It turned out to be a typical UK summer - rain, clouds and sunshine. Fortunately we were able to visit all the places we wanted to and get back to the car before it poured with rain during the first 3 days.
We drove to Southwold, first stopping in Framlingham.
And in typical UK summer style the sea and the sky looked grey.
I spotted this bit of colour.
Roger walking past the beach huts.
The lighthouse.
Poppies growing alongside the promenade.
The beach huts and the lighthouse.
And more beach huts!
A view of Southwold from Southwold Harbour
The beach in summer! Just before the rain came down.
After checking in to our B&B we drove down to Aldeburgh and managed to walk round the town before the rain came down again.
On Tuesday morning we started our journey south. Due to all the estuaries we spent quite a bit of our southerly journey driving west and east! We drove via The Maltings at Snape.
And on to Orford Quay. Where as you can see the clouds were gathering ominously.
However we got the ferry over to Orford Ness and the sky cleared and we walked around the whole site
before getting the ferry back to Orford.
We watched this Thames barge come up the river.
We drove on to Woodbridge.
Wednesday morning was a bit brighter and we drove through the countryside to Pin Mill which is famous for its pub and the boats.
East Bergholt was a short detour on our journey and much to our delight we found that Flatford Mill belonged to the National Trust.
This beautiful house was next to the mill.
And this is the view that Constable used in his Haywain painting.
This is the mill itself.
Then it was off to Brightlingsea.
We visited The Naze at Walton on the Naze and climbed the 111 stairs to the top of the tower.
We took a short walk around The Naze and got back to the car just as these clouds deposited their rain filled contents. At one point Roger had to park the car and wait for the rain to clear as we couldn't see where we were going.
We had booked a room at a guest house in Clacton which we weren't particularly looking forward to. But Clacton turned out to be rather nicer than we had feared. The gardens on the promenade were certainly colourful.
And so were the hats in the Mexican restaurant we eat in that evening.
Thankfully that was the last of the rain and the next two days were hot and sunny. I'll show you the photos from those two days in Monday's post.
Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice
