04 January

Jeff, Louise, Alexander and Maeghan have been to the farthest point west and farthest point south in the British Isles, so once we discovered there was a geocahe entitled Farthest Point East we just had to go after it. We set off early in the morning and after a 2 hour drive, in which I saw some new countryside while the kids (Maeghan, Rhiannon, and Alexander, with Jeff as referee) in the back watched a movie, we arrived in the village of Lowestoft. The first coordinates to the geocache brought us to a large compass rose on the breakwater. The outer circle of the the compass rose listed the distance to cities in England and Europe. By locating certain cities and their distances we were able to calculate the coordinates to the actual cache. After a short, very cold walk along the breakwater we found and signed the cache. We beat a hasty retreat to a pier to warm up and found an Arcade. Actually it was a form of legalized gambling for minors with many games of chance played with 2p coins. After warming up we headed out looking for a place to eat. We found the Thatch, located on the beach, and tucked into some excellent food. I tried the local Suffolk sausages with chips and peas. What is it with the English and their peas. Most entrees are offered with either a salad or peas (sometimes mushy peas), no carrots, no broccoli, no mixed vegetables, just peas. I mean, I like peas, but I also like variety. After lunch and a quick walk along the sand beach we headed off for our next cache. There we found eroding cliffs and the village of Covehithe, a village destroyed by the advancing North Sea. It was interesting to see the 'new' St Andrews (1672) built within the original St Andrews. As far as I can make out the old church was defaced by the Puritans around, but they did little structural damage. In 1672 permission was granted to erect a smaller church using materials from the large church. I would assume, once the roof was removed, the old church soon deteriorated. I was interested to see that the walls of the church are made up of fist-sized boulders and lots and lots of mortar. Some of the outside walls are decorated with shaped pieces of a black rock. I must remember to email Leigh Smith, a member of St George's and a professor of geology and ask him about the black rock. Part of the requirements of the cache was, give the rate of erosion, to estimate how long would it take for the cliffs to threaten the church. We estimated that in 75 years the church would cease to exist. Our next cache took us to the village of Southwold. We were directed to a pier, where, surprise, surprise, there was another arcade. We left the underage gamblers and went after the cache. We were directed to the middle of the pier to answer the following questions; 4 fillies visited - when ? 4 old nags returned - when ? and what were their names ? I went looking for the clock, a strange, water-powered sculpture, that performed on the hour and half-hour. Since I found it at 35 minutes after the hour, and as it was a cold, damp day, I decided to forgo the experience. I wandered on down to the end of the pier and found some dedicated fishermen trying their luck. One couple was sheltered behind a huge umbrella and the other has a free-standing tent. I thought this was a bit much until I remembered the hardy souls in Canada that venture out onto the frozen lakes to sit and stare at a hole in the ice for hours at a time. At least here they had more to see and a cafe nearby to grab a hot cuppa. Jeff and Louise solved the riddle by finding a plaque on the railing that gave the answers to the questions posed by the cache. The top of the railings on both side of the pier are covered with memorial plaques of visitors to the South Pier. I am assuming that the placement of theses plaques was a way of funding the upkeep of the pier.
Our next cache took us to the town of Aldeburgh, and onto a Ness (Over the last 10,000 years the sea levels off the Suffolk coast have started to rise by an estimated 2mm a year. This changing relationship between land and sea has meant that the coastline is being constantly altered. One geological change is the accumulation of shingle banks along the coast. These banks are known locally as Nesses. There are many of these in East Anglia - others local nesses can be found at Benacre, Kessingland, Languard Point and Thorpness. Originally the mouth of the river Alde was at Aldeburgh. However as the shingle bank has grown, the river has been diverted to the South, causing it to run parallel to the sea. In the 16th century the river mouth was at Orford but now the river finally reaches the sea at Hollesley Bay, 16km from its original outlet. This makes Orford Ness the largest vegetated shingle spit in Europe.)
On the Ness we found an "inhabited" Martello tower. Jeff did some investigating when we arrived home and found that the Martello tower was part of the Landmark Trust and could be rented for the weekend. I ordered the Landmark Trust handbook which lists many properties in England and Scotland that can be rented by the general public. We may be able to spend a weekend in a lighthouse, bunker or castle!
We also found some more avid fishermen on the Ness, all dressed in their North Sea survival suits. We left them to their fun(?), called it a well-spent, interesting day and headed home.