

https://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/Hike-8-Apr-2026/lCOOGhzj14

Lata got so unlucky with the food on the trip. The lunch in Sheringham was supposed to have the famous brown crab for the region but they were out. The restaurants we checked each night were already booked up, despite it being early season on a weekday. We found places eventually, but they were out of the dishes she wanted. Then when going to the ice cream parlours, they were out of the flavours she wanted.

The last morning in Cromer we hiked up to the lighthouse, which was a nice and short hike. We had some extra time to kill before the train so we went on a quest to find a Cromer crab sandwich. The first place didn’t have them, but the second we tried did. I got a takeaway crab sandwich and it was pretty good.

I had a great time overall, and would love to do more UK hiking trips. I might even do some backpacking trips this summer.

I got back to the kitties, who had been looked after by Stacie. They were happy and not as clingy as when left alone for two days. I had a day at home, then on Saturday I went to Bedford for a chorister’s 40th birthday, Alex3. It was amusing to me that it was a sleep over at his parent’s place. They weren’t there, but I did get to meet his older siblings. We played some board games, and then the main event was capture the flag in a nearby park using nerf guns. I had an amazing time. The trains between London and Bedford were all messed up so I caught a ride back with Abi and David, who live just across the canal from me.

On Sunday I decided to head to Kew Gardens and walk around for the day there. I’ve been to Kew Gardens before, but only at night in the winter for the light walk. This was a hugely different experience, and everything was in such amazing bloom. Well, almost everything as the Wisteria looked like it still needed another week to bloom. I walked around for several hours, and got a little lost, but that is fine as I was just looking around and picking a direction to wander. Once I had gone through everything I headed back home.

The canal and streets around King’s Cross are also looking gorgeous with trees bursting with flowers. I love the look of the tree lined streets where they meet in the middle. Add to that the trees are overflowing with flowers and a double decker red buss driving down the middle and it is a picturesque sight.

London Weekly 172