The Two Windmills Walk

Today I did a recce of a new walk to potentially join up with the Stanton walk a did a few weeks ago to make an all-day 2-parter.

William Goes to Uni

 Yesterday we packed the car...

The boot was full and so was the back seat, but there was just room for a couple of last minute things this morning before we set off at about 10 past 6. We arrived at York University just after 9 and William went to register, returning with 2 young ladies to help us take the stuff from the car, which I had managed to park only about 100 yards away.

Fortunately we had to take things up only 1 flight of stairs. I left him in the kitchen, where he was first to lay claim to his share of cupboard and fridge space.

Have fun!

American Pale Ale

 My latest brew has been bottled. It's an American Pale Ale from an I love Brewing  Beerworks kit. 

"American Pale Ale is a style of pale ale developed in the United States around 1980. American pale ales are generally around 5% abv with significant quantities of American hops, typically Cascade." 

Bottling was a bit delayed while I waited for my latest consignment of bottle to be delivered, but I bottled 20 bottles on Thursday (leaving some 14l in cask). The SG readings before and after brewing suggested a strength of about 6.5% ABV.

Here are the bottles waiting to be packed away in boxes to bottle-condition, along with my NEIPA and Christmas Ale.

The label continues the theme of an old map in the background like I did for the NEIPA.

A taste before bottling suggests it will be very fruity and hoppy. We'll see in a few weeks.

Another Alphabetical Quick Cryptic Crossword

Times Quick Cryptic No 1709 by Alfie

Today's quick crossword is from Alfie, a setter who always (under that pseudonym) provides a crossword with an alphabetical twist. And indeed this one has too, as hinted at by 1A and 11A. I'll not spoil it for you here if you haven't looked for what's hidden in the grid, but I've summarised what I found at the end of the blog.
As for the clues, one or two are a bit tricky (15D puzzled me the most) and the crossword took me rather over my average time, finishing in 6:40. Some fun clues though. My COD goes to 8A, but the cleverly worked theme is most entertaining. Thank-you Alfie! How did everyone else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the weekend entertainment. You can find my amateur quick crossword here. Enjoy!

( Read all about it.... )

Weekend Quick Cryptic 8 - by Johninterred

This time it is my turn to provide the fortnightly amateur weekend quick cryptic crossword. You can try and solve it interactively here or download a PDF to print here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below. Comments and queries welcome here or with the solution post (see below). Note that comments here are moderated so won't appear immediately, but I will react to them as soon as I can.

You can find the solution here. Many thanks to cataphract1 for adding a blog explaining the answers in the comments on that page!

Joyce's Mini Walking Festival

The walkers on 14th September - Ipswich to Woodbridge at the highpoint of the walk

Well that was fun! 11 days of walks in glorious weather around some beautiful parts of Suffolk (and a bit of Essex).

Snape Walk

Today was my eighth and last walk in Joyce's Mini Walking Festival. Indeed it was the last walk of the festival. This was the listing in the brochure...

"Tue: 22nd Sept *A NEW WALK* Snape, Aldeburgh, Thorpeness and Friston. A 14.5 mile circular walk with a coffee stop at Thorpeness Meare.**"

When I asked if I could go on it Joyce said it was fully booked. But Ann also wanted to do it, so we formed a select second group of 2 and Joyce sent me details of the route so we could follow them starting 15 minutes behind them. Neither of us had done the walk before, but Joyce supplied us with a map with the route marked.

We met at Snape Maltings just after 10, as planned. I enjoyed seeing this picture by Maggi Hambling on my vitist into the concert hall to use the toilets before we started.

This was our route, which revisited Thorpeness where we started and finished on Friday's walk led by Peter. It included the Sailor's Path, which we had walked before, but with a loop to Thorpeness rather than the shorter loop to Aldeburgh we had done in January (see here). It uses some of the Sandlings Walk and Suffolk Coastal Path. 

Here are some of my photos from the walk.

It was a lovely sunny morning at Snape Maltings.

The main group set off to cross the  River Alde and into Snape village, while Ann and I waited for our appointed 10:25 start time

We admired the village sign before turning right along Priory Road.

Ah. This is why Joyce had brought us this way. The Snape Word on the Street micro-library. Charming. Soon afterwards we found the crossroads where we joined the Sandlings Way.

We passed plenty of pigs in the fields....

...before we arrived in Friston. Here is St. Mary's Church, which we saw only from a distance.

Of course we are not far from Sizewell here and the pylons march across the skyline.

Well this was something. We were walking along this path Ann on my left when, just in front of this, this tree fell over the path. 10 seconds later and it would have hit Ann on the head.

I liked this fancy Sandlings Walk sign, it is apparently 1 of 12 along the path. Read more about the sculpture here. How much of it have I walked now, I wonder? We've done a few stretches of it recently. The bird is actually properly called a Sanderling - a Sandling being a sand eel or small flat fish. [Update: The bird on the signs is actually a Nightjar. The name of the walk, The Sandling, as  described here, refers to "the Suffolk Sandling that used to stretch from the outskirts of Ipswich to Southwold which is an area of lowland heath, Britain's rarest wildlife habitat, and the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty"].

We managed to not be misled into continuing to follow the Sandlings Walk and turned right towards Thorpeness at the right place. 10/10 for my map-reading today 😀.

As we passed this green, a ball was overhit and came down the bank towards us. Another near miss! Not that a trickling golfball would have hurt as much as a tree on the head.

This post had a sign on both sides. The other side has it spelt properly. Can you spot the mistake on this one?

As we neared the golf clubhouse and car park we got a view of the House in the Clouds (which is available for holiday let) and the Windmill...

...which was built in as a corn mill 1803 in nearby Aldringham and moved here and converted to pump water in 1923. It was restored in 1976.

We arrived at the cafe opposite the meare to find the main group having their lunch. In the background you can see some houses that featured in a photograph from last Friday's walk. See here.

Here are the main group setting off again. Ann and I gave them 10 minutes to get ahead of us before we followed.

Here they are in a group photo taken by Robert.

There are some lovely houses along the sea shore. I wonder how long it will be before they are lost to the sea, as nearby Dunwich was?

We spotted the group in front crossing the marsh as we were still on the beach. The right turn must be soon, then.

As we crossed the marsh we could see, in the distance, the house in the clouds and windmill with Sizewell power station behind.

Now we are on the Sailor's Path, "walking in the footsteps of the seafarers who travelled from the Suffolk coast to the village of Snape".

We had great views across Hazlewood marshes and Alde River mudflats.

We got to walk along some boardwalk. I guess it gets rather soggier here in winter.

These horses came to say hello.

Not far to go now as we could see the Maltings Concert Hall across the river. Can you see the group in front on the path on the far right of the picture? We waved at them, but I don't think they saw us until they crossed the bridge back to the start not far in front of us.

The Maltings complex looked lovely in the afternoon sunshine.

And here are our fellow walkers at the end.

Thanks Joyce for the lovely walk with great sea views, and to Ann for the company. So that was it for the Mini Walking Festival. 11 days of beautiful weather and beautiful walks. Thanks to Joyce for organising it all! How did you manage to organise the great weather too?

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

Shotley Peninsula Walk

 

Today was my seventh walk in Joyce's Mini Walking Festival. This was the listing in the brochure...

"Mon: 21st Sept Shotley Gate to Pin Mill. A 13-mile circular walk with a lunchtime stop at Pin Mill.***"

I had done this walk in July with Joyce, Roland, Ann and Peter as you can read about here, but was keen to do it again. Just 4 of us today, Joyce, Jane, Julian and me - 4 J's!

This was our route today - not quite the same as before.

Here are some of my photos from our today's walk.

It was a misty start and the tide was out. We could hear the noises from Felixstowe Port across the water, but not see it.

Through the mist a ghostly cormorant was trying to dry its wings.

We set off through the marina heading up-river along the banks of the Orwell.

I loved the effect of the mist softening the views.

We turned inland towards Shotley vineyard and church.

The grapes look like they are ripening nicely. They were green the last time we were here.  Shotley Vineyard's first vintage is now ready - Bacchus 2019 and Pinot Noir 2019.

We didn't stop at Erwarton Hall this time.

But we did at St. Mary's Church,  Erwarton. "Legend has it that Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I, the two main architects of the English Reformation, stayed often at Erwarton Hall. She gave instructions, it is said, that her heart was to be buried in this church after her death. In 1838, when the north aisle was being renovated, a small, heart-shaped casket was discovered, walled into an alcove. It was reburied, with due ceremony, beneath the organ, and a little plaque there gives some details about it."

Looking towards the Stour, we saw some detectorists in action

 

 

Approaching Pin Mill, we tried the path through the meadow, but it was flooded, so we went down the road instead...

...passing this sign.

By now the mist had burned off and it was a lovely sunny day. We stopped by the Butt and Oyster for our lunch. Julian and I enjoyed an Adnams beer again, He had the Mosaic Pale Ale and I had the Broadside.

Here we are ready to go again.

Occasionally we got a view through the trees as we walked through the Cliff Plantation. I think this is Orwell Park House, now a school.

I think I've taken this photo before.

Oh. Who's this cheerful chappie walking through the woods? (Thanks, Joyce).

What I hadn't spotted previously is that looking up the river we can see the Orwell Bridge.

We crossed back via St. Mary's Shotley Church...

...to visit the naval war graves.

Over the brow of this hill past the lonely Shotley Cottage we descended to the Stour estuary.

The water lapped gently at the shore as we followed the path at the edge.

I don't think I'd ever seen people drinking outside the Bristol Arms before before.

What a difference from this morning! We could see across to Harwich...

...and Felixstowe Docks...

...as we returned to the car park by the marina.

Lovely walk again. Thanks Joyce for leading us round and Jane and Julian for the company.

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