Intro
The Nutters do Peasenhall
 Andrew and Laura had stayed here before
in April 2000. They advised that a week-end
in warm weather would be fine. Staying a week in cold weather - "No!"I had visited them at Peasenhall during their stay, and was happy to recommend the place to the rest of the Nutters. |
Friday, September 19, 2003
Convoy
 We meet at
"The Jennys" in Cambridge. Bernie drives with Macky and Rick. Gavin, the biker, does his thing. I take Jon and Jennifer. Jenny will be along later with Jack. She's giving a talk at the Cambridge Radio Club this evening. |
Journey
The journey from Cambridge to Peasenhall is pretty straightforward. We choose to detour via Aldeburgh.
Aldeburgh
  Sun, sea and Nutters.
We reach Aldeburgh by 12:30. A pub is located, serving excellent Adnams Regatta beer. I have some indifferent "pancake" that needed finishing up. Gavin promises to make us some real pancakes for breakfast tomorrow. We walk to the Martello Tower south of the town. (Some drive in air-conditioned comfort!) |
Peasenhall
  Our accommodation for the week has a large hall between two houses. The Hall
is open to the public. The houses both open into the hall. I instructed Jack to
be obnoxious so we would not have any problem with strangers. Another Landmark
Trust party staying in a neighbouring house tried to enjoy some wine in our
hall, but they soon retreated back to their rightful place after 5 minutes. It's a very interesting old timber frame building. |
Sibton
There's a pleasant enough pub 10 minutes walk from us. They serve an adequate Dover Sole and Chips.
We sit outside, enjoying the clear starry sky. The Milky Way is very clear. This is the first time Jon has ever witnessed it.
Saturday, September 20, 2003
  We enjoy a lazy start. Gavin feeds us with
his freshly cooked Scottish pancake. |
Orford Ness
  Orford Ness was the home of the Anglo American "over the horizon" radar
station in the late 1960's. |
  It
is now a nature reserve run by the National Trust. |
  |
  Bird spotters love it, but there's not much there for geeks now.
All the old aerial installations have gone.Some new shiny masts to the north carry the BBC's World Service.
|
  One
old building is relatively intact.On top is a working camera obscura. |
  The
Cobra Mist Over The
Horizon Radar installation was sited at Orford Ness in the 1970's. |
 A
egg insulator was the most hi-tech archaeology we found. |
  |
  |
Cistercian Abbey
 There's a ruinous abbey
a few minutes walk from Peasenhall, situated in a wooded area near the
village of Sibton. Built in 1150. The remains include parts of the refectory and the south wall
of the nave, but these are heavily overgrown.The land is privately owned and is not accessible to the public. |
Evening
  Jenny and Jack prepare pasta and veggie gruel. We enjoy the meal in our
spacious hall.Risk. Rick is in his element once more. He colludes with Gav. Jack puts up a good fight. I must analyse the rules some time. Must be pretty easy if Rick consistently wins. Must be an element of luck too. |
  Maky
prepares a Jaffa Cake and Champagne Trifle, from a recipe in one of the log
books.It took forever to set. |
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Breakfast
 There's
a tea shop a couple of doors away. It's the height of laziness to sit
outside and demand to be fed. |
Hubbard's Hill
 I'm
keen to visit my ancestral home on Hubbard's Hill, just outside Peasenhall.We take a leisurely walk from the Landmark Property. I say "Hi!" to the spirits. |
Otter Trust
 We say hello to the otters
at the reserve near Bungay.
We're in time to see them enjoy their 15:00 feed.The 711 series wall phone in the entrance dates the establishment to the early 1970's. |
Walberswick Crabs
  Walberswick is a small village on the Suffolk coast. A major attraction here is crabbing by the harbour. Jack has a fishing line. I steal a rasher of bacon and attach a piece to
Jack's line. Jack lowers the bait under water; within seconds he has caught a
crab. |
Dunwich
 We return to Peasenhall to meet Phil. We pile into his car and head of to Dunwich, a town that slipped into the sea.I was hoping to see ruined houses with exposed foundations and distraught owners wringing their hands. Unfortunately the destruction happened a long time ago. |
Evening Meal
  Bernie
been preparing our evening's repast.A shuttlecock was found. A lot of giggling and shouting ensued. |
Monday, September 22, 2003
Homeward
Jack's got school. Jenny's got a council meeting. I've got a meeting with BT.
I'm up at dawn. How totally inhumane it is to get up so early!
Bernie and Jennifer say goodbye. We leave the others asleep. They can take their time to pack and take a leisurely journey back home.
We leave at 07:00. Jack's dropped of at his school in Cambridge at 09:00. I say farewell to Jenny, and I'm in MK by 10:30, the weather finally breaking 10 minutes before I get home. A real downpour after the excellent sunny weather enjoyed over the last three days.
Doppler Shift
Bernie and Rick get excited on their journey home listening to a 10GHz signal.
Bernie explains. "It was a radio thing - with the significance that the
frequency was very high (10368 MHz). At that frequency, just 10 or 20mph speed
will cause several hundred Hz Doppler shift. Doppler shift is something that in
practice you never come across. It's there with non geostationary satellite
links too, but again, that is something that most people don't get into (and
with all Broadband links you wouldn't have cause to see the Doppler anyway).
"The thing that was pleasing was that for a transmit power of 0.1W, we were
hearing it some twelve miles away on what I wouldn't of thought was a line of
sight path. Just think of a flashlight being shone from the BT tower at
Martlesham and us seeing it twelve miles away."
Conclusion
The adults all enjoyed themselves.
Jack, who had pleaded to be left at home for the weekend, was delighted to be back at school on Monday. "I'm so looking forward to it!"
We survived Rick and his game of Risk.