Rhododendron, running and Ripitup

Second day of our Norfolk adventure got us up early to drive 30mins to Sheringham Park. Its a National Trust Area just outside the seaside town and is renowned for it's rhododendron and azalea display.  Perfect time of year to incorporate the parkrun. It was a lollipop shape taking us out to the magnificent views of the Steam train station at Weybourne, a Windmill and the sea before coming back through the woods. I had been concerned from the start, thinking it was still going down a long way, and coming back up, my concerns were realised! It was tough going, but not as bad as I'd thought and I just walked. Glad to be out in the sun and covering 5km in well under an hour. And an interesting course which I may even return to. Queue for coffee was too long, so we went to check out the main path down which is amass of colourful bushes and trees. We walked up a viewing tower  to see over the tops of pinks, purples, whites as well as flaming oranges, yellows and reds. It was totally breathtaking. On our way back for coffee and bacon bap I noticed a colourful bird of the finch family I think, which set us naming as many birds as we could alternately! We knew more than we realised. A drive down to the sea, we had a refreshing dip, once we'd managed to manoeuvre over the small bolders without breaking a bone. It was lovely to feel warm in the sun. We scrambled back up to the car to finish changing and just had a little mooch in the town, deciding that between Hunstanton and Sheringham, this was the better retirement spot due to it's train branchline to Norwich. Just saying.
We drove onto Holt and parked finding a fellow blipper, the Madhatter, in a pop up shop straight away. Michelle had met her before. What a lovely, talented lady making her own hats and fascinators. I tried on her brussel sprouts one! We had a little mooch again, but really starting to feel achey and creaky. Getting in and out of the car was producing lots of ouchy noises and groans.
We started to make our way home, stopping at Mundford for lunch and coffee. We sat outside in the sun and some customers had a bottle of beer, which made me put in a cheeky order for one with MrK  for when I arrived home.
A group of men in kilts were willing to have a photo taken after I asked them politely...Michelle thinks I chased them...I don't think I did!
Such a brilliant couple of days and so many pics taken. Thank you Ripitup! X
Oh and my darling MrK had the beer chilling for my homecoming.