A look back at this morning’s Hundred match between the Trent Rockets and Southern Brave women/s teams and a photo gallery.
The early match in The Hundred today featured Trent Rockets women playing host to Southern Brave women. This post looks back at the match.
LEFT ARM SPINNERS DOMINANT
The reason that this match becoming a close one was so unexpected was that Brave totally dominated the early exchanges. Tilly Corteen-Coleman, helped by some brilliant wicket keeping from Rhianna Southby (two stumpings, both beyond the capacities of a batter/keeper as opposed to a true keeper) took 4-13 from her 20 balls, all bowled in the first half of the innings. As well as bowling superbly the left arm-spinner also held two catches. At low water mark Rockets were 55-8. At this point another left arm spinner entered the picture, Kirstie Gordon. She and Alana King put on 51 together for the ninth wicket. That meant that Brave were 106 all out, the tenth wicket going to the 100th ball of their innings. Gordon top scored with 32 off 24 balls, Rockets skipper Ash Gardner had contributed 25 earlier in the innings, and King managed 24, with no else in double figures.
A CREDITABLE BOWLING EFFORT
It says much for the Trent Rockets bowlers that there were significant periods of the chase during which it felt like they might possibly defend this small score. It was the 95th ball of the innings, hit for four by Sophie Devine to reduce the ask to three off five balls that finally killed off the last hopes of a turnaround by the Rockets. Cassidy McCarthy accepted responsibility for bowling the last five balls of the match. Devine took a single off the first, the second was a dot, and Chloe Tryon hit the third for four to finally get Brave over the line. Maia Bouchier with 42 was top scorer, while Devine ended up on 41 not out. The margin was six wickets. Brave have now won four matches out of four, and the secret of their success is not hard to locate: their England seamer Lauren Bell is the leading wicket taker of the tournament so far, with Corteen-Coleman second on the list, and it is generally bowling resources that separate winners from also-rans. I could cite many examples from cricket’s long history to back this up, but will settle for reminding people of the history of RCB men in the IPL – for years they had devastating batting but comparatively second string bowling, and for all those years they never won the tournament, but in the most recent IPL they had for the first time assembled a properly balanced squad, and what you know, they won the thing. Scorecard here.
A look back at the match between the Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix women’s teams in The Hundred, and a photo gallery,
This afternoon the Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix women’s teams clashed in The Hundred (the men’s match is just getting underway as I type. This post looks back at the women’s match.
AN INNINGS IN THREE PARTS
Birmingham Phoenix found themselves batting first. The pitch was a good one, though the playing area was very large, and this factor played its role in proceedings. At 44-1 after 30 balls Phoenix looked to be going nicely. Then came a collapse, caused largely by bad batting. First Emma Lamb tried to aerial against the off spin of Lucy Higham and picked out Annabel Sutherland to make it 44-2. Then 11 runs accrued before the real collapse hit. Marie Kelly, bowled by Linsey Smith for 20 was actually got out, and Ellyse Perry, run out when Sutherland deflected a drive from Sterre Kalis into the bowler’s end stumps with the Aussie superstar out of her crease was genuinely unlucky. However Amy Jones, who holed to Sutherland off Grace Ballinger for 1, and Ailsa Lister who went aerial against Higham and succeeded only in finding the safe hands of Kate Cross, also for 1 both played brainless shots. Lister’s dismissal made the score 59-6 from 51 balls, with four wickets having gone for four runs in 12 balls, while five had fallen for 15 in 21 balls. The unbroken seventh wicket stand between Kalis and Em Arlott which took the score on to 116 by the end of the 100 balls, and in which neither player was seriously troubled served only to illustrate just how badly Phoenix had batted to suffer that collapse. Left arm spinner Linsey Smith had 2-18 from her 20 balls.
THE SUPERCHARGERS CHASE
This match had been billed as featuring a clash of Aussie titans, with Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland in opposition to one another. However, it was to be another Aussie, 22 year old Phoebe Litchfield, who stole the show in the end. Davina Perrin and Alice Davidson-Richards put on 27 from 19 balls before Perrin was out, which brought Litchfield to the crease. The score had risen to 59 by the time Davidson-Richards was out to the 46th ball of the innings. This brought Sutherland in to join her compatriot. However the more experienced Aussie had to settle on this occasion for a supporting role, as the young left hander produced a quite glorious display. Learning the lessons from what had befallen Phoenix, Litchfield settled for fours and for running well between the wickets on other occasions. When the Superchargers sealed an eight wicket win with 26 balls to spare Litchfield had scored 59 not out from 28 balls with 11 fours, while Sutherland was 20 not out from 13 balls with two fours. Phoenix were guilty of some poor fielding along the way – Megan Schutt, the veteran Aussie seamer, tried to stop one with her boot and saw it roll away for four, while Hannah Baker, with the game well and truly lost already, dropped a very easy chance from Litchfield, then 48 not out. Full scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
My bus fare ready in advance.This unfortunate muntjac may have been a casualty of the heat yesterday – I saw no sign of injury on its body.A picture with a displaying cormorant in the foreground and West Lynn church in the background.
Yesterday afternoon the Welsh Fire and Manchester Originals women’s teams clashed in Cardiff. This post looks back at a command performance from the Manchester Originals bowlers.
THE GAUR CHARGE
Welsh Fire battled first, and Mahika Gaur opened the bowling for Manchester Originals. The Hundred allows bowlers to bowl as many as ten balls straight through before another bowler comes on (more usually five, but bowlers do sometimes bowl ten straight through). Gaur not only bowled the first ten balls straight through, she then came back after the minimum five balls off and bowled another ten straight through, thereby getting through her entire allocation within the Power Play (the first 25 balls of the innings). Gaur took 2-10 from those 20 balls (the five that she didn’t bowl were bowled by Sophie Ecclestone). Fire were 12-2 from those 25 balls, and already looking at a tough task. The rest of the bowlers were also highly impressive. England quickie Lauren Filer emerged with statistically the best figures of the innings, 3-8 from her full allocation of 20 balls, while Ecclestone had 2-11 from her full 20. Only Amelia Kerr 0-24 from 20 and Danielle Gregory with 0-7 from five went for over a run a ball. In the end Fire limped to 73-9 from their 100 balls, after which there was only ever going to be one result, which duly arrived with seven wickets and 19 balls to spare. The Manchester Originals bowlers were superb, but the Welsh Fire batters deserve some censure – of the 60 balls bowled by the trio of Gaur, Ecclestone and Filer, 41 (68.33% of the total) were dot balls, which is frankly ridiculous in this format. Mahika Gaur whose history making performance in becoming the first ever bowler to bowl 20 of the first 25 balls of a Hundred match was put the skids under the Fire was named Player of the Match. About the titles of both this post and the main body of it, the gaur is a species of Asian wild cattle, and the bulls in particular are known for being both immensely strong and very aggressive. Scorecard here, plus a jpg below.
PICTURE GALLERY
This comes from today at work, where I passed the halfway stage in my creation of day one of a two day stamp sale…
A look back the match between the Southern Brave and Northern Superchargers women’s teams, a special ‘town centre and riverfront gallery’ and my regular photo gallery.
As West Norfolk roasts in 30+ degree heat (that in combination with it being a workday was why I did not post yesterday) today is a ‘double double header’ in The Hundred. The early match featured the Southern Brave and Northern Superchargers women in action, and this post looks back at that game.
BOWLERS DOMINANT
Southern Brave bowled first at a ground that is generally low scoring, and they bowled magnificently. Apart from Hollie Armitage who scored 36 off 28 balls there was nothing approaching a major contribution. Annabel Sutherland was second top scorer, but she would be the last person to take any great pride in 20 off 20 balls. Probably the second best performer for the Superchargers was their number nine Lucy Higham, who managed 13 from eight balls. Only two Brave bowlers, Lauren Bell with 1-25 from 20 and Chloe Tryon with 0-14 from 10 went for more than a run a ball. Kiwi veteran Sophie Devine took 3-15 from her 20 balls, and at the other end of the experience spectrum 17 year old Tilly Corteen-Coleman was again impressive, with 1-17 from her 20 balls.
AN EXCELLENT CHASE
Maia Bouchier struggled to 5 off 15 balls, but by the time she was out Danni Wyatt-Hodge was already going well, and Laura Wolvaardt was soon looking equally impressive. When Wyatt-Hodge was stumped by Bess Heath off Katherine Fraser for 43 it was 83-2 from 68 balls. Sophie Devine now came in, and added an unbeaten 15 from eight balls to her efforts with the ball and in the field. It was Wolvaardt who scored the winning run, taking her own score to 33 not out from 29 balls. As well as eight wickets Southern Brave had 17 balls in hand when they completed the victory. Only left arm medium pacer Grace Ballinger with 10 balls for nine runs had gone at less than one a ball for the Superchargers. Full scorecard here. I am currently listening to the match between the Welsh Fire and Manchester Originals women’s teams. Fire are struggling at 21-2 from 30 balls. Mahika Gaur has already bowled her allocation of 20 balls, taking 2-10, with 14 of the 20 balls dots. Remarkably she bowled 10 straight through to start the innings, then after five balls off as mandated for this competition she bowled ten more straight through, thus doing all her bowling in the Power Play. She is 19 years old, bowls left arm medium fast, is exceptionally tall (her nickname is ‘two metre Mahika’), and played international cricket for the United Arab Emirates at the age of 12! She is now part of the England set up.
PHOTO GALLERY INTRO – KING’S LYNN TOWN AND RIVERFRONT
Before my main gallery I have a special gallery made up of pictures exclusively from the Great Ouse and the town centre…
This tidal clock can be seen on one of the towers of King’s Lynn Minster, and I have not seen its like anywhere else.Among the boats at the pontoon jetty were two that were completely new to me, this one……and this one, largely obscured because it was on the outside of the jetty and a lot of boats were moored there.Some pictures of the Bank House where I will be stewarding on heritage open day.The King’s Lynn mariners circle. which is on Purfleet Quay……with close ups of each of the eight panels dedicated to specific mariners. Not also the feature image, assembled from these pictures.The Custom House, generally considered to be the centre of King’s Lynn……the giant tree at the junction of High Street and New Conduit Street, which I heretically consider the centre of King’s Lynn – this is geographically more central than the Custom House, and I personally consider a tree as a town centre marker to be an improvement on a building, even a super-iconic one.The new library/ community hub coming on apace.Three shots focussed on the tiling (all recycled and environmentally friendly), overlapping in ‘tortoiseshell’ fashion.
THE REGULAR PHOTOS
My usual sign off…
The art and the artist – a spider surveying the world from the centre of her latest creation.
A look back at this afternoon’s match between the Manchester Originals and London Spirt women’s teams, and a photo gallery.
Today’s round of The Hundred featured Manchester Originals playing host to London Spirit. Allegedly for next year the Manchester franchise will be the Manchester Super Giants, with the owners of IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants having bought the name change. The women’s match happened first as is standard in this tournament, and this post looks back at it.
THE ORIGINALS INNINGS
The Originals started slowly, and lost two early wickets as well. Kathryn Bryce was caught behind off Tara Norris, and then Amelia Kerr fell victim to some terrible judgement from Beth Mooney. The previous delivery had been a no ball, so this one was a ‘free hit’ ball, off which the only way one can be out is run out. Mooney went for a second with Kerr running to the danger end. The call was bad enough that although Eva Gray’s return was not world beating Kerr was barely even in the frame when the bails were taken off. Mooney now batted well, with Seren Smale playing the support role. However, just as Originals were thinking in terms of recovery Mooney was out, caught by Norris off Charlie Dean to make it 45-3. Scoring now virtually ceased, and although only one had been added to the score eight balls had elapsed since the Mooney dismissal when Smale was bowled by Sarah Glenn for 5 off 12 balls. Deandra Dottin top scored with 36, while Fi Morris and Alice Monaghan supported her. A final total of 122-6 looked inadequate.
THE LONDON SPIRIT INNINGS
For much of the chase Spirit looked to be falling short. They were given a chance when Deandra Dottin had a nightmare sequence, first a n0-ball hit four four, for a total of six runs, and then another six off the free hit ball. Suddenly Spirit were on terms. Grace Harris, who had struck those blows off Dottin reached a 32 ball half century off the 92nd ball of the innings. However, she had taken a single to get there and was thus at the wrong end. There were nine needed from eight balls at this point. Then Issy Wong was pinned LBW, and referred it upstairs, burning her side’s review when it was shown to be plumb. The 94th ball of the innings did for Dean in the same fashion. Sarah Glenn edged the hat trick ball past the keeper for four and that was five needed off five balls. The veteran Dottin was entrusted with the bowling at this crucial juncture. Two runs came off the 96th ball, and for the first time runs required were lower than balls left – three off four balls. The 97th ball was a yorker which Glenn could do no more than dig out for a dot ball. However the leg spinner then rose to the occasion on the 98th ball (the antepenultimate scheduled ball of the match), driving it through the off side for four to finally get London Spirit over the line. A quirk of the Originals deployment of their bowlers was that leg spinner Dani Gregory had 1-4 from five balls – she bowled one superb set and then was not used again. Scorecard here.
A look at two outstanding performances by youngsters today in The Hundred (women’s) and a photo gallery.
Today, like yesterday has been a ‘double double header’ day in The Hundred – one morning/ afternoon double header and one afternoon/ evening double header – the evening match between the Trent Rockets and Northern Superchargers men’s teams gets underway at 6PM. I have followed my usual policy on such days where there is an overlap of listening to the morning match, then listening to both matches of the second double header, which means I listen to two women’s and one men’s match. This post looks at the two women’s games that happened today.
CORTEEN-COLEMAN PUTS SKIDS UNDER PHOENIX
Southern Brave had tallied a respectable but not outstanding 139-8 from their 100 balls. Danni Wyatt-Hodge led the way with 59, while there were also useful contributions from Kiwi veteran Sophie Devine and silky South African Laura Wolvaardt. Young left arm wrist spinner Millie Taylor continued what is becoming a very memorable season for her by taking 1-25 from her 20 balls.
Birmingham Phoenix had got to 19 without loss from the first ten balls of the reply when Southern Brave turned to 17 year old left arm orthodox spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman. In the space of three balls she changed the complexion of the match, bowling Emma Lamb for 9 with her first ball, and then two balls later dismissing Marie Kelly the same way, for a duck. When Lauren Bell got rid of the surviving opener, Georgia Voll, with the 18th ball of the innings the Phoenix was well and truly in the ashes, and unlike in the legend this one was not going to revive. Ellyse Perry, Amy Jones and especially Sterre Kalis kept things alive for them, but they were never other than behind the rate, and when Kalis finally fell, to the third last ball of the match, caught by Corteen-Coleman off Bell for 44 (34) it was 124-9, 16 needed off three balls. None of those runs were scored, Hannah Baker surviving one ball before being castled by the next, the penultimate scheduled ball of the match. Sophie Devine was named player of the match for her 27 and 2-28, though personally I would have given it to Corteen-Coleman whose two early wickets put the skids under the Phoenix chase, and whose catch to dismiss Kalis effectively sealed things for Southern Brave. Scorecard here.
PERRIN PULVERISES THE ROCKETS
The focus for me now switched to Nottingham, where Trent Rockets were playing host to Northern Superchargers. Rockets began appallingly, losing three wickets almost before they were started. Their skipper, Ashleigh Gardner, led a fightback, scoring 61 off 32 balls, but they could do no better than 128-8.
Davina Perrin, an 18 year old opening batter, proceeded to make an inadequate total look positively risible, as she climbed into the Rockets bowlers. Alice Davidson-Richards provided early support, and then when she was out Phoebe Litchfield, the 22 year old Australian, produced a splendid cameo, scoring 22 off just 10 balls. Annabel Sutherland, generally regarded as the best current all rounder in the women’s game, and player of the tournament in2024, now came to the crease, and it fell to her in the end to make the winning hit, a four that took her to 18 not out off 11. Perrin had scored 72 not out from 40 balls, with 12 fours. This supercharged performance gave Superchargers the win by eight wickets, with 21 balls to spare. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A beetle on my left forearm this morning (three pics)Some butterflies in my back garden – three red admirals and one European Peacock.A comma butterfly on an ivy flowerhead from my post-lunch walkfrom the same walk, a small pale green insect with wings so diaphanous as to virtually transparent temporarily on my left arm.Another visitor to the garden, a hummingbird hawkmoth I think (three pics).
An account of yesterday’s clash between Birmingham Phoenix and Trent Rockets in The Hundred (women’s) and a photo gallery.
This year’s edition of The Hundred got underway on Tuesday with the derbies between London Spirit and Oval Invincibles. Yesterday saw the fourth set of fixtures meaning that all eight sides have been in action once. As I type this the Oval Invincibles women are in action against Manchester Originals women, the first fixture of an action packed day. Yesterday Birmingham Phoenix played host to Trent Rockets, and the women’s fixture to which the rest of this post is devoted happened first as is standard in The Hundred.
THE SIDES
Birmingham Phoenix lined up as follows: Georgia Voll, Emma Lamb, *Ellyse Perry, +Amy Jones, Sterre Kalis, Ailsa Lister, Em Arlott, Millie Taylor, Megan Schutt and Hannah Baker.
Trent Rockets opted for an XI of Bryony Smith, Grace Scrivens, Natalie Sciver-Brunt, *Ash Gardner, Heather Graham, Emma Jones, +Natasha Wraith, Alana King, Alexa Stonehouse, Kirstie Gordon and Cassidy McCarthy.
THE MATCH
Birmingham Phoenix won the toss and opted to bat first. Voll and Lamb began impressively and at the end of the opening 25 ball Power Play (only two fielders allowed out deep) Phoenix were 36-0, Voll 19, Lamb 14. Alana King, the great Aussie leg spinner, came on immediately the Power Play was done and her second ball bowled her compatriot Voll for 19. Perry now joined Lamb, and played a fine support role while Lamb hit top form with a vengeance. A time out was taken at 48 balls into the innings, with score 77-1, of which Lamb’s share was 48. At the halfway point it was 78-1. Early in the second half of the innings Lamb reached 50, off her 28th ball, having struck eight fours along the way. While boundaries are always important the real key to Phoenix’s strong progress was that there were few dot balls. From this high water mark wickets began to fall, but after 75 balls, just about to enter the so-called ‘death balls’ Phoenix were 106-4, having scored 70-4 from the middle part of their innings. When they reached the 90 ball mark with 132 on the board a 150+ total would still have been the goal, but Rockets bowled well from balls 91 to 97 inclusive, though a big finish from Phoenix still got them to 148-5. Lister had scored 21 not out of 17, and Marie Kelly, largely responsible for the final flourish referred to, has 23 not out from just 10 balls. King, as befits her status, was the only multiple wicket taker, but she would have been disappointed to have conceded as many as 30 from her allocation of 20 balls.
Bryony Smith started impressively for Rockets, but the 21 year old Scrivens struggled badly, and her dismissal for 2 (8), which made it 35-1 from 24 balls was probably a relief even to her. At the end of their Power Play Rockets were 36-1, the same run tally but one wicket worse than Phoenix. In spite of the clear fact that they had done less well in this phase than had Phoenix Michael Carberry, supposedly ‘expert summariser’ on the radio (in his playing days he was a rather stodgy opener, not perhaps an appropriate choice to be making expert comments on the game’s most frenetic format) said that he thought Rockets were ahead of the game. Whatever may have been the case going into the middle phase, by the end of it no one could have been in any doubt who was ahead of the game. By then Rockets were 91-4, needing 58 from the last 25 balls at 2.32 per ball (11.60 per set of five, which equates to 13.92 per over in other formats), and had scored 55-3 in the middle phase, compared to Phoenix’s 70-4 in the same period. The one hope for Rockets lay in the fact that Nat Sciver-Brunt was still at the crease and was batting superbly. By the time 10 balls remained the Rockets needed 27 to win. Over the next six deliveries Millie Taylor effectively settled the match. First of all she conceded just seven runs from her own last five balls of the match, meaning that she had 1-22 from her 20 balls. Then off the the 96h ball of the innings, with Em Arlott bowling to close out the match she took a superb catch to dismiss Sciver-Brunt for 64, comfortably the highest individual score of the game, and made off a mere 40 balls. That left Rockets needing 20 off four balls to win the match, and at no time did it look remotely probably that they would do it. The final margin was 11 runs (note the importance of that 15 run gap between what the sides scored in the middle part of their innings). Phoenix had won the Power Play by virtue of not losing a wicket themselves while Rockets did, totally bossed the middle phase – 70 to 55 – and narrowly lost the ‘death balls) – 42 to 46. As well as Taylor who I have already mentioned another youngster, 21 year old leg spinner Hannah Baker, had 2-18 from 15 balls. Emma Lamb’s 55 (32), the chief reason for Phoenix’s substantial total, earned her Player of the Match. A mention also for the fielding of Ailsa Lister – three of the first four Rockets wickets went to catches taken by her. Scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Wheel clamps are an uncommon sight these days……this one in place due to the vehicle being untaxed, and omission that has clearly been put right, since the next time I walked past that location the vehicle was gone.The town wall from the park sideThe town wall looking along Kettlewell Lane.The beetle the was the star of my previous post (https://aspi.blog/2025/08/08/a-beetle-watching-the-nar-outfall/)
The star of this post is a beetle I spotted watching the Nar Outfall from a very precarious perch at the apex of a concrete wall overlooking the Nar Outfall. There are three pictures of the beetle.
This is a whimsical little post from this morning’s walk.
A BONUS FIND
I was on the bridge over the Nar Outfall, with the Great Ouse, which the Nar joins, about 20 yards away. My attention was principally directed at the structure I have dubbed ‘Cormorant platform’ because those birds make such frequent use of it. One such was on the platform and in full display mode (these pictures will feature in my next post). While I was photographing this bird my eye was caught by something on the very apex of the concrete wall that protects pedestrians on the bridge from falling into the Nar Outfall. Closer inspection confirmed that it was a beetle, enjoying the sun and apparently the view of the water from its somewhat precarious perch.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are the pictures I took of the beetle.
The first shotA second improved pictureThe third and final picture. This picture and its immediate predecessor convinced me when I edited them that the grooved carapace which I had originally though to be black was actually a very dark green.
Details of my stewarding commitment for this year’s Heritage Open Day (Sunday 14th September). A picture gallery from today at work.
This post, with a gallery from today at work, is going to be a brief one.
HERITAGE OPEN DAY 2025
King’s Lynn has its annual Heritage Open Day on the second Sunday in September. On this day various interesting buildings are opened for public viewing. This year that second Sunday is the latest possible date – the 14th. In order to ensure that the day runs smoothly stewards are required at the various buildings. Stewards will tell you about the history of the building, will monitor numbers, and at some of the busier and/or more problematic sites will engage in a measure of crowd control. I have been one of the stewards for some years now, and of course made myself available again this year. I have recently found out where and when I will be stewarding. For stewarding purposes the day is divided into thirds – 10AM to Noon, Noon to 2Pm and 2PM to 4PM. I will be stewarding at the Bank House Hotel, whose chief attraction is a remarkable cellar system, dating back to times when rather more goods arrived in and departed from King’s Lynn than the King’s customs guys ever knew about, between noon and 2PM. I am delighted to have been given this venue.
PICTURES
The majority of these were scans. Unlike on Tuesday, when I told you which was which, I leave it to you to see if you can tell…
Lot 150 (four images total). These are high value because they are mint. Although they are quite hard to tell apart each is a slightly different colour.
A detailed account of a long walk I took this morning, with plenty of photographs, Also a gallery of photos not related to that walk.
This morning it was bright, sunny and already showing promise of becoming the warm day it now is. I thus decided to make my morning walk a long one.
SETTING FORTH
I left by the back door, headed up the unnamed private road that runs behind my house, crossed Raby Avenue onto Smith Avenue, walked along that road to the point at which it swings 90 degrees and becomes Townshend Terrace, at which point I diverged by way of a short path that leads alongside a pond to Loke Road. Crossing Loke Road I then took Harefield Parade, alongside a second pond, this one with a curved edge. From the end of Harefield Parade I followed a footpath that leads into Kettlewell Lane Park. I left the path in Kettlewell Lane in order to walk alongside some bushes that often harbour insect life. There was one such sighting today. Then I walked along the bank of the Gaywood River until it was time to leave Kettlewell Lane Park and cross the main road at Eastgate Bridge. Having crossed the main road I took Highgate, past the Methodist Chapel, continuing until I reached the footpath that crosses the Gaywood and ultimately brings one out on Wyatt Street. I crossed Wyatt Street to another footpath section which runs alongside Eastgate Academy, joining Blackfriars Road about 100 yards from the train station. I made my way past the train station and into The Walks…
A bee in my back garden.This I think is a supergiant hoverfly – it was on a nettle leaf in Kettlewell Lane ParkThis was alongside the Gaywood River.
THE WALKS TO THE GREAT OUSE
Entering The Walks I headed on to St John’s Walk, which if you follow it all the way leads through past the Recreation Field to Tennyson Avenue, though on this occasion I followed it only as far as the sculpted sections of the Gaywood river the flow through this area of parkland. Shunning paths I walked right alongside the river, where there is a lot of plant life, and sometimes interesting insects. I left the river where my route intersected with the Broad Walk (which runs from directly opposite King’s Lynn library through to the home of King’s Lynn Town football club). I took the Broadwalk through the Guanock Gate and across the Gaywood, before then following a path that cuts through to a bigger path, which leads to the Seven Sisters Gate, by which I left the parkland. I followed the road until I reached a path that leads through to London Road, emerging near a light controlled crossing from which the South Gate is visible. I crossed London Road here and walked down past the South Gate, then swinging right, crossing the Nar, and leaving the road at a path that leads into Harding’s Pits. The path that I had chosen cuts another path that I might have chosen about halfway along its length, and I followed this path from the intersection to the Great Ouse…
ALONG THE GREAT OUSE TO PURFLEET QUAY
I now turned north along the Great Ouse, following the footpath until it joined the road at the Nar Outfall, and then after crossing the Nar I took the unsurfaced footpath that follows the dike around old Boal Quay and then on level ground runs alongside the wall that is part of King’s Lynn’s flood defences, coming out close to the river. I followed the town centre section of the river front past the pontoon jetty, at which several boats were moored, past the courthouse, past the Bank House hotel and across the mouth of the Purfleet, from where one gets a splendid view of the Custom House. I went via the display honouring famous mariners associated in some way with the town and the statue of Captain George Vancouver, who surveyed and charted the Pacific Northwest coast all the way from San Diego, California to Anchorage, Alaska (it took him four years – 1791-5 – to complete this monumental task, and in Canada there is a city named Vancouver). From Purfleet on, though I made one diversion, I was at all times headed towards home…
A composite image showing both the statue of Captain Vancouver and the plaque affixed to the stone plinth on which the statue is mounted.
HOMEWARD BOUND
I walked along Purfleet Quay past the Custom House, crossed King Street and headed along New Conduit Street, past the junction with the High Street, past the statue of King John (unworthy of my camera) and past the construction on the old Argos site that will be King’s Lynn’s new library and community hub when it is complete, then up past the old post office and St James’ Leisure Centre, and in to The Walks, and up past the station, at which point I diverted by way of Morrison’s where I had a small amount of shopping to do. The shopping attended to I left the environs of Morrison’s by way of a short footpath that leads from the carpark through to Highgate. From the point at which I met the footpath by which I left Highgate on my out my route duplicated the outbound route in reverse as far as Loke Road, at which point I headed along Loke Road, across Raby Avenue and on to Columbia Way, ultimately returning to my home via the front door.
Coming along nicely.A solid looking insect, with an overripe blackberry in the top left corner giving it scale.A close up of the insect.I think this is a gatekeeper butterfly.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Just to wrap things up here is gallery of photos not from this particular walk…
This grasshopper was resting in a flower no more than 60 metres from King’s Lynn train station.
aspiblog 