Tramping, ferrying & beachcombing in Southwold

George's family head to the "seaside" for a week in May each year. Their location of choice for many years has been Southwold, SE of Norwich, just over the border in Suffolk. There is a beach like at most seasides, but not beaches like we are spoiled with at home ... hence I guess the term "seaside". Though, from our exploring, the seaside ranges from cliffs to marshes to pebbles to muddy sand and a mixture of all the above in some places. Even windfarms are common. So, seaside can mean many things and not just the beach here (as it can at home too).

Lately I have been to the seaside twice. This post deals with Southwold, guided by Sean; a later post is a return visit to Wells-next-the-Sea to show Deb.

On our drive there we saw an elusive marsh harrier and just after we set off on our walk I managed to snap one in flight. The light is not great to show off plummage, but the striking form is cool ... and I have included a seagull for contrast in much better light later in the afternoon - holding patterns into the strong wind made the photo a lot easier to take! I know which one I would prefer to avoid ...

 

Like other seaside places we have visited, there is a promenade and a pier and the timber groynes attempting protection against North Sea erosion. The pictures below show the view south and north along the seaside from the pier (imagine the pier between the first two photos) and the third one, the view back along the beach towards the pier from the south later in our walk. There were a reasonable number of people on the beach as it was school holidays ... though very few in the water - it was a cool afternoon as the wind picked up and some storm clouds skirted the area (thankfully). You can also see the line of colourful beach huts, common to these parts - some close ups later on.

Along our walk across the marshes we caught some nice views of the countryside and the main features of the town - the water tower, the church spire and the lighthouse. The first one below showing another rookery across the marsh early in our walk ... their rooms have a great view, even if they remain naked to the elements ...

As you look at the centre left of this shot of the marsh through the blackberry briar, imagine this being the scene of a WW2 bombing experiment gone wrong. Sean & I were talking about the quiet as we were crossing this part of the marsh and he recounted to me the story of JFK's elder brother piloting a bomber in WW2 when an experimental nitro-glycerin type bomb (Torpex) exploded killing all on board ... apparently this led to JFK being anointed rather than his elder brother as would otherwise have been the case - the things you find out on a walk in a marsh in the UK. Worth a read if you want to check out a few more details ... Joseph P Kennedy, Jr - thanks again wikipedia!

Here are a few shots showing the main features of the town I mentioned above, also the pony is iconic (though I know not the reason)...

About halfway through our walk we reached the "harbour" which is where the river Blyth joins the North Sea. We took a refreshment at the Harbour Inn ... the photo below shows Sean heading in that direction with Daisy. It is included to encourage you to zoom in and see if you can notice the small blue "bar" a few feet below the name of the Inn ... that is the marker for the big floods of 1953 (and 2013 was not much lower apparently) ... like at home with the few remaining markers around Lismore for the 1974 flood, it is very hard to imagine that volume of water across the expanse of marshes you see in some of the photos. A LOT of water; a long time for recovery, sadly. 

The next couple are included to offer something of the nature of the "harbour". I would certainly NOT like to be putting too far into the North Sea in the pretty blue fishing boat - back up the river Blyth perhaps, but not out to sea for me (the car and dingy provide a useful scale)! The one of the lighthouse captures the sad and decaying state of the once thriving fishing industry in these parts. The third one, is the ferry you can use to cross the "harbour" (there is also footbridge back up the river about a kilometre) ... like the Star Ferry in Hong Kong or walking the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, though, there are some things you just have to do! Ok, Ok ... you need to use you imagination to see the comparsion between the Southwold harbour ferry and those two icons BUT it is about the experience :) - and it only costs a pound per person (nice little earner too!). The woman rowing took over from her dad and it is her son helping her out "now learning from me, just like I learned from my dad" she told us :). I have included a video so you can see the challenge when the tide is on the move (in this case out). When they took us across there were actually 6 passengers, so 8 all up for the journey! Sit still!

 

Here is the short video of the ferry in action ...

Now, no walk around the marshes would be complete with out some good images of the wildlife (it was pretty scarce this day). This was one we found on the nest in the reeds ... appropriate for the purpose of our visit to Norfolk ... and a bumble bee glistening in action on a humble dandelion.

Then we hit the beach for the walk back to town. Below are some close-ups of the colourful beach huts mentioned earlier. You see some in a later post also. We saw a couple for sale in a real estate window for 55,000 - 60,000 pounds each - seriously! Can't sleep in them, just for shelter and making tea and dining when you at the seaside :). They look good though!

 

Almost there ... a few glimpses of some of the town buildings (yes, we had another sustenance break at the Lord Nelson Inn) and houses and the lighthouse and keepers cottage (one for dad).