The Broads by Car

After checking out, we had a day to "kill" before our Airbnb would be ready in Cambridge. So we headed back along the road to see some of the places we'd seen - but from the road. 

First we stopped in Horning. A picturesque village right on the water, there are only a few free moorings, and they were full both times we passed. This time, we parked at the village hall and walked down to the river. We found a park and a bench by the river. Mom bought stamps, and I ran into the guy with the small binoculars we'd seen the day before. I helped him tie up. We had a long chat with a woman about her boat, which they bought in Brighton (on the south coast) before bringing back to the Broads. That's odd because it's a Broads boat. 

Here's the waterfront with an empty space! 

This is an Egyptian Goose! 

And a cute village street in Horning.

Next we stopped at the Ludham bridge public toilets (third visit), drove through Ludham, through Potter Heigham and headed for Hinkling Broad. All of this went SO fast in a car! Hinkling can't be reached with a boat like ours because the bridge at Potter Heigham is too short. It's very old, and then it sunk (the ground is very marshy). So only day boats, sailboats, and very short holiday boats can go through it now. 

A ranger at Hinkling Broad had posted a picture of a Cuckoo the previous week, so I thought it would be a good place for birds. We took a medium sized road (narrow but center line and side lines), then a smaller road (no lines), then a single wide road, and finally arrived at the Visitor Center and a huge parking lot. We weren't the only people who had found our way here! They had walking trails, nature, and a ton of birders. 

We haven't seen many mammals this trip, but these rats were right below the bird feeders. They're pretty cute for rats. 

This is the front door of a hide. They're very cute buildings, and on a hot sunny day, it was amazing to site down in the cool and gaze out through little slits at the wetlands and wildlife

We had a great view of several of these - Northern Shovelers. 

In the distance on the broad, we saw all sorts of sailboats. It looked like fun!

I've seen Sandhill Cranes. Now I've seen Common Cranes too. They are bigger than the Grey Herons and fly differently. They make an amazing sound we heard later. 

Some other visitors showed us this bee burrow. I didn't know that bees lived in burrows!  

And finally, the crown of the day, was seeing this Bittern poke it's head up. The Bittern is a shy bird that makes a booming call. We'd heard the call in the reeds, but hadn't come close to seeing the bird. But several sets of serious bird watchers with amazing lenses and binoculars (including another set of boat people we'd talked to the day before) showed us where to look, and I got this picture. Not bad for such a small thing so far away. 

We still had a little time before we had to be in Cambridge, and I wanted to see the Sea once more, so we drove to Sea Palling. It's an odd beach with big barrier reefs offshore. Even right at the beach, visitors have to climb up and over a big levee to reach the beach. Those are testament to how brutal the sea has been to this little village, which almost washed away several times. 

For me, it was finally a good moment to wade in the water, and the get a "whippy".