The trek started, for most of us, on Friday morning in the de Feyter's farm yard, where we loaded our luggage onto the stock trailer and Will and Andy's mum sent us of on our way with a bacon roll. A taxi and Tom's micra, later to be known as the big M, ferried us to Brittania Pier, Great Yarmouth.
The weather on the Friday morning was glorious, perfect for the event, a light breeze kept us cool and the sunshine lifted our spirits. Yarmouth was glorious in the sun, a photo was taken at the pier, Jack Papworth, Ellie Maris and Harry Gillingwater wandered off to get a Mc'breakfast and then we set off. The first day was beach and dune walking all the way - by the end of the day we were to hit the wall- but on Friday morning we quite quickly reached Newport Gap for our first break and then Sea Palling for lunch. The Sea Palling arcade served up a great selection of donuts, slushies and hot dogs to keep us going. The stretch between Sea Palling and Great Yarmouth was a particularly pleasant stretch of coast, easy to walk and quite scenic.
After lunch, life got tougher. We hit the dunes, walked past the reefs and eventually reached Happisburgh where we spotted a SAM sprayer on the cliff top, which seemed quite apt as they are one of our sponsors. The stretch between Happisburgh and our stop off point at Trimingham seemed bleak. The high cliffs meant that we had no sense of how far we had traveled and the weather turned to a dragging drizzle. When we eventually arrived at Woodlands Caravan Park, what a welcome sight it was, the Harrison family kindly allowed us to set up camp in a corner of the site. An evening meal followed- it was a bit of a daze- and then most people retired to their tents in pain. The rain and wind tested how well people set their tents. In the morning Tom Saunders and the big M, came into their own with an expertly crafted bacon roll and cup of coffee, spirits were lifted and we were ready to hit day two.
Walking along the clifftops and through the towns of Cromer and Sheringham was a nice change from the previous day. However, when you stand on the top of Beeston bump and realize that the sprout of trees in the misty distance is where you have to be by the end of the day it is a sobering thought. The ever PC Mr Will de Feyter decided to go into Budgens of Cromer and buy our chairman John a copy of a certain tabloid newspaper to lift his spirits; it was a great success. Another great morale lifter was the presence of Shauna Ellis and Whispa. We met Shauna and the support team, which included James Youngman and Mark Williams, at the car park at Weybourne for lunch. Shauna had left her husband Tom at home with a salad and created us a great walkers pack lunch which set us up to tackle the shingle bank between Weybourne and Cley. Having conquered the bank and wandered into Cley we progressed past Wiveton Fruit farm and Blakeney, had a sing along walking the bank to Morston and then eventually reached Stiffkey, where we camped for the night.
The final day started a little earlier - John was keen to get on- and we soon walked across the salt marsh, through Wells and then hit Holkham Hall. We strolled through the park, where we were pursued by Tom in his Micra- he eventually found us- and then we walked across country to Brancaster Staithe. Another one of Shauna's lunches awaited us. After lunch the end was in sight. Ella Drake found her feet and set the pace, apparently the trick was not to stop - probably true- but not everyone saw it that way! The last bit of walking was an enjoyable end to the trek, the route was pleasant and as we stopped to look at the life boat and then the lighthouse came into view I was almost sad that it had come to an end. Dan Brown, a man of wise words summed it up, " team work, makes the dream work". This is true and a great strength of North Walsham Young Farmers, we have raised a great deal of money for a worthy charity, but at the same time learnt a lot about ourselves, learnt about other members of the group and built a stronger team to lead North Walsham YFC forward into the future. Lets see what they come up with next.
