Cor, blarst me - that must have been a high tide in Sheringham!

It swept a Viking longboat to the very top of nearby Beeston Hill and left it stranded there for an hour.

In fact, a 15-strong team carried the craft carefully up the 207 feet (63m) hill, known affectionately as Beeston Bump.

They wanted the world to know about the town's Scira Viking Festival, which takes place on February 13 and 14.

Festival organiser Colin Seal said the stunt was a 'bit of fun and theatre'.

The dragon-headed boat was also accompanied by two Viking maidens, complete with flaxen plaits and horned helmets.

Made from plywood and roofing battens, the wet boat weighed about 200 kilos as it was carried up the slope in the rain.

It has taken a team of volunteers about four weeks to make but will go up in flames on February 14 at the traditional Norse boat-burning climax of the festival, on Sheringham beach.

The event, now in its third year, is part of Sheringham Carnival and aims to attract people to the town out of season.

It will include a Viking village in the garden of the Lobster pub, battle re-enactments, a children's poetry competition, storytelling and an atmospheric torchlit procession preceding the boat-burning ceremony.