Hunting for the famous Cromer crab

Excursion to Cromer

One colleague of mine recommended to visit the town of Cromer in Eastern Anglia. It is a fishing village famous for its Cromer crab and pier located just 35 kilometers away from Norwich where I stayed. So one Sunday I took the train there to check it out.

I like to go on excursions early in the morning to see places before the cities comes alive. When I reached Cromer just before 10 am it felt untouched. The November sun was about to rise and it was a bit chilly outside. Nevertheless, the British palmtrees was within sight when I walked the streets in town to do some window shopping. There were a lot of cute stores but since it was lockdown all of them were sealed and closed.

Cromer pier

I walked down towards the beach and famous pier. Was expecting a sandy beach but it wasn’t. There were some surfers hitting the waves in the cold water so stopped and watched them for a bit before hitting the walking trail.

Coastal hike in Cromer

It was windy and I had not enough clothes with me for this activity. Too late to do something about that now and since clothing stores didn’t classified as necessary shopping I couldn’t find any to buy either. The fact that I was freezing the whole time ruined my experience a bit but it was a joyable walk above the shoreline anyway.

There is an extensive network of coastal trails and this one at Cromer is a part of that network so many people were outside to enjoy it. But one thing I don’t understand is why so many people in UK go for hikes wearing Hunter boots and not running shoes or hiking shoes? can’t be comfortable.

One sight I had on my “to see list” this outdoor day was the lighthouse. Anyone else that for some kind of reason is obsessed with seeing lighthouses? I have no idea why I constantly want to see lighthouses when there are some but they seems like a magnet to me.

I walked for nearly two hours along the coast before turning back again and then I took the beach path. About one kilometer before reaching Cromer pier, which is one of the oldest in UK, there were some photo friendly colorful houses. Then I was back to the beginning again and now the town was filled with people that left their homes during this lockdown day.

Where is the Cromer crab?

So, the 1000 dollar question, did I manage to get hold of the famous Cromer crab? the answer is no. Queuing isn’t my favorite thing so I skipped that. Also the Fish & Chips restaurants were overcrowded with lines of 50 meters or more so after spending six weeks in the UK I had zero.zero traditional UK foods.