Holiday

Just back from a superb short break in North Norfolk, during which I combined hiking, driving around listening to loud rock music, and eating and drinking at the lovely gastropub where I was staying. Winter is a great time to get away from it all in the UK, as hardly anyone else is out, and so you get whole beaches and country estates pretty much to yourself once you get away from the carparks. Contrary to popular belief, it isn't all flat up there, meaning that both my legs and the car got a good workout. The roads are terrific for whizzing around, although they left the Smartie in a sufficiently muddy state that not only am I washing him as soon as I got back, but that I'm using multiple buckets of water to do so - a first. Driving from Cromer to Brancaster early yesterday evening I was extremely grateful to have a car which changes down when it really needs to, which is excellent for when corners turn out to be sharper than one had anticipated! Top notch full beam lights also helped. Only saw one other Smartie the whole time - a black fortwo with white daisies (or snowflakes?) all over - hello, whoever you were! I was going rather too fast over the crest of a hill to have the response time to wave.