Touring Norfolk in a motorhome and seeing the Horsey Gap seals

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 Day 23: Horsey Gap, a visit to Wroxham and a ‘soothing’ stroll around the marshes of How Hill

You go to see the sea defences at Horsey Gap (recurved sea wall, revetment, groynes, rip rap and beach nourishment if you are interested) and you stumble on one of the natural wonders of the region. A colony of 200 grey and common seals hauled out on the beaches between the groynes.

Golden sands, brightly mottled coloured shingle, ominous stormy grey skies and seals lying together and ‘singing to each other’ in a series of mournful wails, moans and whistles.

Out of the big car park at the end of a gravel track, we walked 200 metres along the gravel path before taking a cut through path up over the vegetated dunes. Buzzards soared overhead, black tipped hares scarpered rapidly into the burrows and marram grass thickets and artic terns and black headed gulls kept up a cacophony of warning calls.

Our first seal encounter were three young seals on the rocks at the end of a groyne; playing ‘king of the castle’ on the rock, they would lumber out onto it, only for another one to push them off.

A few seals were bobbing out at sea and one brave youngster tracked us as we walked the outgoing tide line. That seal stayed 2m from us along the 50m length of beach between the two groynes.

And, on arrival at that second groyne, our breath was taken away, for there on the stretch of beach between it and the next one were 100 seals packed closely together.

White young pups, mottled spotty grey juveniles, obsidian black adults.

Some in the water were playing games – chase where one would sneak up on another slap them with a tail or flipper and then speed off. There were the loved up teenage couple, a pair of seals who would surface together and engage in face-to-face contact, before pirouetting away in a courtship dance, oblivious to everything going on around them. Some, mainly flustered adults were just plain grumpy and belligerent, chasing others, throwing their weight around and trying to take up much space as possible. We all know someone like that don’t we.

Then there were the practical jokers, adolescent teenagers who would sneak up to the colony, from the water and then create a huge splash, which had half the beach vacating in panic back into the water. These jokers would then crawl out of the water and flop in the vacated spaces!

The little lost creamy white seal pup who crawled the entire length of the colony squealing plaintively for mum, who, wherever she was, seemed to studiously ignore him.  Or the ‘look at me’ types who just lay in the shafts of sun, preening themselves and looking very chilled, relaxed and smug.

Beyond the next groyne was another similar colony. To sit and watch such seal behaviour from 30m away is a tremendous privilege. We were told that during November to February there can be up to 70,000 seals on this stretch of the beach pupping. No wonder there are two additional overflow car parks.

 This afternoon, we got on the bikes and decided to cycle to Stalham, Wroxham, Potter Heigham and Hickling Heath. A 33-mile round trip.

We are sure that Wroxham probably is a nice place but today it was our vision of hell. Crowded, no one had any sense of a pandemic or social distancing. Noisy, traffic congested, and heaving with day trippers, we beat a hasty retreat. For me it was seeing a Mississippi paddle steamer style boat that was the final straw!

We cycled to Ransome, where the pub was crowded, the car parks full and boaters somewhat fraught trying to find a mooring alongside a staithe. So, we left there as well.

At Potter Heigham, we stopped for ice cream and to help a fellow e bike cyclists whose chain had jammed in the motor area. It took ten minutes with a set of pliers to pull that chain out!

 

Postscript: things purchased for motorhome and never used; things we need to get

One of those boring conversations, what are we carrying that we haven’t used or don’t need? Well, where to begin? It’s a conversation which has its origin back a few days, when I emptied and sorted out one of the external lockers. 

From our viewpoint, things we have yet to use after several weeks away at various places include:

•        The flat-water pipe reel hose – never opened. It just looks a kinking nightmare to unravel and return flat to the reel.

•        The discussion about taking the windbreak is ongoing. In five trips we have used it once. It is stored horizontally on the bike rack, tied securely in three places. Only at one site (Sennen) have we used it – it was rather windblown there. I think, for now, it will continue to come with us but it is a hassle trying to hammer wooden poles into hard ground!

•        Given we rarely use the awning, we decided to ditch the awning groundsheet. So far, we haven’t regretted it but once we travel abroad to sandy locations, we may wish we’d kept it.

•        I ditched jump leads. If we need these we will call the RAC!

We carry all sorts of simple repair spares, ‘duck tape’ (duct tape with colourful duck on – Maggie’s choice – she loves it – black duct tape is apparently so boring), various glues, cable ties, string etc. A mini ratchet set and basic tools. This previous blog post gives further details  https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2020/11/what-do-you-keep-in-your-motorhome-tool.html

We discover we are missing a few things – jubilee clips, a spare water pump for the habitation unit (or is that being excessively paranoid?); we probably need some different gas nozzle fittings) for when we go on the continent. Perhaps we should add a simple assorted screws set and definitely a spare bulbs kit for exterior vehicle lights. One motorhomer I met in Norfolk carried a spare Thetford toilet cassette blade and seal and a multi-tester. I recently added an electrical connectors kit that I saw on sale in Lidl. I may also carry some spare pumping bits and pieces but I need to research this further. Oh, and spare sink plugs. We definitely need to add these. We have bought some awning straps and a 12v cordless handheld vac. We will be getting a different clothes drier rack. The one we have is flimsy and keeps blowing over.

So, what have you ditched; what have you bought on reflection? Let us know in the comment box below.