A Trip to White House Beach CAMC Site

Last minute as normal for us. Completely unplanned. Saturday morning the day dawned as it normally would, the weather wasn’t too bad, still not summer as we know it but it’s not raining. ‘Let’s take the caravan away’ he says. Not wanting to miss a trick I quickly book White House Beach in Suffolk, I don’t want to give him chance to change his mind. Now, whilst we do actually have two days to get ready, away from the caravan these are quite busy days so trying to squeeze in time to make the caravan bed and get it ready to go away proves a task in itself.

Caravan hitched up by 11am on Monday morning, off we trot, in the rain, wouldn’t you know it, good old British summer in July. The roads were awful. Traffic everywhere, not moving very quickly, it’s a good job I’ve got my crochet with me. Road works seem to be the latest trend or should I say, signs for roadworks and lanes coned off with not a worker in sight seems to be the trend. We hit the A12 and every tractor that could be on the road is out in force. It feels like we are on our way to the edge of the earth. The traffic slowly winds it’s way ahead of us, it’s starting to warm up, the sat nav says we are close, the tractor 6 cars in front of us says he’s going to drag out this last few miles for us.

Arriving on site, we are welcomed and sent on our way to find a pitch, not many to choose from but we think we’ve picked a good one, reversing in, the sun comes out. I chuck things around in the caravan, hoping they land in the right cupboard whilst The Boss fights with the canopy in the breeze.

After our ping, ping curry we decide to go for a wander. It’s early evening and there’s still some warmth in the sun. Through a little gate behind the office and you are on the beach side part of the site. All non awning pitches but with the most beautiful views of the sea.

We weave our way down the beach towards the sea, there’s still a breeze so the waves are a little lively. Breathing in the sea air, we head down the coast where the village of Kessingland meets the coast, we find ourselves drawn into the beer garden where we people watch and chew the fat. This Site, it’s location and everything about this stay feels good.

The seagulls chunter occasionally through the night, we can’t quite hear the sea from our pitch but the peace and quiet feels good.

We rise late and only just make it to the shower block before cleaning time. Tandem out, we head mainly off road down towards Lowestoft. The front is quite busy with holiday makers, enjoying their family time away from work and home. We nab a bench and eat our butties whilst staring at the sea as the seagulls stare at us hoping we drop a few crumbs.

The beach stretches for miles and is relatively quiet despite being the school holidays. Miles of Golden sand in each direction, whereas near the site it’s a shingle beach. Whilst the prom and the beach are beautiful just a street away is the town centre which is typical of seaside towns these days, a little tired and run down.

This holiday seems to be another week away where we get our money’s worth out of the tandem. The Boss spends time with a cycling map of the local area lent to us by the wardens and google maps. He finds lots of bridle ways, cycle paths and quiet county lanes to keep us out of the traffic.

Southwold, home of Adnam’s beer, a town of two halves saw us mooch around the pretty little town then mosey on down to the harbour. The harbour was busier than the town, with a pub that was doing a booming trade and a couple of little huts that served as a restaurant, and wet fish shop and even better, a fish and chip shop. Slightly better than your big standard fish and chip shop, this one had an alcohol license. Picnic benches positioned around were starting to fill up, especially the one under the canopy as the sun was just starting to gain strength. We parted with just shy of £40, say it quickly and just tap the card machine and it doesn’t feel that bad. Fish and chips for two, mushy peas, ketchup, a pint of Adnam’s and an orange juice, lovely view of a working harbour and a wet sticky knee as I knocked my orange juice over.

Finishing off our food and as fish and chips go it was very good, we notice the queue is starting to grow. An older couple look lost as they try to find a table so she can sit whilst he stands in line to place their order. We utch up a bit and offer places at our table telling them that we will be off in a bit. Conversation comes easily with the lady, from Essex visiting their second home in Southwold, they like to come as often as they can. So almost a local, she starts giving us advice on things to do and places to see Walberswick, just across the harbour is apparently worth a trip. We can see rooftops above the trees and decide that that’s another trip out.

36 miles round trip, on the bike on another day took us back to Walberswick. A trip far longer than if we had chosen to use the roads and ride amongst the traffic but also a route that took us through villages and countryside we wouldn’t have seen had we chosen to pedal less miles. Walberswick was everything the lovely lady at the chip shop had said. A quaint, typical English village with a couple of pubs, houses of every shape and size and a pottery display outside the village hall. St. Andrew’s church is worth a look, the church stands within the remains of its predecessor built in 1473. With no information on the church’s history that we could find we weren’t quite sure how it came to be as it is. Good old google when we got back to site doesn’t paint an elaborate picture of it being burnt down by opposing religions or any other interesting tale. It simply came into disrepair so they built a new one.

For a little respite before pedalling back we try one of the beer gardens, a pint of Adnam’s and a packet of their crisps to put energy in our legs for the journey back.

Riding around we find a church with a round steeple and thatched roof that are, according to a lady watering the church flowers, unique to this area.

The sun gains in strength and a lazy day by the caravan is something we savour. When we worked on site we missed days like these. Just lounging around, in and out of the sun, reading a book. What could be better?

We ventured further afield on the bike and visited Beccles. An area of the Norfolk Broads where down by the boats and the water is popular with the local ice cream shop doing a roaring trade.

In the car this time we head back to the Norfolk Broads. An area quite dear to us with loads of happy memories. Our first ever holiday together was on a boat on the Norfolk Broads when 6 carefree teenagers set sail into the unknown on their own for the first time 40 years ago. The holiday was such a success that we returned for the three following years with various friends to simply enjoy what was then a very peaceful and tranquil pub crawl by boat. Wroxham, was busier than it had been when we first came but Roy’s of Wroxham still holds court in the centre of the town selling practically anything you could wish for. Reedham, another favourite village to moor up in for the evening all those years ago, remains mainly unchanged. The Two pubs we frequented The Lord Nelson and The Ship still going strong. We choose to hunker down in the beer garden of The Ship under a large parasol, reminiscing of being cast adrift in the middle of the night here and games of darts with a prize of a yard of ale.

As the holiday draws to a close, I feel like this has been time spent in the caravan that I needed. Whilst I find it hard not to have my work head on whilst on site, I am learning to not see things anymore. Whilst incorrect pitching, washing cars and vans on site amongst a few I could list, I am learning not to let it bother me anymore, albeit slowly. My love of caravanning is returning. The weather has helped, that was always my problem when we worked for the club, we only got to use our caravan properly in the winter and my philosophy has always been that in order to enjoy winter caravanning you need to have used it in the summer first.