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| Patagonian Hare |
So we come to Thursday.
We walked up to Amazona Zoo on
this overcast morning. At least power
had been restored! It is only a small
zoo but there is a variety of animals and birds to see, parrots and birds of
prey, rodents including my favourite Capybara (related to guinea pigs…cousins
to our own Maisie and Cocoa!) and a cute Patagonian Hare which was allowed to
roam the zoo. There was a Tapir and
Peccary. Couldn’t see the River Otter….hiding
somewhere. The Flamingos looked very colourful
and I fell in love with the Fulvous Whistling Ducks and their chicks. I was not so keen on the cats they had…..rather
I worried about them. They had good
places but seemed lonely and bored, pacing up and down the outdoor runs. They had a Jaguar, Pumas and an Ocelot. I did like the monkeys. They always have such human faces! The spider monkeys were gorgeous and I spent
ages just watching them. They seemed so caring
of each other, lots of cuddling and mutual grooming. One looked pregnant. Amazona Hall housed a group of Spectacled
Caiman, Iguanas and snakes as well as fish (some Piranha who always look so
cool until they smell blood!).
We headed to the cafeteria for hot chocolate and though
it was a little chilly the inside of the café was so dark we took our drinks
out on to the veranda overlooking the flamingo pool. We had a quick look around the gift shop and
amazingly I didn’t buy anything!
In the afternoon we had a look around Cromer church. It has a colourful stained glass window but
the church felt too big…that sounds strange but for me there was something
missing. Normally I love wandering
around churches but this one didn’t do anything for me.
The weather forecast for Friday wasn’t great but we
decided to make the best of it and decided to go along the cliff path
again. This time when we got to the
lighthouse we discussed about going further.
There was a path which warned of danger.
It wasn’t a ‘permitted path’ but then said if you walked it you did so
at your own risk. We gingerly began
walking and found loads of people on it with their dogs (everyone said hello!). What great views! Yes, some of the cliff had fallen but as long
as you weren’t stupid it seemed fine.
You were more likely to get hit by a ball from the golf course than fall
over the cliff! We went all the way to
Overstrand. I had wanted to go there
because a few days before I had bought a book about Poppyland. These were stories and poems written by
Clement Scott in the 1800’s which made Cromer famous. I was fascinated by this (and I loved the
poem - please see The Garden of Sleep on the Clement Scott link) and wanted to find out more. We
arrived in a car park in Overstrand which had a map with the route to St Martin’s
church which had once stood on the cliff edge and was taken away leaving just
the tower. This eventually fell into the
sea. The church went through many upheavals
in its present place. Part of the church
was shut off when there were not many parishioners and left to fall into the
grass to later be rescued when the church needed to expand! The church now has parts of the old stone doorways
and other parts which you can see. I was
thrilled to find it open and this one had a lovely feel to it.
As we began to walk back hubby asked a lady if the main
road had a safe path. She confirmed it
did but recommended a nicer walk if we didn’t mind being out a little longer
and there was a pub to get food and drink.
Sounded good to us! We set
off. We saw lots of Pheasants in the
woods and then we came across the pub which was actually an up-market hotel. What a setting, huge green expanse with
tables out front. We went in and there
was a function room where people were preparing for a wedding. The tables looked divine. We ordered a pot of tea for me, coffee for
hubby who also ordered a beef sandwich and I had tomato and red pepper soup
which came with a warm roll. We had the
bar area to ourselves. The food was
delicious and all served nicely. Very
impressive. I picked up a leaflet as we
left. They can arrange shooting parties….ah
poor pheasants!
The hotel is owned by the Gurney family and dates back to
1793. The Gurney’s were very involved
with the abolition of the slave trade and Elizabeth Fry (nee Gurney) was a
great prison and social reformer. It’s
great that this place is still owned by the same family.
When we reached where the road meets the main road to my
surprise there was the trough (also called a fountain!) commemorating Clement
Scott. Apparently the BBC made a film
about the Poppyland story in the 1980’s.
Don’t remember it. However, I
have sent for DVD about the area as I have been caught up in this bit of
history. At the point the rain began but we were almost back by then so it wasn’t
a problem.
The day we left was lovely and sunny and so our holiday
was over and all too soon back to real world of washing, ironing, shopping and
the rest!
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