image by Rolando Marin on pixabay
No prediction of the end of the world has ever come true.
And there have been more than a few.
Predictions of our total annihilation have been overblown.
Still we are here… to witness this day.
Make your peace with your gods
But forget the prayers, forget the pleas, for nothing now can avert it
Behold the Beast: Asteroid 666
The estimated time of impact: 06:06 06/06/6060
67 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Impact
Acle, a typical small Norfolk town: 15 August 2020
I caught the 6:35 (am) bus out of Great Yarmouth as far as Acle. The weather wasn’t good for sunbathing but excellent for walking. And I had a way to go. My destination was South Walsham (via the green lanes and byways), home in 1817 to my many-times great-grandpa, John Self Brown. John would have made this journey several times when he was courting Sarah Mutton, a maiden of Acle. He’d have come here too to sell the fruits of his labour, for even today Acle is a market town.
The rolling hills of FLAT Norfolk: 15 August 2020
That’s a bit of a cheat, for this used to be the coast. Therefore beyond that crest would have been the shore and the sea.
The enclosed path into Upton: 15 August 2020
A holloway, evidence of the ancient origins of this path. And yes, it does run downhill.
It now began to rain. Not heavy. Not a nuisance. Unless you’re about to push through a bed of 6′ reeds.
Hemp agrimony and dense tall reeds: 15 August 2020
The sign said: Caution. Swans nesting close to the footpath. Do not allow dogs off lead and avoid path if possible.
I could have doubled back. But mid-August, the cygnets would be out on the water. I certainly wouldn’t have chanced it earlier in the year. Rather face a breeding tiger.
But it soon became obvious that I was the first to tread this path this season. I felt like Moses dividing the Red Sea as I swept aside the reeds… too tall to see over… eyes fixed on the ground where the route of the path was just discernable. Beside me was a drainage channel… waiting for one slip of my foot. And those reeds were wet. Ho-hum. Intrepid explorer, that’s me.
Upton Staithe: 15 August 2020
The path spewed me into a carr (wetland woodland) too overgrown and dark to take a decent photo. Imagine a jungle (absent the snakes & other predators) and you’ll be close to it. Which in turn brought me to here. And the rain had stopped.
The staithe links the village of Upton with the River Bure (part of the Norfolk Broads). Time was, almost all goods in and out would have come via this staithe, the Norfolk wherry being the Broads equivalent of a canal barge in this respect (although definitely not in design)
On the edge of Upton Fen: 15 August 2020
I travelled on by greenways and byways… skirting Upton Fen, which is now a nature reserve, and farmland
15 August 2020
I love these white trunked trees against the orange of the ripening grain. Alas, the sun is still in hiding. But I don’t mind. It’s easy walking.
And those greenways and byways delivered me to South Walsham.
The staithe at South Walsham Broad: May 2017
There were too many people milling around to take photos there. So here’s one I took earlier.
A typical Broads cottage: 15 August 2020
My eye was stolen by this lovely thatched cottage.
And so it was time to turn around and wend my way back. I did it by the easy, less picturesque route… via road until I reached Upton when it was through that holloway again.
Tree mallow standing guard with an oak: 15 August 2020
At the Acle end of the holloway, this oak and tree mallow stand as sentinels.
Uphill from Upton to Acle: 15 August 2020
When I was labouring with my misaligned SI joint, this “hill” used to slay me, especially after walking 8 miles. This day, while I noticed it was a hill, it didn’t tax me in the least. So good to be able to walk pain-free again.
Hope you enjoyed the walk. Sorry about the overcast sky. And if you’re wondering where the flowers are… I’ll post them on Tuesday. Thank you for joining me.
From Acle to Upton across the cornfield: 15 August 2020
This shortcut between villages is an ancient right of way. The farmer wouldn’t dare to remove it.
Symmetry, another title achieved in Maria’s Antonia’s #2020picoftheweek
Crimson’s Creative Challenge #93
Great Yarmouth’s famous rows run East to West and channel the health-giving sea breezes. Those “breezes” helped to fight off the Black Death when it hit in the years 1347-1351, killing a third of Europe’s population. Those wind-channelling rows did a pretty good job of cleaning away other diseases in the ensuing centuries.
But now, those very rows are a problem. They’re not six-foot wide. Some are barely 4-foot. How do we social distance in that?
CCC 93
Welcome to my weekly challenge—open to all—just for FUN, FUN, FUN
Here’s how it works:
Every Wednesday I post a photo (this week it’s that one above.)
You respond with something CREATIVE
Here are some suggestions:
You have plenty of scope and only two criteria:
If you post a link in the comments section of this post I’ll be able to find it
If you include Crimson’s Creative Challenge as a heading, WP Search will find it (theory)
by ‘Searching’ in the WP Reader (fingers crossed)
Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN.
For those who wish to know, the photo shows one of Great Yarmouth’s famous rows (narrow lanes or alleys that run east-west throughout the old town.
Following fast upon (or under) Marshland Skies… some of the flowers seen on the two walks made (4th & 10th August 2020). They’re not flowers specific to marshland yet tend to grow in abundance there undisturbed by plough and harvester
Poppies and Corn Marigolds: 4th August 2020
Arable flowers, true, because we had to cross a cornfield.
Thistledown: 4th August 2020
A reminder of what will become of my purple hair!
Tansy: 4th August 2020
This year this one-time herbal remedy for intestinal worms is flowering in great abundance
Traveller’s Joy: 4th August 2020
A scrambling climber with several names. Best known is Old Man’s Beard (for its fluffy-like seed heads). It’s related to the clematis we grow in our gardens.
Great Willow Herb: 10th August 2020
I’d been trying all summer to get a good shot of this one. The sun bleaches the colour, or the wind won’t leave it alone. But finally…
Field Bindweed: 10th August 2020
Another that’s tricky: the sun tends to bleach all the colour. Happy with this one. It was scrambling everywhere along the tracks and paths.
And that’s all for now, folks. I’m hoping to get out on Thursday, but if the weather prohibits I do have the photos I took this Saturday, and a story to go with them
image by jajalaba0 on pixabay
“Fair maid, I espy a loose thread. May I pull it… to see where it leads?”
“And where might it lead?” she asked in feigned innocence.
“Through wooded hills to Bedfordshire.”
“Where you’ll take me?” she asked with a jostle of shoulders.
42 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Jostle
It had not been my intention to keep my eyes on the sky. But the sky god gave me such wonderful vistas…
Tuesday 4th August. It was a pleasantly warm day.
Early sun trapped by the willow: 4th August 2020
The first meadow… not yet on the marshes
An interesting cloud formation: 4th August 2020
Burgh Castle’s grazing marshes. I believe if you squint you might see some horses
Ripe corn in the field beyond: 4th August 2020
Wow! 4th August 2020
This is a progression of the earlier cloud
Ahead Roman ruins: 4th August 2020
And that wonderful cloud gives way to cottonwool balls
More of them clouds: 4th August 2020
Looking back over Breydon Water
The wind gets up: 4th August 2020
The confluence of the rivers Yare and Waveney, it’s always windy here. And the famous Berney Arms Windmill
Roman fort at Burgh Castle: 4th August 2020
Two of the bastions. The perimeter wall is extant except where it faces the river.
at Burgh Castle Fishermans Inn: 4th August 2020
Watching the river traffic while enjoying a coffee. Two miles left to catch the bus home.
I hope you enjoyed these vistas. Next week I shall post the flowers I saw on the way.
Angles Way (Burgh Castle): 5th August 2020
Such an odd notice, and a weird place to put it. I had to Take Note, another title achieved in Maria’s Antonia’s #2020picoftheweek
Now we’re past the solstice, the nights draw in, the mornings break later, while yet it’s warm (ok, it’s hot!). Encouragement enough for me to go wandering with the camera.
Wednesday 5th August. Sunset around 8:30 pm. Breydon Water
Breydon Water: 5th August 2020
Breydon Water: 5th August 2020
Breydon Water: 5th August 2020
Just three of the 400+ photos I came home with. A really difficult choice
Wednesday 12th August. Great Yarmouth beach, sunrise 5:45 am
Pastel tints on a mist-swathed sea: 12th August 2020
The orb of the sun barely visible through the banks of mist: 12th August 2020
The mist takes the sun’s rays and diffuses them: 12th August 2020
She blazes. Worth the wait! 12th August 2020
