Sunday September 20th 2015 - Sunrise, Sam and St. Olaves

When I woke early that morning and looked through the front window of the tent the sky showed the promise of a nice day to come; it was only 7am and although it was tempting to have a Sunday morning lie-in I didn't want to waste a minute if the weather was going to be good. The dogs, as always, were eager to go out so grabbing the camera I took them for their usual walk along the sand.

As I got to the top of the steps leading down to the beach the sun started to put in an appearance, rising slowly from behind the remains of the night time cloud, and with the wind turbines of Scroby Sands in the distance the photo opportunity was far too good to miss. Down on the beach the sun's first rays were casting a deep orange glow on the cliffs stretching north towards Hemsby, and looking the other way I could see Pat in the distance with her two dogs.

As soon as I let the dogs off their leads Sam made straight for the water, and while the other two were happy just to get their feet wet he went in far enough to get swamped by several waves. He decided himself when he'd had enough though, and came out looking a lot more bedraggled than when he went in. 

As the sky brightened and the sun got stronger I took another photo looking towards Hemsby then went to join Pat who was sitting on a boulder a distance down the beach. As we walked back through the heath together she told me it was her last morning as she was closing up her chalet for the winter and going back home to Derbyshire, though she did give me her phone number and email address so I could get in touch at a later date.

Back at the tent, and with breakfast sorted, I had a quick tidy up, refilled my large water container, replenished the dogs' water supply in the van then took my chair and spent an hour or so sitting in the sun with my book while the dogs lazed on the grass a few feet away. It was so nice I was tempted to stay there for most of the day but I had people to visit so eventually I put the book and chair away, settled the dogs in the van and set off for the day.

My first stop was Redwings Horse Sanctuary to see my adopted pony Cauli; the list on the board in reception said she was in paddock 1 just round the corner but when I got there it was empty, although her information sheet and photo were in the box on the fence. A wander round eventually led me to paddock 15 where I found another information sheet for Cauli (was someone trying to confuse me?) though the only pony in residence was in the field shelter at the far end of the paddock and wasn't for coming out, so I couldn't tell if it was Cauli or not. Eventually I gave up hoping to take a photo of her and made my way back to the van.

My second stop, on my way to Bungay, was at St. Olaves where the A143 passes over the River Waveney. On each side of the bridge the road is on an incline so driving up and over gives a good view of the river and several times I've thought I could probably get some good photos from there but I've never stopped, however this time I did. A hundred yards or so from the far side of the bridge was a narrow lane so I pulled in there and walked back. 

Now I don't normally take photos of roads but on the spur of the moment I decided to take one of the approach to the bridge, so with no traffic on my side, and the hope that nothing suddenly came whizzing round the bend behind me, I stood in the middle of the road and snapped one - just as a car approached from the opposite direction, though fortunately it was just far enough away for me get back to the grass verge before I became mincemeat. 

There was only one pedestrian footway across the bridge and to take photos looking down river from there at that time of day meant I would be shooting directly into the sun, so I had to brave the closely passing traffic to take a couple of shots looking up river from the other side. With those in the bag I went down to the riverbank and took a couple of shots from there, then headed back to the van to continue my journey to Bungay.

My first stop in Bungay was a visit to Andy and Sue, where I spent a very pleasant hour having a brew and a chat, then it was on see Jane, who had moved house since I was down there last year. She now lives in a bungalow on a small estate where one road has several cul-de-sacs leading off it but they all have the same name as the road itself. Trying to find number 15 wasn't easy but I got there eventually, and with another mug of coffee I spent another pleasant hour.

My third stop was a visit to Ady who had also moved house since I last saw him; he now lives in Harleston, a fifteen-minute drive from Bungay, and as his flat was on a one-way road Jane had phoned him and asked him to wait at the end of the road so I would know where I was going. It was good to see him, though I did refuse a third mug of coffee; I don't have that many brews in a day and three in quick succession was just a bit too much.

After my visit to Ady I headed back towards California, though I didn't go straight back to the camp site; Jean (my ex's sister) had phoned me a couple of days before and invited me to Sunday tea so that was my final destination. The meal was lovely, and after a few hours spent in the very pleasant company of Jean and John and their two dogs Pepsi and Zak I finally made my way back to the camp site, then with the dogs fed and the bedtime walk undertaken slightly earlier than usual I settled in for the rest of the night.