taraabit

Sunday 12th September 2021.

Bungay and Beccles, sounds like children’s tv characters doesn’t it?

We started the day in Bungay, at the island on the entrance to the town Michelle spied a hand written sign for parking to our left so we did a quick left turn and found ourselves on the access road to a golf club. The local scouts were directing people to suitable parking spaces and it was voluntary to give a donation. Being goodies we of course did. There was a foot bridge over the main road that then lead you into town where there was a fantastic “ farmers market” taking place through the streets. It very much reminded us of the markets in France, we bought a yellow rose plant and some decorative steel plant supports, plus a ciabatta and an Eccles cake which Michelle eat in Beccles.

It was just a short hop from Bungay to Beccles, we zoned in on a car park next to the river but unfortunately someone beat us to the last space as we pulled in, there were no markings to guide parking, if everyone had parked correctly there would have been space for a lot more vehicles.Admitting defeat we drove to the other side of the town and parked on the Tesco car park, not very scenic and no river view. We walked around the town but there was very little open, there was however an unusual church, St Michaels.

The church was built in 1369, it has a porch built in 1455 and a separate bell tower built in the early 16th century, a strange mix. In 1586 a fire completely destroyed the interior of the church and it was never restored to its original glory so the exterior shows the best of the church. The bell tower was costly to maintain so in the mid 20th century it was sold to the Borough for 1penny.

Sat 11th September 2021.

This morning we headed to Framlingham, the info on the internet said there was a Saturday market as well as an ancient castle but it got busy very quickly. We arrived at 10.00am and we were the first vehicle in the overflow car park, I went to get a parking ticket when Mr Jobsworthy asked me to move Homer, I wasn’t parking in the manner they liked, this was in a grass field with no markings!

We walked the 100 m into town to the market, it was a little disappointing as there weren’t many stalls, however what was there was selling local produce and nice quality too. I bought a few bits to have with lunch and a cheese and onion focaccia to have with tonight’s lasagne. There was a good range of other shops there too.

Framlingham Castle is managed and maintained by English Heritage, as non members the admittance fee for the two of us was £22. The castle was originally a motte and bailey castle built in 1148 but destroyed by Henry 11 in 1173. The Earl of Norfolk Roger Bigod constructed the replacement. It was unusual for having no central keep, but instead used a curtain wall with thirteen towers to defend the centre of the castle. Despite this, the castle was successfully taken by King John in 1216 after a short siege. Bt the end of the 13th century it had become a luxury home surrounded by extensive parkland used for hunting.

After lunch we returned back to the campsite via Diss, we parked on the huge car park at Morrison’s, free for three hours. It was a short walk into town and we enjoyed an amble around the centre, it is home to an auction house that is often featured on the TV programme “ Bargain Hunt”. There is a Mere just off the High Street with a floating boardwalk along one edge, on the other side of the mere is a large well maintained park.

Friday 10th September 2021

We used A roads today to take us to Lowestoft, we took the easy option and parked on a retail park a mile from the town centre, it was an easy walk in but the town didn’t have a lot to entertain us.

We walked down to the sea front and to the end of Heritage Quay, South Pier where there was an old sailing boat that is used to train people to sail or take a somewhat adventurous “ cruise”. Next to it was an old sidewinder fishing trawler named Mincarlo which was built in and worked out of Lowestoft. It was built in 1961 and used for fishing until 1974 catching mainly cod, plaice, haddock, skate and sole.In 1977 it began a new life as a standby vessel to the oil rigs in the North Sea. It is now a floating museum and we were warmly invited aboard, one ex crew member gave us a short talk about it’s life fishing in the North Sea and then we were free to wander around the boat.

After lunch in Homer we drove to Southwold, we parked in a field on the entrance to the town and bought some strawberries from a kiosk there.

We walked to and along the pier, the wind was fresh off the North Sea so we didn’t linger, again no dogs allowed on the beach so we walked along the sea front and up into the town. It is home to Adnams brewery and it was hard to miss being there in the centre of town, there’s a magnificent church and a wedding was taking place as we walked past. The town had a laid back feel to it and we enjoyed walking around the small shops, it was an easy drive back again on A roads.

This evening we have had a few short rain showers, first time in a week.

Thursday 8th September 2021.

Our journeys today were mainly along B roads, very unlike the roads in the two counties above, these roads twisted and turned their way through the countryside, thankfully however traffic was light. One woman we met today proudly told us there were no motorways in Suffolk. Well at a stately pace we made our way to Woodbridge a town on the River Deben eight miles inland from the sea, it has a history of rope making and boat building, Sir Francis Drake had his fighting ships built there. It has a working Tide Mill one of only two in the UK. It is also closely associated with Sutton Hoo which is on the opposite side of the river.

We drove a few miles to Sutton Hoo which is National Trust owned, it was very busy but we managed to find a good space for Homer, after lunch we walked to the entrance and paid the admission fee of £28 for the two of us.

Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th century. One cemetery excavated in 1938 had an undisturbed ship burial with a wealth of Anglo Saxon artefacts, most of which are now in the British Museum. It is believed that Raedwald of East Anglia is the most likely king to be buried in the ship.The artefacts excavated showed influence and materials from not only Scandinavia but also of Mediterranean countries. The exhibition centre gives a good explanation of it all and has replicated some of the finds. The actual burial area with its mounds isn’t in my opinion very exciting perhaps if money becomes available they could recreate the grave where the King was buried inside his ship and give everyone a better idea.

From Sutton Hoo we headed to Aldeburgh on the coast, north of the River Alde,we found some free parking alongside a lane leading to the sailing club, which according to one lady in her motorhome was free to park and you could stay overnight, the sailing club chose to ignore you. It was amusing because it was alongside a car park that banned motorhomes and charged cars to park. Layla enjoyed a play on the beach, well pebble bank, and we walked along the sea front into Aldeburgh, a pleasant place, obviously well to do, hardly a charity shop in sight

We drove back along some small roads including one the Sat Nav guided us to and Michelle confirmed the route, it was called Christmas Lane, it was just about wide enough for Homers wheels and there were passing places every few hundred metres, no hedges just ditches to each side, after three miles when we got to the end I wasn’t in a Christmas mood.😉I was so fatigued instead of cooking we decided to buy fish and chips from the nearby town, at £18 for the three of us I will be paying the debt for ages to come.

Wednesday Sept 8th 2021.

We started the day by driving to Newmarket in Suffolk, it is generally considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred horse racing. As we drove through the town I missed the turning down a narrow street to the car park ( normal occurrence ) and we had to navigate a maze of back streets of the town with horses and jockeys riding down the road and turning into stable areas.

After finding the car park we went for a quick trot around the town, it is obviously a wealthy area but the actual high street wasn’t all that exciting so after approx an hour we galloped off to our next stopping place.

Our next stopping place was Bury St Edmunds, here we managed to park in a dedicated motorhome parking bay where you are allowed to stop over night for £1.After having lunch we set off to walk into town via the grounds of the ruined abbey which was built as a shrine to Saint Edmund, Saxon king of the East Engles.The grounds were being used by people for picnics or just to sit and enjoy the sunshine, the formal gardens were attractive and you could tell from the outline of the Abbey ruins how important it was.

We enjoyed walking around Bury St Edmunds, the streets had interesting architecture, there was a market in the centre of the town and a good mixture of small shops. We would certainly return here.

A further 30 minute drive took us to the campsite we are using for five nights, we want to explore Suffolk but couldn’t during our time frame find a suitable campsite, so we are just over the border in Norfolkshire. We are staying at The Red Lion Pub in Needham which has a small campsite for twelve units, the pub is only open for short periods on certain days and is mainly a food pub heavily used by locals.Unfortunately the wifi signal is weak and I’m having to do the blog a day later.

Tuesday 7th September 2021.

It was forecast to be really hot and sunny today and it has been. We decided to visit Cambridge as early as we could this morning, we caught the number 7 bus from a stop about 150 metres from the campsite, free for me of course and I suppose for Michelle too as I paid her fare😊 The bus seemed to take a circuitous route, taking in Addenbrooke Hospital on the way and a park and ride car park. When we planned to visit Cambridge we had decided to use the park and ride system as there are quite a few dotted around the city, however when we went on the web site to select the most convenient one we found out they all have a height barrier preventing any tall vehicle using them, poor policy Cambridge!Instead we booked this site so we could bus in.

Close to where we got off the bus we bought a guide to the city from one of the many mobile tourist desks dotted around the streets, it had a route plotted that took in most of the famous colleges. The first we saw was Peterhouse College.

The colleges are quite close together so it is easy to take a succession of photos, however it is obvious that they are preparing for this years intake of students, access was denied at most and some were having scaffolding etc removed after a summer spruce up, of course Covid restrictions were having an effect too, as a result most photos only show the exterior.

We bought some lunch from a street market and sat and ate it alongside the River Cam in Jesus Green, the ducks were disappointed not to receive a share. We wondered back into the city and had a drink in a cafe down a small side street, eventually after a further walk we had to admit defeat, we were so hot. Thankfully the bus was in at the station and 30 minutes later we were back at Homer enjoying a cold beer.

We had a good day and found the city fascinating, we will come again when the students are in situ as I’m sure it will feel completely different then.

Monday 6th September 2021

We have a small window of time with no commitments so we have taken the opportunity to head off for a break. We have decided to tour Suffolk as it is a county that neither of us have visited as a tourist.

Having said that, tonight we are staying at the above campsite four miles out of the City of Cambridge, so not yet in Suffolk. We headed here via the M6, A14, A1 and the M11, all the talk recently has been of the shortage of truck drivers, well if more drivers are available and more trucks are on the road, then I’m not sure where the rest of us will fit, there were hundreds on our route today.

We didn’t drive directly to Cambridge instead taking a diversion to St Neots, we last visited there in July 2020 with our motor home buddies Alison and Peter, unfortunately when we chose to walk into town there was heavy rain, it was also after a period of Covid lockdown with many shops closed, so we didn’t get a favourable impression of the town itself. However the parkland adjacent to the river was very attractive.

Today we parked on a large car park adjacent to the river and the park and after fathoming out how to get a ticket out of the parking machine we had lunch. Today it has been a blue sky sunny day, the temperature 27 degrees which felt very unusual after the grey August we have endured and so it was an enjoyable stroll that we took around the town( spending a magnificent £3.50 in a charity shop for two books) and then let Layla off for a walk in the park, where as if by magic she managed to fall in the pond. Accident, I don’t think so, she is a menace near water.😊

It was an easy 30 minute drive from St Neots to tonights site which is large and well laid out and immaculately maintained as per usual with these sites.

Saturday 14th August 2021

The day started bright and early for the “ ladies” with a 7 am meeting for whatever ritual takes place with regard to hair dressers and make up artists, Michelle informed that the make up lady did work for the theatre and wasn’t amused when I replied “ had she made them all up as panto artists.”

I’m pleased to say that our small group of gents enjoyed a lie in and eventually freshly cooked bacon baps, very necessary to sustain us for the day ahead.

The time soon came around for me to join the ladies in the cottage and I proudly walked down with the bride our daughter Stephanie. Michelle and I jointly read a poem as part of the service and the ceremony seemed to pass by quite quickly.

The afternoon proceeded with a delightful afternoon tea, the wedding was designed not to be too formal and Will made the only speech of the day.

Following a lull to allow us to draw breath and for the evening guests to arrive the proceedings continued with a disco and mobile pizza oven that served a great range of pizzas to keep us going throughout the evening. I took a few photos that I will add here.

Well that’s the second daughter married only one to go( over to you Zac, no pressure😊.)

Friday 13th August 2021.

We have travelled today to Camlad Barns, Upper Broughton Farm, near Bishops Castle to prepare for the wedding of our younger daughter Stephanie which is taking place here tomorrow. Several family members arrived during the afternoon and pitched in to prepare the venue in the way that Steph wanted it. The following are some photos I took during the day.

Late afternoon when everything was as ready as possible at that time we headed off into Bishops Castle to the Six Bells Pub where we had a meal and a few drinks before heading back for an early night before tomorrow’s busy and a exciting day.

Saturday 7th August 2021.

We both slept well last night, the sound of the River Dee flowing within a metre of Homer certainly seemed to have a soporific effect, I should record it and play it at home.

We started the day by walking into Llangollen and crossed the bridge over the river to the Llangollen Canal where we boarded a horse drawn narrow boat for a very silent trip along the canal.

After returning to the starting point we proceeded to walk back along the same route on the tow path to Horseshoe Falls a distance of two miles.

This is a barrage built in Victorian times it redirects some of the flow of water from the river into the Llangollen Canal and eventually the Shropshire Union Canal, a clever system that relies purely on gravity and needs no mechanical/ powered devices to maintain the levels in the canal.

We turned back on ourselves and crossed the river using the road bridge just above the Chain Bridge and Chain Bridge Hotel and then returned back to Homer by walking along the A5.

The weather has been very mixed today with heavy showers of that wet Welsh rain interspersed with sunshine, we had intended to walk into Llangollen this evening to purchase fish and chips but unfortunately it began to rain heavily so we gave up on that idea, who wants soggy batter? A replacement meal of tortellini with mushrooms in a blue cheese sauce had to do instead.