On English Travels - Part 1

Feeding a hungry swan on the Norfolk Broads

The morning dawned, bright and sunny, and off we set towards Bury St Edmunds and Margaret and Ron. Lots of lorries on the road and a slightly late start put us slightly behind schedule so we only had time for coffee, not coffee and scones when we arrived, before lunch!

The weather was kind, we could sit outside, albeit with coats on, and see some more, ‘real people’. We had a lovely time, and apparently did Margaret the power of good. Whether Ron shared this view as we cracked a paving slab, reversing off the drive trying to avoid the flower bed, we’ll never know!

Lunch with Margaret and Ron

Looking for Great Crested Newts near Thurston

15 minutes took us to our campsite (Bright Meadow Campsite,  location: 52°14'24.9"N 0°49'27.0"E), so straight out with the chairs and table, for a glass of wine in the sunshine, because we could. On arrival we’d been presented with a map of Thurston walks, how good is that? It was good, and fortunately Brian studied it, as when we set off for our walk on Saturday the map was safe and sound in Ted! A good three hour walk got us back in time for lunch, the Saturday paper, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, on the caravan next doors tv, whether we wanted it or not! And Margaret’s scones (here's a link to a short Relive video of our walk which shows the route and photos we took along the way: Thurston walk).

From our window on the campsite we could see loads of 'Mad March' hares running about in the field next door

Enjoying the warmish afternoon sun

A leisurely start on Sunday (I think all our starts are leisurely) and we headed to Cangate, a tiny place in the Norfolk Broads between Wroxham, Neatishead and Horning. We stopped en route at the English Whisky Company, we’d stopped here with mum a couple of years ago, and she’d put in a request for a special that they do, whisky mixed with sherry, apparently delicious! Charles has thought this sounded good so we had a double order. Contrary to popular belief, and the amount of mobile homes on the road, not every where is full. We are the only people here, in a field, with electricity coming out of the ground, a freshwater tap in one corner, and a toilet dump in the other. We’ve parked looking at the pond so we can talk to the heron, ducks and pheasants. The semi feral cats don’t want to talk, we haven’t seen a deer, but I do think I saw a big white owl last evening (Cangate House Campsite, location: 52°43'33.4"N 1°26'50.5"E).

Alone on our campsite in Cangate, except for the wildlife. Great location to get to The Broads on bikes, some 2 miles and some 4 miles away (and it is flat after all!)

We saw Ron by the pond on the campsite every night

On arrival I expected to chill, well we were here for three nights after all, but no, the bikes were out and after a quick lunch we were off, cycling the half hour, back to Wroxham, we’d driven through it and it was buzzing. We parked in Roy’s carpark, by Roy’s garden centre, walking past Roy’s food hall, Roy’s toy shop, Roy’s DIY and Roy’s clothes. The biggest village shop in the world! Apparently Roy isn’t a man, it is the Roy brothers, but all very unusual! We’d come for an ice cream which was soon sorted, not by a Roy, surprisingly, good though. We pottered about, looked at boat hire, fed swans, ate ice cream and just generally bimbled. Popping into Roy’s food hall for a tear and share chilli bread. Cycling back before it got cold, despite still looking lovely.

And, of course lots of windmills

Lunch at the Straithe n Willow

A proper day out on Monday took us, on the bikes, to Horning where we looked at more boats, eyed up restaurants for lunch, walked to the Ferrymans Inn, to find it was too early in the season for the ferry man to take us across the river to a nature reserve, but not too early for a beer! Back into town to the Staithe n Willow that had caught our eye with fresh Cromer crab salad and chips! Oh my, it was fab.

Having not managed to cross the river to visit the nature reserve we thought we’d better return to Ted via a boardwalk near Neatishead. The advantage of being on bikes was we could

On the boardwalk at Neatishead

park them in the disabled car park, which was right by the boardwalk. The walk from the other carpark, and toilets I think was actually longer than the boardwalk itself! It was an amazing feat of engineering, some of the pilings going 10m deep into the mud. Stopped at Neatishead for an ice cream, though not in the sun it was a little chilly, but hey.

Looking out over Barton Broad at the extremity of the boardwalk

An interesting notice on the boardwalk

Tuesday we’d decided we were going out on a boat, seems the thing to do on the Norfolk Broads, £20 an hour and away you go. We’d planned lunch, we’d seen it on Sunday, an amazing looking hot pork, beef, turkey or any combination thereof in a crusty baguette. Yum. Hired our little boat for three hours and set off, down the river, into and out of a couple of broads, pub for a swift beer, seemed rude not to! Brian found docking a little stressful, till a kind gentleman jumped up to grab the front while I hopped off the back. All terribly civilised. Back for an iced coffee (he didn’t have much ice cream) and cycled back to Ted after stopping at Roy’s for some cheese (here's a link to a short Relive video of our boat trip which shows the route and photos we took along the way: Boat trip video). 

Brian in charge of a boat!

Cooking in Ted doesn’t seem to be happening, we set off with some cold fried chicken, too good a bargain to miss, going cheap in Aldi. Margaret fed us on Friday, so no dinner required. Chicken salad Saturday and Sunday (hence the tear and share bread) crab salad out yesterday, no dinner required, huge baguette today, no real dinner required, perhaps some cheese and crackers? When will I ever cook the spaghetti carbonara, the three portions of frozen chopped chicken, ready for curry/stir fry/whatever, the frozen venison burgers, the frozen smoked mackerel, the corned beef hash, and the blessed Fray Bentos pie that has been to Europe twice and is not going back home again...

We knew we wouldn't post yesterday, despite having written and sorted the photos, the cellphone reception was just too rubbish.

So just to finish off yesterday, the big white owl came back and Brian saw it too. Despite appearing white, we don't think it was a snowy owl, just the underside of a barn owl. Lovely to see (see photo at the end).

We also went for a little amble and startled a deer, bringing up our wildlife viewing considerably

Some of the houses along the river were something special...

Instead of a driveway and garage for a car, they have berths and huge sheds for cruisers. Not all could be seen, just the end of their huge garden. How the other half live!

Lots of geese and ducks with their chicks taking in the sun

This island was safe enough for swans, geese and ducks to build their nests

She has quite a few eggs in there

Once you get away from the houses the wildness of the Broads really becomes apparent. There's almost no human intervention here, there can't be as it's just swamp. Anyone who treads on those banks are liable to sink into deep mud. As the boardwalk notice told us, solid ground is up to 10m down

Another windmill. Someone had already moored up and claimed that for the lunch picnic

At our lunch spot. The Swan Inn at Horning, having travelled the River Bure from Wroxham 

There's Jackie feeding ducks on our little boat at our lunch stop

Of course, its a tiny duck chick she's feeding!

There's Ron the Heron on someone's front lawn looking for his lunch

And here someone had cut a bush to look like a bird

Not all the Broads are open to the public. This one has a gate across and, on the map it's huge beyond here. I guess it's a protected area for birds and the rare plants that are only found in this area 

Here's that photo of a barn owl, one of which we saw gliding round our campsite in Cangate every night. This is not my photo (I wish it was!) We bought a small copy at a photo exhibition at the visitor centre at Cley Marshes Nature Reserve. Peter Mallett is the photographer and we met him there amongst his huge collection of fabulous photographs. He told us patience is the key (something I have little of), but his equipment helps. He told us his camera cost over £5000 and the lens he uses was £4000 second hand! My £150 camera just isn't going to cut it then!