Yesterday we drove to Kent, near Rochester, to visit two friends and, naturally, the weather was dismal. Low cloud with rain most of the time. We had a very pleasant pub lunch in a nearby village and on the way back to our friends house we went through the village of Aylesford. A view of this village appears on the cover of a book we have which is a Shell guide to England so, although it was raining, we stopped for me to take this picture.
Pretty ain’t it?
Another lovely day yesterday saw us arrive at the free car park in Dedham where we intended to walk around the area where John Constable used to paint. A short walk from the car park brought us here.
Just above the cattle you may see a horizontal line in the grass – that is the path we intend to take which follows the River Stour to Flatford.
After crossing the road bridge over the river we joined the footpath and set off beside the river. After only a short while we stopped to look at a small shoal of small fish, about five inches long, near the bank. We are no experts when it comes to identifying fish but we thought that they could be Gudgeon. The jury's out on that one.
This is the public footpath a little further on.
We soon reached a footbridge which we needed to take to get on the other side of the river where the path continued. We stopped again, by the river, and could see numerous bright blue damsel flies together with some powder blue dragon flies (Libellula) and some very small fry in the shallow water near the bank. We imagine that they are probably Minnows.
A little further on and we could see the bridge at Flatford in the distance with people leaning over looking at the river.
A very short time after there we were at the bridge with the thatched Bridge Cottage beyond.
From the bridge we could see, looking back, the path by which we had arrived.
The National Trust, who own most of the properties here, run a small tea room attached to Bridge Cottage where we had a short break and some coffee. One thing that can be said about National Trust tearooms is that they know how to charge (one pound and 45 pence for a cup of coffee).
After our break we walked past Granary Barn (thatched) and Flatford Mill, which John Constable's father used to own, to reach Willie Lott's Cottage.
There are other pictures of this area on the web site on the Dedham Vale pages.
After looking around Flatford we walked about a mile up the lane to East Bergholt where John Constable once had a studio. We had a look in the church and in one place we could hear a pitter-patter noise above our heads in the roof. We decided that, from the sound of it, it must be a rain shower. There had been a few clouds about and some of them, although small, were rather dark. I went outside to check and found that it was still brilliant sunshine and there was no sign of rain. We never did find out what that noise was.
This church does not have a tower because they ran out of money when it was being built so they decided to build a small wooden building on the ground to house the bells. Very unusual.
At least there is something to catch the water in if the roof ever leaks. 
We walked back to Dedham from East Bergholt for a late lunch, at about 2:00 PM, in the Marlborough Head which dates from medieval times.
After lunch we had a good look around Dedham starting with the church. Have a good look at the church door. Quite a nice bit of carving although it does look a little worn but then it should do as it's been in place since the church was built in the 15th century. There can't be many church doors around which are 400-500 years old.
Just opposite the church is the Sun Inn built in the 15th century and walking through the archway into the yard behind you see this.
That diagonal structure is an external staircase, with a separate roof, giving access to the upper storey. When this inn was built such staircases were commonplace but there are very few of them left.
Our last port of call was 'Southfields' the earliest parts of which date from the 14th century.
A wonderful old building built in quadrangular form with a courtyard in the centre. This is the view through the main doorway into the courtyard.
Time to call it a day. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk – I hope you did too.
Tomorrow we leave for Rye and the day after that we meet, for the first time, our forum friend from the U.S.A. – Marie. After that anything could happen. 
I am hoping that when the hotel says it has Internet access it actually works. We shall see. If it does work I'm hoping to update this report on the day that we arrive and, subsequently, on other days. When I got up this morning it was snowing hard and continued like that for a few hours but, I'm glad to be able to report, it has now stopped and what snow there was on the ground has melted. The weather forecast for tomorrow is sleet with sunny intervals and for Tuesday and Wednesday it's light rain. With weather at this time of year anything could happen. 
Watch this space!
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Well, Ok, it didn't happen – the blog posting I mean not the trip. It turned out that because we had so much to do the only time I would have had to write the blog would have been late after dinner in the evening and, to be quite honest, I really didn't feel like it. However, here is the report a little late.
The Rye Trip Day 1 – Monday (Rye)
We arrived in Rye, after an uneventful 2 hour drive, at about lunchtime. Driving through the narrow, cobbled streets around Church Square and into Watchbell Street, where our hotel was, was fun! The streets are not wide enough for two cars to pass and some of the corners were pretty tight but we got there. Our hotel was very nice and rather quaint. This shows the side of the hotel in Watchbell Street.
This part of Rye is on the top of the old sea cliff and gives a super view over the harbour and marshes. This view of the hotel is from the bottom of the cliff near the harbour.
This last picture, taken from the bridge on the Rye Harbour road, gives an overall view of the town on the hill with the church tower and spire showing on the right-hand side and our hotel is the building on the extreme left.
We had lunch in the hotel and afterwards went for a walk around the town. The weather was a bit cloudy with some sun but there was a very cold wind. We didn't stay out for long because it felt so chilly and went back to the hotel to organise our belongings and prepare for dinner. Tomorrow, Tuesday, we plan to go to Hastings Old Town by bus and meet up with Marie on our return.
Day 2 – Tuesday (Hastings)
The day dawned with a cloudless sky, not that I was awake at dawn to see it, and as there was no wind it felt a lot warmer altogether. We had breakfast and, as we were planning to go by bus, collected our rucksacks with clothing for all eventualities. We caught the number 100 bus outside Rye Railway Station. The bus stops are arranged in laybys either side of the road running toward the camera with the station at the back and you can see part of the layby on the right-hand side where we caught our bus.
This bus starts from Dover goes through Folkestone to Rye then onward to Hastings where it terminates. It is a double decker so, on those narrow little roads, it sometimes felt like riding in a small house. The bus journey took about 40 minutes and we got off in Hastings Old Town. The first building we saw looked very interesting and was a hint of things to come.
The road the bus used through the old town was a fairly ordinary town road but the streets we wanted to see run off to each side of this. Just opposite us was a narrow interesting looking little lane which we followed and came out in the High Street.
What a fascinating and picturesque street this is with it's ancient buildings and high pavement which runs for quite a long way. You can see on the right of the picture where some steps take the pavement up to an even higher level. I don't know the reason for this, especially as it occurs only on one side of the street, but I would like to find out. This is All Saints Street which runs parallel to High Street but on the opposite side of the bus route. Here the pavement is returning to around road level and there are still plenty of ancient timber-framed houses along here.
There are lots of narrow side alleys which connect these various streets which are great fun to explore. Here is an example.
You should be able to see, in the dark patch ahead, a small slit of light which is where the alley goes through the houses and continues on. We found many others like this, all different, but then spotted one with a sign pointing to 'The Castle and Caves' so, of course, we had to follow it.
This eventually, after a bit of a steep climb, came out onto a large open grass area with amazing views over the old town. This is West Hill.
The view above is looking across the old town to East Hill which we climbed up later. We found the ruins of Hastings Castle on the top of West Hill. There is not an awful lot of it left but what does remain is interesting. There are some old dungeons cut into the sandstone below the castle and they are so confined that a photograph would have shown very little so I didn't take any down there but I did take some of the ruins.
This view is of the modern part of Hastings which is on the west side of West Hill. Just to try and make things clearer – first when coming from the east is the high ground of East Hill then the valley with Hastings Old Town in it. Next is the high ground of West Hill with the castle and caves and finally beyond and below West Hill is the newer part of Hastings including the pier. This is what you see from the castle.
There is a cafe on West Hill where we had lunch before returning to Hastings Old Town. On the way down to the High Street we came across this narrow road by an old chuch.
Yes cars can drive through there but only just. Notice those high pavements again. Having reached sea level once again we climbed up East Hill using the steps which climb next to the funicular which, incidentally, was undergoing maintenance and so was not in use.
Lets face it – if you want to go anywhere in the old town you go either up or down. Level? What's that? After coming down from East Hill it was time to catch the bus back to Rye and while we were walking to the bus stop my mobile 'phone rang and it was Marie to say that she had arrived. We got off the bus outside the Railway Station and walked along to the 15th century cottage that Marie was renting for a week. Marie invited us in and we spent about an hour chatting before returning to our hotel. We had arranged for Marie to come up to the hotel the following morning when we planned to drive to Bodiam Castle, Battle Abbey and Birling Gap. The saga continues on Wednesday.
Day 3 – Wednesday – The three 'B's (Bodiam, Battle and Birling Gap)
I forgot to mention in the previous section that the many little alleyways in Hastings Old Town are known as Twittens. This is an Anglo Saxon word related to the German Twiete meaning a narrow lane. The old English plural 'en' at the end of a word rather than 's' probably means that Twitten is actually a plural i.e. 'lanes'. However, back to the saga. Marie came up to the hotel whilst we were having breakfast and had a cup of tea with us until we had finished our breakfast. I gather she's a bit of an early bird and gets up at a time I would regard as the middle of the night. We set off for Bodiam spotting wild flowers (Wood Anemones and Bluebells) as we drove through the countryside and arrived at Bodiam Castle at just about opening time, parked the car, and walked to the castle. What a picturesque setting and with a cloudless sky!
We had to walk round the moat to the other side which is where the very impressive entrance was. This picture shows the bridge across the moat and Amanda and Marie about to step on it.
We had a look in one of the towers where the wooden floors no longer exist and so it's not possible to go up.
After a bit more wandering about we found the way to the really interesting bits – the top of the two towers where visitors can get access.
Medieval spiral stone stairways are definitely not built for two-way traffic. Before starting up it's advisable to listen for people coming down and vice versa. In spite of her dodgy knee Marie was hopping up and down the stairways like a good'un. This picture, taken from 'our' tower, shows people on another tower – just like us. We later went up that one too.
Good views from up there over the surrounding countryside especially if a steam train just happens to be passing.
And in the other direction we could see what appeared to be a Hop field complete with Oast Houses.
Then in the 'other' direction i.e. down, we could see the layout of the inside of the castle although I wasn't able to include it all.
The doorway on the path is the entrance from the bridge over the moat. It appears that they weren't all that primitive in those days when it came to creature comforts. In many of the rooms we saw there would be another little room off to one side which inevitably turned out to be a Garderobe (Toilet). I even volunteered to photograph one of the ladies sitting on one but they both declined. Perhaps that's what is known as 'toilet humour'? That is where we leave Bodiam Castle and sally forth to Battle (so to speak). It was but a short drive to Battle and we soon found the Abbey and parked in their own car park which, at £3.00 a go, I thought was a bit steep. Quite by chance it turned out that we didn't have to pay – but more of that when we've finished our visit. The main abbey gatehouse is probably the most complete building left in the abbey and does look quite impressive.
There are other ruined buildings botted about the place of which this is but one:
It's always worth hunting around for the odd doorway or two because one never knows where it may lead and the most interesting part of this building is not what you can see from here but what is underneath:
At the far end of this building I found this interesting little view. I don't remember what it was but I believe Marie found out at the time and if she can remember perhaps she will jog my memory.
This part of the abbey was next to the original battlefield which is just over the fence to the left where there are 'battle walks'.
Finally the whole abbey complex used to be surrounded by a substantial wall complete with walkway.
Having finished our tour we went back to the car. In this car park there is an automatic barrier at the exit where one is supposed to pay however when it was time to leave there was a car parked on the outside of the barrier which was down. There was a lady talking to one of the English Heritage staff and another lady sitting inside the barrier on the kerb. There must have been some sort of problem/incident although I don't know what it was but another member of staff was waving cars out of the 'in' gate so we didn't have to pay. This part of Battle village I saw through one of the gatehouse windows:
Just outside Battle Abbey was a small teashop which provided us with a lunch stop after which we moved on to Birling Gap and the white chalk cliffs. Amanda was doing the map reading and navigating and we discovered that at Polegate, only a few miles from Birling Gap, some swine had changed the road layout and it no longer matched our map. Howver after a short circular tour we did get back on the right road and arrived at Birling Gap. There is a set of steps here to get down the relatively low point in the cliffs to the beach. We have been here before, of course, and there are pictures on the main web site to prove it. This time we were here so that Marie could see the white cliffs. We walked east along the beach to where the cliffs started to get higher and let Marie have a close look at the stuff. These chalk cliffs are rather friable and bits, large and small, can fall off at any time but they didn't, I'm glad to say, whilst we were there. We went back up the steps and walked on top of the cliffs for a while getting a good view of Birling Gap from the higher ground.
Our car was parked down there somewhere and so, after an enjoyable day, we made our way back to the car and thence back to Rye. So that was Wednesday. Tomorrow, Thursday, will be our last day together as we leave both Rye and Marie on Friday morning. The saga continues on Thursday.
Day 4 – Thursday (Camber Castle and Rye)
Thursday morning and it was dry, bright but cloudy. After breakfast Amanda and I walked down to Marie's cottage and the three of us set off through the town for Romney Marsh and Camber castle. This involved following the Winchelsea Road for a short distance and turning down Rye Harbour Road, across the River Brede at the lock gates and onto the public footpath across the marsh. This shows the view back to Rye from that bridge over the river and you can even see part of the lock gates.
It wasn't long before we could see Camber Castle in the distance – it is pancake flat out here after all. This castle was built by Henry VIII – well he didn't actually build it himself but paid other people to do it for him. It was original very close to the shoreline but a few hundred years later it was abandoned because the sea had receded so far. It is probably around one and a half miles inland now. This picture was taken from our hotel window.
More pictures of Camber Castle can be seen on the Rye pages from our previous trip. After wandering around the castle we continued on a circular route back to rye passing many sheep and lambs and back in Rye we headed for the lunch shop. After lunch we continued our explorations of Rye and ended up at the church. This is the church seen from near the Ypres Tower.
I threatened to go up the tower as the sun was shining and the last time I went up and took some photographs it was cloudy. Marie decided she didn't want to struggle up more steps but when I decided I was going up she just didn't want to be left out of the adventure and changed her mind and so we all went up. This is one of the views from the top showing the Ypres Tower down below and the view across the marshes towards the sea.
After coming back down to earth we took Marie along to see the Ypres Tower.
Built in 1249 this tower is one of Rye's oldest buildings. Going down some steps to the street below we somehow ended up by the Strand Quay and all the antique shops – I'm not sure how I let that happen. Do I need to say that Amanda and Marie disappeared inside pronto? No of course I don't. When they did re-appear some days later we went back to the hotel. At about 6:00 PM Marie went off to her cottage and we prepared for dinner. Tomorrow we say goodbye to Rye and Marie.
Day 5 – Friday Marie came up to the hotel this morning and had a cup of tea with us at breakfast. She was all togged up for her planned walk to Winchelsea. After breakfast we, reluctantly, said goodbye to Marie and she then went off to start her walk and we did all our packing, loaded the car and had a relatively straightforward trip home. Can't wait for the next trip.
The weather forecast for our our second day was cloudy but dry and we woke to a clear blue sky and it stayed sunny all day. So much for English weather forecasts.
After breakfast we drove the few miles to Friston Forest where we parked the car in one of the two official car parks. This one is on the west side of the forest about 2 miles south of Littlington.
After paying our 1.50 GBP for a day’s parking, the only option there is, we walked off into the forest heading for the little village of West Dean about a half mile away.
In spite of stopping here and there along the way to look at plants we arrived in West Dean fairly quickly and decided to have another look, we’ve been before, at the little church.
Through the village to the path through the forest to the Seven Sisters Country Park Visitor Centre. Ah yes – that path. Not quite as innocuous as it might sound.
That’s the one. It wasn’t as strenuous and didn’t take as long as you might imagine to get to the top. The next section of path was gently downhill all the way to the visitor centre and we had then walked about mile from the car. We had a brief stop here for coffee in the Exeat Farmhouse Restaurant which I mentioned on the Cuckmere Haven page from our previous trip.
So crossing the A259, Seaford to Eastbourne Road, we headed towards Cuckmere Haven.
Here you can see the Cuckmere River meandering across it’s flood plain towards the sea with the path on the left-hand edge of the picture. You can just about see the sea on the left edge of the horizon.
On our previous visit there was no livestock to be seen but this time there was. This pair were grazing contentedly each side of the path and we had just walked between them when I turned and took this photograph.
Cattle are usually nervous enough that they will move away from people if they get too near but these were obviously used to people and didn’t so much as twitch when we walked between them.
So after walking another mile we soon arrived at the beach at Cuckmere Haven.
Don’t be mislead by the sandy beach – most of it is pebbles and it’s hard work walking on them. I wanted to get some more pictures of the chalk cliffs so we walked further along the beach. Here I am taking my life in my hands, well I could have got seriously wet feet, to get the sort of pictures you see on the web site.
You will notice that, in this close-up of part of the chalk cliff, there are rows of small dark blobs. These are flints formed in the chalk and, when the cliff is eroded by the sea and the weather, they are washed out and rolled by the waves to form the rounded pebbles of which the beach is comprised.
As we started back towards the visitor centre at Exceat we saw a Little Egret in one of the lagoons.
We were back at Exceat in time for a late lunch at the Exeat Farmhouse Restaurant and then walked back through the forest, via West Dean, to our car.
As we still had some time left in the day we drove to Birling Gap and parked in the free car park there. Birling Gap is so called not because there is a complete gap in the cliffs but because the cliffs there are only about 30 feet high whereas the cliff heights either side are measured in hundreds of feet.
There is a metal stairway from the top of the cliff to the beach and this picture was taken from the top of the stairway looking west at the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs.
We did, of course, go down the stairway to the beach and walked east in the hope of seeing Beachy Head round the next corner but we reached a point where the sea was still lapping against the cliffs so were not able to go any further.
I did, however, take this picture after we’d turned round to walk back to the stairway.
On the way along the beach one could not avoid the noise of the surf. The waves crashed noisily on to the beach and, as the water withdrew, the sound of pebbles grinding as they were rolled could easily be heard. Standing there listening to that noise one could imaging how the rough lumpy flints were transformed into smaller rounded pebbles.
When we got back to the car park there was still time for another short expedition so I walked east up onto the cliff tops whilst Amanda stayed down below. Until I reached the top of the cliffs I hadn’t realised that the Belle Tout Lighthouse was so close so I had to go at least that far.
Just before I got there a long thin strip of cloud obscured the sun and I ended up waiting 15 minutes for it to clear – but what a beautiful place to have to wait. The sparkling sea to the south, the Seven Sisters white cliffs beyond Birling Gap to the west and East Dean and Friston Forest to the north.
Coming back down from the lighthouse I saw this view of Birling Gap
The sun was getting noticeably low and it would be dark within 2 hours so we made our way back to the hotel after a very pleasant day.
Tomorrow will be mostly ups and downs.
At the beginning of September last we visited Alfriston in Sussex which, apart from being a lovely little village in the middle of the Sussex Downs, is also only about 5 miles from the coast. We liked the area so much that, 5 weeks later, we went again staying at the Star Inn in the centre of the village on both trips and have just returned from that second visit.
Pictures from the first visit are already on the web site and can be accessed from the Sussex page – South Downs.
The day that we started our second visit was cloudy with rain at times but that was not unexpected as the weather forecast had foretold cloud and rain for that day. We arrived in Alfriston around lunchtime, by which time the weather had improved a little, and decided that lunch would be our next step. Instead of having lunch in The Star, as we did last time, we decided to try 'The Singing Kettle' a few hundred yards down the road. We last visited that Tea Room about 19 years ago and wanted to see what it was like now.
It was taken over by new owners about 6 years ago and now has a very good selection of items on the menu. We had a light lunch here and were very impressed.
The Singing Kettle is the centre one of the block of three buildings facing the camera at the far end of Waterloo Square.
By this time the weather had improved considerably to the point that there were patches of blue sky appearing together with a bit of sun. We thought that a little afternoon walk would be good so decided to walk alongside the River Cuckmere that flows through Alfriston. We walked across the footbridge and turned left, up river, to look at the little brick bridge that carries a small lane over the river. We had gone only a short way along the river when we saw a heron standing by the river looking for fish.
Because the bricks in the bridge were fairly large we thought that it was probably Victorian and, therefore, not very old. We used that bridge to cross the river to the footpath on the other side and headed back towards Alfriston, past the church, and on, down river, towards Littlington.
After passing Alfriston we looked back to this view of Alfriston Church in the hazy autumn sunshine.
The heron that we had seen on the way to the bridge we had disturbed on the way back and it had flown off down stream the way that we were going so it was inevitable that we surprised it again. I managed to get a photograph of it in flight
and another as it landed on the far side of the river.
Herons are, as you can probably see, fairly large birds.
Having reached the footbridge at Littlington we crossed the river and headed back to Alfriston stopping to take this last picture of cattle grazing by the river.
That easy, flat, walk covered about 3 miles in total and back at The Star Inn we relaxed and prepared for dinner. Tomorrow was going to be a longer walk involving Friston Forest and Cuckmere Haven.
We headed north, today, over the county border, and the River Stour, and into Suffolk. Our destination was Pin Mill – a small waterside community on the River Orwell.
We drove as far as the village of Chelmondiston where we parked in the small, free, village car park. The walk down Pinmill Road was an easy one and we arrived at the riverside close by the Butt and Oyster Inn.
The tide was out when I took this picture and I imagine that with a very high tide this inn only just manages to keep it’s feet dry!
It was about time for morning coffee so we went in to the pub for coffee. The view from inside the bar across the river was very picturesque. Whilst we were drinking our coffee we noticed that their lunch menu had a very good range of dishes which sounded positively delightful but, unfortunately, we would have to leave before lunch for our next intended destination. I don’t know how good the food is but it certainly sounded nice.
After finishing our coffee we walked along the small hard which you can see next to the stream in the picture above and looked back to the Butt and Oyster.
After a walk round we set off up the lane back to the car but, part the way up, we met this fella walking by the side of the lane.
Isn’t he lovely? This is Britain’s largest beetle, a male Stag Beetle (Lucarnus cervus) which you won’t see very often. If this chap gives you the creeps then there is another piece of information which you should know – they can fly and do – frequently.
Amanda decided that he wasn’t terribly safe right next to the lane so she picked him up and put him on the verge.
We arrived back in Chelmondiston and set off in the car for our next waterside destination – Mistley back over the border in Essex.
The half mile stretch of road between Manningtree and Mistley runs alongside the River Stour and it is possible to stop anywhere by the roadside so that one can get out and look at the river which is over a half mile wide at this point.
The interesting point about this part of the river is the swans and it’s not just a few swans it’s a lot of swans. This is just some of them but there are more.
I spoke briefly to an Australian lady who said she’d never seen so many and why were they there? I wasn’t able to answer that question at the time but I can now. There are malting buildings by the river in Mistley where barley is malted in preparation for making beer and up to at least fifty years ago the barley was unloaded from barges at the quayside. The local swans soon realised that the barley which was spilled during this process was a constant source of food and there was obviously enough of it to support a large number of swans and so their numbers increased to form the colony here today.
We walked further into Mistley to look around and then made our way back to the car only to find an impolite lout strutting along the pavement as though he owned it!
He looked a bit put out when we walked past without so much as a ‘by your leave’.
Back to the car and we leave for our next, and last, destination – Harwich.
Harwich used to be a bustling, working port and a little on the rough side I think. Now, however, all the big stuff such as the international container ships and passenger liners have been moved around the corner to Parkeston Quay and Harwich has become a quiet, picturesque and interesting little town. If you are interested in things maritime then Harwich is the place for you and even if maritime history doesn’t hold you spellbound there is still plenty of interest.
There is remarkably little traffic in the town and there are narrow backstreets with many old buildings. There is lots to see on the waterfront including the Ha’penny Pier, Lighthouses and a Mayflower exhibition – the Mayflower was built in Harwich. This is me being friendly with a young lady I met inside the Mayflower Exhibition.
After Harwich it was back home. We enjoyed today very much and lots more photographs from this trip, together with many new pages, will eventually appear on the web site in due course. If you want to be notified about updates as soon as they appear then see the updates page.
… and neither do barges. Today was the ‘Blackwater Barge Match’ and for those not in the know it’s a race between Thames Sailing Barges. These magnificent vessels are around 80 – 100 feet long and about 100 years old.
It takes place every year on the River Blackwater, near us, starting from just below Maldon and sailing out into the estuary. We were planning to go and watch them sail past and, as the race starts at 9:30 AM we didn’t have much time.
Amanda was complaining that I might compromise the whole expedition because I wanted breakfast first but we did have breakfast first and then set off for Tollesbury where we intended to walk to the river. The walk should take about 20 minutes and we should get to the river just as the barges were passing.
We set off on the walk and as the river came into view we could see the tops of many masts, with sails, coming down the river. We couldn’t see the lower parts of the vessels because they were obscured by the sea wall.
We did get to the river in time and climbed up onto the top of the sea wall to see the first barges of a total of about 14 going past.
We were observed, from a safe distance, by some interested parties who seemed to be curious about what we were doing.
Amanda wanted to take some pictures of her own.
We walked along the sea wall in the same direction that the barges were going although they were going faster than us and eventually they all went past heading out into the estuary. What a lovely sight!
We walked along the wall until we picked up another footpath which would take us back into Tollesbury. On the way we managed to disturb a Heron which flew off over the marshes and saw a number of Common Mallow plants.
A little later,nearer Tollesbury, we found a small group of Poppies.
All in all a nice little trip.