Things don't start well when I turn down Beach Road and can't find anywhere to park: not a verge, not a side road, nothing. Apparently downtown Palling is a shrine to the yellow line. By contrast the beach front is one huge car park and reluctantly I pay up, just one of two cars in a space the size of the Mojave desert. May I remind the council, it's January 31st and hardly peak visiting time. Ten minutes later I walk past a "Trust Parking" spot at £1.00 per day.
Stepping out of the car and nothing stirs; nobody is to be seen. The only sound - the rattling of the shutters on the cafe and the amusements. Heading to the beach, the last building I pass, is the public toilets, a place only the foolhardy or the very brave would dare visit. By way of compensation the beach is just as flat and lovely as everybody says.
Back in town I spot a person in the shop and I opt for a chocolate breakfast: a Toblerone, the size of a small roof beam. Energised I make for St Margaret's church and discover a couple of bespoke lanes, at the end of which are houses with uninterrupted views to the end of time. Indeed, with its cycle hire, church tea rooms, fudge shack and Tudor cottages, this place is starting to grow on me.
Before leaving, I turn off down the Marrams, a narrow lane that runs at the back and behind the dunes. Here enterprising/stupid people (you choose) have built all manner of sheds, huts and summer houses on the protected southwest side of the dunes. When I say "protected," that's a relative term, bearing in mind the millions of tons of North Sea Water just waiting behind you. To be honest I couldn't enjoy my tea with the threat of a tsunami ever present.
Given the fact that the people of Sea Palling don't get up much before ten, it's probably safe to assume they have the same cavalier, "don't give a toss attitude, about the North Sea, global warming or my parking problems. Me - I'd just like to know what medication they're on.
Location:Pottergate,Norwich,United Kingdom
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