Interviews / 28 February 2024

The Big Winter Roam 2024 with Cat Is Loaf

On Sunday 18th February 2024, team Cat Is Loaf embarked on a journey, traveling station to station in aid of Cats Protection.

For the whole month of February we are walking 100 miles as part of the Cats Protection challenge ‘The Big Winter Roam’. Altogether there are three of us from Cat Is Loaf taking on the challenge, and on Sunday 18th February we took part in a coastal hike to help us towards our goals.

It is hard enough getting up at 8.30am on a normal day, however on a Sunday it just feels so much worse. The weather was wet and windy and we were up to catch a train to the small seaside town of Sheringham. The goal of the day was to walk the coast from Sheringham Train Station to Cromer Train Station.

The start of the day was a bit of a rush, the rain was very heavy as we sped quickly to Norwich Train Station. With our huge umbrellas in hand, we wanted to at least get to the seaside and start our hike before getting completely drenched. We met up with Paul at the station and hopped onto our train. It was about a 40 minute journey which allowed us to have a warm drink and dry our clothes a little before we arrived at our destination.

Having only been at Sheringham once before, it was lovely to briefly look around the town before we head near the coast to the start of our hike. A lot of beachside towns are seasonal, so unfortunately the majority of the shops were closed and not due to open until April, so we weren’t able to look around too much.

The tide was in, so initially we were not able to walk along the beach, so instead we opted to walk along the Norfolk Coast Path and up Beeston Bump. It was at this moment, not even 5 minutes into the hike that tragedy struck and Paul’s umbrella snapped! RIP Umbrella. The wind was too strong so even while myself and Si had umbrellas, we stopped using them for the rest of the journey to stop another casualty.

Our second battle was the uphill trek up Beeston Bump. There wasn’t much of a path, and due to the weather the ground was very muddy and slippy. Paired with the wind I was surprised none of us slipped over. However, once we made it to the top, the view was lovely, even with the misty and wet vibes. You could see the ocean from one side, and the town of Sheringham below on the other. It would be lovely to return in the summer to take in all the sights properly.

As we approached West Runton, we discovered that our path had flooded due to the rain, so we had to descend to the beach. It was at this point we realised that the tides still coming in and this portion of our walk became a race before time. We knew we had about an hour to get to East Runton before the tide cut us off.

Thankfully we managed to get to East Runton just in time, and we were able to see Cromer in the distance. We decided to proceed with the rest of the walk alongside the beach. The beach walk was a rough one due to the uneven sand and rocks which slowed down our progress slightly and also increased the difficulty of the walk. After a while though we finally entered Cromer.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment we decided to relax for a while and spend some time in the Cromer Arcades. We all lucked out quite well, with Paul winning a pack of Pokemon TCG cards and a Gengar plushie from a penny pusher, Si winning some sweets and myself winning a Bulbasaur vinyl figure.

As a final send off to the cast we walked along the Cromer Pier to have a look around before heading to the train station to return to Norwich.

The train ride home always feels quicker than the journey out, and this train was no different. It felt like as soon we sat down on the train we were already back in Norwich. We arrived back into Norwich just as the sun started to set, we finished off our day with a riverside walk to either home.

Overall I am so eternally grateful for my partner Si and our friend Paul for agreeing to complete this challenge together. It was great to spend the day out by the coast, despite the weather and to achieve something as a team.

If you would like to support our journey through this challenge, you can donate to the cause over on our Tiltify pages.

Amber’s Page | Si’s Page | Paul’s Page
Cat Is Loaf

Written by Amber Elphick (Cherebi)
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cherebi@outlook.com