Looking east…

Changing holiday plans isn’t something we normally do.

Last September’s two week trip was planned out and accommodation booked way before it was due to happen, but fortunately we’d made a savvy move by booking most of our overnight stays through booking.com which had free cancellation as an added incentive, just in case Covid rules were instigated at short notice.

The original plan for last September was to head up to Scotland and use trains and buses to get into the Highlands to explore the area and get to places such as Mallaig and Kyle Of Lochalsh by rail.

Why didn’t that trip happen? Not because of Covid, but a wedding…

Not ours, but Caroline’s son and his fiancee – who live in London.

The timing was going to be a bit close, so we decided to postpone it and cancel bookings in order to look for a break closer to London so Caroline was in striking distance for when the date/venue were finalised.

East Anglia became the location of choice, largely because we’ve been to both North Norfolk and Suffolk before, but we’ve never done the full circuit…

The process for cancelling the Scottish trip and booking (again by booking.com) the stays for the new plan took just four hours from start to finish – our favourite backpacker hostel’s ensuites in North Norfolk, a very good small hotel in Lowestoft, a chain hotel in Bury St. Edmunds, a coaching inn near IWM Duxford Air Museum and another chain hotel in Cambridge.

Our earlier than usual start on that first Sunday was down to our first port of call – Normous Newark Autojumble at the Showground on the outskirts of Newark which is next door to Newark Air Museum.

What’s an Autojumble? Think of a very large car boot sale devoted to predominately items for cars, motor bikes, memorabilia, bits for bikes and books, models, clothing and tools and you won’t be too far wrong.

We’d seen footage from Normous Newark on ITV4’s Junk & Disorderly TV show where presenters Henry Cole & Sam Lovegrove find things, fix them up and then flog them at other Autojumbles.

There was no sign of the dynamic duo though, but lots to look at and ponder on as we wandered around, had coffee and then wandered some more. We left empty handed, but now we know what’s what, a return visit could be in order when our Skoda has an empty boot to take any purchases!

Once lunch was taken care of, it was time to head for Deepdale Backpackers in Burnham Deepdale to find our room for the night. As the kitchen was closed due to Covid restrictions, we bought snack stuff and beer & cider for consumption later in the open air in the courtyard below our room.

As we had another early start on Monday morning, an early night was had, largely because we had a steam train to catch after finding our breakfasts!