Wednesday 25th December 2019
Bollocks to Brexit! .........LET'S GET CHRISTMAS DONE........
........ingredients..........
........preparation.........
.........DONE!
Tuesday 17th December 2019
It rained a lot during the night. When we woke up this morning in our van parked in Neil and Julie's driveway we immediately realised that there was a large wet patch in the middle of our bed! Both our immediate reactions was to accuse the other of wetting the bed! This was far from the truth. Water was dripping down from the skylight above. The sealant around the skylight must have failed. We tried to catch the drips in a bowl!
We had planned to take two days on the journey back to Devon but with a wet bed and the prospect of it getting wetter we made the whole 300 mile plus journey today getting home about 16.00. We've got the bedding and mattress out of the van to dry out in our house.
Today we travelled 313 miles (504 kilometres).
This trip lasted 14 days and we travelled 878 miles (1414 kilometres).
That's all for now, Roger.
Monday 16th December 2019
This morning we came south from Dunwich Forest and visited NT Sutton Hoo. This giant replica of the Helmet of the Anglo Saxon King buried here in his ship in the year 620 greets visitors to the site.
The actual treasurers which were excavated here in 1939 are now in the British Museum in London however they have some convincing replicas on display here.
The King's helmet.
His shield.
This reconstruction gives you some idea of the size of ship which was hauled up from the not too nearby river and buried under an earth mound with the King's body and his treasures 1400 years ago.
Here's an old photograph of the excavation in 1939.
Here's the remains of the mound under which the ship burial was found. NT are constructing an observation tower, also seen here, to enable viewing this site from high up. There are numerous Anglo Saxon burials here most of which were looted in antiquity.
From Sutton Hoo we moved on to visit my fried Neil and his wife Julie. Here's their house (and cat).
I got to know Neil at Southampton University in the 1970s. As well as the cat he and Julie have a dog.
Julie was also at Southampton University but I didn't get to meet her until now.
We had a very nice far eastern type meal (Neil and Julie have just got back from a trip to Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia). Here the meal is in the course of preparation.
Today we travelled 39 miles (63 kilometres). We are at N52.06942 E1.159235
Sunday 15th December 2019
There was a really noisy party at Southwold Sailing Club right next to where we were parked last night but I dropped off to sleep eventually. This morning we moved on the shortish distance to a car park in Dunwich Forest. The car park was quite busy when we arrived so we parked on this adjoining forest track.
There is a large clearing in the forest next to the car park.
We went for a walk in the forest. The weather was sunny and much less cold than of late.
A little further on we saw two very big Red Deer one with large antlers. They ran off before I was able to photograph them.
When we got back from our walk the car park had emptied somewhat and we moved our van to the prime spot.
It was warm enough to have the door open for a while!
As dusk approached most of the cars went home.
Here's the view out of the side of our van.
As the daylight was fading we saw six more Red Deer - these were females and juveniles much smaller than the two we had seen earlier. They were moving too quickly for me to photograph.
It's dark now and everyone else has gone home. This is a really nice quiet place to spend the night.
Today we travelled 9 miles (14 kilometres). We are at N52.28298 E1.60719
Saturday 14th December 2019
This morning we did a supermarket shop before leaving Lowestoft. We then moved on to Southwold Harbour where we spent the day and are staying tonight. We found a tap on the jetty and filled up our freshwater tank.
The town of Southwold itself is a little further inland and on slightly higher ground. It is the home of the famous Adnams Brewery and Distillery.
This place is very much orientated towards boats and fishing. We took a short walk around but soon returned to the van and turned the heating on as it was very cold out.
I visited the local fishmonger just across the way from where we are parked and bought half a dressed lobster. I ate most of it as Ann wasn't keen.
There was another van here when we arrived and since then a third one has turned up.
The Harbour Inn on the right looked inviting seen here through the windscreen of our van.
Later on we went for a meal in the pub - washed down with Adnams beer of course.
Today we travelled 22 miles (35 kilometres). We are at N52.32097 E1.66191
Friday 13th December 2019
This morning just as we were about to have breakfast the kitchen tap in the van packed in. Probably the micro switch has died. We visited a motorhome dealer in Great Yarmouth just south of Caister to see if they had time to fit a new micro switch today - they didn't so we decided we could live with it till we get back to Devon. We can easily fill the kitchen sink from the washroom tap. We came on to Lowestoft and parked by the sea on an Industrial Estate. This is Ness Point - the most easterly place on Great Britain. As you can see we are right next to an enormous wind turbine.
There is a monument to mark the spot.
The monument is circular and has pointers with the distances to various places in Britain and Europe.
The construction of the monument was part funded by the European Regional Development Fund - there won't be any more of that in future!
We got our bikes out and went for a ride along the sea front.
We saw this old lighthouse.
There's a cold wind today so we're well wrapped up. This coast is inhabited by vast numbers of holiday chalets. These on the left have no sea views as the tidal defences are much too high for them to see over.
Here's view north from the end of the sea front promenade.
We turned round here and cycled back to our van for a cup of tea. We're staying overnight back by the wind turbine.
Today we travelled 21 miles (34 kilometres). We are at N52.48073 E1.76189
Thursday 12th December 2019
It was cold in the night at West Runton. After a sunny start it soon clouded over. Here's the beach with the public conveniences on the right. Handy for emptying our toilet.
Looking back up from the slipway.
We came a short way inland to a garage selling LPG. We took on 27.5 litres 8 days after we last filled our tanks so we have been using about 3.5 litres a day which is a lot but that's what happens when you have the heating on for long periods. We moved on to NT Blickling Hall.
It was raining heavily so instead of doing the gardens and the estate we went inside the hall.
I'm not over keen about the inside of stately homes at the best of times. However this one was worse than usual as it was jam packed with Christmas decorations which to some extent obscured the artefacts.
One of the Hall's previous occupants had been the British Ambassador to Russia. These are perhaps souvenirs of his time there.
Russian Dolls.
This is supposed to be a model of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. It's in the middle of the dining table!
I'm not sure where these giant eggs are from.
Here we are down in the servants area.
The master bedroom perhaps. Note the ghostly figures on the right!
An all mod cons bathroom. I don't think the toilet is of the flush variety.
The NT staff seemed to have a 2nd World War theme to their Christmas decorations.
Eventually we exited back into the rain through the gift shop.
What about this for a hedge?
We travelled back to the coast and stopped for the night at the Never Turn Back pub in Caister on Sea. The Landlord was very welcoming - not surprising really as we were more of less the only customers this evening.
It's an okay pub - close by the sea.
We had some food and some beer - very nice and reasonably priced. Back at the van the BBC Exit Poll predicted a large Tory majority in Parliament following today's General Election. I went to bed in disgust!
Today we travelled 47 miles (76 kilometres). We are at N52.64942 E1.73355
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