Saturday 5th April: Day Trip to Lowestoft

Today is our scheduled "Day Trip".  We're taking the train all the way to the East Coast of England to visit Evie's old friends in the little town of Lowestoft (about 100 miles from London).

Map of England showing the region we are visiting

Closer version, showing stop at Norwich to Lowestoft, and Ipswich on return voyage

This entails an early start as the train leaves from the Liverpool Street station, NOT Paddington, at 9AM.  We were up before 7AM for a quick breakfast, then walked over to Paddington to get on the tube via the Hammersmith Line which turned out to be a very long walk to the platform and difficult to locate!  The Circle, Central and Bakerloo lines are easy to get to.  Once aboard, it was a straight shot to Liverpool Street station.  We had to pick up the tickets which had been purchased online back home and then we found the correct platform. It all went smoothly and we made it with plenty of time.

Liverpool Street Station

Evie got us First Class tickets as far as Norwich (Noridge to us Yanks), and the cars had nice wide seats, and plenty of empty ones. The journey took a little over an hour.

First Class rail car

The train from Norwich was a local or milk run service and stopped MANY times on the way to the coast. At times the train just seemed to be crawling along. Although only 22 miles, it took nearly another hour! The countryside here was interesting and different from the rolling fields in the West.  The East Anglican region has a lot of reclaimed bogs which had been extensively mined for peat (fuel) in the middle ages, and now laced with canals, ponds, shallow lakes, and other wetlands. There are lots of boats, many marinas and some barges serving as homes.

Suzanne and Tony met us at the station with big smiles and hugs, and gave us a little tour of their claim-to-fame, being the Eastern most point of the British Isles!  Lowestoft is on the North Sea and extensive erosion has forced a breakwater of stones to be built.  There is a large plantation of windmills offshore in the distance, and some industrial buildings north and south, and a brisk wind blowing.  Fishing has all but ceased there but used to be a port for the trawlers in the North Sea fishing fleet.

Us at Eastern most spot in Britain

We piled back in the car for a short drive just a mile or so south to the shifting beach area of town.  As we walked along the beachfront, it widened out to a very extensive sandy beach with actual people frolicking about like it was Santa Cruz in summer.  No one entered the gray and choppy water, however!  There was a large apartment building erected a century ago by an early magnate who tried to make this a beach resort, and there were a bunch of little beach chalets (storage units) that people own or rent for storage of their beach chairs and, as important, windbreaks;little portable walls that protect sunbathers from the biting wind. It was all very pretty, and fairly comfortable with our sweaters and coats on, as it was still probably low 50's outside.

Luxury apartments facing the sea at Lowestoft

Beach Chalets for holiday supplies

Suzanne, Evie and Tony on beachfront

Nice wide stretch of beach in Lowistoft

After a nice walk we took some pictures and with the time now approaching 1PM, I made the suggestion of where we were going for lunch!  Tony said he had made something for us at their house (rather that eating out in town), so we set off to their home in the neighboring village of Oulton Broad, a short way West.

Tony showed us around the house, with a nice solarium and back yard full of plants, even some familiar to Sacramento yards, like Nandina (Heavenly Bamboo) and Photinias (with the new, red leaves shining in the sun).  After some tea and coffee, he brought out his masterpiece, a very nice salad with chicken, and a lemon tart for dessert.  We chatted away until 5:30 but really wanted to stay longer; however, we had booked our tickets back to London and it was time to start the homeward journey.

Tony in front of house at Oulton Broad, Suffolk

This trip was by an alternate route, South to Ipswich and switch trains for London.  Though the train left on time, it was slowed for some reason and then held at one point for a green light. Although the engineer called the station to hold the connecting train, we saw it just departing as we arrived at the station!  Several passengers were vocally disappointed with the service; no other tourists on this train, just locals, who were equally upset!  We only had to wait about ten minutes for the next train, but it was NOT an express, another milk run, and we arrived nearly an hour after our expected time.

Hungry again, we elected to walk outside the station and see what was there.  Evie said that it had been a seedy section of town in the past but it looks redeveloped now, very busy, and a pub right outside the station was packed with people standing around outside with drinks and cigarettes.  We found a nice little British hole in the wall right across from the station, very narrow little cafe, but authentic English food.  I had a Steak and Ale pie and not only was it very good, but more than I could eat!

We took the tube back to Paddington, getting in after 11PM, and ready for bed!