Weekend away at the north Norfolk coast

Jessey

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2004
28,300
18,001
113
43
Suffolk, UK
Well we survived, just! I won't be organizing it for a big group again when it's meant to be my holiday that's for sure :( The venue was nice as ever, it was the weather and number of people that were challenging.

I arrived Thursday and it was sunny but windy, I got everything organized and grabbed Jess for a ride, she was a little antsy as Hank was fussing about her leaving, then as we got out of sight she lost the plot :rolleyes:o_O which is something she has never done when asked to leave others, being red hot in season didn't help :cool: we managed a 5 mile toddle, maintaining a walk was hard work though, I just had to sit quiet and not touch her. But over all I had a lovely day :)

Friday lunchtime others started arriving. The weather was horrific, torrential rain and wind, so we gave up on riding and spent the afternoon playing tiddlywinks :D the other half arrived early evening (wise decision based on the forecast).

Saturday the forecast was for better weather, and we were excited to walk up to no more rain, but it steadily went down hill :( We needed to leave by 11am, to meet the photographers on the beach around noon for low tide, unfortunately my mum was running late and I needed to see her before getting on (as I knew Jess was going to be a pain after Thursday's behavior). Apparently half the group thought that meant they should sit around drinking tea after I went out to meet mum, they thought when I said I would be getting on as soon as she arrived meant I would go back and let them all know they needed to think about tacking up, so mum arrived and I got Jess ready and they were only just starting to tack up :mad: Jess got worse and worse, screaming and carrying on for Hank. I am covered in bruises where she was ploughing into me and she busted my head cam. It took them another 45 minutes to get ready as they decided to prep 1 horse at a time :mad: All this time we have 15 photographers, plus my mum and 2 others, stood on the beach waiting, plus the hour + it took us to get up there meant them waiting nearly 2 hours in 45 KPH winds and torrential rain :oops::(

On the way to the beach Jess messed about at a patch of mud so rather than waiting for a second as I had asked, 1 person cut over the crops, I yelled, she yelled back, not a great start. We had 2 who didn't want to trot, poor Jess and another horse were physically shivering and really needed to trot, to warm up and settle Jess down. The beach was uneventful, if very wet and cold. Then we head off and the original plan was to stop at the pub, which honestly I would have happily skipped but the double amputee needed a few minutes out of the saddle, so I got it in the ear from others who weren't happy :mad: I suggested they take the maps I printed them and head home, but they didn't bring the map and the one who'd been with me before couldn't remember the way :mad: eventually after 4 hours in torrential rain we made it back to camp, everyone a bit down trodden and grumpy. 4 decided at that point to leave.

Mum went and grabbed us all fish and chips, then the 4 left. The remainder of the evening was actually very pleasant and we have a giggle and really good catch up, and I have been invited to join them on a horseback safari later this year.....its on my bucket list, but not sure I can stretch to it, we shall see.

Sunday there was just the 4 riders left, and thankfully it wasn't raining so we saddled up and did 5 miles with a pub stop, it was exhausting after the previous days dousing, so although it was a nice ride, it wasn't desperately enjoyable o_O

It was nice catching up with my friends, but the weather was sh!t, it was very cramped with everyone in 1 sitting area in the bunkhouse, I def will not take the little boys again and I really felt like I was pulled between people all weekend and they didn't do what I asked them to and sort themselves out.

Pics to follow
 
Getting there was fun, the bales of hay all moved, I am lucky my neds are tolerant of things like that....31478647_10156277872097246_5878796792035803136_n.jpg
Then arrived to see loads of grass :eek: I panicked a bit....
31502079_10156277871452246_8168606026908565504_n.jpg 31495116_10156277871702246_2473714872584503296_n.jpg
And Jess was less then impressed about wearing a muzzle, I did hour on/hour off until I could move them across to another paddock which was smaller and had been grazed off a bit
31490308_10156277871912246_2835519477330739200_n.jpg 31542661_10156277870772246_7370644559790866432_n.jpg 31531121_10156277870537246_4955661621222440960_n.jpg
31693062_10156277869297246_5391626429836296192_n.jpg
31509975_10156277856602246_1227246386110529536_n.jpg
31502076_10156277856497246_5980446839592189952_n.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kite_Rider
Fab pictures, my parents live in North Norfolk so I know how miserable the weather was over the weekend! Well done for soldiering on and for organising the whole thing, not sure I could've managed that!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessey
Ive been waiting for you to post your holiday thread. Have skipped to the bottom as no time to read now, dashing out to do some bits before it rains. Am looking forward to reading this thread later.
 
Love the Gin Trap. You were in the same part of Norfolk I was visiting at the weekend! Was it your hoof prints on the NWT beach on Sunday morning? Sunday was definitely the best day for weather.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessey
Oh my, it does sound quite a stressful weekend. You had pretty much the same weather as we did, a bit further north than you on the Lincolnshire coast, except that Sunday was rainy for us and we came home early due to the 45+ mph winds that were forecast. My head cam video was ruined by the rain drops that are sitting over the lens. We got back home to lovely weather :rolleyes: Were there 8 of you in total then? There were 6 of us and we managed to get on ok for the three nights we were there, but I don't know how much longer we could have carried it off. It was cramped in our cottage, plus the two sleeping on the sofa bed in the living area had to come through one of the bedrooms to get to a bathroom in the night, so the nights were constantly disturbed by people coughing, snoring or going to the loo! We had a laugh though, even though I would have preferred to do much more riding. It's a shame because Field Farm has some lovely facilities/rides out and we just couldn't take advantage of them.

Maybe we should have a NR weekend away/camp, so at least we'll all be singing off the same hymn sheet!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessey
Love the Gin Trap. You were in the same part of Norfolk I was visiting at the weekend! Was it your hoof prints on the NWT beach on Sunday morning? Sunday was definitely the best day for weather.
We rode from old hunny beach down to Holme beach on Saturday.

Were there 8 of you in total then?
Maybe we should have a NR weekend away/camp, so at least we'll all be singing off the same hymn sheet!
There were 8 riders and 3 non riders staying, plus coordinating with the 15 photographers, it made for a lot of people to try and keep happy.
 
We rode from old hunny beach down to Holme beach on Saturday.
That's where I saw the hoofprints (we walked from Thornham to Holme along the beach). Should think they'd be fresh ones though...imagine the tide would have washed yours away. Was only a couple of riders I think...not enough prints for 8. Super stretch of beach though!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessey
newrider.com