Suffolk Walk: Bungay, Outney meadow campsite & Kayaking

 

3/07/22

We went kayaking in Bungay joined by our friend, Yvonne. We met up at the campsite where we launched our kayak. We'd never kayak at this end of Suffolk, we have done in Sudbury, another beautiful part of Suffolk.

Marcus recently purchased secondhand kayak which can be connected one person or two persons. I was a bit uncertain about the kayak, I only sat on deep two person blow up ( very sturdy one)  kayak. I didn't want to fall in the water. Again, I wasn't sure about a river, vegetation inside the water completely put me off from dipping in the water. ( funny how I convinced myself I didn't want to fall, I wasn't sure getting on the kayak. I wanted Marcus to practice then, I would be confident enough to get on it...😆 )

Anyway, Marcus and Yvonne eventually launched ( long story, one of Yvonne's blow up kayak had huge holes which appeared to be eaten by a mouse...no matter how hard she was pumping up, it didn't pump up. I kept saying, it has holes! but I wasn't heard, she kept pumping for another 10 mins or so, then realised had holes. So she started pumping up her spare one. Took her over 30mins to launch. ) then paddling away on the river. Looked very nice. 

In the meanwhile, I was going to rest on one of benches by the river, but decided to go for a little walk. I went out from the campsite, through the gate next to the site, walked into the nature reserve. 

I met some cute friendly cows, I was looking for somewhere to sit down and chill out. The river looked lovely, but I kept walking.....said hello to cows and they followed me a bit. Then started sniffing me! A few of them actually came really close to me and licked my hands 😆 One was licking my camera bag.... I thought they were checking on me....I told them I was vegetarian as I do always when I meet cows and piggies. 🐄 ❤️ 

I trodded on, came out from the field, then walked into the reserve. I thought "let's walk for just 5 mins, towards water"...then ended up walking the whole circular path. It was long walk for me as I get fatigue these days. Even when I walk 10 mins, I am exhausted and out of breath. So, for me to walk this circular walk was a lot. took me over an hour to do. I walked slowly and enjoying the views and scenery.  I figured out somehow it was circular walk, I knew this golf course next to the campsite, so I was sure I would be ended up by the site. I usually take "unofficial " footpath, and get lost. I was impressed myself, I actually figured out and did this footpath. Achievement! yay! 😊 

By the time I came back to the campsite, I was knackered. So, I made myself comfortable in back of Marcus's car, and started listening to music......after 5 mins or so, Marcus came back to the car! Oooooo, I was going to have a nap! Never mind....😓 

Gave Yvonne her car key back, we tidied up kayak and packed our car. Yvonne drove off. She enjoyed it! We spoke to this family who were camping over the weekend, and he told us this campsite was lovely site and the river was one of the best river he kayak in this country. As he said, water was clear, no mortar boats sailing through. Lovely part of the river there. 

Marcus did well with his new kayak, I had some confident on him now. so, next time I will sit on the kayak and let him addle for me! 😂 ( I am a terrible paddler, need more practice! )

Looking forward to next time...

Suffolk Caravan Park, Outney Meadow, Bungay, Suffolk

https://www.outneymeadow.co.uk

Suffolk Walk: Dunwich Heath and the view

 

4 & 5th July, 2022

Photo above is the view from the heath which is one of my favorite view from the heath. I love looking over Minsmere. Beautiful. This time of the year, colour is green, seeing wild life is a magic.  

we had heat wave in U.K....It was hot. Hot for this country. 😆 Certainly, we weren't ready and UK wasn't made for this. 

We went down to Dunwich heath for dips on both day. Not too many people there either. It was lovely. The sea wasn't brown either. Temperature was warm , so we stayed all day dip in and out of the sea. It was like when we went to Greece. 

Photos of Dunwich heath here. 😍 

Suffolk Walk: Shingle street beach ( again...)

24/07/22

 Lovely day at Shingle street beach today AND y'day. Sunshine, and not too hot, with some breeze. Spent all day, dip in and out of the sea. We love going there especially on low tide. Because that's when magic appears. 😍 

My teacher said; “ vacation is location” it’s in my head, so he tells us. But….I want to go somewhere! We popped into Shingle street beach for two days, It was like holiday, spent all day at the beach on both day. It was quiet y’day, but today! It was like Piccadilly Circus there! 🤣 Never seen so many people. It’s getting popular! It is a lovely magical beach, everyone seemed to having fun. And it was low tide around lunch time. Dip in and out of sea and the lagoon, playing with their paddle boards, and lots of kite surfers. Cars were parked up along the road, thinking, wow, some kite surfers walked a bit with their kits! I always fancied learning to kite surf. 

As soon as I said to Marcus, he went:” You would bump into people wouldn’t you” 🤓 So, that means: No driving ( road) = No kayaking ( river) = No kite surfing ( sea), What can I try? I did paddle board and body board ( floating with it 🤣 ), which I did well with. Maybe I just need to stick with that. Oh, yes, I can cycle 🚴‍♀️ ! Although I did make a double decker bus stop a couple of times when I was in London yeas ago…Oh, sorry, that was when I was on my Vespa 🛵 🤣

I am sure you are safe drivers, riders, cyclists, and surfers.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, there was full of beautiful samphires in one of lagoons ( which dried out a bit, full of algae too.) I never seen so much and looked lovely, so I picked some, and had them for our dinner. I sauteed a bit, salt & pepper, vegan butter/merg, squeezed lemon juice at the end. it was lovely. I remember one of SOHO restaurants I used to work, we used to serve pan roasted cod, creamy mash ( really tasty), and sauteed samphire. It was lovely, simple but using the best ingredients, no need to add much. 😍 

By the way, last time we were in Shingle street beach, there were thick vegetation and some algae on the lagoon, they weren’t there today. I wonder what’s happened to it. Does anyone know? Those vegetation either someone cleared or naturally disappeared? 🧐 Mmmm, mystery. 

Suffolk Walk: Walberswick 1800 Off grid cottage

 

15 - 17/06/22

It was the first time I actually went away since I as diagnosed with cancer in 2019 summer. I had an opportunity to visit and stay for 4 days in lake district, however the site we were going to stay wasn't suitable for my needs, so I stayed here, Marcus went away on his own to join our friends there. 

My fatigue wasn't too bad, and it was local, only 20mins away from where we live, and flat. So it was ideal for me to stay. I booked for a few nights to hire a 1800 off grid house in the middle of Walberswick nature reserve. No neighbours, foot path runs behind the house, but we saw hardly anyone walking there. Saw a few dog walkers, that was it! Beautiful footpath inside the private land too, leads to the Blythbugh water. 

It was fun to light the fire pit on the first night, Marcus went to the woods to find some woods to burn in the pit. Weather was hot for those three days we were there, so all wood pieces on the ground were pretty much dry, burnt really well. There were plenty woods to light fire for shower and hot tub. 

We had shower in the morning, light fire in the outside bathroom. the bathroom was cute and warmed up very quickly, hot like sauna! Only needed a few woods to get fire going and hot water. 

I had a bit nap on the grass ( on my yoga mat), I felt mozzies were eating me alive, stingy and itchy really quickly. i didn't spray myself mosquito repellent, so ended up having over 20 bites on my head! 😆 

On second day, we went to Walberswick beach for quick morning dip, there were a few people already for picnic / dip. The sea was calm and not brown! It was more greeny colour and where very shallow, actually I could sea the sea bed. Of course, we went back in the late afternoon, (about low tide time)for another dip. It really felt like holiday. 😊 To save my time, we  just had protein shakes and protein bars for our snacks. I didn't want to cook any food, because I was on "holiday"! Didn't want to eat out either. Wanted to spend time in the house and the beach as much as we could. 

Photos above are sunset on the first day. it was beautiful over the water. We walked a bit further down until "footpath" disappeared. i wasn't quite sure it was proper footpath or not, but I could see people walked so we just followed. 

On second morning, we followed the east Suffolk line footpath towards Walberswick, we didn't go too far, as I got a bit tired walking longer distance. Lovely sky, beautiful footpath. I am sure many people walked here.

the sea was like this calm, all three days. after we checked out, about 11am, we drove to Dunwich heath for another dip. the sea was calm, lovely slow currents. Floating away in the sun. So pleased to have a few days off , so needed. I am still feeling chilled out. Looking forward to another little break. ( in Suffolk or Norfolk!)