As we are about to leave for home tomorrow I thought it about time to make the effort and have a bit of a catch up. When last heard of we had left Helsinki after a great tour of the Baltic states, incidentally only Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia make up the Baltic States and technically Finland misses out on being a Scandinavian country as well, I'm not sure where it's status lies.
We arrived back into a grey old England and headed off up to Norfolk where we had booked a cottage near Norwich, a great place to visit and somewhere that we had not previously been. The cathedral was started in the late 11th century and completed by 1135. It was constructed by stone brought in from France especially for it, being brought up the Wensome and unloaded at Pulls Ferry. How they achieved this is something of a mystery as some of these stones were several tonnes, still they managed Stone Henge and they were absolutely whopper stones by comparison.
The following day, the first rainy one since Warsaw, and we were off to meet David and Jenny who had kindly invited us for a day on the broads on their boat. It was a very comfortable affair and the rain mattered not one jot, a great day out and David and Jenny proved to be very hospitable hosts. We called at a country pub on the way home to round off a very enjoyable day. Not all was a bed of roses in Norfolk however, our bijou cottage was bijou in the extreme and there was not even sufficient room for our cases. We had to unpack and store the cases in the car boot. Still it did have a washing machine and so we were able to catch up on our laundry and cook ourselves something for which we had craved for a few weeks now, something, anything with mashed spuds and lashings of vegies.
Another day in Norfolk catching some of the seaside villages on it's northern coast before we drove all the way back down to Bradford on Avon where we picked up our narrow boat for a five day cruise on the Kennet and Avon Canal.
This boat had everything that we could possibly want and we thoroughly enjoyed the slow pace of canal life, calling at pubs for and evening drink and cooking just what we wanted on board. The only trouble was that this boat, ENA, was 47 ft long and not all that easy to keep on it's intended course, still no collisions so not to bad. OH...there was one incident. When it is necessary to moor, one of the crew must jump ashore with a line which is fixed amidships to the cabin top and gently pull the craft to the side. Unfortunately the crew's (no names) feet slipped from under her and she fell flat on her bottom. Judging by the resulting bruise it must have hurt quite a bit.
We had little time after the narrow boating trip to get down to London Gatwick where we were to enjoy Air Malta's hospitality on a flight to Valletta where we had an apartment booked for the following week .
Well that's all for now, I see that the mighty Makos have cleaned out the hapless 'Naki and face Canterbury in the final once again.
Go the Makos
All the best and take care
David
We arrived back into a grey old England and headed off up to Norfolk where we had booked a cottage near Norwich, a great place to visit and somewhere that we had not previously been. The cathedral was started in the late 11th century and completed by 1135. It was constructed by stone brought in from France especially for it, being brought up the Wensome and unloaded at Pulls Ferry. How they achieved this is something of a mystery as some of these stones were several tonnes, still they managed Stone Henge and they were absolutely whopper stones by comparison.
Norwich Cathedral, the Cloisters (lower) are second only to Salibury in size.
The following day, the first rainy one since Warsaw, and we were off to meet David and Jenny who had kindly invited us for a day on the broads on their boat. It was a very comfortable affair and the rain mattered not one jot, a great day out and David and Jenny proved to be very hospitable hosts. We called at a country pub on the way home to round off a very enjoyable day. Not all was a bed of roses in Norfolk however, our bijou cottage was bijou in the extreme and there was not even sufficient room for our cases. We had to unpack and store the cases in the car boot. Still it did have a washing machine and so we were able to catch up on our laundry and cook ourselves something for which we had craved for a few weeks now, something, anything with mashed spuds and lashings of vegies.
Another day in Norfolk catching some of the seaside villages on it's northern coast before we drove all the way back down to Bradford on Avon where we picked up our narrow boat for a five day cruise on the Kennet and Avon Canal.
My attempt at a little artistic photography.
This boat had everything that we could possibly want and we thoroughly enjoyed the slow pace of canal life, calling at pubs for and evening drink and cooking just what we wanted on board. The only trouble was that this boat, ENA, was 47 ft long and not all that easy to keep on it's intended course, still no collisions so not to bad. OH...there was one incident. When it is necessary to moor, one of the crew must jump ashore with a line which is fixed amidships to the cabin top and gently pull the craft to the side. Unfortunately the crew's (no names) feet slipped from under her and she fell flat on her bottom. Judging by the resulting bruise it must have hurt quite a bit.
Top to Bottom.. The 29 lock staircase at Caen Hill, The good ship Ena crossing the Bathampton Aqueduct and The Skipper concentrating on getting through a lock.
We had little time after the narrow boating trip to get down to London Gatwick where we were to enjoy Air Malta's hospitality on a flight to Valletta where we had an apartment booked for the following week .
Well that's all for now, I see that the mighty Makos have cleaned out the hapless 'Naki and face Canterbury in the final once again.
Go the Makos
All the best and take care
David
As usual have loved the updates. Safe travels home.
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