Lowestoft – Coastal Road Trip

Day 35 – Lowestoft to Ipswich

So we’ve managed to complete thirty-five days of continuous travel, as we drove from Cardiff to Ipswich. Yay! That’s the first and main leg of our coastal road trip completed, and what a great day to spend this milestone, as we travel the beautiful Suffolk coastline….

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Felixtowe Ferry, Sunset, Dusk, Boats, Reflection — Calm reflective waters as the sunset at Felixtowe Ferry.

Lowestoft

Coastal Road Trip, Lowestoft, Lowestoft Lighthouse — Bam! Our first stop of the day and it’s a lighthouse. The bright white Lowestoft Lighthouse looking great against the fresh blue morning sky.

Coastal Road Trip, Lowestoft, Ness Point, Euroscope, John Wylson, Most Easterly Point of Britain — On this trip we have traveled to the most westerly point of Britain at Ardnamurchan (day 17), the most northerly point at Dunnet Head (day 24), and now we have reached the most easterly point at Ness Point! Not the most exciting view, to be honest…

Coastal Road Trip, Lowestoft, Ness Point, Euroscope, John Wylson, Most Easterly Point of Britain, Julian — Julian sitting on the Euroscope at Ness Point, designed by John Wylson.

Coastal Road Trip, Lowestoft, South Beach, Houses, Green — A handsome row of houses along Lowestoft’s South Beach Promenade.

Coastal Road Trip, Lowestoft, South Beach, Lifeguard — The Lowestoft South Beach lifeguard keeping an eye on a lone swimmer (that just swam out of the photo).

Benachre

Coastal Road Trip, Benachre, Waveney, Suffolk, Sunflower, Fields — Driving past glorious meadows as we meandered along the small country lanes near Benachre.

Coastal Road Trip, Benachre, Waveney, Suffolk, Fields — Such rich colours in the mid morning sunshine.

Southwold

Coastal Road Trip, Southwold, Lighthouse, Waveney, Suffolk — The grade II listed Southwold Lighthouse towering over Southwold’s seafront houses.

Coastal Road Trip, Southwold, Pier, Beach, Huts, Waveney, Suffolk — Southwold Pier, extending 190m in to the North Sea.

Walberswick

Coastal Road Trip, Southwold, Walberswick, River Blyth, Harbour, Ferry, Rowing Boat, Waveney, Suffolk — The small ferry being rowed from Southwold across the fast moving River Blyth to Walberswick. He was doing a busy trade this sunny Saturday lunchtime.

Blythburgh

Coastal Road Trip, Blythburgh, Holy Trinity Church, Suffolk, Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Nave, Interior — A short detour inland to view the Holy Trinity Church in the small village of Blythburgh. Also know as The Cathedral of the Marshes, it was surprisingly light inside.

Dunwich

Coastal Road Trip, Dunwich Beach, Sizewell, Saxmundham — Children playing in the waves at Dunwich Beach, silhouetted against the sea. Sizewell nuclear power station lurking in the distance.

Leiston Abbey

Coastal Road Trip, Leiston Abbey House, Theberton, Leiston, Suffolk, English Heritage — The remains of the Augustinian Leiston Abbey, originally home to the strict Premonstratensian order, who favoured remote locations.

Coastal Road Trip, Leiston Abbey House, Theberton, Leiston, Suffolk, English Heritage — A farmhouse had been built into the remains of the nave after the suppression.

Thorpeness

Coastal Road Trip, Thorpeness, Sign, Leiston, Suffolk — The Thorpeness village sign with its iconic House in the Clouds and windmill.

Coastal Road Trip, Thorpeness, Meare, House in the Clouds, Leiston, Suffolk — The large meare that had been dug out by hand in the early 20th century, with the bright red House in the Clouds living up to its name.

Coastal Road Trip, Thorpeness, House in the Clouds, Julian, Jarno, Leiston, Suffolk — The House in the Clouds, originally built as a water tower, and now a pretty cool holiday house.

Coastal Road Trip, Thorpeness, Windmill, Leiston, Suffolk — In the 1920s and 30s Thorpeness Windmill had been used to pump water into the tank at the top of the House in the Clouds.

Aldeburgh

Coastal Road Trip, Aldeburgh, Beach, RSPB North Warren, Scallop, Sculpture, Benjamin Britten, Maggi Hambling — The Scallop sculpture at RSPB North Warren, designed by Maggi Hambling as a tribute to Benjamin Britten, the Aldeburgh born composer.

Coastal Road Trip, Aldeburgh, Beach, Boats — Boats on the beach behind the upmarket Aldeburgh high street.

Snape Maltings

Coastal Road Trip, Snape Maltings, Sculpture, Metal, Mirrors, Snape, Suffolk — One of the many sculptures at our next stop at Snape Maltings. A fascinating place, with an amazing music venue, shops, artist workshops, sculptures and nature walks. Quite a curious mix, but done so well, we were really impressed.

Coastal Road Trip, Snape Maltings, Barbara Hepworth, Family of Man (1970), Sculpture, Rainbow, Snape, Suffolk — A rainbow forming over Barbara Hepworth’s Family of Man sculpture.

Coastal Road Trip, Snape Maltings, Dovecote Studio, Snape, Suffolk — Anther dovecote, we haven’t seen one of these since leaving Scotland. But this one had a modern take, and had been converted into a studio.

Orford

Coastal Road Trip, Orford, Orford Castle, English Heritage, Woodbridge, Suffolk — Orford Castle, Henry II’s splendid keep.

Coastal Road Trip, Orford, Orfordness Lighthouse, Quay, River Alde, Nature Reserve, Suffolk, Boats — Just down the road from Orford Castle, views from the quay across the River Alde to the Nature Reserve and Orfordness Lighthouse.

Felixtowe

Coastal Road Trip, Felixtowe, John Bradfield Viewing Area, Container Ship, Port, Docks — The view of Felixtowe’s busy container port from the John Bradfield Viewing Area.

Coastal Road Trip, Felixtowe, John Bradfield Viewing Area, Sunset, Fishing — Fishing in the UK’s largest container port.

Coastal Road Trip, Felixtowe, John Bradfield Viewing Area, Sunset — A beautiful golden sunset across the water to Harwich.

Felixtowe Ferry

Coastal Road Trip, Felixtowe Ferry, Beach Huts, Sunset, Dusk — Beach huts along the coast to Felixtowe Ferry.

Coastal Road Trip, Felixtowe Ferry, Sunset, Dusk, Boats, Reflection — A final stop on our way to Ipswich for the night. We looped a short way back north east to Felixtowe Ferry, and had stunning views over the calm River Deben, reflecting the yachts in the dusk light.

Coastal Road Trip, Felixtowe Ferry, Sunset, Dusk, Boats, Reflection — Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight…. let’s see in the morning.

Daily video

Day 34 – King’s Lynn to Lowestoft

On day thirty-four, after a walk around King’s Lynn, we got back on the road and headed for The Queen’s home at Sandringham (our third royal location on our trip). We then continued along the Norfolk coastline to Lowestoft, with plenty of windmills and lighthouses along our journey. We packed a lot into today.

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Sheringham, The Mo Museum, Mural, RNLI, Coast Guard — Amazing street art at Sheringham.

Sandringham

Coastal Road Trip, Sandringham, Queen, Julian, Jarno — Popping in for tea with the Queen at her Sandringham Estate. We were the first to finish the house tour that morning… speedy! Mind you, we halved the average visitor age 😉

Coastal Road Trip, Sandringham, Racing Horse, Estimate, Sculpture — Some of The Queens’s favorite things, starting with racing horses. Estimate, who won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.

Coastal Road Trip, Sandringham, Queen's Dog, Black Labrador, Sandringham Brae, A Gentleman Amongst Dogs, — A whole series of stones set in the garden walls, remembering The Queen’s dogs, with lovely little messages.

Coastal Road Trip, Sandringham, Rolls Royce, Queen's Car, The Spirit of Ecstasy, Flying Lady — The stunning ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ adorning one of the Rolls Royce bonnets.

Coastal Road Trip, Sandringham, St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Lychgate, Gate, Jarno — Jarno giving a royal wave in the Lychgate of St Mary Magdalene’s Church, where The Royal Family normally attend the Christmas Day service.

Coastal Road Trip, Sandringham, St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Ceiling — The beautiful ceiling of the 16th century church.

Coastal Road Trip, Sandringham, Main Gates, Diana Tribute, Flowers — It was the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana.

Coastal Road Trip, Sandringham, Main Gates, Diana Tribute, Flowers — Many tributes had been left at the Sandringham gates.

Coastal Road Trip, Sandringham, Woodland, Country Park — Driving through the tranquil Sandringham Country Park.

Heacham

Coastal Road Trip, Norfolk Lavender, Flowers — We made a quick stop at Norfolk Lavender set among 100 acres of lavender fields (yes, we know this isn’t lavender). However, we’d just missed the lavender blooming season (June to August), so made do with a quick walk around their cottage garden.

Hunstanton

Coastal Road Trip, Hunstanton, Beach — Hunstanton Beach, the only holiday town beach in Norfolk that faces west, so great for viewing the sunset (if we’d been later in the day).

Coastal Road Trip, Hunstanton, Lighthouse — The Old Hunstanton Lighthouse built in 1840. Its predecessor had the world’s first parabolic reflector in 1776.

Burnham Overy Staithe

Coastal Road Trip, Burnham Overy Staithe, The Tower Windmill, National Trust — Windmills became a common sight as we drove along the Norfolk coastline. The Tower Windmill at Burnham Overy Staithe, a pretty cool National Trust holiday let.

Holkham

Coastal Road Trip, Holkham Hall, North Gate — We decided not to visit Holkham Hall, as we’d already spent quite some time in the morning at the Sandringham Estate. So we made do with just viewing Holkham Hall’s North Gate instead.

Wells-next-the-Sea

Coastal Road Trip, Wells-next-the-Sea, The Quay. East Fleet — The very busy (with tourists) and picturesque Wells-next-the-Sea, with its impressive granary malting building and huge canter-levered gantry.

Blakeney

Coastal Road Trip, Blakeney, Blakeney National Nature Reserve, National Trust, Boats — More picturesque villages as we drove along the coast to Blakeney, where we stopped for a coffee at the National Trust run Blakeney National Nature Reserve. The largest seal colony in England, and a very important breeding ground for grey seal pups in the winter months.

Cley next the Sea

Coastal Road Trip, Cley next the Sea, Cley Windmill, Julian, Jarno — We almost gate-crashed a wedding party staying in Cley Windmill.

Sheringham

Coastal Road Trip, Sheringham, Sheringham Beach — As we stopped to take photos in Sheringham several locals asked if they could help us. Very friendly, or we just looked lost.

Coastal Road Trip, Sheringham, The Mo Museum, Mural, RNLI, Coast Guard — Amazing street art murals on the walls outside the local Mo Museum.

Coastal Road Trip, Sheringham, The Mo Museum, Mural, Fishermen — Fishermen posing for street art.

Coastal Road Trip, Sheringham, Street Art, Tony Nelson, Town Criar — In memory of the local town crier.

Cromer

Coastal Road Trip, Cromer, Pier — The Victorian Cromer Pier, famous for its end of the pier variety show, the last remaining one in the UK.

Trimingham

Coastal Road Trip, Trimingham, Remote Radar Head Trimingham — The radar station at Trimingham (AKA Trimingham Golf Ball). This location was established in the early 1940s to detect low flying German aircraft and E-boats.

Mundesley

Coastal Road Trip, Mundesley, Beach Huts — More colorful beach huts along Mundesley Beach.

Coastal Road Trip, Mundesley, Stow Mill, Windmill — Stow Mill, the local corn windmill, just outside of Mundesley village, now another holiday let.

Happisburgh Lighthouse

Coastal Road Trip, Happisburgh, Happisburgh Lighthouse — After driving through yet another lovely Norfolk village, we arrived at the very handsome Happisburgh Lighthouse across the fields. It’s the only independent lighthouse (run by local volunteers) in Great Britain, and the oldest working one in East Anglia.

Horsey

Coastal Road Trip, Horsey, Horsey Windpump, National Trust — Eerie lighting as the dark rain clouds passed over us at the National Trust’s Horsey Windpump.

Winterton-on-Sea

Coastal Road Trip, Winterton-on-Sea, Winterton Lighthouse — As we drove past Winterton-on-Sea, we noticed this lighthouse protruding above the coastal houses. As we got close we realised it was also now a private home (holiday rental), so just took a quick photo from a neighbour’s drive and continued on our way.

Caister-on-sea

Coastal Road Trip, Caister-on-Sea, Beach, Pink Tractor — Whilst hunting down a fish & chip shop for our dinner, we came across brightly painted fishermen’s tractors behind the beach at Caister-on-Sea.

Great Yarmouth

Coastal Road Trip, Great Yarmouth, Pirates, Rainbow — Great Yarmouth pirates on the lookout for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Coastal Road Trip, Great Yarmouth, Caesars Palace — No, we are not in Las Vegas. It’s the other Caesars Palace, the one in Great Yarmouth.

Coastal Road Trip, Peel Ports, Wind Turbine, Wing, Blade — Finally, as the night closed in, we drove south along Great Yarmouth’s promenade reaching Peel Ports. Giant wind turbine blades were sitting ready to be shipped to an off-shore wind farm. Next stop, down the road at Lowestoft for the night.

Daily video