Monday September 10th 2012 - Hickling and F.A.I.T.H

It was the last full day of the holiday and yet again the weather was glorious; I'd half expected that as it had been nice every day since the beginning of my break it would surely let me down on the last day but no, the sky was blue, the sun was shining and it was still extremely warm. As my daily travels weren't, for once, taking me very far I spent the morning either pottering about round the awning or sitting outside it reading my book and it was lunchtime before I went out. My immediate destination was the village of Hickling and Brambly Hedge, the home of F.A.I.T.H animal rescue, followed by a last coffee and cake at Latham's and finally another visit to my friends Eileen and Ron.

As I drove through Hickling and past the staithe I couldn't help stopping for a wander round; it was such an attractive place and I'd got some great photos on my previous visit two years ago, so with the current lovely weather I was sure I'd be able to take some more. And I did; even though the main holiday season was winding down there were still lots of boats moored up there and activity both on an and off the water so plenty for me to photograph. As I wandered round I got to thinking that if ever I'm lucky enough to have a boat of my own then I think I would have it moored at Hickling as it's such a lovely little place.

My next stop was at F.A.I.T.H - which stands for 'For Animals In Trouble there's Hope' -  and although it's okay for visitors to take their own dogs in I don't really think it's fair on the rescue dogs who are resident there so just for once my two had to stay in the van. I went to the cat section first and spent a while in the enclosure with the adult residents, then moved on to the kitten section where most of the younger ones were in their own individual sleeping compartments. Each compartment had a small viewing space covered by a mesh grille and I was just about to take a closer look at the two little residents of one compartment when I was suddenly met by a hissing, spitting ball of black fur which launched itself from nowhere and clung to the grille with an evil look on its face - had I been a few inches closer my own face would have been severely scratched. It was obviously the mother cat and she didn't take kindly to me looking at her babies so I moved on from there and went to see the dogs. Thankfully, although there were several nice-looking dogs in the enclosure, there were none I could have fallen in love with so for once I didn't feel guilty about leaving without taking one with me. The pigs were next, and as I scratched the noses and talked to the three very friendly ones in front of me I was reminded of why, many years ago, I gave up eating pork.

When I'd seen or spoken to just about every animal there was in the place and chatted to a couple of the staff I collected a newsletter from reception and made my way back to the van; by that time I was ready for coffee and cake at Latham's, and after taking the dogs for a quick walk round the car park when I got there I went in to indulge in my last treat of the holiday. Then it was on to Eileen and Ron's cottage and a good chat over another mug of coffee; Eileen doesn't get out much so she really enjoyed me telling her where I'd been over the last ten days. All too soon though it was time for me to leave so with hugs and promises to send cards and letters at Christmas we said our goodbyes till next year.

Back at the awning I briefly thought about starting the packing up process so I wouldn't have as much to do the following morning, but then decided against it - packing up means the end of the holiday and I'd had such a good time and great weather that I didn't really want to go home. Anyway I didn't have that much to pack up so it could wait; instead I spent a relaxing evening watching tv and reading my book until it was time to take Sophie and Sugar for their bedtime walk round the site, then later as I snuggled into my own bed for the last time I kept my fingers metaphorically crossed that the good weather would continue and wouldn't let me down at the very last minute.