111-114 - Parts of East Anglia - 23rd to 25th June 2015

Cromer

There are a several of my highpoints which always cause people to ask questions and it tends to be those in East Anglia, The reason is the fact that most of East Anglia is as flat as a pancake but even the flattest places have high points so it this was my opportunity to get those ticked off my list. I travelled up from my home in Portsmouth and around London heading for my first or 4 high points. the county of Suffolk is divided into 2 halves, there is Suffolk and Suffolk East. Eventually I was onto the country roads of Suffolk and I arrived at my destination. It was actually difficult to get close to the highest point of Suffolk East because it lies within Wattisham Airfield, as you can imagine airfields are always difficult to gain access to however this one is even worse because it is an Army airfield so there was no hope.

Wattisham airfield

I found spot near an industrial estate near the Wattisham airfield fence, this spot was about as close as I could get to the highest point of Suffolk East so it would have to do and at just 91 metres above sea level I was not really going to be that far off that height from where I was standing.

Great Wood

Next stop was the highest point of Suffolk, it was about a 45 min drive from the last stop along some pretty bendy small roads. It was fairly easy to find and finally I found myself at Great wood near the village of Chedburgh just to the south of Bury St Edmunds. This was another fairly low high point at just 128 metres above sea level, at least this one had a view over some fields. My next stop was my campsite for the night which was about a 90 minute drive to the north near the town of Sheringham on the north coast of Norfolk.

Great Wood

The next day I was off to find my third highpoint of the trip, this one was going to be the highest of my 4 highpoints and it can be found just near the town of Cromer and is the highest point of Norfolk, It was another easy to find high point and is called Beacon Hill, it has fairly impressive views over the sea which would be even better in the winter without all the leaves on the trees. I had a bit of a wander around here and eventually headed into Cromer for a look around and then on to Sheringham for a trip on the North Norfolk Steam Railway (well worth the visit by the way, I really recommend it). Finally it was back to the campsite for an evening next to the campfire.

Beacon hill

The next morning it was time to head home but there was one more high point to visit on the way, I took a small diversion towards the west and then south towards Ely for the highest point of the Isle of Ely. The Isle of Ely is not actually an island however it was surrounded by fens and marshland in the past so was once an island, it is no longer a county however it is still on my list and needed to be done.

On the way to the high point I suffered a bit of a puncture however I quickly changed it for the spare and was back on my way to find the high point in the village of Haddenham. This high point is one of my lowest yet at just 39 metres above sea level. I was surprised it was so low being so far inland. after stopping off here is was back on the road to home after a nice few days in the northern parts of East Anglia.

Cromer Pier

Haddenham village