InvictaMoto's Family Travels

Today we decided to have the last day of my holiday and go to Sissinghurst Castle Garden with my Aunt Yvonne.  It meant we had to be up early and off from about 9.45am. The traffic wasn't too bad and we were there about 10.30am.  The drive to Sissinghurst was maybe another 40 minutes. As we had Reggie with us he wasn't allowed in the garden and so after a coffee and a cake they set off for the gardens and I set off to walk around the outside of the moat and down to the lakes walk.  Altogether its about a mile and half or so. I forgot to set the app on my phone so haven't got the actual distance. Who could live here? Delos Garden https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst-castle-garden/features/recreating-delos-at-sissinghurst- We walked around the lower lake and of course, met some other dogs. Reggie on his best behaviour.  By the time we got back to the restaurant and shop area Claire and Yvonne were in the shop. We decided to call it a day an...

Homeward bound I wish I was Homeward bound Home where my thought's escapin' Home where my music's playin' Home where my love lies waitin' Silently for me (Thanks to Simon & Garfunkel) We had to be out of the cottage at 9am, and after a restless night we were up and the car packed with  5 minutes to spare. The plan was to go to Monks Eleigh to visit Claire's cousins before  heading to the A12. Ready for the Off! Whilst  in Monks  Eleigh I took Reggie  for a turn around the churchyard.  I saw a sign to say that there were some Commonwealth War Graves in there, St Peters Church.  There were two well tended graves with  the traditional white Portland Stone headstones. Reggie had a snuffle around the long grass and hedges .  We had tea and biscuits and then all too soon we had to leave. Expecting traffic to be awful we left before 1pm. An aborted stop at the overflowing car park opposite Colchester United's football ground later, we eventuall...

Today's target was Felbrigg Estate. It's a little way off the A140 towards Cromer. We set off late as contrary to the forecast it had rained and was drizzling. Car loaded and we were off. Despite Nissan Connect showing a looping route via Dereham we actually went almost the same way as yesterday. The newish A1237 was again coned down to one lane and a ludicrous 10mph limit showing. Not much evidence of any work though. Quelle surprise! Once we arrived it was a case of waterproofs on and a walk to check out the walks. We decided on the blue waymarked "Church & Lake" walk. At 1.7 miles far enough in drizzle. We had a coffee and Claire took a walk to the Walled Garden. Reggie not allowed so we hung about outside. The rain stopped. Waterproof off. Rain started. Waterproof on. Claire took a few photos in there. We got part way into the blue walk when we found the field we were crossing was full of sheep. Reggie isn't ...

Drizzling earlier on and we had to decide where to go. We decided on a tour of the Broads. Satnav set firstly for Wroxham. There are supposed to be walks from around the bridge over the River Bure. Problem one was finding somewhere to park. Hardly any parking signposted. The town was rammed with tourists. In the end we found a free parking space at the end of Church Road. A relatively short walk to the centre. As we had no idea where to go, we ended up wandering around the boatyard where the rental boats go from, before finding our way to the bridge.  A coffee and scone later at the Wherryman's Café before we gave up on the hunt for the elusive walks. We decided to try Horning. Again nowhere to park and so we opted for Potter Heigham. Somewhere to park and have a walk, and Reggie to get out. Potter Heigham has a massive car park essentially belonging to Latham's shop for their customers. Or so the signs inform everyone. We were customers as we wanted to get some gifts to take b...

Raining. It was forecast but was supposed to have been over by lunchtime. So we packed up the car and set off for Wells next the Sea. We picked the car park at Holkham Beach. It looked to have dried up before we got there but it was cold and windy. We paid to park and had a coffee before a walk to the dog friendly beach, and then along the edge of the harbour.  In the end we gave up and set off for Wells itself. Jam packed. Nowhere to park so we headed along the coast road towards Cromer before heading for home. Eventually arriving back at Clinton Cottage at around 4.45pm. Snacks and Kindle time. Tomorrow the weather is slightly better before it all turns to shit on Thursday. So where to?

Up and out at 10am. It's cloudy today with a chance of rain early. Today we have two destinations. Claire is meeting sister Sally to look at the gardens at Bressingham. Reggie not allowed in the garden. There is also a garden centre where Reggie can go, and a Steam Railway 🚂 where he can't. So the plan is to drop her off and head to a nearby fen and have a walk. Stage one successful and we met up with Sally. Whilst there I took a photo of the big steam engine outside. Before setting off I saw a train coming and had just started to video when Reggie went mad and barked at it. I lost grip on my phone and ended up juggling... Stage two to find Redgrave and Lopham Fen. It's dog friendly. Luckily it is signposted off the A1066 about two miles west of Bressingham. Once parked and Reggie on the lead we checked the walks board. I chose the spider trail. It's only 2kms but with iffy looking clouds that looked enough. We had gone less than half a mile when we came ac...

Today's visit was to the National Trust site at Blickling Estate. Nissan Connect claimed it was around 19.5 miles away but the cross country journey seemed more like 50. It took over an hour. On arrival I found a good parking place. As it was grass with no marked spaces I did leave plenty of room to get the back door open to sort Reggie out. We had a coffee whilst we perused the map. Some areas are dog friendly and that includes both the café by the entrance and the Courtyard restaurant nearer the house. We decided on the Lake Walk and set off. It says it's 1.9 miles but my phone registered that I walked 3.1 miles! I brought the Nikon D50 with me. It's bulkier than a phone but generally takes good photos. The walk is around the outside of the main house and garden. It's a little uneven in places. One stumble and I felt something rip. Yes. My shorts. Rent asunder around the undercarriage.  After the ...

We had a late start after the rough night with Reggie. After breakfast we got togged up and chose Old Hunstanton as the destination.  The beach there is dog friendly all year around and there's a big parking area. After one false start where the satnav took us to the wrong place, we eventually parked. It's about £2 an hour. Four quid later we set off along the top of the cliff to the Lighthouse Café. Lunch for us. Good value sandwiches. So-so coffee. Nearby are two buildings. The lighthouse itself, and the Coastguard look out building. And then to the beach. Both of us had shorts on so paddling was okay but we had forgotten the aqua shoes at home. Still carrying trainers wasn't that difficult. The sea was about a quarter of s mile out and it looked as though the tide was going out.  I let Reggie off the lead do he could run free. He loves the sea and was soon enjoying himself.  We stayed there until the parking was almost up. So we walk...

The car was packed and we set off around the scheduled 1030am departure time. All was plain sailing until on the A2 we began the descent down the hill, after the Bluewater turn off,  towards the M25 for the Dartford Crossing.  Solid traffic over the flyover and the same nonsensical two lanes into one to join the already stationery traffic. We wanted to get off to get into the service area at Thurrock and so chose the left tunnel. From the A2 to the entrance to the tunnel it took 40 minutes. A further ten until we parked up. A takeaway Costa later we were on the road. We planned to stop again before arriving at Claire's sister's house near Stowmarket. The service area at Colchester across the A12 from the football ground was packed. So I aborted. In the end we stopped just before Ipswich. In total it was about 4 hours from home to the A12/A14 roundabout just south of Ipswich. We had a pleasant couple of hours with lunch and scones before the last hour's drive to the Cottage ...

I was looking for something and saw that there were a few typos and spelling errors in the entire "Revisita España 2014" blog. So I decided to update with a few more photos from Flickr and fix the typos! The whole lot can be visited by clicking on the label "Revisita España 2014" below. " I hope this won't be the last bike trip we go on ." - famous last words - Day 11.