Burgh Roman Fort

We arrived in Norwich and checked out our new accommodation. Unfortunately it’s not quite as luxurious as our previous two AirBnBs. It appears that our host is fairly new to the game, and has only provided us with minimal equipment, particularly in the kitchen. Also, we had some issues with the TV, and at the moment can only watch iPlayer and Netflix. All of this has been communicated to the host, and she turned up yesterday morning with some additional pillows, a toaster, and other items.

Once we were sorted out we headed out to the coast, to find Burgh Roman Fort. This is a ruin, but the walls are still standing out in the open. Originally a coastal fort, the Norfolk coastline has changed so it is now found in marshland away from the shore. We parked up in the car park, then got into a virtual argument with the app they use for parking. Because my credit card is New Zealand, it has a billing address with a four-digit post code. The parochial app designers insist that a post code has a minimum of five characters, so wouldn’t accept my card. I left them a 1-star review, explained their incompetence, and deleted the app. Fortunately we found a machine that would accept old-fashioned card payments, so we did that. 

The East Gate...was here

Walls!

There are various signs around to tell of the history of the site, but other than that it’s out in the open air and you can walk around the walls. It was once garrisoned by equites stablesiana, a Roman cavalry unit. The rest of the area is a nature reserve, and we were on the look out for wildlife. We saw some reed warblers, but otherwise it was common birds. Still, it’s an interesting place.

We stopped for lunch at the Queen’s Head, then decided to head to Wroxham, capital of the Norfolk Broads, and walked along the river. There were swans and geese on the river, and a heron on the bow of a boat. As we walked along, a gentle rain began to fall. This quickly developed into something less than gentle, and so we initially took cover under the tree, then decided to abandon our plan to find a café and instead ran across the car park to get into the dry car. We headed home to find that Norwich was completely dry! It was still quite early and the risk of showers decreased, so Nicola went on a walk to find her grandma’s old house in Norwich.

Norfolk Broads