The Infamous Acle Straight
When I went to Great Yarmouth, the train travelled alongside the A47 or Acle Straight for a few miles close to the town.
The Acle Straight from the Train
I have written about this road before, as it is very dangerous. You can just see a few vehicles on the road, by the windmill.
But it would appear that nothing will be done to improve transport links to Great Yarmouth!
Perhaps an alternative to improving the road, would be to increase capacity on the railway line. In common with much of the services in East Anglia, trains are typically inadequate two-coach diesel multiple units, running on a mainly single-track line. The station at Great Yarmouth could also do with a substantial upgrade.
But then Great Yarmouth station is very typical to those around East Anglia. As an example, Bury St. Edmunds station is a total dump and completely out of keeping with the town. Only Norwich has a station, which is fit for purpose.
But then here in East Anglia, we know how to live on the scraps that the Treasury dishes out!
Walking Around Clare
Before and after the Tour of Britain, I had a chance to walk round Clare, which is a pleasant village dominated by a church, that is very typical of the Stour Valley.
Ely to York via Scunthorpe
I’m going to see Ipswich at Scunthorpe on the 25th. I have been told by East Coast, that I’ll need to use two single tickets, as I can’t break my journey at Doncaster, like I did last week at Micheldever.
So I’ve booked the first leg from Ely to Scunthorpe and that has cost me £16.45 First Class. Not bad as it would probably cost about £50 for the diesel in the Jaguar!
But getting from Scunthorpe to York, doesn’t seem so easy to buy a ticket. All that seems to exist are Anytime Singles at £20 or £13.20 with my Railcard. Why are there no Off Peak Tickets?
In the end, Ibought the Anytime Single from East Coast at £13.20!
Would I Return to Great Yarmouth?
Obviously, I would! Great Yarmouth shows how with a bit of effort, you can tranform a working town with a good beach into an interesting place to spend a day.
There are lots of things I didn’t see in Great Yarmouth, like Nelson’s Monument and there are some museums to explore. I also want to see inside St. Nicholas and see the Lydia Eva under steam. Yesterday, too, I missed out the racecourse, as I know it well and that is always worth a visit on a nice day. I’ve probably been at least fifteen times and C had a winner there. But yesterday, was the first day, I’d explored the town. Shame on me!
I’ll go by train of course and let’s hope that when I do, the trains are bigger, better and more numerous. The station could do with a makeover too!
There is much to do in Great Yarmouth, before it becomes an important destination again It has the beaches, the arcades, the piers, but it also has a large number of more mundane things that bring joy to a decrepit tourist like myself.
Remember, it’s a fairly flat town, so walking is easy and the best way to get about.
There must be one, but I didn’t find a tourist office.
Perhaps too, for a comparison, I’ll go to Lowestoft before I move to London.
St. Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth
St. Nicholas in Great Yarmouth, is the largest parish church in England. Sadly, it was closed when I arrived in the afternoon on the way back to the station, but I was still able to walk in the churchyard.
The Sea-Front, Great Yarmouth
As I was brought up partly in Felixstowe, I know how bad and decayed some of our old resorts can be. Here are a few pictures of the sea-front at Great Yarmouth.
It was clean and plesant and quite different to other old resorts, that I’ve visited recently.
Towards the Sea Front
Great Yarmouth lies on a spit of land, with the Quay on the River Yare at the back and the sea at the front. It was a pleasant walk between the two, although it was starting to get a bit cold.
There was this theatre, St. George’s.
St. George's Theatre, Great Yarmouth
I then walked through a very pleasant formal park.
St. George's Park, Great Yarmouth
Finally, I arrived at the sea-front after walking through pleasant streets and this late Victorian arcade.
Arcade, Great Yarmouth
I emerged by the Empire Theatre.
Empire Theatre, Great Yarmouth
Note the front of the arcade at the left. Sadly, it’s rather full of the sorts of things I don’t like, like a casino and slot machines.
A Working Quay, Great Yarmouth
The South Quay may be historic and it has a couple of museums, including one to Nelson, but it is also very much a working one.
I only walked from the Lydia Eva down the quay for perhaps a hundred metres, as the weather looked to be on the turn and I really didn’t want to get wet.
The signs were also upon the Quay for the Tour of Britain, as Thursday’s stage finishes in the town.
The Last of the Hunters
In the 1960s, there was a series of adverts for fish, which used the slogan, “Fish! The only food you go out and hunt!”
On the South Quay in Great Yarmouth today, was the Lydia Eva, the last of the steam drifters, that used to dominate herring fishing in the North Sea.
She is now a museum and uniquely a ship that contains a museum, that actually works and goes to sea!
Yarmouth Surprised Me!
Great Yarmouth has problems of things like unemployment and isolation from the rest of Norfolk, let alone England, and C always found that some of her most harrowing and difficult cases came from the town.
I suspect too, we often think of it as a fading seaside resort, with all those things like kiss-me-quick hats, greasy fish and chips, donkeys and amusement machines.
But as I walked through the town after lunch I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw! It certainly didn’t fit the stereotype.
The Market Place, Great Yarmouth
The Market Place was busy, with lots of people shopping and quietly drinking. I’m not a great one for markets, so I passed on to through the historic Rows to the South Quay.
South Quay, Great Yarmouth
The Anonymous Widower 