Norfolk

 High cliffs, wide sandy beaches, lanes linking small villages, pebbled



walled houses, acres of corn, barley, broadbeans, spinach, potatoes. Red poppies in the hedges. This is fen land, ancient drainage ditches, some engineered by Cornelius Vermuyden in the 17th C. 

The old city of Norwich stands high above a river, an admirable defensible perch. Its little alleys and cobbled lanes remind us of York, curving round the centre, muddling my sense of direction. Fortunately we'd noted a landmark church, so could ask directions.  

A town of many churches. In one a fascinating if strange tale of competitive bell ringers. With my 14 bells, how many peal sequences can be made? Over 4 hours of continuous ringing was recorded. What wasn't mentioned were local reactions to the din! 

Today we located a narrow gauge steam railway.  Those 2 words draw JJ like a freezer full of icecream. The Bure Valley line, run by volunteers of course, runs to Wroxham, on the infamous Norfolk Broads. 

A late pleasure this evening was a walk along sands lapped by the shallow quiet Nort Sea. In the distant haze stands a forest of wind turbines, planted off shore.



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