Rattlesden and Shelland Walk

I had to take William to Woolpit today so I thought I'd tack on a walk. I'd seen the leaflet so decide to download it and do the Angels and Pinnacle Rattlesden Walk, I've done a lot of this before but not been to Shelland. So off I went.

The instructions were pretty good, but I failed to carry them out correctly around Clopton Hall Farm and ended up doing a little extra loop. This was my route.

And here are a few photos...

The River Rat has some water.

Gypsy Lane.

King Charles the Martyr Church, Shelland, one of only 5 in the country in his name, isn't open at the moment.

The village sign.

There is a chocolate box cottage by the green,

It's not easy to see the 17th century Rockyll’s Hal, which is surrounded by high hedges, but you can just about see the tall chimneys.

On the edge of the woods is this vantage point for shooting.

It was rather a gray day but the poppies brightened it up.

Some water-lilies on the pond near Clopton Green.

On the way back there are nice views. In the distance is Gt. Finborough church.

Then it was down the hill and back into Rattlesden.

Well that was very pleasant despite the lack of sunshine. It's just a shame the church wasn't open.

You can see more details of my route in the Angels and Pinnacle leaflet or what I actually walked  here on MapMyWalk.

Great Barton Church Walk

I decided to go for a walk this afternoon. I only decided where I was going after I started and didn't have rucksack, camera or coat and didn't bother tracking my walk, but it was pretty much the Great Barton Church walk I did in... let me look it up... January 2019? That long ago already? Crikey! But I did it in the opposite direction and didn't have the same detours for the building site.

I captured a few photos from my camera...

These flowers are alongside Mount Road near the Flying Fortress. I wondered of they might be more Sanfoin as found further down the road previously.

The thistle was hard to photograph as the wind was so strong.

I  was about 1/2 way round my walk when the sky darkened, the wind got up, and it started to rain. Ah. I hadn't come prepared for that and was now about 3 miles from home. Fortunately, the wind was so strong the rain was coming horizontally, so I was able to shelter behind a tree-trunk downwind.

I sheltered for about 10 minutes while it blew past, and, by the time I got to the church there was blue sky appearing again.

There was still some rain about further south though.

It was warm and still breezy and by the time I got home I was dry. That was lucky!

Home made Pizza

I've taken to making pizza using my bread machine and my own toppings. This was my latest effort.

Ready for the oven...

Ready to eat...

The verdict from Dawn and William? Better than shop-bought.

Infra-Red

I thought I'd investigate the use of filters with my digital camera and dug out my old SLR camera equipment to see what I could reuse. I had forgotten I had an Infra-red filter and found I had the right stepping ring to get it to fit my current camera. Previously I had taken a trip into town to use it to photograph the sights. This was the result.

And this is the view out my front door using it...

The trees and grass reflect rather than absorb IR so look bright. Maybe not something to use on a regular basis, but I will keep it with the camera and see if I can get some interesting pictures.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 2 - The Eccentric Horticulturalist

After my previous amateur Quick Crossword, I got some nice feedback and encouragement to do another. Thanks to all who gave it a go and left me comments. It is still available here for others to try.

So here is another. Again I've used a Times Quick Crossword grid and, I hope, not been too devious with the clues, trying to match a QC difficulty and provide a variety of clue types. There is a theme (for which the title is a clue) that may assist once you spot it. One clue (7D) needs you to identify our gardener as it refers to her. One final hint - it helps to know your nursery rhymes. [Update - several solvers were still fooled, so I've added a more specific cross-reference to the clue].

You can try and solve it interactively here or download a PDF to print here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below.

Once you've given it a go, you can find the answers and their explanation here. Please do leave some comments here or there. Enjoy! (I hope!).

Barrow Walk

It was only yesterday that we last met, but that's because of the postponement. Today was the day of this week's weekly walk. This was the invite from Joyce.

"I'd like to offer a long walk (for 5 others) next Tuesday June 23rd of 12 miles starting from near The Old Cow Shed in Barrow (park on the road) Colethorpe Road, Barrow Suffolk IP29 5AU at 10am- no toilets or coffee shop open here 'til July.  We will then make our way over to Moulton where the village store is fully open for coffees, ice cream, bakery items and we will have a break on the green before continuing onto the rest of the 3 churches walk and back via Denham."

This encompassed the 3 Churches Walk from the Suffolk Walking Festival two years ago, where I first met Joyce as well as the extra loop from Barrow. Interestingly, I've seen a lot of visits to my blog entry for the 3 Churches Walk over the last month or two. I hope that others are enjoying it as a result. It also overlaps with another walk we did from Barrow in October last year and, I realised, eventually, an almost identical walk, but starting at a different point, to the Moulton Walk of April last year.

This was our route, although there's an extra 1/4 mile or so at the end in my car as I forgot to switch my tracker off.

Here are a few of my photos.

The country pursuits shop was open but the cafe was not.

We had a rather overgrown path near the start. Somehow Joyce managed to avoid getting the nettle stings the rest of us got.

Just like yesterday, we disturbed a nearby deer.

More golden fields.

I liked these rambling roses.

We had a view all the way to the radar domes at RAF Feltwell.

We arrived at Gazeley and the first of the 3 churches - All Saints' Gazeley....

...passing the village sign.

Here we enjoyed a drinks break  but didn't go into the church which was just closing so, sadly, did not get to see the window of the hacksaw-wielding St Faith, described by Simon Knott in his eloquent write-up of the church.

Onwards towards Moulton. Flower of the day was the field scabious, just coming into bloom, of which we saw plenty.

Just before crossing a field we came across this  message in flint .

Who is the message directed at, I wonder? We were pretty high up again and the path was quite chalky.

And then I spotted it... in the distance we could just make out the ship of the fens Ely Cathedral, about 18 miles away as the crow flies.

It was getting really rather warm now - later, on the way home, my car told me it was 28 degrees. We were glad of the shade as we descended towards Moulton....

...and our second church - St Peter's Moulton with its array of characterful grotesques and carvings in the frieze around the battlements..  But we didn't have a chance to investigate them today.

Joyce explained that she had been doing this walk wrong for several years and took us the correct way into Moulton past a garden with these strange statues at the top of it.

The was no water in ford today by the famous  packhorse bridge, dating from the 14th or 15th century.

There are some pretty cottage gardens in the village. I liked this rose.

We stopped at the green for lunch and visited the shop for additional refreshments.

We walked along the trickle of the river Kennet and re-crossed via the next bridge...

...and passed the church again.

 

On towards to Dalham. We got a view of the sail-less windmill for a while.

There are pretty cottages in this village too.

Passing the olf malt kiln we went up the hill through the avenue of trees to reach the Grade II Listed Dalham Hall....

 
...and our 3rd church - St. Mary's Dalham.

And now it was back towards Barrow. Ann and I thought the barley had got even riper since we passed the other way on the other side of this field.

And then, treat of the day, we came across the deer of Denham Estate.

One last field of oil-seed rape before we finished.

Pizza was coming, but not today.

What I really needed was more to drink. We agreed that it was too hot to walk any further.

So thanks, Joyce. for another lovely walk and to Ann and Roland for the company.

You can see more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.