After arriving yesterday at Kings Lynn Camping and Caravan Park and being greeted by very accommodating staff, we settled in on our level gravel pitch for a few days RnR. Initially knowing very little about Kings Lynn, we relied heavily on TripAdvisor, Google and social media for recommendations about what to see and do during our four-day stay.

Clearly a town rich in history, Kings Lynn was one of England’s foremost ports as early as the 12th century and was possibly as important during the Middle Ages as Liverpool became during the Industrial Revolution. It was described as “the warehouse on the wash” and maintained it’s prominence as a port until railways took much of it’s traffic in the mid 19th century. Now, each year, the Queen arrives into Kings Lynn on her journey to Sandringham for the Christmas period.

Following our relaxing afternoon and a leisurely first morning, we embarked on a short 4-mile cycle to Kings Lynn for an explore. Relying on the accuracy of signposts was a mistake and we ended up in an industrial estate before realising the error of our ways. Still, easily rectified, we meandered through retail parks, along the one-way system and entered the town itself through a defence gateway – much like those in Bruges. Thanks to another wrong turning, we also managed to visit The Walks on the way to the town centre. Dotted with history and a plethora of play spaces, it was a great place to be as the sun came out.

Cycling through narrow, one-way streets, we found ourselves on the banks of the River Ouse, overlooking The Customs House which now housed Kings Lynn Tourist Information Centre. Relics of the fishing and naval history were scattered around, including a statue of Captain George Vancouver (Royal Navy).

From here, we found a suitable place to lock up our bikes and headed to the renowned Liquor and Loaded BBQ restaurant for lunch. With five stars on TripAdvisor, we had high expectations and were quite peckish. We were lucky to get a table in the window immediately and were soon perusing the extensive menu – what to have?! I was drawn to loaded fries – another throwback to Bruges – but ended up joining Colin in a two meat tray WITH loaded fries. By joining, I mean we both had one…each. Totally not necessary AT ALL!

We would highly recommend Liquor and Loaded to anyone visiting Kings Lynn. We were defeated by the sheer amount of food but the service, accompanying drinks and atmosphere were great. They recommend booking at busier times but, it was pretty busy even at lunchtime today and we survived. Let’s just say that the cycle back was slightly more painful!