Tuesday 17 July 2012

A Norfolk Bike Ride

We've recently returned from our summer holidays for which we travelled nearly 400 miles to spend a week in North Norfolk, a lovely part of the world. With us we brought one bike and planned to take turns to go out for an evening ride. For various reasons (kite flying and eating out!) I ended up making just the one bike ride, I'd taken a map of the "Quiet Lanes" and in the late sunshine of last Sunday evening I set off to explore...

Pretty red roofed cottages overlook the sea.

Such an abundance of wild flowers, particularly poppies for which this area is noted (though I'm sure they must have been more plentiful the past than they are now). We don't have wild poppies like these at home so I did take rather a lot of photos of them (as you'll see later!).
 
Daisies.

Poppy.

More poppies in the foreground. Beyond lies a golden field and in the distance, a church tower.

Silhouettes.

A Norfolk lane.

The church tower (Southrepps) silhouetted against the evening sky.

Looking in the other direction the sun shines upon a field of green crops (I can't remember what in particular here, there were quite a few cabbage fields around which were rather aromatic!)

The church tower scene again showing the effect on the lighting obtained by focusing on a different part of the view. Now you can see the golden field in the foreground.

I did find the lanes a little confusing and once or twice ended up not quite where I expected to.

Another field of golden corn. This isn't a common sight at home either as we stay in a dairy area so it's mostly grass, so very green all year round. (From the Cambridge online dictionary... corn in the UK refers to (the seeds of) plants, such as wheat, maize, oats and barley that can be used to produce flour, whereas corn in the US refers to the seeds of the maize plant, or the plant itself)

More poppies and corn, glowing in the low sun.

And again, from a lower angle,

You can see the poppies here lining the road. I never came across a field of them, which would have been nice!

Looking to the left, the red of the poppies stand out against the corn even though the light by this time is getting a little low.

Eventually I find myself at Northrepps, just a mile or so from our holiday cottage. Many of the villages round here have these lovely signs. The Northrepps one is of current interest as amongst the local history depicted on the sign is the crest of the Gurney family, founders of what became Barclays Bank.

Almost "home" now, just in time to catch the sun setting over the sea at Overstrand where we are staying.

More to follow...


14 comments:

Mereknits said...

Such beautiful pictures, glad you had a lovely time. Can anyone really have to many pictures of poppies?
Hugs,
Meredith

Lesley said...

Beautiful! That's my country; I'm a Norfolk girl. I love it's empty flatness, and that magnificent coast. I'll always miss it, even after all these years.

ellen said...

Oh, such incredible beauty.

* said...

Wonderful photos, the poppies are stunning....they are a bit hit and miss with us, one year you see them, the next year not. Sounds like you had a good time in Norfolk, I've always fancied it, I've read bits and bobs in old art magazines as I recall the art scene is very impressive there? Maybe one day!

VintageVicki said...

Bet it seemed different cycling in flat Norfolk as opposed to the hills you're used to.

Look forward to see where you headed next :)

Jacquie said...

Wonderful pictures Anne. We love that part of the world and the beach at Overstrand. Shame the weather wasn't a bit hotter.
Jacquie x

Rattling On said...

I'm off to Norfolk in a couple of weeks. Booked myself a mini break an am really looking forward to it. Your pictures just underline why I chose there!!

June said...

Stunning photos as usual! Love the last one with the sunset. I read today that Summer is going to be here next week - I won't hold my breath but will keep my fingers crossed!
June

rockinloubylou said...

I'm glad you got out on the bike at least once, and those poppies are amazing.

Anonymous said...

My favourite county, thank you for taking such beautiful pictures of it. I must go again soon.

Simone said...

Beautiful photos. You have captured the scenery perfectly.

Louise said...

Your photos are just beautiful! I haven't seen any poppies this year, I love it when I find a field full. You might enjoy this post of mine from a year ago when I found a fantastic field full of poppies and other things!

http://roachling.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/post-full-of-poppies.html

Gillian Roe said...

Those poppies are beautiful. Such a lovely collections on photos. It looks so quiet and peaceful. Never been to Norfolk but it's one my list of places I must visit. x

Mrs. Micawber said...

This is just my kind of post! I can see why you took all those poppy photos - they're very beautiful. Could those be soybeans in that green field? (And yes, cabbage fields do smell a bit strong.) I really like the silhouettes and the sunset.

The soybean (?) photo really reminds me of some of Planet Penny's Norfolk shots.

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