Norfolk and Suffolk - Excellent

[gradus]

Thank you L. I really enjoyed reading about your travels/adventure.

Yes, enjoyable reading. Got any more Rural Rides planned?

[Lat-Literal]

Yes, enjoyable reading. Got any more Rural Rides planned?

Thank you. That is kind of you. As for your question, this is the real dilemma now. All being well, the definite one is with my mate Darren shortly before my eye appointment which is scheduled for 29 October. I have a lot to thank him for as he has been instrumental in the two consecutive August visits to East Anglia when often I couldn't get out of my house. Without that help, not that he sees it in this way, and elements of my earlier history when I had to stand on my own two feet, there is no way on earth that I would have managed to go recently to the West Country alone and then to the Suffolk and Essex border alone especially in the current circumstances. He wants to walk from Lewes to Rye via Eastbourne and Hastings. I am certainly not averse to it but my main driver there is to do it as a thank you to him because he has gone along with things that I wanted to do so that I could do them and more. I therefore see it as imperative. But whichever days we do that on and it could be anything from 20/21 Oct or 25/26 Oct largely depends on my Northumbrian dimension. This is the one over which I have agonised for years, never making it, and really longed for and it has in recent months become clear that if I were ever to do it I would be on my own.

Currently, I have train tickets, a hotel in Whitley Bay and a football ticket booked for this coming weekend, Fri-Mon. But it feels like a very long way away. It is very soon after the last one. Health issues all round are increasingly difficult. I am getting cold feet, wondering if I can cope with it, and the Sat rail strike while not significant if all went well leads to worries about getting back in the event of a sudden emergency on that day. If I don't do it now, an alternative is in the days leading to the 20th-21st Oct if there isn't a rail strike. I'd lose money but I'm a bit blasé about it given that in order to do these few things at this time what is most important is to ensure my own conditions are right. I just wonder sometimes if I'm ever going to get there. Lindisfarne is the main one for me and it always has been to the point of obsession plus Tynemouth and I would like to see Durham and attend a match with the Toon Army, whether it is against Leicester or Brighton. York with which I am familiar could be the easier base for an Oct venture but for all I know the train people could strike then too.

[gradus]

Thank you. That is kind of you. As for your question, this is the real dilemma now. All being well, the definite one is with my mate Darren shortly before my eye appointment which is scheduled for 29 October. I have a lot to thank him for as he has been instrumental in the two consecutive August visits to East Anglia when often I couldn't get out of my house. Without that help, not that he sees it in this way, and elements of my earlier history when I had to stand on my own two feet, there is no way on earth that I would have managed to go recently to the West Country alone and then to the Suffolk and Essex border alone especially in the current circumstances. He wants to walk from Lewes to Rye via Eastbourne and Hastings. I am certainly not averse to it but my main driver there is to do it as a thank you to him because he has gone along with things that I wanted to do so that I could do them and more. I therefore see it as imperative. But whichever days we do that on and it could be anything from 20/21 Oct or 25/26 Oct largely depends on my Northumbrian dimension. This is the one over which I have agonised for years, never making it, and really longed for and it has in recent months become clear that if I were ever to do it I would be on my own.

Currently, I have train tickets, a hotel in Whitley Bay and a football ticket booked for this coming weekend, Fri-Mon. But it feels like a very long way away. It is very soon after the last one. Health issues all round are increasingly difficult. I am getting cold feet, wondering if I can cope with it, and the Sat rail strike while not significant if all went well leads to worries about getting back in the event of a sudden emergency on that day. If I don't do it now, an alternative is in the days leading to the 20th-21st Oct if there isn't a rail strike. I'd lose money but I'm a bit blasé about it given that in order to do these few things at this time what is most important is to ensure my own conditions are right. I just wonder sometimes if I'm ever going to get there. Lindisfarne is the main one for me and it always has been to the point of obsession plus Tynemouth and I would like to see Durham and attend a match with the Toon Army, whether it is against Leicester or Brighton. York with which I am familiar could be the easier base for an Oct venture but for all I know the train people could strike then too.

It sounds a terrific trip but whatever you decide, don't forget to write.

[Lat-Literal]

I would like to know please if anyone is familiar with what is the probably less than obvious section of coast between Cromer and Great Yarmouth and whether there are any specific highlights. I believe, for example, that seals can be seen on Horsey Beach. I would also welcome thoughts on the most typical of the broads. If you had to pick two, what would they be?

[Richard Tarleton]

What time of year are you thinking of going? For birders, Hickling is pretty special. Nowadays common cranes are to be found there, Hickling and Horsey Mere are favoured sites.

[Lat-Literal]

What time of year are you thinking of going? For birders, Hickling is pretty special. Nowadays common cranes are to be found there, Hickling and Horsey Mere are favoured sites.

Hi Richard,

I am not sure if I will be going but if I do (this year) it would be in late November.

[Richard Tarleton]

Hi Richard,

I am not sure if I will be going but if I do (this year) it would be in late November.

My first visit to Hickling was in November 1972 - I went with 2 others for a boat trip round the Broad, stopping at all the birdwatching hides, with the then warden Colonel Sankey and his labrador. Magical - including freshly arrived whooper swans. My last visit (haven't been for a long time) included 5 cranes coming in to roost.

[Serial_Apologist]

Hi Richard,

I am not sure if I will be going but if I do (this year) it would be in late November.

Hmm - limited daylight hours by then: you'd need more help getting there these days than by public transport, I think, unless intending staying.

[Lat-Literal]

My first visit to Hickling was in November 1972 - I went with 2 others for a boat trip round the Broad, stopping at all the birdwatching hides, with the then warden Colonel Sankey and his labrador. Magical - including freshly arrived whooper swans. My last visit (haven't been for a long time) included 5 cranes coming in to roost.

That is a lovely memory and I enjoyed reading it but I am vague about the name of Hickling and its location.

Hmm - limited daylight hours by then: you'd need more help getting there these days than by public transport, I think, unless intending staying.

Yes, thank you. My father's car has just been towed away. It is that kind of sadness from which I am escaping while wanting to do what I am doing. Life is so strange now. I have steamrollered in the four trips having done little in the past eight years. I will never regret it. With each day, it feels like everything is more on a knife edge. I do have an invitation by proxy from someone who is just north of Lowestoft but he and I know that we might have issues with each other. It is my issues on his marital separation really. We were two of six who inter-railed. Now everything is confusing. I don't know how to weigh friendliness towards me conveyed by another and disappointment on things. I mainly do people in brief bursts now.

This has pluses and minuses. I would be lonely as a solo traveller if I didn't have history and imagination to accompany me. My imagination in this regard leans towards seeing seals. I prefer their faces and their ways. I would probably also try to see Gillingham, Norfolk, because of my Uncle Charlie having being there and do a bit of walking before the night falls. I don't hate Andrew. But it has been a long time and I don't know if any upbeat, successful and welcoming though ultimately disloyal Billy Bunter would be helpful or not. With a room, it would be cheaper but I don't think in those ways. I do think if my eye or anything else gives out he'd be very good support to me though. How did it ever get as complicated as this?

[gradus]

I would like to know please if anyone is familiar with what is the probably less than obvious section of coast between Cromer and Great Yarmouth and whether there are any specific highlights. I believe, for example, that seals can be seen on Horsey Beach. I would also welcome thoughts on the most typical of the broads. If you had to pick two, what would they be?

For seal watching Blakeney Point is unmissable, there are several companies running boat trips to the Point but it might be a good idea to check that they keep going into the Autumn/Winter.
A bit down the coast Holkham is another must, wonderful beach scenery and the eponymous Hall. Stiffkey has it adherents - mainly on account of the poor old rector and his unfortunate demise.

[Lat-Literal]

For seal watching Blakeney Point is unmissable, there are several companies running boat trips to the Point but it might be a good idea to check that they keep going into the Autumn/Winter.
A bit down the coast Holkham is another must, wonderful beach scenery and the eponymous Hall. Stiffkey has it adherents - mainly on account of the poor old rector and his unfortunate demise.

Hi Gradus, I went to Cley in August and was disappointed not to make it to Blakeney. We passed Stiffkey - "Stookey" - on the bus and I am aware of its history. Holkham I can't place. I will map it. I did see a few seals on the boat out of Ilfracombe but my internet understanding is that you can walk beside them on Horsey Beach and the best month for it is November.

The tough and yet soft thing in me is getting ridiculous now. I have people locally saying that they are amazed because even without anxiety they couldn't do what I have done. But after nearly five decades, I ludicrously have a teddy bear. A lucky mascot which I carry in my bag though wouldn't dare to bring out. Henry has been good to me as a guardian so far.

I'm unnervingly to others overly self-assured and insecure.

[Serial_Apologist]

This has pluses and minuses. I would be lonely as a solo traveller if I didn't have history and imagination to accompany me.

My need to do this has come somewhat later in life, and stems from a feeling, doubtless eccentric if not worse, that the lived past can be experienced at some level by finding out more about particular locales while being there, bodily in spirit, so to speak. Going back to early haunts in ones life can be an exhilarating experience - provided, I suppose, these were not places associated with abuse and oppression. Sonny Rollins described the inspiration for composing his music to the film "Alfie" that came from a night spent shut away in Ronnie Scott's club, where he spoke of feeling all the past performances at the venue in its walls. So, in my case, guided history walks, in groups or just myself with map, notes and photographs culled from various sources; and, for memory aids or correctives, old movies that bring back the banalities of everyday scenery beyond the plots, whether dramas or "Look at Life" travelogues and their era-encoded specifics: the presenter's accent and descriptive choices; the different dress codes according to age, race etc: railway rolling stock; street furniture, signs, lights, traffic; the kerb flower seller; the old guy in cap and heavy overcoat winding a clanking battered hurdy-gurdy music hall standard; the kinds of shops that were around and how they displayed. With just the smells missing. No boiled cabbage smells today, no smokey pub interiors, just the odd fishmonger and fish & chippy. Do you remember Neptunes in the New Kent Road, Lat (the best chish and fips ever); or was it gone by your time?

[Lat-Literal]

My need to do this has come somewhat later in life, and stems from a feeling, doubtless eccentric if not worse, that the lived past can be experienced at some level by finding out more about particular locales while being there, bodily in spirit, so to speak. Going back to early haunts in ones life can be an exhilarating experience - provided, I suppose, these were not places associated with abuse and oppression. Sonny Rollins described the inspiration for composing his music to the film "Alfie" that came from a night spent shut away in Ronnie Scott's club, where he spoke of feeling all the past performances at the venue in its walls. So, in my case, guided history walks, in groups or just myself with map, notes and photographs culled from various sources; and, for memory aids or correctives, old movies that bring back the banalities of everyday scenery beyond the plots, whether dramas or "Look at Life" travelogues and their era-encoded specifics: the presenter's accent and descriptive choices; the different dress codes according to age, race etc: railway rolling stock; street furniture, signs, lights, traffic; the kerb flower seller; the old guy in cap and heavy overcoat winding a clanking battered hurdy-gurdy music hall standard; the kinds of shops that were around and how they displayed. With just the smells missing. No boiled cabbage smells today, no smokey pub interiors, just the odd fishmonger and fish & chippy. Do you remember Neptunes in the New Kent Road, Lat (the best chish and fips ever); or was it gone by your time?

What a lovely post and so spot on if I might say so. I am afraid I don't remember Neptunes. While my family "manor" has the Old Kent Road as a boundary, that was more of a wall to me than a thoroughfare. But - and I will mention these names because you will, I think know them - several key roads do join it, namely East Street (the "East Lane"), Surrey Square and the Albany Road. The main thoroughfare in terms of points of reference is the Walworth Road. Note all these "thes"! Historically, Villa Street, much changed, was the main one though Merrow Street, Brandon Street, Heygate Street and especially in the tower block seventies Portland Street are all a part of it. It also extends down to Camberwell Green, up to the Elephant and even to Blackfriars and across to the likes of Manor Place on the Kennington side. Among the things it isn't or wasn't are Bermondsey and indeed Peckham although there is a lot of the less selling stuff in Only Fools and Horses that is a carbon copy including furniture in their flat, colourful nicknames, warmth in its way and ways of communication.

One of the things I have found with this latest thing of mine, temporary, and definitely not a long term way of life even if there weren't constraints is that it helps to separate out the internal, complex and conceptual, with external current day realities. On coming back, it can be emotional and not wholly in a good way. Again pluses and minuses. There are times in one's life when I think the two can more easily combine. It is in a sense what made for the richness of the experience. Later age is possibly not that moment. I could see myself going into retreat again by choice but in a slightly different way, content to create the conditions within the walls of home that have more colour and make more emotional sense. I have to say my tiny garden was looking especially lovely today. But I'm not quite done yet. There are still some, as always tentative plans, but they feel more peripheral and a bit less essential.

A couple of other things. Obviously there were wider references. Memories from family of farm animals being walked up the Old Kent Road. The question of whether my Mum's best mate was related to the late Bob Crow, though he was born as far away as Shadwell. Answer : probably. My late grandfather's involvement in the tea trade focussed on the Thames, albeit as with him being "the brain" semi managerial, office based and dressed without showiness in a 1930s active, caring conservatism. I have concluded that he was a very kind and generous man who also, I think, had quite a strong temper which was not so good. He liked walking in the "countryside" by the River Wandle and going to see cricket and football. I've had to piece it together because as you know I never met him. I'm really not sure that he was as typical of the area as my Nan who was very much more than being an/the epitome.

I may well be going to Charlton Athletic tomorrow. I have a ticket. I much prefer football which you can walk to. But I saw them when they were temporarily at Selhurst Park. I want to see them at The Valley which is their true home. I'm also hoping at some point to go to Millwall's New Den which can be seen from the train line. I went to the Old Den once when the only thought was getting in and out of it unscathed - such were the inner frailties of youth - although the experience on that night beyond all the media scares was actually entirely safe and rather enjoyable. I'm intrigued by the way that my family supported these two clubs because they were closest geographically to them though neither were very close to them, especially culturally as I see it today. I want to "get the vibes" and decide for myself while I have this head on if either or both resonate with me all these years later on a family level.

[Lat-Literal]

Anyhow, what with Prefab diversions and personal limitations on formations, I'm sensing I am having a dithery 48 hours. I have been researching the Broads again. I'm finding them all rather nebulous. Perhaps it is the nature of the public transport. Of its "existence" on the coast between Happisburgh and Hemsby via Horsey Bay which I'd like to walk, Ruth Livingstone says "it is a nightmare". That is one problem. But that is not the Broads. I have now been to Oulton Broad. That, though, is not the Norfolk Broads. I see that Wroxham is the gateway to the Broads. It looks lovely but I am far from convinced that it is the Norfolk Broads in a nutshell, nor indeed "lovely Ludham". I am looking at Hickling Broad on the internet. It's a big one. I am surprised but most of the Broads seem to be small ones. I can't quite get a handle on any of this so if anyone can help me orientate towards a "Broads experience" that I can achieve in a few hours please do so. I suppose the obvious reply is to get a boat or even a car but I am ruling out each of these options. Base if it happens: probably has to be Norwich. And if it does, I might bring it forward from late Nov to late Oct before the clocks change. The seals are already there but much is tide dependent and there are only 7 day forecasts.