A glorious Day indeed.

I was right. Today has been a glorious day.
With temperatures up into double figures, we decided to forgo our walk in the woods and head for the river instead.

Bird Sanctuary end

We haven’t been here for about a year, but surprisingly the journey didn’t seem as long as I remembered. Our reasons for not going has been nothing to do with distance though. When the wind’s been blowing as it has been, it’s bloody cold no matter how many layers of clothing we’re wearing!

There were only 2 cars in the car park when we arrived, and the first things we noticed were 2 new gates leading into one enclosure.
As there was a walker coming from the Nature Reserve side with a rather large white dog of uncertain breed and temperament pulling hard on a lead, we decided to go along the river bank in the opposite direction towards The Memorial.

We passed a group of three people on our way, but other than that, saw no-one else at all.
Sadly, we didn’t see many birds either, just one cormerant and a very large white heron.
The dog was in her element. It had been so long since she had sniffed these particular blades of grass, she was giving them the full treatment and reintroducing them all to her nose.

About half a mile along the bank there is a cottage. It’s close to the pumping station, but if it had been for sale, we would have been very interested. It is high up on the bank with views way across the river and out towards the estuary. Hubby could have had his little boat from the small jetty (currently overgrown) and we could have shut ourselves away from everyone and everything.
With only the boats going to and from the port, birds and perhaps the occasional walker, it’s a true haven of peace and tranquility. Lovely.

As the water slapped against the exposed mud flats, the sun beat down on us and we hoped that the breeze would blow away all of our cold bugs. We have been suffering with what I can only describe as ‘boomerang flu’ as we are both on our second dose of it, into our third week, and 4th toilet roll. The soft aloe balm tissues ran out some time ago.
We took a slightly different path back to the car, climbing up another bank which overlooked a drainage ditch and open fields. In the far distance, we could see the docks , church spire and one or two solitary houses.
The fields had been recently plowed, showing soil rich and dark ready for sowing.

It was so peaceful and quiet.
It was amazing the amount of paper and plastic that had been whipped up from the river, shredding as they were blown across and up the banks,  into the waiting arms of the trees and hedgerows.
Bullrushes, with their soft fluffy heads and slender stems waved at us from an inland pool, sadly devoid of ducks today.

By the time we got back to the car park, we were totally alone.
We felt like intruders as in the silence,  all you could hear were our footsteps.