Stour and Orwell Path Part 1

 The Stour and Orwell path runs from Cattawade, just up the road from Manningtree and Felixstowe.  Going up one side of the Stour, around the bend and then up one side of the Orwelll to Ipswich and back down the other to Felixstowe, around 40 miles.

We have done a couple of bits of it, but on Sunday set off from the start in Cattawade

Here I am at the start standing on the old Cattawade bridge with the Stour in the background, looking back towards Manningtree.

From here we walked past the pub, garage and vets surgery and then down Factory Lane.  This used to be a narrow lane with a row of factories on the right.  Margaret Thatcher worked in one of them many years ago and so did my late father-in-law, but not sure that they were there at the same time.  These factories are no longer, but the buildings have been upgraded and house other businesses.  The lane is no longer either, but has been made into a proper road and new housing is springing up on the left side.  At the end of the road, the path goes through a gap in the hedge and around The Decoy Pond.

From here along the path next to the railway line, this is the main line between Norwich and London, normally with trains going past every half hour.  Up a hill, then we looked back at the view across the river

we crossed the railway by a footbridge and then followed the footpath across a field and down to the river, spotting the first WayMark for this path

Along the side of the river, then up onto the bank with amazing views across the river, we carried on as far as the Stutton Mill and then turned back, as this is where I want to start the next walk.  

The sun was bright and warm, the views amazing, the river looked so big.  We could see the cars parked along the walls at Mistley in the distance.

Back to the footpath that leads uphill and away from the river to the main road. we left the Stour and Orwell Path at this point and headed towards our starting point. This is the road from Brantham to Ipswich.

Shame the pub is shut, we could have stopped for a drink, however we walked back towards Manningtree along the road,, spotting the first Daffodils of the year on the side of the road.

We turned down Church Lane, to the left past some houses, saw these snowdrops in the hedgerow

On to the church, were we stopped for a quick rest in the porch 

just after the church was a footpath, which we took, leading to a field and a steep hill going down and up and this bought us out on the housing estate at the top of Brantham, we walked though the estate and back to our car.  We passed more people out walking than we ever have on any of our walks, some days we haven't passed anyone, but it was a warm day.

A grand total of 9.75 miles.  A lovely walk with lots of different things to see., looking forward to the next stage.

Winter weekend

Hey!  Guess what?  I am back.  After a 7 year break from blogging I am back.  A few weeks ago I realised that I missed my blog and wanted to start again, however I could not find my passwords, but tonight I cracked it and I am back in.  So where to start?  I think that I will just start with today - why not?

After a very busy few weeks, the ones leading up to Christmas and those following with 2 birhtdays there was lots going on, but this weekend there was nothing planned, no where to go as we are once again in lock down, so a quiet lazy weekend.  Saturday morning we woke up to snow, always exciting, and I love watching the flakes flutter down from the sky, so I stayed in bed and watched for a bit.

Had a parcel to post, so we wrapped up warm and walked to the post office and then a bit further, the snow then turned to rain and it was cold, we headed home to the warm and stayed in all afternoon.  Early evening we popped out to get our Tesco click and collect shopping and on the way reminisced that we used to go out on 

a Saturday night, out dancing, where I would get dressed up, hair and make up done and dance the night away.  That seems like a life time ago, even though it is only 11 months since we last went.  I miss it so much, and wonder if we will ever go again?

Today, Sunday was a much different day, with clear skies, sunshine and a bit warmer, we headed out for a long walk.  Debating how far we could go decided on Alton Water.  A short drive from home, only 6 miles but we had never been there - why ever not, no idea.

Leaving the car park we walked alongside the reservoir and across the dam, the wind was blowing across the water and it was quite chilly,  Then down a very muddy track through the woods and alongside a stream

 It was very pretty through here, after a while we came out on the road, near the Mill, crossed the road and headed down another footpath

At the end of this footpath we emerged from the trees onto the bank of the river Stour

 

Beautiful views along here, looking out across the river, to the side we are more familiar with, our own side of the river.

 We climbed down the bank to a little beach and sat down to eat our picnic lunch, just a roll and snack bar.  Looking to the far left we could see the industrial silos at Parkstone.  Directly opposite on the other bank, with binoculars we could see the beach huts at Wrabness, and to the right the TV mast at Bradfield.  After a short break we headed off to the end of this path along the bank and then across the fields to Stutton Church.

 Quite a pretty church at the end of a dead end lane, which was lined with some big grand houses, some had tennis courts and I am sure all had lovely views of the river.  Past an interesting wall

And on into the village of Stutton..  Along another lane and across fields until we reached the reservoir  and back to the car.

 I loved this walk, so many different things to see. I found this walk, whilst researching The Stour and Orwell Path, which we picked up along the river bank.  We also followed part of this 40 mile walk a couple of weeks ago when we walked in Pin Mill.  So would love to do more of this walk and I am planning on buying a map of the area and marking off where we walk.

Today's walk - 8KM or 5 miles, 2 1/2 hours, including stopping for lunch.  Parking £3.70

 

GOOD FRIDAY

A bright, warm and sunny start to the bank holiday weekend, makes a change!
We spent the morning at the allotment. Things are beginning to grow.  Tiny little gooseberries cover the bushes, can't wait for them to grow.
Started a new strawberry patch this year and it is looking good, lots of flowers already, won't be long until we are picking them.  I put some straw around them before they get any bigger.
The first row of peas has flowers on them, the second row are not far behind.
I picked some sprouting broccoli, the first rhubarb and radishes. Also pulled some leeks. The rhubarb will be made into a cake!
I love having breakfast there. We had toasted hot cross buns and tea - delicious!

Spring

Welcome spring!

Today is the Spring Equinox, the day when the day is the same length as the night and the beginning of spring.  From today until the summer solstice the days will get longer.

I decorated my dresser with spring flowers from the garden and a crocheted garland.

A few days ago I saw a post on Instagram inviting people to join in with making a flower crown and posting a photo wearing it today, so I thought, why not that sounds like fun, so I knocked this up

And popped it on!

Smelt nice too!

You can see the others on Instagram #primaveracrowns

FEBRUARY 2014 SCAVENGER HUNT

This month has flown by, unlike January which dragged on and on and on, and so it was a bit of a surprise to find it was the end of the month and I hadn't found all my photos for this months challenge.  So stuck my wellies on and went out in the wind and rain to finish them off and here they are...............

F is for ..............

Fingers!  or finger nails to be precise - had a gel manicure last week before we went away for the weekend.

3 p.m.

At 3 p.m. today I walked (in the freezing cold pouring rain) to the post office to post a swap parcel to New Zealand.


Grain

 My chickens have a handful of mixed grain every afternoon.  It is funny they eat the corn, but leave the sweetcorn which they eat the next morning.

Lamp

 This desk lamp used to be in one of the bedrooms and was red.  I wanted it over my desk, so we sprayed it grey!  Fits right in now

Click

Click, click, clickerty click - as I type and and a double click now and then!


 Honey

Alice bought this jar of honey back from Russia at Christmas, it had a paper label tied with string and a wax seal on it.  I also noticed that our favourite cereal bars are oats and HONEY.  Had a talk about bee keeping at horticultural society last year, it's a right faff, they need lots of work.  Not just a case of getting the honey out once a year, not sure that bee keeping is for me, but glad it is for some people!!

Fountain

 Fountains have been a bit thin on the ground in my part of the world. So here is the rain overflowing from the water but into a bucket causing a bit of a fountain!

Round

Pompoms!  round woolly balls of delight!

Shadow

Just me in the garden, we managed one sunny day this month!


Clouds

I was trying to get a photo of "The House in the Clouds" but got a good photo of the clouds but not of the house.  You can just about see it on the horizon.  Apparently this was a water tower, but they made it look like a house.  Taken in Thorpeness on the Suffolk coast.


Group

Spotted this big group of crocuses on the side of the road as I walked back from the post office.

Repupose

I save up all the loo roll and kitchen roll innards all year round and use them to plant my broadbeans and runner beans.  I planted some broadbeans a couple of weeks ago, but one of the old boys at the allotment told me they would rot, so I came home and planted the rest of the seeds in these tubes in the greenhouse -  I won't be beaten!

Well that's it for another month, will start looking for the March photos.  Thanks to Greenthumb once again!

Cambridge

I popped up to Cambridge yesterday to see my lad.

I love going there, it is a lovely city to walk around, so long as you keep your eyes open for the cyclists, they seem to zoom up behind you from nowhere, ringing their bells and shouting at you if you happen to stray just a few inches into a cycle lane.
Anyway I drove up, takes about one and half hours, quite a nice drive, head towards Ipswich and then pick up the A14, past Stowmarket, Bury st Edmunds, Newmarket and then off into Cambridge.  Jared has found a tiny, free parking space right near his house and I managed to squeeze in, which was good luck.
We started with a trip to Tesco, to stock him up on all his essentials and a few treats too!
Then into town for lunch

We walked past all the chain restaurants and some strange little sandwich shops until we found Fitzbillies, near the Fitzwilliam Musuem.  We have very different tastes so it is quite a challenge to find something to suit.  Jared had a steak sandwich with lettuce and NO horseradish mayo!  I had a cheese and celery tart with a massive pile of delicious coleslaw, it was very pink, lots of red cabbage I think.  Cups of tea too, to warm us up!

 We had a walk around the town.  The market was quiet and there was nothing that caught my eye.  Cath Kidston is a must and my £4 voucher was burning a hole in my pocket, but didn't see anything that I really wanted.  Then went into a shop called Tiger, went there before Christmas and picked up load of bits and pieces.  I found some small paper Easter egg decorations, some tin plant pots and some dishcloths - yellow with chicks on, will make washing up fun (not!!)

Then on to the river, where we declined a ride in a punt, it was a bit too chilly!
Time for tea and cake, we looked in some shops and then found Patisserie Valerie and my goodness they do big cakes, Jared ended up with a doggie bag!

 I had a custard pastry and Jared had a chocolate cake with a profiterole on top! yummy!

There is a shop at the end of his road which is a sort of farm shop, but always has flowers for sale, today they had loads of Polyanthus, 3 for £2, such a bargain so I had 6!   Here they are in the tin cans I bought.

After all that a long drive home in the rush hour! 

SWISH....

Just spent a wonderful weekend away in Norfolk. Got back yesterday afternoon exhausted! 

We set off on Friday morning for a journey that should take just under 2 hours, it's not far and decided to to a detour and stop for lunch on the way.  For some reason we decided to stop in Aldeburgh.  I have been before and wasn't that keen then and not that keen this time.  Sorry to those of you that live there, but I don't really see what the fuss is about.  Ok, I know we went on a chilly February day, and I am sure it is better on a sunny summers day, but well............  We drove along the main road and there looked like there were some interesting shops.  There are two fish and chip shops, apparently they are wonderful and the thing to do is to get your chips and sit on a stony, windy beach and eat them.  But the queues!  There were at least 25 people queueing down the street outside both of them, so we didn't bother and I don't even like fish and chips.  We tried the Prezzo, but it was fully booked!!!!  Ended up with a sandwich in a small tea shop which was very nice.  Looked around the shops - Jack Wills ( yes Jack Wills in a tiny seaside town), Jooles and some other clothes shops. 
We drove along the coast road and a great big rat ran across the road in front of us, well, I am not keen on rats at all!!

Not a very good photo of the seashell statue, it is quite impressive standing in the middle of the stony beach, but I was a bit worried about the rat and hurried back to the car.
We then drove through Thorpeness, an interesting little village with a lake, which we might have walked around if it had been warmer, tried to get a photo of the house in the clouds -  very odd, I am not sure what it is supposed to be.

 Perhaps we should have gone to Southwold instead.
We then drove on to our destination, Potters Holiday Resort in Hopton-on-sea!!  

It was a Ceroc dance weekend.  We go to a Ceroc dance class every week.  Ceroc is a style of dance known as modern jive, not really Jive like they do on Strictly, more a mix of salsa, waltz and slow jive, anyway I like it.

What a weekend! There were lessons all day, for beginners, improver's and advanced dancers and some covering other styles, I was desperate to do the Tango class, but it was so hard!  I learnt to walk backwards and slide my leg to the side.  Each evening there was dancing until 4 am, although I only managed to stay up until 1.30 - 3 nights in a row!
All the food was included, a bit regimented, but it had to be to fit in with the class schedule.  Breakfast was a help your self affair, lunch soon followed at 12.30 which could be a 3 course meal, I couldn't eat that much and then dance again after, so stuck with the salad.
Dinner was again a massive 3 course meal, with lots of choices and some nice puddings!  Then for those who were really greedy there was a midnight snack!!  We went to have a look on the first night and it was chilli and rice -  how can people eat that at that time of night?  Anyway the food was tasty, not the most wonderful I have ever had but more than ok.

We stayed in a chalet and ours was the one fattest from the main buildings, almost in the sea!  Still it does you good to have a nice walk!

Watch out for the cliff edge.

On Sunday afternoon we took a walk down to the beach, it was a bit breezy! We didn't stay out long!

It was non stop all weekend and my mind was a bit frazzled with all the different classes, trying to remember the new moves that we learnt.  Today my legs ache, my arms and shoulders ache and most strangely my wrist aches.  I think it was because I learnt to flick my wrist up at the end of a move and did it so much I have worn it out!