A River Stour Scrapbook (part one)

The River Stour seeps up to the surface in a field in Cambridgeshire, flows on through picturesque villages and the town of Sudbury, birthplace of the artist Thomas Gainsborough, before continuing to Dedham Vale, made famous by the paintings of John Constable. So it's no surprise that, as it nears he end of its journey, its estuary is one of the more attractive ones along the North Sea coast of East Anglia. Here are a collection of views and curiosities to be found along the southern shore of the river mouth, interspersed with plenty of pictures of boats.

This stretch along the estuary side has several nature reserves,

none of which may be nationally known though all are well worth a visit.

Above is the scene from Wrabness Reserve which has a much

less peaceful past - it was once the site of a mine depot, from which the navy

planted wartime mines, and afterwards carried out the important business

of making them safe again.

It's not really the ideal time of year to see lots of birdlife;

many more waders and ducks will be present during the winter months.

Like many coastal locations in the UK there's a few rough shacks to be seen.

These were built before the days of planning regulations by 

those wanting to escape the cities at weekends and do a little boating.

Many of us would secretly like to own such a place.

I rather like the informality of it all.

It may look untidy, though I think most of what you see above 

are improvised moorings and anchors for small boats.

It all looks rather grander on the other side of the estuary.

Can you see the long, low building with the central tower?

Pass the binoculars, will you?

Certainly!

That's the Royal Hospital School which does not, as you might suppose,

educate sick children or even train people in the medical profession.

Historically it used to train boys to be sailors.

Nowadays it's co-educational and provides a much wider education,

though it still maintains strong links with the Navy.

As we were walking along we met a man walking his dog and asked

 him if we could walk along the beach where no path was marked.

He told us we could then added that we should look at the low cliffs as

you could see the volcanic layer "from right back when the world was made"!

It all sounded very unlikely and all we found were layers of sedimentary rocks.

But when I got home I checked out his story in my geology books.

He wasn't entirely wrong either. In among the layers of mud and sands, that

make up these rocks, there are thin layers of volcanic ash which are thought 

to have originated from eruptions as far away as Scotland.

Never ignore what you are told by men walking their dogs!

There are even stranger things to be found around here

but they'll have to wait for the next time.

I'll finish by showing you the extreme lengths that my brother Les

will go to to remain hidden from wildlife...

No, not really!

He'd just found a comfy place to sit and eat his sandwiches,

but he gradually slid down into a little hollow

 until all I could see from where I was sitting

was his head.

Take care.