Horning Staithe - so long and so disappointing

Many years ago I read all the East Anglia Arthur Ransome books (Coot Club, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea and etc.)  Horning Staithe features in these as a magical place to fish for perch and to sail in dingies.

Many years later my father, on business in Norfolk, made a pilgrimage to the Staithe and called me up from the Swan Inn to describe a scene unchanged from Ransome's era - a lambent summer's evening, a lone fisherman catching tiny perch one-after-another and a nice warm  pint of beer

But don't bother its all been ruined...  I returned my father's call - 30 years late - and we commiserated.

OK the rain did not help

Rather heavy - I felt sorry for the wedding party sheltering at at the even more sorry when I say the faux-Mississippi-steamer they were boarding.

Every 60 seconds one of these big white things chugs past

Yuk Yuk Yuk Yuk Yuk - your own riverside palace, complete with mooring and ugly cruiser and 500 boats a day pass your windows

This is Irstead Staithe - at the end of a quiet country lane - a few houses, a church and a couple of fishermen.  Idyllic - if you can ignore the big white plastic cruises passing down the River Ant every five minutes or so

A traditional boat house - lord knows how much the just out of shot thatched houses are worth at Hickling Broad...

Hawking over the reed bed  - is this a Marsh Harrier?

Might be - habitat and flight correct and no white rump - but I am not sure - wrong time of year for a Hen Harrier and the only other possibility is Montagues Harrier - which is very rare

From here a spectacular drive on the A47 near Great Yarmouth and then south looking for somewhere to camp:   Place 1 the office had closed at 18:00, Place 2: signposts ran out about a mile short - eventually found it - one caravan and no one in the house, then to a Camping & Caravaning Site - very friendly but as not a member they advised me to save money and go to the independent to the South - it was now dark and I found that there was a BIG concert on so many side roads closed and marshalled and campsites full - eventually found campsite just outside bass-beat range from the show.

Grimes Graves - Great

Grimes Graves has been on my list for a long time - and I was not disappointed.

Its a neolithic flint mine - a huge area pockmarked with back-filled and collapsed mine shafts - and a pretty unique flora and fauna. It's a rainy Saturday in July - and for the hour I was there - I was the only visitor. You get a short walk around the visitor centre and then down a ladder to crawl around a mine. If they would let us orienteer there it would be spectacular:

Copyright: English Heritage

I ought to know this one... it is a type of thistle

A Mullein - specifically Dark Mullein I think - no white hairs on the leaves.

I found another blog - and they, independently chose - the same snail, the same "Escher" raindrop effect and the pink and yellow flowers - strange

"Let's Off-road" - just - it is the official car parking spot.

Who do you think...

Up early at "The Friendly Club" site in Thetford.  Too early for the museum so it is off for a walk at the local nature reserve.

Langmere on East Wretham Heath - what a magic place - visit it early in the morning...

 ...All to myself - if you don't count the curious deer and the various geese and crows.  Learn all about these "disappearing lakes" here.

Copyright Norfolk Wildlife Trust

All of Breckland is pretty special but there is one place I particularly want to visit:

The Road to STANTA: Shame its been off limits now for seventy years

Stanford Battle area is where they filmed much of the outside scenes for "Dad's Army"

Captain George Mainwaring - not very bright - but knows it, a chip on each shoulder but immensely brave

A war time tea - complete with Norfolk vinegar cake - scrummy - all at the Dad's Army Museum (check opening times)

Thetford high street is a little bit of Poland in England - but away from the centre you can find locations from the TV show

Wicken Fen

A trip to Huntingdon for a "Munters" training day and then to Wicken Fen.


Amazing and Excellent - I thought I took more pictures!  It is a tiny fragment of wild fen - almost the last remaining - so many insects, so many birds, so many strange plants.  Saved just in time - but what must have Fenland been like before it all got drained.

That Tansley bloke again - second time this year.

Should I know what this is?

Guelder-rose?

A bees nest - right by the path - I sat and watched for a while - sitting very still - surrounded on around and above by hundreds of bees

First Goosegogs of 2011

You Have Failed: Too Dumb to Use the serf (oops self) service checkout...

Perhaps it is the 'pressure' - of folks behind you in the queue or not wanting to make mistakes but my first experience with Sainsbury Self Service Checkout was humbling...

the nice computer voice says:
"Press Start, Select Own Bags, Place bags in packing area, unexpected item in packing area call attendant! "

For some reason the computer does not like the bag I have brought from home...

Attendant places small scrap of paper on laser scanner and removes and replaces my bag.  I start scanning


"beep, pizza, beep, wine, beep unknown item! unknown item, unknown item, unknown item, call attendant,"


At last it completes and asks me to pay...



I think they need to work on the user interface - no single person got through the entire process without the long suffering attendant needing to 'attend' - he says " - work or home - its all the same...I get nagged all day by this computer, and then all evening when I go home"

The Pizza and 1/2 price wine will be consumed in 10 minutes - while I am watching Goodfellas (my consultant surgeon neighbour has an impressive collection of bloody Mob Movies)

Classifying the Nation's Hidden Art (Crowd Sourcing)

In between chores I am entertaining myself classifying art works (yes I know I have no training or talent for this)...

I am struggling with this one "some paint, some more paint, some more paint of a different colour"

Few few of the paintings are on public (and any sort of ) display.  Some are really very good - (not) strangely for me it is "transport" and "seascapes" that seem to have the most emotional impact.

You can have a go to at... http://tagger.thepcf.org.uk/user/login/classify

Fantastic Evening at Castlemorton Common

Summer Evenings don't get much better than this...

Ant Hill - not sure what the flowers are though

Castlemorton Common

The map was printed at the wrong scale - so it was a bit further than I thought - good time though

Today we are orienteering at Aston Hall - in the past everyone would have looked-down-their-noses at Park Orienteering - but what with it being mid summer and all brambly and that in the local forests...

Someone said "Aston Hall as in Aston Villa FC - where is the football ground?"  "you will see...".  The stadium towers over the Northern part of the park.

After the sprint

Round and round getting dizzy - but still a challenge - the red circle is where they were playing cricket

Begwns & Hergest Croft

Orienteering at Begwyns

What a strange place is Begwyns - a fun drive out in Black SAABath, fried breakfast on a laneside near Hay-On-Wye followed by a mammoth score event on The Begwyns.  Known to the local running club as the Best Turf Underfoot Known To Man - this a fantastic open common loved by runner, walkers, riders, archaeologists and orienteers alike, but strangely unknown to Google Maps and even Streetmap misses by a couple of miles (location map here)

Not a big turnout and even though I over-committed - I won

Afterwards a swift and twisty drive* to Hergest Croft Gardens - for a nice toasted sandwich and a creme tea.  The gardens are still lovely, so is the arboretum and the wild wood (and a bit brambly) but all so very very quiet - is it the recession?

*I discovered that turning sharply left is followed 20 seconds later by a VERY strong smell of petrol... hmmm, the fuel filler pipe is at a very shallow angle a design flaw?

I strongly recommend a visit - the Black Dog of Hergest not withstanding

No idea what this is - probably Chinese and really quite pretty

Abies Delavayi -definitely from China

And every cone has a diamond!

A doubly lonely Sciadopitys verticillata - surrounded by big bully trees and the only member of it genus.  It is a "living fossil" and has no leaves - flattened stems fulfilling the necessary function - I guess it went through a period of desert living before ending up somewhere wet again - like that tree I met on Kauai

Taxodium Ascendens - or Swamp Cypress - no knees though as it is growing on dry land.

At last I get to see a handkerchief tree flower

Davidia involucrata

Some more visitors to Number 27

I have not idea what they we playing

But it looks like fun

The "egg white free" peppermint creams we made were a partial success

Why you now need a different password and a different ID for each account

You can't trust even the biggest companies to have sensible security.

My electricity supplier decided to get serious with using the web - what started as just a trivial "send us your meter reading" ID was migrated to be an "account management" ID - with bank details and direct debits and address and mother's maiden name and so on.  All very useful stuff to know.

Problem was most of the website was updated before they migrated me (or told me about the new system) and suddenly I was being asked for a 12 digit number I did not have.  No problem - the help line was very helpful - the agent was able to access all my details, and my ID, and my email address and my password in plain text - which were all emailed to me - in plain text.

No one ever needs to see a password!  Possibly generate a reset but never see the password.  Really really stupid.  Even more stupid to send the password in an email.

A doubly big problem if you use the same email/id and password on more than one site!   Really stupid to trust call centre staff with this sort of information.

So I set about changing all my IDs and passwords, which went fine until this stupidity

I changed my password and then it sent it to me!  Maybe there was a pending "request" - but good sites send you a reset link or a reminder 'phrase' - not the actual password. And this from a legal advice site as well.


And what do I do about services that are no longer available - because of expired membership, subscription or "gone out of business"?  The data is still up there - even if you can't access it - someone else can.

I don't care is someone hacks my UKSAABS ID or password - but if this gives them a clue to what I use for more critical sites - very bad.

This needs some thought

Unique IDs are tough as most sites use email addresses, unique passwords it will have to be - what a pain.

[Update June 26th - I found out (but only via the BBC news) that Travelodge (UK) have been hacked and had customer data stolen  and on Friday I got an email from a computer game maker warning me that customer data associated with a 10 year old game had been compromised.  So that is "small games company 1/major corporate with whom I currently do business 0)]

[Update July 20th - and now I am receiving spam mail directed to the email address I only use for Travelodge - and still they have not warned me that they have lost identity data]

Good Times at Breakneck Bank

A really sunny day at the, much delayed, Harlequins Breakneck Bank orienteering race.  The forest has never been better - mature and runnable - but there are ominous signs that felling is about to commence (new earthworks and upgraded access)