Shake down trip
Doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself? I didn't realise it was 5 months since my last entry, but since last October we seem to have spent every other day in the beautiful Derbyshire peak district.
We're both getting itchy feet now but find it too easy to watch the weather forecast and decide to wait until it's warmer. The trouble is we could still be sat waiting in June if we're not careful.
So we decided to find a reason to go somewhere. What better reason than to save£7.00 post and packaging on a double skillet cooking utensil. It's supposed to be great for heating pies and roasting small pieces of meat, potatoes, vegetables and lots of other food, all on the gas ring in the van. It sounds too good to be true and we decided that we'd like to see one before parting with our hard earned cash and the advert gives the address as Carleton Rood, Norfolk.
We both like Norfolk, it's got an interesting coastline and lovely skies. The stone and flint buildings are unique and the villages all look warm and friendly.
So we packed enough food and water for 3 days and put Molly (Sat Nav) on the dashboard, programmed with the shortest route (we love surprises) and set off.
It was glorious weather, sunshine, mild and dry. Our first surprise came when she turned us right towards Hucknall, we expected to go along the A17, but she had other ideas. We travelled due East over the River Trent at Gunthorpe and when she turned us left towards Newark on the Fosse we thought we'd got her route. Wrong again, she turned us right towards Screveton and we wound our lazy way through the lanes and villages. It was a good route if you've got plenty of time and like to see the villages which in Spring can be quite pretty with the Daffodils and Primroses on the grassy banks. Where the hedges are Hawthorn it's a lovely fresh green that sets off the yellow of the Primroses and blue of the Aubretia.
We clipped Grantham and followed the A52 towards Boston. It was a great route, the A52 is an interesting road, winding through the countryside but it's easy to keep up a decent speed, and not a lot of traffic. There is no comparison with the A17!
We ended up joining the A17 near Long Sutton and thankfully Gemima (SatNav) routed us through Long Sutton instead of the bypass. I say thankfully because there were road works on the bridge and traffic lights. We were lucky and it only took us 4 light changes to get through! The last part of the journey, once we'd turned off the A17 was pleasant using the lanes of Norfolk but some of them are a bit narrow and needed concentration.
We were heading for Thornham, a small village on the coast. It's protected by a 10 foot high earth sea defence which has a footpath along the top that leads out to the dunes about a mile away. We drove through the village towards the sea, to a small area where you can park. It's important to know your tide times and Moon phases when parking here because at high spring tides the parking area is flooded with only the high spots available for parking. We've got a photograph taken a few years ago with a stranded boat in the middle of the parking area, I just hope it was a storm that beached it and not just a normal high tide.
We knew it was first quarter moon and a neap tide but still parked on the high ground, just in case. It was sunny with cumulus clouds (fluffy white ones) dotted around the sky and we walked out to the dunes along the sea defences. It wasn't long before we decided to drop down off the banking to get out of the cold wind and so disturbed 2 Shelduck that had been dining in the mud.
Where the dunes start the Norfolk Wildlife Trust have built board walks across the top of the dunes, it certainly makes it easier walking and you get good views inland over the marshes. I saw a Barn Owl hunting for his dinner. I never get tired of seeing Owls, they seem to glide along effortlessly and of course are silent in the air, to get a good view through the binoculars is one of life's special moments.
We ended up on the beach but the sea was so far away I decided my first paddle of the year could wait until next time. The whole area was so open and huge, bare expanses of sand and not a soul in sight, big open skies and empty marshland until you start to look closer. We identified Redshanks, a wader with red legs feeding in the mud, we heard Skylarks singing, there were Oyster Catchers amongst the vegetation, Brent Geese flying overhead and a flock of finches which I didn't manage to identify.
We got accosted by a chap who was walking part of the Norfolk coast path to raise money for the servicemen injured in the current conflicts. He was very angry at the way our servicemen are treated by the Government and we could only agree and wish him well in his endeavours after making a donation.
The parking area is not only for cars, there are several jetty's for small boats, some have been deserted and are slowly rotting away but a many are still used. Studying the layout of the solitary posts standing sentinel over the landscape it looks as though it was a busy area for boats in years gone by. It's possible to imagine where the landing stages were but now the channels are silting up and while we were there the water level didn't seem to get high enough for even small boats to navigate to the landing stages.
As in all good marshy areas there is a boat graveyard. Hulls of long dead boats sticking out of the mud, a stern here and a bow there, all being slowly buried for future archaeologists to dig them out to try and piece together our daily lives. I think it would be sensible for the archaeologists to photograph these scenes year on year until they have disappeared altogether and store them with grid reference, that way digging will become a thing of the past and future generations will be able to stand in the streets of the new town that will be built on this marshland and look at the photographs, mind you that will mean that imagination will also be a thing of the past and definitely not as much fun as getting down and digging dirt.
Next day we meandered through the lanes to the small village, Carleton Rood to check out the skillet. We found the village but couldn't find the address given. A phone call produced only an answering machine and we came to the conclusion that it was mail order only and we'd had a wasted trip, it only cost us a tank full of diesel!!
Not to be outdone we moved on to Thetford Forest to spend some time checking out Spring. It's a lovely area but with the main A134 trunk road running through, it's noisy. It's so very difficult to find somewhere to rest a while without the ever present hum of vehicles busily darting from point A to point B.
We spent one more night in van and were pleased that nothing was missing, we'd actually managed to put everything we needed back in it's place. Now we can happily set off on a longer trip. I've just found out that there is a Wool Fest in Builth Wells at the end of April so I'm going to start whispering in Pat's ear, while he's asleep, 'you need to visit Wales - you need to visit Wales' I'm sure it'll work!!
We're both getting itchy feet now but find it too easy to watch the weather forecast and decide to wait until it's warmer. The trouble is we could still be sat waiting in June if we're not careful.
So we decided to find a reason to go somewhere. What better reason than to save£7.00 post and packaging on a double skillet cooking utensil. It's supposed to be great for heating pies and roasting small pieces of meat, potatoes, vegetables and lots of other food, all on the gas ring in the van. It sounds too good to be true and we decided that we'd like to see one before parting with our hard earned cash and the advert gives the address as Carleton Rood, Norfolk.
We both like Norfolk, it's got an interesting coastline and lovely skies. The stone and flint buildings are unique and the villages all look warm and friendly.
So we packed enough food and water for 3 days and put Molly (Sat Nav) on the dashboard, programmed with the shortest route (we love surprises) and set off.
It was glorious weather, sunshine, mild and dry. Our first surprise came when she turned us right towards Hucknall, we expected to go along the A17, but she had other ideas. We travelled due East over the River Trent at Gunthorpe and when she turned us left towards Newark on the Fosse we thought we'd got her route. Wrong again, she turned us right towards Screveton and we wound our lazy way through the lanes and villages. It was a good route if you've got plenty of time and like to see the villages which in Spring can be quite pretty with the Daffodils and Primroses on the grassy banks. Where the hedges are Hawthorn it's a lovely fresh green that sets off the yellow of the Primroses and blue of the Aubretia.
We clipped Grantham and followed the A52 towards Boston. It was a great route, the A52 is an interesting road, winding through the countryside but it's easy to keep up a decent speed, and not a lot of traffic. There is no comparison with the A17!
We ended up joining the A17 near Long Sutton and thankfully Gemima (SatNav) routed us through Long Sutton instead of the bypass. I say thankfully because there were road works on the bridge and traffic lights. We were lucky and it only took us 4 light changes to get through! The last part of the journey, once we'd turned off the A17 was pleasant using the lanes of Norfolk but some of them are a bit narrow and needed concentration.
We were heading for Thornham, a small village on the coast. It's protected by a 10 foot high earth sea defence which has a footpath along the top that leads out to the dunes about a mile away. We drove through the village towards the sea, to a small area where you can park. It's important to know your tide times and Moon phases when parking here because at high spring tides the parking area is flooded with only the high spots available for parking. We've got a photograph taken a few years ago with a stranded boat in the middle of the parking area, I just hope it was a storm that beached it and not just a normal high tide.
We knew it was first quarter moon and a neap tide but still parked on the high ground, just in case. It was sunny with cumulus clouds (fluffy white ones) dotted around the sky and we walked out to the dunes along the sea defences. It wasn't long before we decided to drop down off the banking to get out of the cold wind and so disturbed 2 Shelduck that had been dining in the mud.
Where the dunes start the Norfolk Wildlife Trust have built board walks across the top of the dunes, it certainly makes it easier walking and you get good views inland over the marshes. I saw a Barn Owl hunting for his dinner. I never get tired of seeing Owls, they seem to glide along effortlessly and of course are silent in the air, to get a good view through the binoculars is one of life's special moments.
We ended up on the beach but the sea was so far away I decided my first paddle of the year could wait until next time. The whole area was so open and huge, bare expanses of sand and not a soul in sight, big open skies and empty marshland until you start to look closer. We identified Redshanks, a wader with red legs feeding in the mud, we heard Skylarks singing, there were Oyster Catchers amongst the vegetation, Brent Geese flying overhead and a flock of finches which I didn't manage to identify.
We got accosted by a chap who was walking part of the Norfolk coast path to raise money for the servicemen injured in the current conflicts. He was very angry at the way our servicemen are treated by the Government and we could only agree and wish him well in his endeavours after making a donation.
The parking area is not only for cars, there are several jetty's for small boats, some have been deserted and are slowly rotting away but a many are still used. Studying the layout of the solitary posts standing sentinel over the landscape it looks as though it was a busy area for boats in years gone by. It's possible to imagine where the landing stages were but now the channels are silting up and while we were there the water level didn't seem to get high enough for even small boats to navigate to the landing stages.
As in all good marshy areas there is a boat graveyard. Hulls of long dead boats sticking out of the mud, a stern here and a bow there, all being slowly buried for future archaeologists to dig them out to try and piece together our daily lives. I think it would be sensible for the archaeologists to photograph these scenes year on year until they have disappeared altogether and store them with grid reference, that way digging will become a thing of the past and future generations will be able to stand in the streets of the new town that will be built on this marshland and look at the photographs, mind you that will mean that imagination will also be a thing of the past and definitely not as much fun as getting down and digging dirt.
Next day we meandered through the lanes to the small village, Carleton Rood to check out the skillet. We found the village but couldn't find the address given. A phone call produced only an answering machine and we came to the conclusion that it was mail order only and we'd had a wasted trip, it only cost us a tank full of diesel!!
Not to be outdone we moved on to Thetford Forest to spend some time checking out Spring. It's a lovely area but with the main A134 trunk road running through, it's noisy. It's so very difficult to find somewhere to rest a while without the ever present hum of vehicles busily darting from point A to point B.
We spent one more night in van and were pleased that nothing was missing, we'd actually managed to put everything we needed back in it's place. Now we can happily set off on a longer trip. I've just found out that there is a Wool Fest in Builth Wells at the end of April so I'm going to start whispering in Pat's ear, while he's asleep, 'you need to visit Wales - you need to visit Wales' I'm sure it'll work!!
posted by Marilyn | 7.4.08
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