Lifeboats in Cromer...

The following day we took an hour train ride to the small seaside town of Cromer where the skies were rather gray.

The original Cromer Pier in the form of a jetty dated back to 1391. The current pier was built in 1902 and was again undergoing renovation when we visited.

Near the end of the pier was a theater and café and then further along was the Cromer Lifeboat Station, which was open to the public. 

The current station was built in 1999 and is run by volunteers. The crew were called out eight times in 2018 to assist with a variety of rescues, but only once was this offshore lifeboat launched as the other incidents only required their semi-rigid inflatable lifeboat. Thus far in 2019, the Lester has launched three times.

Once off the pier, we could see the long wooden ramp used to launch the Lester. After lunch, we visited the Henry Blogg Museum, a lifeboat museum named after the most decorated lifeboatman in the Royal National Lifeboat Institute’s history; he served for 53 years on Cromer’s lifeboats helping to save 873 lives from the North Sea.