Richard BatsonThe big freeze loosened its grip on North Norfolk a little over the weekend, as sleet and rain took over from snow and ice.Saturday was a difficult day with high winds blowing light snow into drifts, making early morning journeys to work difficult.Richard Batson

The big freeze loosened its grip on North Norfolk a little over the weekend, as sleet and rain took over from snow and ice.

Saturday was a difficult day with high winds blowing light snow into drifts, making early morning journeys to work difficult.

One snow plough and gritter even hit trouble, sliding off the road at bends near Northrepps airfield and ending up in a roadside ditch.

But strong and bitterly cold winds eased on Sunday, enabling many people to venture out for the first time in days, though some rural backroads remained tricky.

Bin collections in North Norfolk should be up to date by the weekend. A planned extra catch up collection last Saturday was postponed because of the continuing bad weather, but will happen this weekend if necessary, the council has said.

More than 2,000 bins went uncollected last week across the district in scattered areas, usually places with narrow roads or on slopes which the large lorries found hard to reach in the slippery conditions.