I had nothing to do on Sunday morning then I noticed that the London Triathlon was on so I checked the website they were still accepting entries, excellent my Sunday was sorted, the bike would need oiling apart from that I was ready. Actually Mr T was doing the Triathlon I was going to watch. I had arranged to pick up A at 08:30 and we drove to the Excel Exhibition centre via the M25. The weather was great but a not of a chill in the air at that time. The atmosphere was clear and there were nice white clouds in the sky great for taking some photos.
The Emirates Airline (Dangleway) terminus Emirates Royal Docks end
Parking at the Excel wax expensive at £15 but A paid. We wandered to the centre a and grabbed a coffee then contacted Mr and Mrs T who were off the rack his bike and sign in. I went off and took some pictures around the Emirates Airway ( the Dangleway) including some panorama sets. I don’t like to take too many otherwise I have too many to do and sometimes rush them resulting in a far from perfect result. The weather had warmed up and cumulus clouds had joined the cirrus from earlier. All the different elements of the triathlon started and finished at the Excel so we watched the swim the hurried over to where we could see the cycling after one and a half laps of that we headed to the running area then three laps of that and we went to the finish. Mr T did it in about 2 hours 35 minutes and a bit which puts him in the very fits and take it seriously category.
Being home alone while Helen is on a weekend coach trip /song a long I needed Ian Visits website to rescue me by pointing me in the direction of an event to take a look at. 2 things took my fancy a Seeing machine museum in Tooting and the Eid festival in Trafalgar square I had a plan.
I was up early and and checked the logistics as I had breakfast, it turns out the festival starts at 12 and the museum opens at 14:00 not ideal for me I wanted am early start. I umed a and ahed a bit then spotted that the last steam train event on the London underground would be this weekend as part of the 150 anniversary of the tube, I now had a revised plan.
I arrived at Berkhamsted station bought a ticket and the train was already pulled in when I got to the platform perfect timing, the plan was coming together. The 08:31 train was quite busy but not at Berko so I easily got a seat by the window. It was a day train and skipped a few stations on the way in and arrived at 09:05.We passed through some reason on the way but nothing enough to dampen my enthusiasm.
Eid Festival Trafalgar Square London
I was running late the as I only had 15 minutes to get to Moorgate and it helps if you get the Bank line rather the the one that does not go through Moorgate, so I got off the treason that I just managed to catch and starved the journey back to Euston and got back on the Bank branch of the Northern line to Moorgate, once again jumping on just as the doors closed. At Moorgate I headed for the the Hammersmith and City line, the train was running late so I saw it since slowly into the station under steam. There were quite a few train enthusiasts there but not as many as I would have expected. Suitable pictures were taken and posted on Facebook. I had a chat to a policemen who was in my field of view, I had seen him worrying in his now pad and thought he might be a train spotter. My next stop would be Trafalgar square and I figured a trip round the circle line would be best as the trains depart from the next platform over from where I was stood.
After a pleasant journey with a seat I got off at embankment and walked up to Trafalgar Square where the festival was still in preparation. I had an hour to waste so o headed to the National Portrait Gallery I had a vague idea that the BP portrait award was on, I was not to be disappointed. If you are ever in London it is worth a look, it always amazes me how people can paint and it is only when you are within 6 inches of some of the detail that the brush strokes are evident. I have caught it a few times over the years and have always left in awe. I still had time for a coffee before 12 and it was welcome as the last one I had was for breakfast. The National Gallery cafe would be the venue which severed great coffee but tired looking Chelsea buns. The cafe has a queue up part and a table service with waiters in white shirts with aprons, something Helen would enjoy.
London Sewing Machine Museum
I hung around at the top of the square waiting with the masses for the festival to be opened. When it was my first mission was to find something to eat, there were plenty of stalls to chose from I had a Dahl rice and vegetable curry which I eat sat in a cordoned off arrears that the public seemed to think was out of bound but the security guards said otherwise so me and another couple had a whole table each with table cloth and an chiefly view of true stage. The cities were very nice work just the right amount of spice. Google provided me with a bus option to the sewing machine museum, number 88 followed by a 249 to Tooting Bec. The 88 was interesting as it went round the back of Westminster on small streets but past lots of Government offices such as the Home office. I changed at Clapham common, which I had never appreciated the size of it is a massive piece of green real estate. The locals were making the most of it some resting others playing sport tag rugby and volley ball the less common ones that I saw. I got off the bus at Tooting Bec about 20 minutes before it opens. It was not obvious where it was so I had to get my phone out and check the building number.
Shoes at the London Sewing Machine Museum
I went over to the building about 5 minutes early an Asian looking lady was there who asked me whether this was the museum. Then the owner of the museum arrived and said it would be another 5 minutes before it would open. The museum is owned by the the Wimbledon Sewing Machine Co. and is a real gem of a specialist museum. The ate literally hundreds of old sewing machines from miniature ones to industrial table top ones on display in glass cabinets in two large rooms and a few side rooms. I spent so me time looking around an taking some pictures, it was surprising how specialised some of them were built for a single purposes such as joining carpets or stitching eyelets in leather. There were photos and letters on the wall from presidents of sewing machine manufacturers on the walls up the stair way the owner had and/or is a big player in the sewing machine market. The owner looked quite an old and I hate to think what might happen when he is not around to look after it. There should be some scheme like the listed building scheme to preserve the collections that are worthy of preservation. I picked up a copy of ISMACS News the official journal of the International Sewing Machine Collectors’ Society to read on the journey home. By the way if you want to visit the museum is open from 14:00 to 17:00 every first Saturday of the month, its website is here.
ISMACS News
I jumped on a bus but then decided that the tube would be quicker and jumped off the bus at South Clapham where the Northern line goes to Euston without the need to change lines. I got talking to a guy who was interested in photography and said I should take some pictures of the people to in the carriage, explained that I preferred landscape photography he seemed a bit out of it and it was hard to hear what he was saying over the noise of the train, so I was glad when he got off a few stops later. I spent the rest of the journey using the Virgin WiFi at each station to purchase a battery case on Ebay for my mobile phone as I regularly run down the batteries on a trip to London because I use the GPS a lot for navigation and use the screen a lot for writing this blog post.
I got the 15:34 from Euston which arrived on the platform at the same time that I did with a fresh coffee. I got a take away curry from Waitrose, yes my second of the day, and went home for an early night, tomorrow I am back in London to watch Mr T do a Triathlon at or around the Excel exhibition Centre.
I had the day to myself so thought it would be good to find something interesting to do. We have been in a spell of hot weather recently but today things are a bit cooler. A quick look at http://ianvisits.co uk came up trumps there was an exhibition all about Japan at Earls Court. I have become very interested in all thing Japanese since Helen and I spend a week there a couple of Yeats ago.
I dropped Helen and Gladys off at church then headed straight for Berkhamsted station, but my timing was not great as I was between trains so had to wait 20 minutes for the 09:39 which was on time. Earls Court is easy to get to BT tube, Google maps offered a couple of options I went for Victoria then Piccadilly. Despite being cooler it was still hot and getting hotter. Entry was £15 and there were no queues.
Japanese pop stars
I was not sure what to expect but was quite surprised when I got into the hall. There was a food area which was expected, a gaming area, Japanese crafts and lots of demos. What really surprised me were the people taking part in Cosplay, lots of people (mainly late teens or early twenties walking around dressed as Manga/Anime characters. It was a bit like I imagined a Star Trek convention would be. I did a quick tour around to get the general layout of the place then started again but in more detail.
The games area was quite interesting seeing all the latest games from Nitendo and Sega, but that is not really my bag any more. There were some martial art demos and I hung around to watch some of the Kendo fighting, which was good. In another corner there was a professional wrestling ring which was fun to watch. Other spectacles weree Japanese pop artists singing their songs I was surprised at the number of your people singing or clapping along there is clearly a Japanese sub-culture going on in the UK I also so a Japanese male performer in a pink kilt, being very energetic on strange running up and down very enthusiastically which impressed me given the temperature in the hall,
Cosplay people
There was a good amount of stall but most of them were of no interest to me : Swords and knifes, Cosplay accessories, games etc, of interest were some of the crafts, t-shirts, and food. Two stall in particular stood out the Bonsai stall which was next to a Bonsai exhibition, which had some trees that must have taken years of care to get them looking so good, and a Japanese puzzle box stall where you could buy wooden boxes that have panels that slide in various ways to eventually allow the box to be opened. I saw a couple of good t-shirts but noting that gave me the desire to part with money. I did buy some octopus balls or Takoyaki as they say in Japan, which I had some how missed when I had visited. They were very hot but tasted great.
By about 13:30 I had had enough so headed back to to Euston to catch the 13:54 back home to watch the Tour de France, but things did not quite work out well. When I got home I put on some washing then switched the TV on but we seemed to have no power or we had partial power I could not work out was was going on. Some appliances where on (or at least had a display) but other not. After some investigation I measure the voltage in a socket we only had 50V, and a quick check with next door they were out too. So I went up to Hillside for a coffee. It turns out the TDF was on live later as they wanted a time that suited TV viewing figures, so I got to watch it anyway.
I have mentioned the Ian Visits website before on this blog, well today we attended two events we we spotted there. Both events are a bit unusual and completely different. First we visited a rarely open WW2 bunker, then we went to a dentist surgery to have a look at Elvis Presley’s false tooth. The day started with a bit of a panic, when I realised that although we had got up at 07:00 to get to Neasden in good time I thought we had to be there at 09:30 but when I checked the ticket it said 09:00. Any how we left the house at 07:45 and the Sat Nav was suggesting that we would be there by 08:55 plenty of time we thought!
RAF museum at Hendon
The Sat Nav it turns out take account of traffic it knows about but that is not all traffic so after following it to detour the traffic it did know we ended up in queues that it had not anticipated. At 08:55 we called Katy the organiser to let them know we were running a few minutes late. We finally go there at 09:20 and they kindly allowed us to tag along with the school kids on the 09:30 tour. The tour started by obviously going down some steps quite a few in fact, the tour guide was very good and explained how far down we were and the little amount history of the place. The Bunker was only ever used twice during the war then was locked up to hardly ever be opened again so no one really was aware of it presence and those that were had signed the official secrets act and could not divulge anything. For example they had contact with a person that whose duty it was check the phones worked every week but she could not tell them much about the place as she was only permitted to descend the steps walk along the corridor check the phones then exit they way she had come, blissfully unaware of the size of the complex.
Elvis and his false tooth
The tour took about an hour and was very interesting, the place was very damp (because when they built some houses on top they breached the water proofing) dirty mouldy and there were stalactites on the ceiling. The Paddocks as the bunker is know is made available to be viewed by the public twice a year by the housing association that built the house on the research site which was above the bunker. This was a stipulation of the planning consent and although the stipulation as run out they sill keep the pumps going to get the water out and pay for the lighting.
Once the tour was finished I suggested we went to the RAF museum at Hendon for a cup of coffee at the cafe there. It turned out to be a popular idea and a cheap one at that the parking cost £3 but the entrance to the museum was free so we had a bit of a look around while we were there. I took the opportunity to take a few panorama sets of photos before we left for the highlight of the day Elvis Presley’s false tooth.
Again Ian Visits tipped me off that there was a once in a life time opportunity to see Elvis Presley’s false tooth (or crown as they say in dental clinics). I set the sat nav and after 30 minutes in London traffic we pulled up outside a house in an Victorian housing estate in Bounds Green which had been pebble dashed and converted into a dentist practice. There appeared to be nothing happening but on the door was a poster suggesting an Elvis tribute would be there between 1200 and 1400. On entering we entered into a strange situation, there was an Elvis impersonator singing songs whilst the practice staff milled about with fancy dress on. On the reception counter was a clear perspex box containing a tooth moulding and a bright white crown, the object of our mission.
Elvis and his false tooth
There were a couple of press photographers taking photo’s, some Cancer Awareness representatives and Virgin Active sales people apart from that we seemed to be the only people there at that moment. A woman approached us and asked if we wanted a free mouth cancer check we said yes and filled out the forms. As we waited we made sure we got selfies with the tooth and were interviewed by the Mouth Cancer awareness people. We both declared clear so we left with our sugar coated cup cake!
We headed back via the super market and endured a very violent hail storm on the A41 and were back home to good time, after a bizarrely interesting day.
Helen is at work this morning I was unsure what to do with my self, I had thought about the UK Photography show at the Birmingham NEC but decided against on Saturday. However when I woke up I decided that seeing as I had to drop Helen off at work I may as well keep on driving up the M40 and have a look.
Yesterday I made the most of the great weather by going for a walk in the morning . I did the walk I blogged here but I bit off more than I could chew when after I got back I had an offer from N for a walk from Nrothchurch to Ashridge NT Cafe. So that afternoon N&M walked from Northchurch to the monument at Ashridge. Trouble is by the time we got to the cafe my knees were complaining so rather than walking back I got a lift back to Northchurch with P and left the other two to walk back.
The exhibition I did not go to
However I digress this is a post about the UK Photography show at the Birmingham NEC. I left Aylesbury just after 08:00 after dropping Helen off, then headed to Bicester to pick up the M40, and I stopped at the first services for a coffee as I had not had time for one earlier. The motorway was pretty quiet I noticed that spring was on the way as I say lots of rooks flying about in pairs as wells as quite a few common buzzards often being harassed by the rooks. I made good time and arrived at the exhibition center just before 10:00 and was soon on the shuttle bus from the car park to the exhibition halls.
The entrance fee was £10 which when added to the £10 for parking is quite steep. I need to figure out how to get trade entry to all these things, as well as saving money you get access to all areas. The exhibition was fairly busy and all the usual suspects were there i.e. Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, as well as a lot of the major camera shops.
A few things attracted my attention. First was a Chinese guy selling sensor cleaners that are basically a cude of gel on the end of a plastic stick, they were no cheap at £30 but they clearly work from the demo he gave cleaning someones camera. Trouble is I thought I would go back before I left to buy one but could not figure out where he was when I went back. I took my time to have a look at the Wacom Intuos tablets which replace the mouse with a tablet and pen. Helen asked to to look for a birthday present I think I may have found it. There were lots of stalls selling camera rucksacks which I could do with replacing but I just could not be bothered to fight the crowds to take a good look.
The UK photography show 2014
Amongst the other exhibitors there were plenty of people selling ways to print and display photo’s and plenty of tripods to look at . The current trend in tripods are ones where the legs folder right up in the opposite direction from which they are used, this ensures that the head is between the legs when it is folded up and it results n a very compact package. Trouble is the good ones are circa £250.
After about three hours wandering around I had had enough especially after all the walking on Saturday, so I left and headed south. I picked up the ingredient to make a Thai style coleslaw for tea and picked Helen up in Aylesbury.
I got Helen some theatre tickets to see Mojo at the Harold Pinter theatre for Christmas, to lessen the pain for me not a theatre lover Helen agreed to go to the LHC exhibition at the science museum. We also planned a visit to the The National Theatre to look round the free landscape photographer of the year exhibition in the foyer. The day was all planned out.
We were booked on the LHC at 10:20 so had to be up relaunched early to get the train from Berkhamsted. We left the house at 08:40 with the hope of getting the 09:01. I had filled out a form for a rail card the night before so we could get one their of of the tickets, it works only take two trips to London to start to make savings something we would easily do in the year the card lays, the cost was £30.
Turns out I had filled out the wrong form we needed a child to qualify not something you can rustle up at the ticket office. The was an alternative so we got one of those instead same price same conditions just different form! The delay meant that we had to get the 09:15 which it turns out was an express so made little difference to our arrival time.
A bit of the LHC
We jumped on the tube at Euston and were soon at the science museum which is a short walk from Kensington Station via the French style cafés. At the museum we headed straight to the exhibition as we were a bit late for our 19:20 slot. The show starts with a multimedia show on a curved wall with scientists explaining their excitement of working on such a big experiment involving 10,000 scientists, and how they don’t movie if they have found any thing until the unblinding of the results a method used to take the human bias out of the experiment results. I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition and I think Helen did although she would never admit it. We had coffee and cake before leaving for our next destination the National Theatre for the landscape photographer of the year exhibition.
We granted a bus outside the V&A and changed at Haymarket to the 139 which dropped us of at Waterloo Bridge. The photographs wee very good but place was a bit b busy so it was sometimes difficult to get a good look at the pictures. You soon realise that it takes some effort to get a good picture when you realise that the photographers were at the top of a mountain to get the picture of the sunrise they must have walked up in the dark or camped out on the snow to get the perfect shot. If you’re in town it is with the effort and free.
Waterloo Bridge
Back on the 139 to Haymarket again for some lunch at Pizza Express, then it was over the road to the Harold Pinter theatre to see the play called Mojo, which had some famous actors in it. You may already know that I am not a fan of theatre the main reason is that I just don’t have the capacity to figures out what is going on. I have not problems with following films just state plays, I do enjoy the slapstick ones like “One man two governors” but it does not take much to follow the plot there. The important things is that Helen enjoyed it and I got a few brownie points for taking her.
It was dark when we left the theatre but eh journey back was simple despite there being a lot of people trying to leave central London at the same time as we did. We got the tube from Piccadilly Circus to kings cross then walked to Euston, and got the 17:54 express to Berkhamsted. Then it was share piazza from M&S a Netflix film and early to bed as it had been a long but very enjoyable day.
The weather on Saturday was appalling so I busied myself preparing stuff for the 3d printer build, of which more will follow in later posts. I was roped in to dropping Helen and our elderly neighbour off at church, so I took the opportunity to grab a weather window and head to the hills for a walk. The forecast was for rain around lunch time.
After a drop off at church I drove over to the car park above Whiteleaf, it would mean I was starting high and intended to remain high up for the walk. The sun was bright and low and the rain over night had really cleared the atmosphere so I was hoping for a few good pictures. There was a brisk wind and the air temperature was low so I was wrapped up well with several layers.
I tried to keep to the woods to be out of the wind but also it is better for bird watching. I headed towards the viewing point but turned left passing The hangings, then on thorough Sergeants wood and eventually got to Solinger house, I then had a choice and headed up Knightons Hill woods, then picked up the path that heads to Hamden house, which is a strange place to house an insurance company. I had a look round the grave yard and took a couple of HDR pictures then headed directly towards Great Hampden, along a very slippery path across a field, as I got the village in my own little world, a jogger made me jump as he warned me of his arrival. He apologised as he ran by.
Little Hampden Church
I had to take a bit of road out of the Great Hampden then took the path through Keepers Hill wood to Redlands End where at the cross roads I took the path that leads to Grimms Ditch, which bought me back round almost to where I had passed earlier. Taking a left I headed towards Green Hailey farm.
Near the farm there is a garden shed build between three big metal posts about three metres tall one of which has a two metre satellite disk bolted to it. The shed has been there for years, and I have often wondered who uses it, my guess was that it was some sort of radio or tv enthusiast. I noticed that the door had been forced so I took the opportunity to take a look inside. I was right the shed was insulated, (you would want it to be if you were to be sitting in it during the winter), and contained coax wires, switches and a couple of electronic boxes. There was not much room to move inside to one side there was a single deep shelf that probably housed the tuning equipment and served as a desk. The other side was shelved floor to ceiling and probably contained the receiving equipment, which had now been removed apart from a couple of boxes. On the desk there were some written notes and print outs of tv stations. Shame it is not used anymore it would have been good to have a chat with the person who used it.
As I headed the last couple of hundred yards towards the farm it started to rain very heavily, so much so I sought refuge in the lee of one of the out buildings, until the rain stopped about 10 minutes later. It was then just a short walk back to the car.
The rain remained for the rest of the day so I was glad I had made the most of the weather.
The Eelsfoot pub at Eastbridge Suffolk near Southwold, is a gem of a pub we found quite a few years ago when we rented a cottage in the village. We have probably managed about two trips a year since. This year we were there for new year but have not managed to visit at all since. We both had a days holiday to take so just to keep up our records we booked two nights.
We left the house at what for us was a tardy time of 10:00 so we did not get to my aunt’s house until 11:30. After catching for an hour and suitable filled with coffee and cake we headed back onto the A12 destination Minsmere RSPB, and arrived at about 14:00.
We had a late lunch of cheese toasties and hot chocolate. On the way out I was tempted by a small pair of Swarovski binoculars, Helen owes me a birthday present but although the 8×25’s were lovely they were expensive at £400 and I would have liked to have tried a pair of 10×25’s so we left them for another day.
It was the middle of December so the light would be gone by 16:00 so we decided a walk out to island mere hide and back before some Christmas shopping in Southwold. It was raining so we did not spend much time on the way to the hide looking for birds. We joined for other hardy souls who were having to peer through windows covered in rain drops. We were so rewarded by a bittern fly by over the reeds across the water. There was not much else to report home about. The rain stopped so we took the opportunity to walk back to the visitors centre for some RSPB Christmas shopping.
Eelsfoot Eastbridge Suffolk from the back
Next stop would be Southwold just 25 minutes drive away. Parking is usually difficult but late on a rainy Friday afternoon in December there were plenty of spaces in the free car park near the top of the high street. We were quite successful on the Christmas shopping front, sometimes things just come together when you don’t try too hard. We just came across thing that made sense for the people we still had to buy for! I saw a male onesie in a shop window coloured grey and red stripes, luckily no one on my Christmas list deserved it. We got to the pub at about 17:30 so we chilled out in our well appointed room till about 19:30 as H&N would not be joining us until after 21:00.
The of first pint of Adnam’s is always the best way one and it did not disappoint. We had some great food I had cod and chips and Helen had cheesy chip and a side salad there was some ying and yang going on there somewhere the salad cancels out out the chips doesn’t it? N&H turned up at 22:00 they had not had the day off like we had. We caught up and discussed where we should walk on Saturday.
We woke up at a reasonable 07:30 and took our time getting ready for breakfast at 08:39. Very precise time you might think, N had suggested 8:30/9 and we thought he meant 08:39, but it was within N’s range. They have changed the breakfast routine at the pub you used to fill out a form the evening before but now they make to order. It does mean you can make up your mind at the last moment. It turns out that we prefer the pre-ordered breakfast. We sat down and had to wait quite some time before we were asked if we wanted coffee or tea, then once that had turned up we waited again before our breakfast order was taken. In all breakfast took over an hour!
The weatherman had offered us sun all day for Saturday and we were not disappointed blue sky horizon to horizon. We took the path from East bridge to the sluices down by the sea. The sluices are being renewed and there is lots of machinery and temporary piping. In the gorse we spotted a pipit but could not decide on water or rock, a stonechat was also perched as usual on top of a bush. from the east hide we saw some waders amongst the usual ducks, including godwit, redshank, and knot. The star duck was a single male pintail. Next stop was coffee at the coast guard cottages, and some of my mums Christmas cake from last year, which we had to freeze on large lumps and take on weekends away over the course of the year, it lasted well and was a much better alternative to an energy bar.
Minsmere RSPB Reed bed
We headed across Dunwich heath in the hope of seeing dartford warblers, it did not take us long to find a few, quite close in and given the low winter sun, the views were cracking. Towards the end of the Heath we took a path which would lead us back round to the visitors centre at Minsmere RSPB where the cafe provided a great late lunch, including parsnip soup, baked potato, spinach bake and cheese and onion toastie. Suitably replete we headed out to Island mere hide where we were hoping to see bitterns, but we failed to see any, but we did get great views of a hen harrier, a bird I have never see before. It was very distinctive with light grey wings tipped with back feathers at the extremities. We left the hide at about 15:30 hoping to see some barn owls over the fields near the pub but they were not out hunting. We got back to the pub at 16:30 and retired to our rooms and agree to meet up at 18:00 in the bar, it had been a long day and we anticipated an early night.
The sweet potato and chickpea curry went down well so did the Adnams, the Eelsfoot won the annual best cellar award, so you would expect it to be good. We were relatively restained and retired to bed at a reasonable 22:30. Next day the sun was shining when went to breakfast at a tardy 09:00, when service was a bit more friendly and swift. We packed paid the bill and headed to the visitors centre at Minsmere RSPB. We did a quick loop along the new sea wall to coastguard cottages then through the woods and back to the reserve where Helen and H did plenty of shopping. The weather had clouded over and it was threatening rain. We had some lunch in the cafe but had to sit outside because a coach party had taken over most of the cafe. We left at 13:30 and made good time to be home at 16:00 with rain all the way. A great weekend with a lucky weather window.
We woke up to a glorious day, the sun was shining and there were white fluffy coulds against a deep blue sky, the only slight downside is that it was cooler and there was a strong wind to make it worse. I had toast and coffee for breakfast then we all left the house destination Southwold.
The drive from Thorpeness to Southwold takes about 30 minutes, and keeps you away from the A12. We parked up a the pier car park and even managed to find a free parking space. The pier is an interesting place in particular there is an arcade room but all the games are one offs and involve some sort of mechanical feature. The attraction is called The under the pier show and the link I have included probably explains it better than I ever could.
We then headed towards the shops but stopped off at a beach side age for some lunch I had a lovely fish finger sandwich, and an Americano. The weather made for great photography so when the women went shopping I disappeared off round town to make the most of the light. We al met up at 15:00 at the pier arcade and shoved a pound or two into the tuppence waterfalls and day at the races machines.
On the way home we picked up a mini barrel of Adnams bitter, and some parsley. The beer needs to stand for 24 hours but the parsley would be used in the pasta sauce I am making for the evening meal.
A leisurely start to the day, but we knew we had to make the most of the weather as rain and wind was promised at 14:00. So we left relatively early at 10:30 and headed along the coast to Adleburgh. The wind was against us as the storm which was centred to the west of us was bring winds along the coast. We spotted just above the beach the ideal house for Helen and I it looked quite modern with an asymmetric roof, the the clincher was the vast open plan, glazed ground floor and the bedrooms on a second floor.
Just as we got to the edge of Aldeburgh we popped onto the beach to have a look at the controversial sculpture of the scallop on the beach. Apparently it weighs five tonnes and is made of stainless steel. To me I think it looks like it belongs and is a nice addition to the beach. Further into town we checked out the statue of Snoops a dog near the boating pond. There were no flash boats on the pond just kids with the cheap local sailing boats.
We found a cafe with sats outside (we had the dog in tow) and ordered tea and coffee all round, then we had to put up with the choices of some hooray Henry’s talking about their big night out and how they lived in Chelsea and traveled often to New York.
Aldeburgh Beach tractor
We took a less direct route back which had us turn left on the main road out of town then take the footpath thought the church where Benjamin Britten was buried, then onto a disused railway track to the edge of the lake at Thorpeness. The path along the lake ales you pas the disused windmill and the house in the clouds which is a five bedroom follie which our can rent.
It started to rain as we approached Thorpeness but no enough for us to get really wet. Popped to the ullage shop for some lunch provisions, but be choice was limited as it was about to close and their stock control system really worked, Helen and I had boiled eggs.
We decided we would take a drive out to Minsmere then spend a couple of hours bird watching from the shelter of a bird hide. As luck would have it the rain stopped when we got to the RSPB reserve, and we headed out to the South hide. We spotted red and green shank and the usual
ducks. Then we headed out to island mere just in time for it to start raining again. Helen spotted Bittern which I missed because I was tinkering with my technology, but we both saw the three great white egrets and a marsh harrier.
We returned to the hut to find the others were in the Dolphin pub, so we joined them for a great meal, which we enjoyed enough to book another night. A couple in a table next to us turned out to be from near Wobburn, and had connections to Aston Clinton and Halton, it’s a small world.
