Saturday, glorious Saturday.

Wasn't this weekend absolutely glorious?! It seems like a long time ago now, on this rainy Monday evening, but the memory of it will keep me going for a few more days at least.

The mister and I went to Norfolk to visit his mum over the weekend. We travelled there on the Friday evening, as we usually do to ensure that we get at least one full day together before we travel back to London again on the Sunday. As I've mentioned on this wee blog before, a visit to his mum's usually entails a list of hearty chores but this weekend was to-do list light and, as the sun was shining so very beautifully when we woke up on Saturday morning, we decided to drive a short way and walk along the Broads.

We parked in a little village called Surlingham, just by a beautiful Saxon church. I can't resist an old church so we popped in first of all for a peek and just by the entrance, spotted a little honesty book sale - something else I can't resist! My mother in law and I excitedly pored over the books for sale - she found a selection of lovely old embroidery magazines and I found several lovely romance novels, which are my guilty pleasure. I was very restrained though and only came away with one - I can't resist a Katie Fforde novel and I may have already finished it...

We picked up our purchases and went inside the church, which was very simple and beautiful, and (perhaps explaining the embroidery books for sale in front of the church) had a beautiful tapestry illustration of the village hanging on one of the walls. It was amazingly intricate, with beautifully-worked rivers, roads and farmlands, and I even spotted a tiny heron, hedgehog and scarecrow. We could have spent much longer examining the tapestry and all the old tombstones in the church but didn't want to miss the sunshine so we headed out...

We left the graveyard surrounding the church, after giving a friendly passing moggy a scritch behind its ears,  and headed down a small path shaded by trees, following signs for the Broads and before long we could see water in front of us. Patches of the walk were really muddy, with boards to walk across every so often but in unlikely places (and few and far between) and surrounded by damp muddy stretches. Once we'd got past those though we were able to walk along for quite a way with dry shoes (my Converse probably weren't suitable for walking great distances on muddy paths!) looking at the sunlight glittering on the water, and the butterflies zipping around happily.

It was so peaceful, almost silent apart from the sound of the birds and a light breeze stirring the leaves of the trees and bushes, and the occasional puttering of a boat passing on the water - I know there are busier stretches of water along the Broads but this one was just perfect.

We passed a little bird spotting nook, where eager bird watchers had made a note of the birds they'd spotted and, hilariously, some local kids had spotted a heron 'in da sky' and a crocodile 'in da water'. And to think I thought it was just a rat stirring the reeds as we passed a shady spot earlier in the walk...

Before long we came across a little pub on the waterfront and we sat out under a large umbrella sipping cold drinks. It was so lovely that we decided to stay for a spot of lunch...well that and I saw that I could have a baked potato (tempting despite the heat!) so I wouldn't have to sit and enviously watch the others tuck into their fish and chips.

Full and satisfied, we headed back along the waterfront re-tracing our steps to the car. Disaster struck! The water had risen slightly and started to flood the bank in places... Remember those boarded stretches I mentioned earlier? Full on streams now. We jumped across where we could, with my poor loyal Converse getting soggier and soggier, until we got to an impassable stretch. There was only one thing for it, the shoes and socks had to come off and we squelched through the mud and water until we got to the other side (while I desperately tried not to imagine what lurked inside the mud! Crocodiles - oh no!) It was a perfect ADVENTURE, in the manner of an Enid Blyton novel...I even got my first nettle sting in several years! What a day.

And the perfect end to the day? (In the absence of lashings of ginger beer, of course.) Curled up in the shade of an old beach-windbreaker in my mother in law's garden, with an ice lolly and my new book. Bliss.

What adventures did you get up to this weekend? I'd love to know! 

If you fancy more of a photographic peek into my adventures, such as they are,  pop on over to my Instagram feed where you'll find most of the above!