The Ham Nomads

20 Oct 2014. <GB-ENG> Great Yarmouth, & Horsey, Great Yarmouth, & Stalham, Norwich, Norf —

Woke up to a knock on the door. Apparently we were parked right where a lady regularly sets up her burger van! No troubles — we moved the van to the other side of a hedge (that we hadn't seen when we pulled up in the dark last night). And Warren thought, 'What better for breakfast than a burger and coffee?', so he trotted over to get breakfast from her. He was her first customer, and she wasn't quite ready, so they chatted until she had set up. Finally Warren came back to the van, coffee and burger in hand!

We set off after breakfast — the alternator belt was making a bit of a racket! We dropped in to Morrisons and B&M Home Store at Lowestoft for a little shopping, then left to travel northward to Great Yarmouth. There's an Elizabethan House Museum there that we wanted to have a look at. It is on South Quay, which is as full of ships as any port! The house itself is rather low key, and it has a series of exhibits documenting the way of life of its inhabitants from the time of Charles I through to Queen Victoria. Possibly its most interesting room is upstairs, the 'Conspiracy Room', where it is reputed that the Parliamentarian leaders met to discuss the ultimate fate of King Charles. There is a replica death warrant signed by these men which led directly to the king's execution at the block. The room has been set up to represent the scene after most of the conspirators had left, leaving only John Carter (the owner of the house) and Miles Corbet (the MP for Yarmouth). After the Restoration, with Charles II on the throne, Miles Corbet was brought back from exile in Holland and he and 8 other of the 'regicides' were hanged, drawn and quartered for treason — life was certainly full of ups and downs in those days!

It was turning cool, so we adjourned to a nearby MacDonald's for coffee (and the inevitable internet), followed by lunch in the van. We had a little unexpected entertainment, as we watched a couple return to their car after buying a carpet, trying to fit said carpet into their smart-car — reminded us a little of the slow silent humour of Jacques Tati!

Then we drove northwards to the Horsey Windpump on The Broads north of Great Yarmouth. The visit very interesting, but a little disappointing on two counts. The first was the weather — it had decided to be blowy and wet (we are suffering the after-effects of Hurricane Gonzalo that battered Bermuda a few days ago), so the walks along the beach we had planned were out of the question.

Second was that during the severe storms here last winter, the sails were severely damaged, were removed for repair, and are still not back in place. So what we saw were the inner workings of a windpump, but not actually working. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our somewhat shortened stay here.

It was a good thing that we set off early. A short way down the road, we heard a thump under the bonnet, and the alternator warning light came on — we had thrown another alternator belt! We pulled into the car park of the Wayford Bridge Inn and called the RAC. 90 minutes later (after dark), our rescue arrived.

This time the fellow was an automotive technician, who had been forced to join the recovery crew temporarily until he recovers himself from the effects of a motorcycle accident and has sufficient strength in his wrist to use the workshop equipment again. But this worked in our favour, as he really knew what he was doing. He took only 15 minutes to fix the van, a few more to make sure it was adjusted as well as possible, and then we were on our way again, the van sounding better than it has for some time! Our next task — to find a source for another spare belt, just in case!

We went down the road to a layby Susie had found as she walked during our wait for rescue — nice and deep, off the road, behind a stand of trees!

Distance driven — today, 45 miles ( 72 km ); to date, 9,046 miles ( 14,558 km )