Norfolk in November

I had a day to myself whilst visiting my parents so I went for a walk along the sea front from Sea Palling to Happisburgh and neighbouring Bacton were a third of Britain's North Sea gas supplies arrive in the country. Out to sea at Sea Palling there are nine great reefs built of Norwegian granite to help to protect the beach and low lying areas from erosion. 

The granite blocks were carried by barge from Norway and either placed in offshore reefs or on the beach as protection from the waves. Its called blue granite and in the right light it really does appear to be blue.

The idea is to let the sea replenish the sand that drifts along the coast caused by the predominant currents down the coast. The effect is to raise the beach level and the sand builds up behind the reefs with long fingers of sand stretching out from the coast to connect the reefs to the shore  at low tide.

So successful has the experiment been that the beach level has risen and the dunes behind have increased to smother some of the hard concrete sea defences that had also been built after the disastrous 1953 sea flooding that drowned over 100 people in Norfolk alone. The nine reefs were built in 1995 by the Environment Agency to protect erosion of the beach and the danger of under cutting the concrete sea wall.

 A purpose built gap in the sea wall and dunes.

 A second world war pill box that was incorporated into the sea defences.

 As luck would have it I also witnessed an inshore rescue life boat drill.

This is were the concrete sea wall finishes and the land rises to have cliffs facing the sea. The sea wall is to the left, the cliffs to the right and the central part of the photo shows the area between the two, and that indicates about 75m retreat of the cliffs over the 75 years since the concrete sea defences were built.

 A pill box that used to be on the cliff top whose foundations have long since been eroded and it has now plunged into the sea.

 The light house at Happisburgh (pronounced as Hayesburgh just to confuse non locals).

 Looking along the sea wall.

 Another view along the sea wall with protections along its base and one of the reefs out to sea in the distance.