Marriott's Way - More September Sunshine

Finn and I were lucky enough to have a sun filled day back in September and the Marriott's Way practically to ourselves for the day.  We walked the eight mile Themelthorpe Loop, a walk that goes from Reepham to Whitwell, and then a mile and a half footpath back to Reepham.   I do love the Marriott's Way, but, if you're walking any distance of it, logistics and transport can prove quite tricky, so this eight miler is ideal - we can park at Reepham, do the walk, and then I can have coffee and cake back at Reepham.  And, if Finn's being good, he can sit in the gardens with me, and if he's been a monster, he gets to sit in the boot of the car and watch me eat cake through the windows - ha!

Dragons Farewell

At the end of September, Norwich lost the dragons but we were given the chance to see them all in one place before they disappeared forever.   Mum came over to Norwich and we spent the day visiting the Forum and wandering around Norwich, having lunch and a spot of retail therapy.   The queue to see the outside dragons was really long so Mum waited on a bench while I queued, but after a while we decided that we didn't need to join the line and that we'd walk up the steps outside the library and look down on them all.

It was thrilling to see them all in one place and such a bonus that the sun was shining on them all, emphasising the brightness of the colour schemes.

Inside the Forum, there were no queues, so we could wander around at our leisure and I saw a lot of the dragons that I'd missed when Mary was up here.  These were ones that were further out of the city or in strange locations on the ring road!

Dolores Dragtabulous, for instance, was in the Holiday Inn at the airport.

Unfortunately, however, the dragons were no longer on plinths so we couldn't find out their names, which was a bit disappointing - I can't cross them off my list!

At the auction a few days after this, Luda raised £20,000 at the auction as I predicted - he was in the top three for highest prices.  He was beaten by Duff who raised £20,500 and GogoMosaic which raised £25,000.

So, a lovely way to say goodbye to the dragons and I'm already thinking of petitioning the organisers, Wild in Art, to get another trail organised soon!

Mattishall - September Sunshine

The Mattishall and Hockering circular walk is one of my favourites - I've been walking it now for nearly seven years!  In fact, Finn can pretty much get himself round on his own now.  The walk is all on country lanes, no footpaths at all, which is good in a way that if the weather has been filthy, we won't get covered in mud.  Although we have done it on ice before now which was a bit tricky.

We walked it in September on a very bright, but rather breezy, day and had the lanes pretty much to ourselves.  There are a couple of "escape routes" so that we can shorten the walk if we need to, but this time we did the full seven miles.

The hedgerows and grass verges were full of wild flowers but I think these are cyclamen - they are rather lovely and I think I'd like to grow some in the shady patch at the bottom of my garden now.

How I wish I knew what all the others are!

Heather at Hevingham

For the August bank holiday this year, Amanda and I, together with Sid and Finn, borrowed Mum and Dad's trailer tent and took ourselves off to Hevingham Lakes for a few days.  We were really blessed with the weather, until the day we had to pack up of course, when it was disgusting!

I've been to Hevingham many times as it's one of mine and Andy's favourite sites as we can chill out and relax and Andy can fish to his heart's content.  And Finn and I regularly take ourselves off for a wander over the heath so that Andy can have some peace and quiet for a bit.

But I have never seen heather over the heath before - I had no idea!  It was absolutely stunning and I'm afraid I went a bit overboard with my photography!

Just gorgeous - and it's made up of so many colours too - I was trying to remember them all as I've decided I want to make myself a heathery coloured jumper now - just beautiful.