Intermission

Barring disaster, there will be no updates for about three weeks. Tomorrow I'm flying to China, where I will be visiting fiends in Beijing and Shanghai.

The inevitable FarEastScapes pictures will almost surely follow. I know it's not East Anglia but, what the hell.

Midsummer Sunrise from Dunwich Beach

Today was the first time I've visited Dunwich, Suffolk. It has held a fascination over me since I first heard of it - former capital of East Anglia, lost beneath the waves. The fact that it shares its name with one of HP Lovecraft's many haunted and decrepit locales gives it an added thrill.

A friend and I watched the midsummer sun break over the sea from Dunwich beach. We weren't alone - at some point another group appeared to watch the daybreak, several members offering a libation to the waves.

Herald: The Ruins of St Saviour's, Surlingham

Overlooking the Surlingham Church Marsh reserve are the ruins of the 12th century St Saviour's Church. In use until the beginning of the 1700s, it is also the burial site of the acclaimed twentieth century naturalist Ted Ellis.

Another early morning. Lots of birdsong, lots of rabbits.

Deceit: The Surlingham 'Decoy Site' Bunker

During WWII this bunker, in an overgrown patch of field at Surlingham, a small village several miles outside of Norwich, housed the generators for the lighting on the connecting field: a so-called 'decoy' site, the lights intended to fool German bombers into thinking they were in fact flying over any Norwich targets, and bomb there instead.

Inside, the bunker is basically a passageway leading to two small rooms. Nowadays it is well hidden beneath nettles and undergrowth. A blastwall standing in front of the bunker, originaly intended as protection, is ironically now the easiest way to spot it.

Hollow Tower: The Ruins of St Marys, Kirby Bedon

The remains of the round-towered St Marys, in the quiet parish of Kirby Bedon. Supposedly falling into disuse around 1700, there is another medieval church in the village, still in use today - St Andrews, just across the street.

You can stand inside the tower of this one, which makes a nice change from the usual locked gateway. The birds nesting at the top don't seem too happy when visitors with cameras come calling. Bombarded with squalks and bird droppings, I nevertheless escaped unscathed.