Tuesday June 1st 2010 - Burgh Castle, Oulton Broad and a ripped awning

It was another very grey morning when I took the dogs for their first walk, made more miserable by intermittent light showers. Over breakfast I pondered on where to go for my day, and decided on going south to Burgh Castle and then on to Oulton Broad near Lowestoft. It's surprising what a difference a few miles can make weather-wise so I hoped it would be nicer down in that direction, but unfortunately when I got there it was just the same as at California.

Burgh Castle is the remains of an old Roman fortress, and to be honest not particularly interesting. Only the four outer walls remain, surrounding a vast empty green space overlooking the river, and of the four only one is still complete. There was a good view over the river from there though, which would have been really nice in better weather, and I managed to get a shot of Berney Arms windmill standing tall across the marshes. Next door to the castle was a cute little Saxon church which I found far more interesting than the castle itself.

When I had finished wandering around - which didn't take long - I drove on to Oulton Broad, parking in the  large car park next to Nicholas Everitt Park which is right by the waterside. Feeling a bit peckish by then I went in the Park Cafe and treated myself to coffee and a chunk of to-die-for carrot cake, which was so good I was very tempted to have a second piece. I resisted the temptation, though I did have a second mug of coffee before I went walkabout round the park. I was just about to take my first photo when I had a phone call from Lisa and Steve, a couple I had got to know from a camping/caravanning forum - I had spoken to them earlier in the day and arranged to meet them as they lived not far from Oulton Broad, and they were ringing me to ask whereabouts I was parked. I told them where my van was, snapped a quick photo then set off to meet them.

I was almost back at the van when a squirrel ran across the path in front of me, scooped up something from the grass under the nearby tree and sat there calmly nibbling away - even the close presence of the two dogs didn't seem to bother it. I love squirrels - even though the grey ones are classed as vermin - and couldn't resist taking a couple of photos of it.

Lisa and Steve were waiting by my van when I got back there; after a couple of minutes discussion it was decided that we would go back to their house and they would lead the way with me following. I spent a very pleasant couple of hours with them, and when it was time for me to leave they guided me back to the main road which would lead me back in the direction of California and my evening meal.

It was much later on that 'disaster' struck - I was quietly watching tv when out of the blue came a shout and an almighty thud, and my coffee table and tv suddenly ended up on the floor. I jumped up and went out to see what was going on, to find a young lad scrambling up off the grass - it turned out that he and his mates were having a kick about with a ball on the four vacant pitches near mine and as he was running for the ball he had slipped, fallen, and thudded into the front of my awning with his feet. Ball games aren't allowed on the pitches, and even though it was an accident he shouldn't have been there so I was furious at what he had done, though he did apologise before going back to his own caravan. Luckily the tv was okay, but on closer inspection I found that there was a rip about eighteen inches long in the bottom of my awning and the anchor points and pegs were still in the ground. I was even more furious then and went to find the lad's father - when I told him what his son had done he gave him a good telling-off then came down to my awning to inspect the damage. As luck would have it he had some strong tape and an eyelet kit in his caravan so he spent some time making a reasonably decent repair for me, which went some way to restoring my good mood. And after all that 'excitement' it was getting quite late - I had missed most of what I had been watching so I abandoned the tv for that night, took the dogs for a quick walk round the site, then took myself off to bed.