Thursday 22nd June 2023 - New Sign, Steps, Car Park Changes and Southrepps

In my blog for 29th May, I wrote about the two additional signs which had been added to the post at the top of the zigzag path leading down to the beach. The one which stated there is no legal thoroughfare on the cliff top, going west towards Cromer, resulted in much speculation as to the validity of this statement. Last Friday the entire post was replaced, with the new one adding more information as to how to walk the beach to Cromer. However, there is no mention about the thoroughfare across the cliffs so I am guessing this was not an official piece of signage.

In my last blog, I described the steps going west down to the beach as ‘an accident waiting to happen’. Having said this, I thought it would be useful to photograph these steps. There used to be a handrail and the steps were as you would expect, flat, and not as they are now; a trip hazard, with no handrail to hold on to.

During the week there have been changes in the car park on Pauls Lane. A good-sized section of the fence along the slumping cliff edge has been moved further into the car park but the part where there is an undercut on the cliffs, and the favoured parking place for the ice-cream van, remains the same. Sections of the road side post and rail perimeter fence have been renewed and access to a length of the west end of the car park has been fenced off. The photo below shows the new fence. Why the west end of the car park has had its access removed which has resulted in a reduction in the number of parking spaces, I don’t know. In the main season, parking or lack of it, in the village has posed problems so this is not good news. A bit of wishful thinking here - this area could be used to create an outdoor gym, like the one in Southrepps (see paragraph below) so parents can exercise while their children play in the adjacent playgrounds.

On Wednesday we decided to walk to Southrepps and have lunch at the Vernon Arms. There are various routes you can take but we favoured the one we took with Barney, when he was capable of an approximate seven-mile walk, there and back. The walk took us less time than we anticipated, probably because we didn’t have to stop for ‘sniffs’ along the way! Before we went into the pub, we carried on across the road, past the village hall to where the left-hand side of the path opens out into a very impressive children’s playground and outdoor gym. I tried out each of the seven pieces of gym equipment but one required more strength than I have in my arms, however Peter was able to manage it. We were very impressed with this facility and thought it would be a welcome asset to Overstrand. After this, we enjoyed a light lunch in the Vernon Arms before retracing out steps back home. I took several photos but I have included just the one here of what was a large bracket-like fungus growing on a tree trunk and one which I think is, chicken in the woods.