Another Suffolk Blog

A surprise visitor

2008-11-23T19:43:00.005Z

We were amazed to see a hedgehog appear today while watching the birds feeding in the snow. He was only little, so we gave him plenty of food to help get through winter.

The pheasants weren't too sure what to make of him!

Update:The first picture was shown on BBC Look East on Monday evening - except they stuck a BBC banner right across the hedgehog which kind of defeated the point of sending it to them!

New walk report added

2008-11-20T10:16:00.002Z

Over on the side there ------->

Pictures and report on Hadrian's Wall path is finished. The next report is already underway, the Cumbria Way, which we walked straight after Hadrian's Wall (the two link together nicely).

I've added up the miles from walks this year on long distance paths and it comes to just under 400 miles taking their 'published' distances. In most cases I think we do at least 10 miles above that, with detours to bed and breakfast, visiting places on the way etc.

Anglesey Abbey

2008-10-20T17:29:00.006+01:00

With the perfect autumn weather we took a trip at the weekend to visit another nearby National Trust site - Anglesey Abbey near to Cambridge.

Although the house looked lovely, we decided to miss this out today. With our NT membership we find that we tend to be more relaxed about visiting places and don't feel we have to rush and try to fit everything in.

The gardens are extensive, and very well planned. Each area flows into the next quite naturally so we didn't have to keep doubling back on ourselves. There's a mix of formal gardens, avenues and woodland.

The trees are varied, and so are in different stages of colour changing. Despite all the compaints about a wet summer, apparently it has been a perfect season to produce this autumn display.

Lots of leaves on the ground too which were great to rustle through.

Each avenue we walked along had people taking photographs. Though everyone was quite polite and took turns, which means it doesn't look busy at all!

I always wonder how much of these planned gardens the original owners ever get to see. It must take years before everything is complete and the trees are fully mature to give the final effect.

A final shot which is now on the background of my computer.

Orford - Castle and Ness

2008-09-27T14:34:00.006+01:00

For a change this is a post about somewhere in Suffolk on my Suffolk Blog.

Last weekend we took advantage of the great weather that's finally arrived and went for a day out to Orford. Here we were able to use our memberships in both the National Trust and English Heritage all in one day.

First was a trip over to Orford Ness on the National Trust ferry. The trip costs just £3.70 for members, and you can spend as long as you like on the Ness, subject to catching the last ferry back at 5:00pm.

There are trails to follow around, which must be kept to. A lot of aircraft testing of bomb trajectories was carried out on Orford Ness, and so there is a danger of unexploded ordinance still to be found.

We started out by going to the displays about the history of the area which is inside one of the old military buildings.

From there the trail continued on to reach the lighthouse, which is one of the major features.

After stopping on the beach for a picnic lunch, we walked back across the expanse of shingle to head to some more of the buildings. Though as you can see, it's difficult to get away from that lighthouse with the ground being so flat!

Next point on our tour was the Black Beacon, which was built to house an experimental navigation beacon in 1928. Now it is open as a great viewing platform through small slotted windows. Each window has a picture above it to label what can be seen in that direction.

The second trail we followed took us out towards the tall masts which broadcast the BBC World Service radio. This section of the ness contains lots of grazing marshes, and channels of fresh water. We saw plenty of gulls around, plus some little egrets and wheatears.

After catching the boat back to Orford we called in for a cup of tea at the Riverside Tearoom, then walked back up through the town to the castle. Here our English Heritage cards got us in for free and we collected our audio tours to lead us around.

The tour gradually led us up the levels of the castle, ending up on the rooftop. From here we could see all over the town and back across to the lighthouse.

Unfortunately we had to rush the tour a little, as it lasts for almost an hour, and we had just 50 minutes until the castle closed. We skipped the introduction, and also the basement section.

Back outside we had a brief walk around the ridges of the castle defenses, getting the whole building in a picture by using a wideangle lens which has made an unusually bent castle.

The castle really shone in the evening light, looking quite golden.

We ended the day by going for tea in the Kings Head pub.

Another walk featuring many pubs and pictures

2008-09-16T12:45:00.002+01:00

Finally finished another blog reporting on a walk. This time it's the turn of "The Inn Way... to the Yorkshire Dales" which we walked back in May this year. It's taken a while to get around to writing it up, mostly due to the other holidays we've been on since then, so you can look forward to future reports from:

Hadrian's Wall
Cumbria Way
The Inn Way... to Northumberland

But for now, please redirect yourselves to:

yorkshiredalesinnway.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday to Me !

2008-08-21T14:19:00.001+01:00

That's all

Geocachers Galleries

2008-08-14T11:24:00.002+01:00

In our geocache "Meadows Meander", which is hidden in Ufford, we placed some disposable cameras so that the people who found it could take their picture.

The cache has now been in place for three years, and so far two cameras have been filled. Last night I finally got around to scanning in all of the pictures and uploading them to a web gallery. So if you've always wondered what sort of people would use multi-million dollar satellites to locate tupperware containers then have a look here and here.

Maybe someone you know will turn out to be a geocacher!

More wildlife

2008-07-25T17:07:00.003+01:00

With the ducks having left home, we are now enjoying watching some nocturnal visitors to the garden. Last year we saw loads of hedgehogs around, so we put out some shelters for them to hibernate in over winter. They are now back again, and this year we're ready for them with a camera!

The first was taken about 9:30 the other evening, so was a bit dark. A bit of photoshop editing has brought the light level up by quite a bit. The second is a picture of the TV, showing the live feed from the camera we've got set up by the food - hopefully there'll be more images to come.

One month on

2008-05-16T12:24:00.002+01:00

Haven't they grown!

Feeding Time

2008-04-11T15:00:00.002+01:00

We have some new visitors to our garden this week...

Pembrokeshire Coast Path

2008-04-09T12:20:00.002+01:00

It's taken a lot longer than expected to get a blog written up about walking the Pembrokeshire Coast Path in July last year, but finally it's finished and publicly available! It's in a similar style to the Lake District one, with photos to show what each day was like.

Also there's a list of places to stay, useful even if you're not walking the whole coast path but are just looking for a B&B in Pembrokeshire.

The new blog is at pembrokeshirecoastpath.blogspot.com so please have a read and enjoy the sea air.

Caching around home

2008-02-08T12:15:00.000Z

At last some good weather. We decided it was time to get out for a decent walk as we hadn't done much distance this year so far. To pick somewhere to go we looked for the nearest geocach to home, which turned out to be in the village of Gedding.

The route from Hitcham to Gedding is the way I drive in to work each day along nice quiet lanes, so we stuck to the roads to get there. It made quite a difference being on foot, seeing so much more of the surroundings. Of course it took a lot longer too! A little under 2 hours, compared to the normal 10 minutes.

Once in to Gedding the GPS led us to a little church, which I have never been past before. The cache was hidden just a short distance behind the church on a footpath. It was easily found, and we dropped off one of our 'calling cards'.

The church is very decorative, with flint inlaid in patterns. Looking from the churchyard you can also see Bill Wyman's house.

We left Gedding, and then took followed footpaths to get to Bradfield Woods. Here we stopped for lunch, a flask of soup. It was freezing though, so didn't sit for long. We then decided to continue on footpaths to take a different route home. This way we also spotted a few deer in the fields, and also saw a bird with a long beak which we think must have been a Woodcock.

Total distance in the end was just over 13 miles which felt like a good bit of exercise.

A year in pictures

2007-12-14T12:40:00.000Z

The following 12 pictures are the ones picked out for our 2008 calendar. We've had them printed by Photobox, and wrapped them up ready to give out as Christmas presents. We did some last year, and they proved so popular that this year we ordered 32 of them!

Brrrr.....

2007-12-12T15:09:00.001Z

Well Tuesday was cold, but today even worse! It's times like this when living out in the countryside has it's problems. The roads become very slippery so getting in to Bury takes twice as long. And then there's having to defrost the car in the evening before heading home again :-(

Still, the BBC monthly outlook is saying that there may be some snow on Christmas Eve. I do hope so!! None before then though as we have to get up to the Lake District. After that then all snow is welcome, particularly if we get stuck in our cottage until spring!!

Silence

2007-11-28T10:56:00.000Z

Hope you aren't finding the silence too unnerving, take it as more of a comfortable silence!

The other week on the radio they played 15 seconds of silence (Chris Evans on Radio 2). Any longer and the automatic backup at the station would kick in and play a pre-recorded tape. Since then I've had a few journeys to and from work with the radio off for a change.

At least I'm not alone - a drought seems to have hit blogs lately, so this is now a companionable silence.

Maybe I'll put up a few photo posts soon of images from this year....

A Saturday afternoon project

2007-10-13T23:27:00.000+01:00

Take one corner of a garden

Add in two logs

Position birthday presents of:
1 x Tin bath
1 x Watering can
1 x Tap
1 x Copper pipe

Finish off with
1 x Bag of stones
1 x Frog
1 x Solar powered pump
and some water

Geocaching Monday

2007-10-09T16:08:00.000+01:00

As the weather was reasonable and we had spent the weekend indoors completing our Inn Way report (yes it's finished! - click here to read all 9 days and recommended B&B's in the Lake District) we decided to get outside and find a few geocaches.

Looking on the website there were a few new caches set up that we hadn't been too, and we could also combine visiting them with checking up on some caches that a friend of mine owns.

First we headed to Ixworth Thorpe and had a short walk along a farm track and through some woods to get to the site. This seemed a popular path with runners, several times we were passed as we hunted for the cache container just off the footpath. Eventually I found it and we filled in the log book.

Next stop was Ampton Water where we did our first check on my friend's cache. It was still well hidden and the container was full of things to swap.

Back in the car and over to Coney Weston for the next new find. The cache was called 'Gnome Sweet Gnome' and we soon found why :

The cacher who set this one up likes creating unusual hiding places. Another later in the day wasn't anywhere near so obvious as a bright red door in a tree! Again the name contained a clue - 'Not Mush Room' - therewas only space in the 'container' for a slip of paper to sign.

We then enjoyed a good walk around Knettishall Heath, performing another maintenance check there. This cache hasn't been found for 6 months as it requires some work to find out where it is hidden.

Finally we dashed over to Brandon Country Park and had a very quick walk around a route there to check on the third of my friend's caches. The log book in this one was full as it's a very popular spot, so we put in a new one.

According to the GPS we totalled up a little over 7 miles in all of our short walks, so not bad for an afternoon.

Further progress

2007-10-02T16:15:00.000+01:00

More days have now been added to my Lake District Inn Way report, including the amazing photographs of Buttermere.

I've booked to go away to the Lakes for Christmas this year, so hope to get lots more photographs then too.

A second blog

2007-09-27T11:32:00.000+01:00

Once again I haven't written anything here for a few weeks. The Inn Way walk in the Lake District went ahead as planned earlier this month. 9 days of walking, just about 100 miles, went into 43 pubs and sampled 55 different ales!

That's not quite as bad as it sounds - I wasn't staggering around the fells in a drunken stupor. Each drink was only a half, and then that was shared between the two of us which brings it down to a much more reasonable sounding 1.5 pints per day.

I have starting writing up each day's walk with details of distance, pubs, scenery and accomodation, including lots of photographs. I've done this as a separate blog which is now available to view. Vist my Lake District Inn Way blog page.

The first three days are there, with the fourth due to be ready tonight. Hope you have a read and enjoy it.

[Update - day 4 is now complete. Day 5 to follow with some amazing photos of Buttermere]

Blogging on the move

2007-09-01T18:33:00.000+01:00

I just got a laptop for my birthday which means I can now get on the internet wirelessly. I thought it would be nice to be able to sit out in the garden whilst browsing the web. Unfortunately my connection currently dies just before I get to the garden table!! A little playing around with the router box position should help get the few extra feet I need hopefully.

Also I can now see that several people nearby have their own wireless networks running. Somebody has one of those BT Home Hub things - wonder who that is? Out here at our end of Hitcham there aren't many houses so I was surprised to see so many networks.

I am now starting to set up a new blog with details of our Pembrokeshire Coast Path walk. Most of the photographs are now tidied up and ready to be published. It's taken longer than expected, as weekends have been busy recently. Last weekend was my niece's 8th birthday. R made a fantastic cake for her:

This was taken just after blowing out the candles which is why her name has a slightly Dali-esque look to it!

Would you refuse free money?

2007-08-09T16:30:00.000+01:00

Sounds a silly question, but after a quick poll here there are a lot of people who do. They nod along as I explain it, then decide that it's all too much effort. Telling them that I've collected over £400 in six months picks up their interest again a little, but you can see they aren't going to do it themselves.

The secret to this is cashback websites, in particular www.quidco.com. Online merchants will pay a fee if you arrive at their web site from a referrer (such as Quidco). In the case of Quidco they then pass this fee on to you. The only thing they do is keep back the first £5 that you get in a year to cover their costs. Other sites typically keep back a portion of every referral fee they get.

The biggest amounts of cashback come from insurance - something that we nearly all need to buy every year. At the moment you can get back up to £120 with some insurers. In fact this brought the total cost of car insurance for this year down to just a few pounds (the insurer also sent me some vouchers for taking out a new policy which was nice of them) I was close to ending up in profit!

Finance has become something of a hobby of mine over the past few years, enough that I could bore anyone with it if I went on too much. So I'll leave it there, and hope that some readers may follow through the link above.

Slow progress

2007-07-27T17:06:00.000+01:00

No blog updates in 4 weeks! Two and a half of those were because I was away from any form of computer enjoying my holiday. Since being back there just hasn't seemed to have been the time.

All the photographs from the last holiday are still waiting to be organised and run through photoshop to smarten them up a little. Work has been keeping me busy during the week. Too many stacks of paper at home to sort through in the evenings. Where does it all come from? I think the Royal Mail disputes may actually be a good thing! I can get the current piles out of the way before anything more arrives.

Other free time has been spent planning another holiday (yes I'm going away again!!) In September I'll be walking the Lake District Inn Way - 90 miles, 7 days, 44 pubs... basically a long distance pub crawl. I'm trying at the moment to book bed and breafasts along the way. Ambleside is proving to be impossible. The walk starts there, so had planned to arrive on Saturday, stay the night and then start walking on Sunday. But nowhere will accept a booking for a saturday night only. They all want 2 nights minimum. Some of them even advertise themselves in the guidebook to the walk - that shouldn't be allowed! Now I'm ranting and so will stop here and calm down.

Holiday Time Again!

2007-06-29T17:30:00.000+01:00

Yay - it's Friday, it's 5:30 and it's time to finish for a two week holiday!

Pembrokeshire Coast Path here I come. Well, just need to pack tonight and then navigate over to Wales tomorrow whilst avoiding any floods. Then it's a few days in a cottage to relax before starting the walk proper on Wednesday next week. 185 miles, 12 bed and breakfasts (so 12 full cooked breakfasts!) and I'm sure a there'll be a few pubs along the way.

Oh and there's about 35 geocaches on the route too which I'll try and find.

Photographs as usual when I get back.

Sunset from Hitcham

2007-06-28T16:58:00.001+01:00

A few quickly grabbed photographs from the end of our garden last night as the sun suddenly dipped below the cloud and set.

Even a patch of nettles can look pretty in this light.

The final one, to the right there's a glider about to turn and land at nearby Rattlesden gliding club (you need to click and see the bigger image to make out anything!).

The Angles Way (day 2)

2007-06-28T16:37:00.000+01:00

Sunday turned out to be not such a good day as the Saturday had been. This was both in terms of weather and also the walk itself.

After a good nights sleep (being woken once by ducks drinking water of the tent that had collected overnight!) we got the tent packed away just as it started to rain. The rain lasted for most of the day, never really heavy but never light enough to take off waterproofs so it was quite hot and sticky going.

From Scole to Harleston the path seems to wind backwards and forwards at random. We crossed the main A143 several times. Approaching Brockdish it suddenly doubles back and takes you about 3/4 mile detour to end up a few hundred yards further on down the same road. Then you are taken back over the A143 once again to pass through an industrial estate and new housing developments at Harleston. I'm sure there must be some nice part to the town, but we never got to see it.

Today wasn't really a day for photographs, but we did take one of a bull as we passed by his field. Not sure that the fence would really prove much of a deterrant to him if he wanted to get out!

Things did improve a little after Harleston. Then we decided to cut our walk short as we had to be in Bungay by 6pm that evening for a meal. As we came down to Mendham we spotted R's parents in their car who were supposed to be meeting up with us a few miles further on. Just by coincidence they had stopped to check the map and then saw us coming down over the fields and waited. They had tried walking some of the path further along near Earsham and found an electric fence right across it with no clear sign where the path went. Given this we agreed that the 13 miles that we had done already were enough for the day and drove to meet up with the rest of the family and get cleaned up ready for going out.

The rest of the evening was lovely, the Thai Kitchen in Bungay is highly recommended if you are ever looking for somewhere to eat.

The Angles Way

2007-06-28T16:03:00.001+01:00

The weather really did seem to be on our side for the walk and camping. On Saturday we had maybe 10 minutes of rain while walking. For most of the day we could just go along in t-shirts. Lots of storms around nearby though so I'm sure many people weren't so lucky.

The Angles Way proved to be quite a mixed sort of path. The start from Knettishall Heath was lovely, as was walking through the many fens in the area. Who knew there could be so many Fen Lanes, Fen Streets, Fen Roads all in a small area! We detoured slightly around Redgrave and Lopham Fen to find a geocache there. While there we passed a great nest box - just hope that birds can read.

Other views...

(I wonder who styles this cow's hair?)

Shortly before reaching Diss the path seemed to change from a well used way into a random collection of footpaths. At one point it heads straight through a field currently 6 ft high with oilseed rape.

A path had been cut through earlier in the year as the crop was growing, but with the plants either side being so tall they had just collapsed in. Thankfully it hadn't rained there so they were dry to push through.

Finally at 7pm we arrived at our campsite in Scole - 8.5 hours and 19 miles from Knettishall Heath. It's a nice quiet site, with the River Waveney running through it. We last camped there 12 years ago when cycling, and not much had changed. It was still inhabited by lots of friendly ducks. Immediately after setting up the tent we got our first real downpour complete with thunder. Great timing! It only lasted for 15 minutes or so then we could get on with cooking tea.

Must be mad!

2007-06-22T14:45:00.000+01:00

Despite the forecasts predicting so much rain and thunder and lightning over the weekend, I'm still seriously planning to go walking and camping tomorrow along the Angles Way.

Starting off at Knettishall Heath, the path follows the Little Ouse river to it's source at which point it looks like it then starts flowing in the opposite direction to become the River Waveney. If all goes well I should be camping in Scole tomorrow evening, then heading on to Bungay on Sunday.

Then in Bungay the plan is to meet up with family for a meal out to celebrate my niece's 9th birthday. Is walking gear and rucksack (potentially dripping wet) considered suitable attire for a restaurant?

Video of the poppy field

2007-06-20T10:35:00.000+01:00

A short panoramic video of the field of poppies we saw at the weekend in Blaxhall.

A weekend holiday at home

2007-06-19T16:57:00.000+01:00

The weekend just felt like a holiday for some reason. It was totally relaxing, but full of activity.

On Saturday R and I went in to Ipswich to do shopping. This isn't something that you could normally call realxing, but for once we got everything we were looking for and also avoided all of the rain showers too. We used the Park and Ride in to town for the first time ever. It was nice to have a change and avoiding queuing traffic in to town, plus the overpriced car parks. £3.00 for up to 5 people to get the bus in and out.

On Sunday we got our bikes out of the garage for the first time in over a year and headed over to R's parents. We all went out on a 21 mile route using the lanes and bridleways around Rendlesham. On one part we came across a field dotted with some wild flowers we haven't seen before and haven't yet identified.

On the way we found one geocache that we had looked for a few weeks ago but hadn't been able to find. Going back a second time, we discovered it within a few minutes. The pot was small, and well camouflaged, but we were sure we had checked there before. Even this time I overlooked it once.

Further on was a field completely filled with poppies. Quite often in Suffolk the crop fields have quite a lot of poppies in them, but this was the fullest field I have ever seen. A farmer who used to own the field stopped and told us that this was the finest display he had ever known in 40 years. Apparently the field used to be regularly sprayed when sugar beet was grown there so they never came up. Then Jordans cereals wanted oats grown there, and the use of chemicals was restricted so the seed started to grow. Now the field has been set aside for a few years and this is the result.

The photo's really don't capture the full effect. The church is Blaxhall, so stop by if you are in the area soon.

After our exercise we rewarded ourselves with an Indian meal at The Bengal in Wickham Market.

Monday morning started out a bit wet so we were'nt sure what to do. We met up with R's old schoolfriend who was back in Suffolk for a few days and went to complete another geocache at Hemley. This involved looking round the church there to get information to put coordinates together where the actual cache container was hidden. This turned into a great walk along the River Deben.

Next stop was Newbourne Springs nature reserve as the sun had now come out. We found a small clearing and had a picnic lunch there. The reserve was really quiet, we almost must have had it to ourselves. Apart from the loads of butterflys flitting about.

Moving on again we returned to R's parents house where the River Deben (much smaller here than it was at Hemley) runs past the end of their garden. We paddled along in a boat, watched by cows in the meadows alongside.

To cap the weekend off we went out for tea again, this time to The Seal pub in Woodbridge.

Shame to be back in work today! I'd much rather have continued our 'holiday at home'.

A like-minded soul

2007-06-10T14:21:00.000+01:00

Looking through my site stats on friday I saw that several visitors had arrived from another blog which I haven't seen before. It's A Simple Life of Luxury.

I followed the link back, and found that Alan had written about my last post. Reading through several of his and Anna's blog entries, we seem to be very similar. He too is a geocacher, and enjoys what the UK has to offer. They have recently been to Islay, which has been featured on Springwatch this year.

Well, the sun is still shining outside so it's back out into the garden for me. The vegetable patch is starting to look fuller, and there are a few tomatoes in the greenhouse, though still quite green yet.

A Very Welsh Week

2007-06-07T15:46:00.000+01:00

Back from holiday. And I could do with another one to recover. We all had a great time, with lots of varied activities.

The cottage was great - an upside down design with the bedrooms downstairs and the kitchen and living room upstairs. This meant you could sit in the evenings and look out over the hillsides. There was also a deck in the back garden with a big barbecue. We had a fun BBQ night with my parents visiting, and also some friends from the Lleyn Peninsula.

In a lot of ways my nieces got to experience the same sort of holiday that I spent as a child here 20 years ago. Then we stayed on a farm and made good friends with the owners. Back then my sister and I would get to go round the fields, see the animals and help out in the cow sheds and with the sheep.

This year was just the same - a field of about 130 sheep and lambs needed to be moved 2 miles to another field. So we helped out - sometimes encouraging them on from behind, and others getting ahead to make a lot of noise and waving to send them the right way at junctions, and keep them out of gardens, streams, churchyards etc.

Another memory I have is of riding around a field on a scrambler motorbike. This time it was a quad bike and the girls loved it.

Trips out included Beddgelert, fishing from Nefyn beach (unsuccessfully), walking at Borth Y Gest, getting drenched at Borth Y Gest, watching seals at Porth Dinllaen, and going aboard the lifeboat there. R and I also had a couple of more sedate days at Bodnant Garden and walking round the walls in Conwy. We finished up with a 5 hour sea fishing trip which was also very quiet - just a few dogfish to show for it.

Anyway - on with a few photos...

Beddgelert

Sunset - Nefyn Beach

Sunset - Nefyn Beach (almost gone!)

Approaching storm - Borth Y Gest

Nefyn Bay

Yr Eifl

Porth Dinllaen

Bodnant Garden

Conwy Walls

Too much ... too little ...

2007-05-25T10:10:00.000+01:00

'To do', and 'Time' that is.

Did anyone see where May went? I remember it starting a day or two ago, and now it seems to almost be over.

No blog updates for two weeks - unfortunately that kept getting dropped to the end of my list of things to do. Two new software releases recently at work have kept me far too busy. Evenings seem to have been spent planning more holidays for later this year, and packing ready for next weeks trip to North Wales.

We are staying in a cottage for a week in Nefyn on the Lleyn Peninsula. As a change we won't be walking every day. It's a bit of a family holiday so plenty of days on the beach and being touristy.

Then at the end of the week we will go and stay with my parents in Abergele for a couple of days. We have chartered a boat trip for the Sunday to go out fishing. Last time we did this the sea was a little too rough making us rather seasick. This time we shall be prepared!

So it will be into June before any further updates. Expect pictures of Welsh scenery next time.

A long weekend in the Langdales

2007-05-10T14:37:00.000+01:00

One bonus of my working 4 day weeks is that when a Bank Holiday Monday arrives, I get the Tuesday off in place of it. So last weekend I also booked off the Friday before and got 5 days away for 1 day of holiday.

We went camping in the Lake District, staying at the National Trust campsite at Great Langdale.

Getting there took us 5 and a half hours, and we set off at 5 in the morning! You can't book a pitch at the site, so it's first come first served. By getting there early on Friday we felt we had a better chance of getting on, and this proved to be true. They expected that by the afternoon they would be full.

After pitching the tent (spending ages hammering in pegs that seemed to know just where the stones / tree roots were) we went out for our first walk. This was up to Stickle Tarn, then around over Harrison Stickle. From up here we could look down on the site, and see it filling up.

(Campsite is in the trees in the middle of the picture)

Mountains are something we are sorely lacking in Suffolk. Walking in the Lakes is a completely different experience. We were puffed out after just a couple of miles, though to be fair we had climbed up 2000 feet.

Saturday was a great day to walk, there was a little cloud on the tops of the hills, but it was warm and forecast to stay dry. We did a long day, walking from the campsite up to the top of Bowfell (2960ft), along to Esk Pike (2903ft), then onwards to the highest point in England, Scafell Pike (3210ft).

(Bowfell Summit)
Back at the campsite that evening we watched a mountain rescue team assisting an injured walker on the hillside above the campsite. Someone had been struck by falling rock, and had to be lifted off by helicopter.

Sunday's walk started out as a plan to go up Pike o Blisco, but as we climbed the wind and rain got up. Abandoning that idea, we went on a circular walk around the hill, getting thoroughly soaked in the process. Fortunately the campsite had a tumble drier available, so all our gear went into that when we got back.

By Monday morning the campsite was getting much emptier - many people left on Sunday night either to beat the Bank Holiday traffic, or just giving up due to the weather. We set out on a lower level walk for the day, which of course then turned out to be fine and dry. We did manage to get to the top of another Wainwright fell - Loughrigg. From there we had great views down Lake Windermere, back up the Langdale valley and also over to Conniston. We then dropped down into Grasmere and picked up a bottle of wine to have with our camp stove cooked meal that night.

After finishing that up we settled in to the tent, then didn't get much of a restful night due to gales and downpours. The next morning we did a full cooked breakfast in the rain! By 11am there was no sign of it stopping so we had to pack the tent up wet. By the time we left, some of the streams around the site were looking rather full so we didn't mind too much that we had to go.

The view from our tent after everyone had gone home

Waking up outdoors

2007-05-03T14:33:00.000+01:00

Last weekend R and I completed our Sandlings Walk camping trip. Starting from Ipswich on Saturday morning, we made it all the way up to Southwold at 7pm on Monday.

We made a strange site walking across Rushmere golf course just before 9am on Saturday. Two people with large backpacks on mustn't be all that common on the fairways! Not too long later and we had left behind the built up areas and made it on to Martlesham Heath. The path then follows up the River Deben into Woodbridge. By this point it was a little after 11 and we were ready for a break. The smell of bacon from the riverside cafe was too tempting so we stopped for some mugs of tea and a bacon sandwich. Refreshed from that we continued on passing through the village of Bromeswell then down on to Sutton Common. Eventually we got into Tangham forest and set up camp at the forestry site. First days mileage - 17.5 so we were ready for the showers, food and bed.

Sunday morning was then a great feeling. It's so nice to wake up, open the tent door and just be outdoors. We boiled up the kettle and had tea, followed by bowls of porridge. We packed up and were on our way again just after 9. Starting right from the middle of the forest meant that it was really quiet. We saw plenty of birds and also a few deer. We also passed by the campsite that wouldn't allow us to book. He had just 2 caravans on the site so we couldn't understand why they wouldn't accept us for Saturday night. Still it would have meant walking an extra 4 miles the day before so we didn't mind.

It was a different story towards the end of the day of course - we then had the extra 4 miles to do! So Sunday turned into a 22 mile day. Highlights for the day included Wantisden church in the middle of nowhere, lunch at Snape Maltings and a weel earned pint of Adnams at our campsite near Sizewell at the end of the day. The biggest disappointment was planning on stopping off for a mid walk drink at the pub in Friston, but finding it closed when we got there.

The final day was 19 miles to Southwold, passing through Minsmere and Dunwich. From the very start point on the beach at Sizewell we could see Southwold lighthouse along the coast, but our route would be more winding inland. Dunwich forest was lovely. We've always walked along the coast before, this was the first time we had been on the inland route. I highly recommend a visit there. At long last Southwold came into sight again. We crossed the old railway bridge from Walberswick side and walked along past the fishing huts down to Southwold harbour. We finished just below Gun Hill, finding the final sculpture of the 11 that were placed along the trail.

Pictures to follow once I get them off the camera

That's where

2007-05-02T14:40:00.000+01:00

So those photo's of Bury...

Top left is the framework around Specsavers. Top right is one of the door posts at Collis & Sons jewellers on Abbeygate Street. Finally the doorways belong to the Greene King brewery cottages.

My "Where in BSE" post at the flickr group hasn't been found yet. Closest guess has been the walls of the Abbey Gardens, but that covers quite a large area!

Have you seen this curious little statue embedded anywhere?

Update - 10th May 2007
The location has now been correctly guessed - it's in the outside of the Abbey Garden wall on Mustow Street (near Drive Vauxhall).

What goes where?

2007-04-27T14:53:00.000+01:00

I just recently found the Bury St Edmunds flickr group. There's a regular competition on there to identify a bit of Bury. I wandered around town for half an hour yesterday to see if I could spot where the latest picture was taken. Eventually I decided to leave it for the day and sit and read for the last half hour of my lunch break.

Heading into the Abbey Gardens I walked straight up to the place in question! So now it's up to me to post the next spot to guess. The picture is now there - somewhere that I already had in mind once I saw the competition.

I thought I'd also have a look for some other ideas too, so here are some that I spotted at lunch time today. Feel free to try and guess (difficult for those not here in Bury!)

On closer inspection, I noticed that the bottom one is being used as a wine rack.

New toys

2007-04-25T14:27:00.000+01:00

It's arrived! A nice parcel yesterday containing almost everything I ordered for the camping trip. The only thing now to come is a sleeping mat, which should be here for this weekend.

Of course as soon as I got home I had to see how the tent looked, so R and I put it up in the garden.

It's bigger than we thought it would be, so not such a tight squeeze after all. But it's incredibly light - we weighed it at 1.8 kg. Much easier to carry than our old one.

So the Sandlings Walk camping trip is now on for this weekend. Three days and 60 miles. I have managed to book one camp site, but the other won't take a booking for just one night at a weekend which is very annoying. There aren't a lot of other options either so I'm going to try and persuade him tomorrow. What's the point of having a campsite right on a trail if through walkers can't use it?

The other option would be to pitch up somewhere hidden in the forest, but that might be taking things too far for this first trip.

Planting...

2007-04-22T14:47:00.000+01:00

With the camping trip postponed until (hopefully) next weekend it was time to get on with the garden instead. The greenhouse has been standing empty for a few weeks now ready for planting, and the veg patch contained all that was left from last year - some celery, leeks and parsnips.

A few hours of digging and potting, and now the patch is full of new seed, and the greenhouse has tomato plants in, plus more trays of seed.

Now the problem is that some rain would be nice to get things going, but we would also like to get out for a walk tomorrow. Localised showers would be the best option.

What a let down

2007-04-20T15:05:00.000+01:00

We had a great plan for this weekend. Whilst at Sutton Hoo last week we picked up a guide to the Suffolk Sandlings trail which meanders 60 miles from Ipswich to Southwold. Looking on the map it splits very nicely into three days of 20 miles, with a camp site at the 2 stops.

So that was the route planned, next a check of the weather showed that it's going to be ideal for Sat, Sunday and Monday.

Thirdly we would need a new tent. The ones we have are all suited to camping from the car - they weigh a ton and don't pack down particularly small either. So onto the internet we went and ordered a new tent, sleeping mats and a superlight stove too.

And they aren't here.

I am now hoping that the weather holds for another week, and everything arrives in time for next weekend instead. Though I don't remember having an April that didn't involve big cloudbursts at some point.

Instead it will be time that we got on with digging the front garden, and maybe getting a few veg planted out the back.

Hope everyone elses weekend plans hold up OK.

I love Mondays

2007-04-18T12:58:00.000+01:00

On Monday this week R and I headed over to Felixstowe for a day of walking and geocaching. We parked up on the seafront got on our boots and headed off through town. The first mile and a half was along the road until we were across the A14, almost into Trimley. From there we turned down a footpath and followed it to Searson's Farm, the starting point for the first cache of the day.

The picture on the left was taken just by the final cache location - a lovely quiet spot.

From here we continued on to the banks of the Orwell, where the next cache was located. From here we sat overlooking Levington marina. Lots of boats sailing up and down the river today too.

After this we re-traced our steps back inland, emerging at the far side of Trimley. We had last walked here a couple of years ago. There's a footpath hidden right alongside the A14 in a narrow strip of woodland. This is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths path.

Next stop was Falkenham church which was the starting point for cache number 3. By using dates and ages from some of the stones we put together the coordinates for the final location. Before setting off we found a very conveniently placed bench to sit and have dinner. Fully refreshed we made our way down to the banks of the Deben - also packed with people enjoying sailing in the sun.

We looked over to Ransholt and the pub there. We could have done with a boat ourselves to head over for a quick drink, but instead turned along the river to head back towards Felixstowe. Once we reached Felistowe Ferry it began to get busier. Plenty of people playing golf on the course there. The final couple of miles were along the sea-front past loads of beach huts. Several were in use today.

In total we walked 16 miles and found 5 geocaches. A good practice for the Pembrokeshire Coast path, although our coastline here doesn't have quite so much up and down.

Strangely familiar

2007-04-13T14:58:00.000+01:00

Thinking about those regulars in the Abbey Gardens. There are certain people that I see around most days around Bury. These strangers are now quite familiar - I see more of them then I do even close family. It's funny how some people seem to stand out, and you notice them more and more. Yet they will most likely remain strangers.

However I came up with this topic yesterday evening to post for today, and then something strange happened.

On my way in to work most mornings there is a chap out walking his dog. As I drive past we wave to each other - have been doing so for a few years in fact. Last night R and I went out for a walk around our village (trying to get back in shape ready for walking Pembrokeshire Coast later this year). Outside one house there stood a man with his dog. It was getting dark so we couldn't see clearly and just called out 'hello'. Then he exclaimed "You're the one in the car!" So after all this time we have finally spoken. It's a strange feeling - something has changed and now he's no longer quite a stranger.

A routine check

2007-04-12T16:00:00.000+01:00

First thought for this blog - Routines. They're far too comfortable. I think everyone falls into a routine for the day.

I've noticed it during my working week in Bury. It starts with the car park - so many people have 'their' space in which to park, me included. It's like we're on autopilot when driving in.
But now that the good weather is here, the Wednesday market throws a spanner in the works. Suddenly there are people nipping in early and claiming those spaces. So you drive on and find somewhere different to park. When hometime comes I've lost count of the number of times I head for my usual spot and then stop and look around in bemusement.

In work there's regular websites to visit - blogs, news, finance... and probably at the same time each day too. Same goes for coffee breaks and lunch time.

Again the good weather means I can spend lunchtimes sat in the Abbey Gardens. Where, you've guessed it, I head for a usual spot to sit. And so do quite a few other people. I wonder if they're the ones who are parked in the same places?

A new blog appears

2007-04-12T14:21:00.000+01:00

Let's see how this goes. I enjoy reading a few blogs a day so I thought I'd have a look at what's involved. Maybe I'll never get anything else written beyond this first post!

I do have a few things I've thought about writing before, so I'll try and at least get those out.

And doubtless I'll spend more time playing around with all the multitude of options for formatting than I do writing, so expect to see more changes in appearance than content.