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.
A&C invited to spend a couple of days at the beginning of their holiday in Burnham Overy Staithe, we jumped at the chance, for some walking and bird watching on he North Norfolk coast. I when home at lunch time to get our luggage and then left work at 16:00 and picked Helen up from work. We had a pretty good journey considering hat it was a Friday and the weekend weather looked like being fine. Apart from the odd stretch of slow traffic, we really never got in a traffic jam except of at Brandon but we expected hat because there is always a queue of traffic stretching out to the edge of the town, caused by the traffic lights at the centre.
About 30 minutes away from the coast we got a all from A they had failed to get to the shops of time to get everything they needed, so we did a quick raid on the Waitrose at Swaffham for some cheese (including some of that Bleu Affinois), bread, salad and coffee. We arrived at the cottage a about 19:30. A&C did us proud with some lovely roast butternut squash soup, with foccacia and Bleu Affinois! We sat around and chatted, and went to bed about 23:00 pretty late for us, even on a Friday.
Holkham Beach Panorama
I was awake early the sun was shining which made it difficult to get back to sleep but I snoozed until about 08:00. We had breakfast while we put together a vague plan of action. We planned to walk from the house heading out on the coastal path towards Holkham, which is one of Helen’s all time favourite walks.
We headed out along the sea defences it was surprising how cold the wind was and I had just about got enough layers with me. The sea defences lead to a board walk that takes you over the dunes, and onto the main beach. We walked along the beach checking out the flotsam to be found at the tide line, then headed back over the dunes about halfway to the gap, and not the pine wooded area, for a change of scenery. It was surprising how much warmer it was n the shelter of the wind. We eventually found the hide and had a rest, watching out over the marshy field area, where at one point we saw a Marsh Harrier being harassed by lapwings as it searched out presumably lapwing chicks wandering around on the meadow areas.
Holkham Victoria Little planet
We took a slight detour at the gap to look at the area behind the beach where the samphire grows, then headed over to the cafe at the entrance to the Holkham estate, where we had a light lunch. We had some time spare before the next bus so we took a look at the tutt in the Adnams shop, and the supposed outdoor shop that just sold clothes. We did take a look at the shopped called Bring The Outdoors In which had a mix of genuine old stuff, hand made flotsam things and manufactured goods, even I was impressed by some of the goods. However I did not purchase anything.
Next it was the coast hopper to Burnham Deepale, where I just had to drop into the One Stop Nature to have a look at the stuff they sell. Everything you could ever want in terms of looking at nature, from books to binoculars through stealth camera to microscopes. As much as I liked the stereo microscopes they would not have fitted into my ruck sack as it was full of camera gear.
The next leg of the journey was to be the short walk along the sea defences back to Burham Overy Staithe, or so we thought. The weather was starting to close it and there seemed to be rain showers all around, however we managed to keep out of all of them. Our destination seemed to get quite close but then we realised and Helen and I remembered that there is a significant dog log in the defences which adds about a third to what the length of the walk looks like. We eventually got close to the village, and the path leads off across the field towards the wind mill but I thought I knew better, I spotted a foot path that lead in land rather than along the road.
Woodland Walk from Cley Spy
Eventually the pat ran out and we were stuck between private property notices and water/mud. We did not fancy retracing our steps so started looking for ways out of our predicament. Whilst looking for exits from a filed we heard a voice asking us if we were lost, we explained we were, and the nice lady rather than being angry to find us trespassing, offered us the opportunity to walk up her drive to the road. What a kind person.
We were soon back at the hut, it was about 17:30 we had been out for 7 and a hlaf hours and had probably covered 8-9 miles. However there is no rest for the wicked we had a table booked for 19:00 at The Hero we had time for a cup of tea, a freshen up, and a cheeky glass of champagne and we had to leave the hut again.
The Hero is a pub that does good quality pub grub, the staff are really great, and the beer is good to. We had a bit of a potential mishap in that the wrong order came out, but it turned up the wrong plate had been picked up and all ended well. We had for starters chicken liver parfait, vegetable spring rolls, goats cheese tart, and mackerel pate, for mains two Dover sole, spring vegetable risotto, and duck. Everyone agreed the food was great. Back at the house we chatted away the rest of the evening.
A’s crab collection
No one was up early on Sunday, and we had a leisurely breakfast of muesli, yoghurt, strawberries and toast washed down with tea and coffee. We formulated a plan, we would take two cars to Cley Spy the binocular shop for a quick perusal then we would do Bayfield Bird Walk which Helen and I had done a few times before but always enjoy.
We did not spot many birds on the way round but we did enjoy the early summer lushness of the woods, the weather was overcast but quite warm so it made for a very enjoyable walk, and we did have a laugh amoungst ourselves and we went round. At the Wild flower center we stopped off for coffee and cakes, then finished off the last leg of the walk back to Cley Spy, where unfortunately Helen and I had to leave for home, leaving A&C to enjoy the rest of their week. We pointed them in the direction of Cley marshes and the local delicatessen, and said our good byes we had had a great weekend.
Our journey home was pretty uneventful and took the regulation 3 hours. We were very jealous of A&C who had managed to get out on the marshes at Cley and had seen a Bluethroat a bird neither I not Helen had ever seen, it would be a good start to A&C’s holiday bird list.
We were up early had, breakfast then left the hut at 09:20, destination Hickling Broad NNR, about two miles walk. It was a pleasant walk, mainly by track and footpath, we arrived at the visitors center and attempted to book a place on the 1030 boat trip but unfortunately it was full, but there were some places on the 13:30 so we booked that one in instead.
As we had three hours to while away we started off slowly with a coffee, whilst we sat and drank our coffee we were surprised at the number of birds we spotted just sat there; Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Robin, Tits etc. We set off around the reserve stopping off at the Cadbury hide, named after the family who purchased the land and then donated it to the NWT some years ago. The Cadbury family still have a link with the reserve as they lease a lodge deep in the reserve and next to the edge of the open water. When someone is staying they raise an appropriate flag, today a flag with a Marsh Harrier was flying. We did not see much from the hide the I think because the water levels where so low the habitat was not how they had intended it when the hide was built.
In the next hide we thought that a situation was in front of us until Helen spotted a Water Rail. The Water Rail is a very elusive bird normally only observed briefly when they venture out of the reeds. The low water level was to hep us in this situation, the edges need the reeds where the rails would normally feed was dried up forcing it to wander out into the open. We saw it forage slowly and then go into a small patch reeds where we lost sight of it but our patience was rewarded when it came back out into the open for a while before a short flight back into the reeds. Along with the Black Tern yesterday the Water Rail wold be added to the weeks highlights.
Observation tower Hickling NWT
Next it was down to the far edge of the reserve and past the Lodge leased by the Cadbury family, where we headed back towards the visitors center making the walk into a circular one. We ate the sandwiches we made back at the hut with another instant coffee then we walked back into the reserve to find the mooring for the boat trip.
There were not many birds to see on trip I think we were just there at the wrong time of year, all the winter wildfowl had left and the spring/summer migrants delayed by the delayed spring weather. The guide had some interesting facts to convey to us, one that stuck out was the story of Emma Turner who was a victorian naturalist who got permission to use an island on the broad which was used for hunting. She had a house boat built and a hide then lived there for the next 25 years, photographing and recording the birds.
We walked back to the hut and got back at 16:30 so we had a long day out in the field. We ventured out to the The Swan pub at Stalham an Adnams pub where the food was great.
We were up at a reasonable 08:00, and had some toast and coffee for breakfast, then lounged about till 10:00, then headed out the plan was to go to Cromer. We took the A149 which follows the coast al the way round to Kings Lynn.
When we got to Cromer we had a change of heart and decided to go to the the Poppy Line, a steam train line, at Sheringham. Being just a little bit further down the coast, it did not take us long to get there, and park up. We paid £5 for a days parking. We went to the ticket office and bought tickets for the trains, the way it works is once you have the tickets you can jump on and off the tran all day for £16. The next steam train was in a hour so we had a look around Sheringham and stopped for a coffee, before waiting on platform one for the train to arrive.
The train was full but not packed, everyone got a seat. They were having a Thomas the tank engine weekend so all of the engines had plastic faces attached to them, which did It make for good photo’s. There is a stop at Weybourne and it was where the main Thomas stuff was going on we took one look and decided to stay on the train till Holt.
At Holt station there is a bus stop, and one was due in less than 20 minutes, so we thought we would wait for be bus as it is about a mile and a half into town, however after about 30 minutes there was no bus, and we had a dilemma we needed to get back in time to get to a supermarket for our planned evening meal, so we ended up heading back to the station and got a diesel train back to Sheringham.
Boats near Sheringham
On the way back we stopped off at the North Walsham Waitrose, and picked up some supplies for dinner. We dumped the food back at the hut then headed out for a walk on the beach at Sea Palling, which is a strange place. There is a concrete ramp leading to the beach between the sand dunes, the local fisher men use it to launch their boats. Once over the dunes there is some break waters out a sea they clearly have an erosion issue, there were some serious boulders piled up for a mile or two out at sea with a gap every hundred or so yards. As we walked down the beach we spotted Sandwich and Little tern.
We returned to he car park by heading in land over the dunes then following a track parallel to the beach. Along the track there were quite a few wooden shacks of varying sophistication many of them with water, electricity and phones, I even think they had off mains sewage.
Back at the main area I dropped in to the amusement arcade, and changed a fiver for some 10 pence pieces. The arcade had a strange system of tickets wins prizes, every time you had a go on a machine you would get tickets and if you actually won you got even more. I got two 75 ticket wins on a roulette style game. You take your tickets to a machine where you feed them in and they get counted and you are issued with a receipt if the count. I had enough for a pen so I went to the counter and showed my tickets and said could I have a pen any pen. There was one confusion the lad thought I wanted to borrow a pen, but eventually were on the same wavelength. I followed him over to the cabinets and pointed to the only decent looking pen. He had trouble finding the pen I wanted so I settled for two sets of highlighter pens.
Back at the hut we lounged around again (well we are on holiday) then had salad and anti-pasta for dinner. We followed that up with a game of knock out whist, which I won. Then we settled down in from of the telly to watch the antiques roadshow, rock n roll, followed by the last episode of the village, and great series on BBC1.
It has been some time since I did a blog post, so here is one to cover the weekend. Friday was quiet I had noodles for tea while Helen was out for an early meal at the pub. We found the comedy series “2012” on Netflix so watched a couple of episodes, then retired to bed early to make the most of Saturday.
Saturday morning we were up early Helen, had a few things to do, so I busied my self in the garden. We now have a big flower pot with mixed herbs in it. I actually excavated our composter and spread some of it about on the veg patch I created a couple of years ago. I have onions and garlic growing which I planted before Christmas and they seem to be coming on well. The gap between the onion rows seemed wide enough to get another crop in between, so I put in three rows of different lettuce and a row a radish seeds. I have some seeds which have started to sprout, in a plastic tray divided into one inch square plugs, I need to wait before transferring them to the veg patch.
Dancersend Nature Reserve
I put some dough ingredients into the bread maker, before picking up Helen, the plan to have a walk around College Lake. The weather was gorgeous, the sun was shining and it was pretty warm. Having not been out bird watching for a while it was a real treat to see some of the spring birds. On the trees were the usual tits, but Helen spotted a Willow Warbler, and could then hear a Chiffchaff. In the scrape viewable from the octagon hide, we saw Snipe, Little Ringed Plover, and Redshank as well as the usual ducks, geese and swans. Next stop was to be Tesco for some Pizza ingredient, remember I put on the bread dough before i went to pick up Helen.
Suitably stocked up with pizza toppings we headed to Wilstone reservoir, I had heard reports of Arctic Terns passing through. We parked up and climbed the bank, but there was no sign of any of the bird we might expect. No Martins, Swallows, or Terns not even a common Tern, so we jumped back in the car and headed home, to find the dough had not risen very well probably something to do with the out of date yeast. As it turns out the dough did rise when in the oven but not as good as it could have been, but the pizzas were divine.
Spring and Autumn on one branch
Sunday started with a trip to church for Helen and a lazy start for me watching the London Marathon on the TV. Before Helen got back I decided I would have a go a making some bread by hand. I chose a wholemeal recipe and added some walnuts and seeds to the mix. I used some yeast that was almost out of date (there is a pattern emerging here) which needed mixing with sugar and warm water to make it work. I mixed everything in a bowl and then kneaded it for about 10 minutes before putting the dough in a bowl to rise. Helen got back and we decided so make the most of the weather by having a walk round Dancersend Nature reserve. We left the dough to rise.
The reserve was pretty quiet considering that this the the first real warm weather we have had fro some time. Spring was here for sure, leaves were emerging from the tree branches and wild flowers where staring to bloom. We spent about an hour and half strolling around the perimeter of the reserve, highlights included Chiffchaff (heard by Helen), Nuthatch, Buzzard and a couple of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers trying to attract the attentions of a female. We headed back to the house and I finished off the bread, knocking it back, kneading then covered it in seeds and left it to rise before scoring it and chucking it in the oven.
I then mowed the lawn and did some weeding in the flower beds, I have plans that this year I am going to make and effort with the veg patch and the rest of the garden, whether it lasts all summer remains to be seen!
I have not posted for a few weeks so I thought I would do a catch up post. Last weekend I went on what seems to have become an annual trip to the Outdoor, Bike and Boat show at ExCel exhibition center in east London. I am interested in all three so it is really good value for money, three exhibitions at one venue all on one £20 ticket. You can save money by booking online early but although they advertise a £4 saving it turns out that there is a £2 booking fee.
It had snowed recently so I was not sure whether I could get there so I did not bother with the paltry £2 saving. As it happened the roads were clear once I got to the A41, and the roads were quiet I think the snow had scared everyone off. I got to the venue by 11am and parked up which cost me £20 for the day, quite steep if you are the only person attending.
Snow Wendover Woods in Black and White
The halls were quite quiet whilst I was there I think most people waited to see what the weather and road reports had to say before heading out. However by the end of the day it was very busy. The exhibition was not quite as good as last year where I enjoyed the cycle polo, which this year had been replaced with an evening criterium race. The highlights of the day were a talk by Charley Boorman about his new vehicular adventure, and the launch of the Madison cycle team, who were all going to use steel bikes!
This weekend started with a film, Django Unchained on Friday evening. Helen and I really do like to start the weekend with a film. I gave the film a 4/5 but Helen gave it 4/5 for the first two hours but only 1/5 for he last hour, which I have to admit was a bit violent. It was classic Tarantino, and one I enjoyed especially the first 2 hours.
On Saturday Helen was busy with her visiting sister, so I took the opportunity to head to the hills with my camera, it was probably the first opportunity to get pictures of the snow without it either snowing or there being a grey sky. I parked up at Dancersend, and headed up to the Ridgeway above Tring park, then across to the Cafe in the Woods in Wendover Woods. The sun shone the whole time and it was great to be back out in the fresh air after having spent the past two weeks cooped up either in the office or at home.
Snowy view from Dancersend
Saturday evening was a real treat we went to a talk at the local church in Aston Clinton, St Michael and all Angels, for a talk by one of the curates Carole Peters. Carole had in a previous life been an investigative journalist starting off in newspapers then progressing into television. She told us about her adventures in Africa investigating war lords, and in Haiti too. It was very interesting. Everyone bought finger food and there were drinks for sale. I was quite unusual to be drinking beer and wine in a Church, without the vicar handing it to you in a silver chalice with a dry wafer.
On Sunday we went to see another film, Hero Dark Thirty, about the hunt for Osama Bin laden. It was a well made film which confused me at first. I give it 4/5. That was the end of an action packed weekend.
It was not raining so only one thing to do, make the most of it and go for a walk. We picked up the inlaws and headed up to Swan Bottom, and parked up at the Swan inn, then headed out for the usual circular walk.
The weather was grey but no rain, temperature was about 10 degrees. The ground was quite soft under foot on places. The whole walk took about 2 hours and looped round towards The Lee and back.
Valley view
At the pub we all had sandwiches and shared a couple of bowls of chips. There were plenty of locals at the bar one of then thought he was a comedian and decided to test out some of his jokes, ready for his performance at the local talent show. Some of them were good and he did a good Tommy Cooper impression. Turns out he was a skier, had a German mother and was born in Australia, quite some ancestry.
The food was duly washed down with a pint then we headed back home for some Raspberry Pi hacking. The plan was to get one up and running on a wireless LAN with a static IP.
We are off to the Eels Foot pub in Eastbridge Suffolk for New Year. The plan was to spend three nights there and leave on News Years day. We left the house at a reasonable time and stopped off on route to visit my aunt. We arrived at Minsmere by 14:30 and did a quick route towards the wooded area and island mere before heading of to Adleburgh for a quick look round the shops.
We got to the pub at 17:30 and checked in, this time we were in room 3 on the first floor with a view over the pub garden. N&H arrived early evening and we had something to eat and caught up over a few beers.
We are up at a reasonable 08:30 for breakfast, then we headed out for a day on foot H had a bad tooth so we weren’t sure how far we would get,but we headed towards Dunwich heath, on the inland path because we had heard that the path to the sluice bushes was water logged and wellington boots were needed.
The Ship Inn Dunwich Suffolk
The weather was gorgeous and it was great to be out in the sun after the recent bad weather that had kept us indoors. The chip hut at Dunwich was shut for the winter so we went to the Ship Inn which was packed to the gunnels (did you see what I did there?) So we had to take a table in the garden which was not ideal on a sunny but cold and windy day. There was a queue at the bar, we got drinks and ordered for bowls of chips which considering how busy the pub was came fairly quickly.
After a rest we headed back towards coastguards cottages for a coffee then we headed through the reserve of Minsmere the through the reed beds to the Island Mere hide, by which time it was getting dark, and all you could see were the Moorhens and Coots. The walk back from there to the pub was dark but even so we passed two or three sets of people walking the other way. We had another quiet evening in the pub.
The weather the next day promised to be wet and windy but when the day dawned the forecasts were good up until midday so rather than shopping we walked to Dunwich Heath and then back through the reserve, but where possible we tried to keep on different paths. We tried to get to the north east hide but the path was flooded and Wellingtons would have been needed, so we went to the north hide. There was not much to see other than the usual ducks. Helen thought she had seen a Smew and it was confirmed when we asked at the visitors centre. At the cafe we all had a coffee and something to eat, then we headed straight back as it was getting late and H&N wanted to pop to the Yoxford Antique centre, as it was not open on the 1st January.
Grey and windy North Sea view
New Years Eve in the pub started quiet, we hit the bar at 18:30 to ensure a table for something to eat, I suspected that I would not last till midnight. We had some more great pub grub, then chewed the cud for a few hours. I retired at 23:00 the others stayed till just after midnight. I did not get much sleep for a bit as our room was on the pub side of the building. There were fireworks at 00:00.
The next morning we had agreed with Julian the landlord to have breakfast at 09:30, as it happens he had been up since 07:30 and had not got to bed until 05:00, we did not envy him having to push on through, the pub was open all day and they expected it to be busy as the sun was out and it looked like it would be a great day weather wise.
Helen and I had to head off as we were meeting up with my brother and parents as we had not managed to get together over Christmas. The drive using the tourist route to Haverhill was great. We met up and swapped presents then Helen and I headed home.
We both agreed a pub is a great place to spend a few days at New Year especially the Eels Foot Inn in Eastbridge in Suffolk.
I spent the morning Christmas shopping, only two websites were involved, one of them does not pay tax in the UK but is very convenient and needs must. Christmas shopping done Helen was writing Christmas cards so I thought now is a good time to go for a walk. I was going to go up to Wendover woods but Helen wanted something from the shops to Wendover was now the chosen venue. The car park was pretty busy with Christmas shoppers, but after some patience I slotted the car into a parking space, purchased a parking ticket and headed up the high street towards Coombe Hill.
Wendover is a convenient place for a walk, you can park in the high street which means on the way back to the car you can stop off for a drink in a pub (Shoulder of Mutton and the Red Lion are both good) or a coffee at Rumseys. It is also popular with people from London because the railway station make the country side easily accessible. I usually walk to the top of Coombe Hill and back again, there is a main route up and down but there are plenty of alternaive routes to extend the walk and make it circular.
Gorse flowers on Coombe Hill Buckinghamshire
I headed up past the station and over the by pass, then forewent the left hand fork over the fields, for the direct route, which starts at the first bend in the road out of the town. The path flows the edge of the hill providing great views of Aylesbury Vale. Today the view was great with the vales bathed in low Autumn sun light, but the sun was the other side of the hill so I was in the cold shade. In the way up some birds flew over probably Goldfinch, but one solitary fly over had me intrigued, it had a very bright, almost fluorescent, rear I could not figure what it was. Bullfinch crossed my my mind but it was the wrong red and it was the rear not the chest. I referred to the internet when I got home and I reckon it was a Waxwing, I would not call it a definite ID but I’m now fairly sure it was. It makes sense as there has been a big influx in recent weeks, and they are being reported in flocks everywhere,even as far south as Kent.
At the top of the hill there is a monument, and took some time there to take some photos and admire the view. There were quite a few people out for such a cold day. I took a slightly different route back to the right of the way up but popped out almost at the bottom back on the path I had taken up. Down in Wendover I both some crisps for this evening and a lottery tick in the vain hope that I can stop work and live the life of Riley.
