Mouth wash? and a short walk

 Among all the weird Covid stories occasionally you get the interestingly obvious!

Today's was mouthwash. If you use an anti bacterial one it kills the germs in you mouth. Claims are being made it will reduce covid transmission. I await with baited (LOL) breath to see how that one pans out in the media!  Could the answer be that simple?  Could the Tr-ump have been almost on to something with the drinking bleach thing???

Meanwhile I am still trying to get my head round the mink farming. Not just the new Covid strain but the fact the EU are still fur farming on a big scale. I had no idea.  Roll on Brexit.

We took advantage of the almost non existent traffic round town and went to a nature reserve for a short walk among the trees. I really miss living somewhere where woods dominate the landscape. Here it is all open fields. We used to live near/and in the Forest of Dean and we loved autumn there. Still the Dersingham bog and heathlands provided us with a lovely short walk with great colours and smells.

Picnic was a failure. No benches or rest areas and yet again we failed to take an essential element for a brew. First walk this year it was tea bags, second walk it was gas, this time I forgot the stove!!! 

Day out at last

Finally managed to get a day out! Snettisham nature reserve (RSPB/local anglers club) is a series of lagoons formed when they took stuff out in the 1940s to build airfields and then filled, and almost destroyed by the 1953 flooding of the east coast. 

It was a lovely walk along the footpaths sheltered by high bushes of blackberries, willow and lots of berried bushes round the rare brine lakes.

The somewhat shanty town holiday homes along Beach road between the lagoons and seaside (The Wash) are fascinating. Such a mix of caravans, modern square shapes and 1950s bungalows. By the time we had done the mile or so and got up over the sea bank the tide was well out leaving a lovely pattern on the shore!

A quick cup of tea and picnic before coming home against all the traffic rushing for a weekend at the north Norfolk coast. Nearly uneventfully. Managed to stall the car trying to pull off the carriage way to make room for a blue lit ambulance and thereby upset the car engine that started flashing a warning light. Stopped at B & Q to pick up something and after that the warning went off and the car seemed OK. Lets hope so.

Son now recovered and finding a new sense of smell and taste. Small light meals until system settles down and hopes to regain the weight lost soon.

Meanwhile we are trying to find remote bits of Norfolk to walk and relax away from any busy hot spots. Staying away from beaches as they are rammed with visitors. Using back roads we found our way to Litcham village and Common Nature Reserve for a quiet walk along part of the Nar Valley Way.

Such lovely weather too!

Jealous?

Just had a week in the island of Madeira where we strolled in T shirts and open toed sandals and admired the growing conditions. It is their winter and they have fresh crops of potatoes and cabbages. Oh so jealous of the growing conditions! But not of the growing on hillsides where every patch is cultivated and you would be standing at the bottom gardening above your head often!

Gold star for recycling old tyres into steps!

I can see that there are some advantages to living on the flat lands of East Anglia!

Weird cows

As gardening is slowing down this season we have taken some days to go out for walks. We have set ourselves the aim of exploring the NAR VALLEY Walk through Norfolk. Probably doing it over a year or two in short stages - it is about 30 miles long! We did a short loop on Sunday through fields mostly arable (bit wet and muddy) but then we came round a hedge - 

What's that eye staring at me from behind that bush?

That's a weird cow, said my husband.

Its a water buffalo that's why!

Are't they suppose to give really good meat and are good at rough pasture?

They are in the wrong field, that one is a lot drier than the two we just crossed.

A mile or less further on squinting into the sun at the animal shapes on the next hill we thought they were sheep. Or is that a horse at the top, outlined against the skyline, asked my husband (he does only have one working eye).  

No, its a field full of very very big pigs.  All grumbling and gurgling away.

How good are those, quite short looking, electric fences I wonder?

Where's the next gate?

Found a new bit of coast to explore and a new idea

We found another nice spot along the north Norfolk coast last week. We had to take the outboard to be serviced by the lovely and very capable young lady at the boat sales place on Brancaster Straite. It was a lovely day with 18C temperatures and full sun, so we set out as some as the school traffic tailed off. 

As she only needed an hour to service it, and we knew she would be interrupted by constant customers, we agreed to come back by lunch time. She recommended a coffee shop a mile up the road at  Burnham Deepdale. 

We have often driven past the shopping complex but it usually in the summer has a crowd out front, but as half term was over we were delighted to find plenty of space to park and discovered later there is a big car park round the back anyway.  Coffee was good and we went back later for a sandwich lunch. 

From the shopping complex you can cross the road, enter a small lane, which was lined with hawthorn in flower and smelling lovely.

And you come out on the marshes. It was high tide so the creeks were full. This is part of the coastal path and we could have walked for miles in the sunshine.

We were surprised to see this original old house boat on one of the creeks. It was a great contrast to the new millionaire homes just along the lane! There was an artist perched out on the strand painting the scene too.

There were plenty of birds wading and pecking in the shoreline. Not sure why this one gave me such a cross look!

We wandered round the shops for a bit as well and spent a fortune on very nice birthday cards for 4 up and coming events. We also had a look at the newly opened glass artists. Absolutely lovely stuff and they do workshops. We have promised one set of family a workshop on glass when they visit, they do a short one here for 5 years old upwards so it should suit us later in the year. 

Engine collected we made a dash home round Kings Lynn before schools and rush hour traffic added half an hour on to the 45 minute journey. It is a shame to cut the day short but we have learnt to our cost to time it well; when the clocks go back we wait it out on the coast and come home after 7pm.

Museums

We did a lot of museums while on holiday.

• Folk (village life)
• Railway - we expected steam but it turned out to be a "bus" driven by a diesel engine on a narrow gauge along the rocky coast and over the upper bog lands of Donegal.
• Carpet making (actually the most interesting - hand knotted wool carpets that have been in palaces, luxury oceans liner, embassy and posh hotels in the 1920s to 1980s.)
• Fishing - not a big thing but the volunteer was a scream and gave us the low down on the various deep sea fishing boats in the current harbour.
• Workhouse, and next door, the rather beautifully appointed doctors house.
• We went to a castle but ignored the baronial house and spent ages in the beautiful Victorian "walking" gardens and the walled veg garden. I would love one of those!

It is strange when you see bits of your life in a museum.  This was like my Dad's bike in the 1950/60s. He never learned to drive and cycled everywhere.

We also spent time talking to local makers and artisans.  A lovely old chap gave us a personal demo on his traditional weaving machine showing us a complex tweed design. Another chap showed us his complex modern enormous knitting machine where he designed his own knitted jumpers using locally sourced wool. We succumbed and brought a hard wearing traditional style donegal jumper each. We will not be treating them with reverence and keeping them in a drawer, they are designed to be worn and we will be using them in the cold weather.  Because after that purchase we can't afford to turn the heating on!

We visited a craft village near Donegal Town and although the art gallery and glass makers were nice we spent ages in the print shop with  a lovely lady who had an 150 year old printing machine that she uses everyday.  It was a fabulous machine. Real Victorian engineering.  Great work; it was simple and clear and lovely calligraphy style.  Trades as thepearinpaper.

Succumbed again - to a couple of cards!

We are home again now and real life is catching up with us plus its nearly half term and those grandchildren are being brought here (again).