Dates

The following information is provided by the Secretariat for the use of participants at the WG-SAM meeting to be held in Norwich, UK, from 25 to 29 June 2018.

Welcome to Norwich!

…Where is Norwich?

Norwich is the main city in the county of Norfolk in the east of England (Figure 1), around 160 km to the northeast of London. It’s a place rich in history, full of picturesque cobbled streets, centuries-old buildings and home to two cathedrals. Situated on the river Wensum, just north of the former capital of the Iceni tribe and later Roman settlement, the city got developed by the Anglo-Saxons throughout the 5th century. Trade and commerce were important to this city from its very beginnings, and between the middle ages up to the 18th century, Norwich was one of the most important trading cities in England and second only to London. Norwich has a long-established tradition of brewing, and a local saying says that “There is a church for every Sunday and a pub for every week day of the year in Norwich”. Only one way to find out!

Figure 1

How to get to Norwich

By air

Norwich has an international airport, which serves connections to Amsterdam (NED). There are no direct flights between London airports and Norwich airport. If you’re flying long-distance, I would suggest checking if connecting through Amsterdam to Norwich is an option.

International flights are most likely to arrive in one of the three main London airports.

Stansted airport: Stansted is the closest airport and has a good connection to Norwich without needing to go through London. There are two options of public transport, train or bus.

• The National Express bus nr 727 leaves approximately every two hours for Norwich, the journey taking around 3 hours. Tickets can be bought either in advance on the national express website (https://www.nationalexpress.com/en), or at the airport itself prior to travelling. Tickets cannot be bought on the bus. The timetable can be found here: http://www.nationalexpress.com/nxportal2/pdf/timetables/727.pdf.
• The train for Norwich via Cambridge leaves approximately every hour between 05:00 and 22:57 from Stansted airport. This train often leaves from platform 2, which is the very furthest platform from the entry to the train station behind platforms 1 and 3. This can be confusing – please ask a guard to show you where the train goes from. At Cambridge change onto the train to Norwich. The train to Norwich goes from platform 5 or 6, which is behind platform 1 in your direction of travel. There is normally sufficient time to orientate yourself and grab a take-away coffee! The total journey time is approximately 2.5 hours. Train tickets can be booked in advance (https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/) or bought on the day at the station. The price is the same, so advance bookings don’t save on cost.

Heathrow airport: There are two options of public transport, train or bus.

• The National Express bus nr 727 leaves approximately every two hours for Norwich, the journey taking around 4 hours. Tickets can be bought either in advance on the national express website (https://www.nationalexpress.com/en), or at the airport itself prior to travelling. Tickets cannot be bought on the bus. The timetable can be found here: http://www.nationalexpress.com/nxportal2/pdf/timetables/727.pdf.
• The journey from Liverpool street station to Norwich takes around 1 hour and 45 minutes. Tickets for the train can be pre-booked and are substantially cheaper if booked ahead (https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/).

To get to the train station from Heathrow airport, you need to either use the Heathrow express or Heathrow connect services to Paddington station. There change onto the tube (follow the pink and/or yellow lines on the floor – the Circle or Hammersmith & City line), and go to London Liverpool Street (total time 45-60 minutes). Trains to Norwich go every 30–60 minutes from there, usually on the hour and half past the hour.

If you want to take the tube from Heathrow, please ask the guard at the Picadilly line for the best way to connect to Liverpool Street station (approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes).

If budget allows, the easiest way is to get a taxi between Heathrow and London Liverpool Street station, but this is likely to take longer than public transport. Luggage storage facilities are available at London Liverpool St if you want to explore London on your way through.

Gatwick airport: There are two options of public transport, train or bus.

• The National Express bus nr 727 leaves approximately every two hours for Norwich, the journey taking around 4 hours. Tickets can be bought either in advance on the national express website (https://www.nationalexpress.com/en), or at the airport itself prior to travelling. Tickets cannot be bought on the bus. The timetable can be found here: http://www.nationalexpress.com/nxportal2/pdf/timetables/727.pdf.

Trains from Gatwick to Norwich via Cambridge go a few times per day (approximately every 3 hours). More frequent service is via the Thames Link to Farringdon, change onto the purple Hammersmith & City line eastwards to Liverpool Street, where you can get the train to Norwich directly. Total travel time is around 3.5 hours, and trains to Norwich from Liverpool Street go every 30–60 minutes. Luggage storage facilities are available at London Liverpool St if you want to explore London on your way through.

By sea

The nearest ferry port is Harwich. From there, take the local train to Manningtree from the train station directly next to the ferry terminal, and change at Manningtree for the train to Norwich. If coming from the Netherlands, Stena Line and Greater Anglia offer “Rail&Sail” https://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry-to-holland/rail-and-sail , where the ferry ticket allows to travel to any Greater Anglia station (includes Norwich, London, Cambridge) inclusive, as well as travelling to/from Amsterdam.

By train (Eurostar)

Take the Eurostar to London St Pancras. At St Pancras, walk to King’s Cross (which is on the other side of the same station), and either take the train to Norwich via Cambridge from King’s Cross (see Stansted Airport), or take the Hammersmith & City (pink) line towards Barking to Liverpool Street and from there the direct train to Norwich (see Heathrow Airport).

The meeting venue

WG-SAM will take place at the University of East Anglia (Figure 2). The University is around 45 min walk from the city centre, 15 minutes by bus, or 25 minutes by bicycle. The university campus has several coffee places and a grocery store, but is not near to restaurants. The university borders directly onto the Broads, a lake region home to a variety of wildlife (birds especially).

Figure 2

Where to stay in Norwich?

The connection between the university and city centre is frequent with buses going every 10–15 minutes until the late evening. Norwich also has the Ofo bike scheme, a rent scheme for bicycles through a mobile app (https://www.ofo.com/uk/en/), and the cycle direction to UEA is fairly straight forward. Norwich city centre is filled with restaurants, tea rooms, coffee roasters, pubs, and small local breweries, as well as a large covered market (which has been going in the same place for 900 years), small independent shops, many quirky little lanes, and historic sites. The easiest would be booking a hotel within walking distance to the castle (52.6287° N, 1.2964° E) or the train station (which is less central), from where several bus lines go to UEA. Details on bus lines can be found here: https://portal.uea.ac.uk/documents/6207125/6385406/Buses+to+UEA+May+2016....

If you prefer to stay closer to UEA, there are several hotels and B&B nearby as well, with regular connections into city centre. The proximity to the Broads allows for long walks. Broadview Lodge is the hotel run by the University of East Anglia, and thus located directly on campus: https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/visiting-staying/visitor-accommodation/broad....

Getting from Norwich to Cambridge

Trains from Norwich to Cambridge go several times per hour. Direct trains go once an hour, and two additional connections per hour go via a change at Ely. The total travel time is around 1 hour 15 minutes. Timetables can be found at https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/.

For any questions on Norwich and local arrangements, please contact Marta marta [dot] soffker [at] cefas [dot] co [dot] uk or Sam samantha [dot] vettese [at] cefas [dot] co [dot] uk.