Shingle Street - in a gale

Our hopes of a glorious few days were dashed when we awoke to heavy grey skies and a howling gale. We checked the weather forecast, which suggested it might improve later in the afternoon, so we decided to head off to Sutton Hoo in the morning, where we could be educated and sheltered at the same time.

Sutton Hoo is home to one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time. There are a number of ancient burial mounds including the ship burial of an Anglo-Saxon king and his treasured possessions. The exhibition was excellent, and included a full-size reconstruction of the burial chamber, stunning replica treasures and original finds from one of the mounds, including a prince?s sword. The beauty and craftsmanship of the treasures was mind-blowing. After visiting the exhibition we went to see the mounds, but I'm afraid they weren't looking their best under the dull grey skies.

As it was so windy we decided to head to the coast to experience the full force of the gale, and carefully chose one of the most isolated and desolate places on the east coast - Shingle Street. Shingle Street is at the southern end of an extensive shingle structure on the east coast of England consisting of a foreland, a 15 km-long spit and a series of recurves running from north to south on the Suffolk coast. It supports some of the largest and most natural sequences in the UK of shingle vegetation affected by salt spray.

The southern end of the spit has a particularly fine series of undisturbed ridges, with zonation of communities determined by the ridge pattern. In the foreground of this photograph you can see a rosette of sea kale leaves, mats of of sea pea just behind. To the right you can see the swirling waters of the River Ore where they meet the North Sea, and the salt spray drenching much of the shingle (best in large).

Unfortunately the weather forecast was wrong, and the strong wind was soon accompanied by heavy rain that was truly painful to walk in. Though we didn't go far we were all pretty much drenched to the skin, and returned to the cottage along lanes completely filled with water. Luckily the weather cleared by evening and we were able to collect some delicious fish and chips from Aldeburgh, before completing the day with a Trivial Pursuit tournament.