26 June: Norwich and Wymondham

Transit from Yorkshire to Norfolk.  Probably call in to Lincoln and Peterborough Cathedrals en route.

Obviously that lead-in was superceded as we did that yesterday.

After a good sleep my day started with a walk to the Church. This included three additions to the trip list (now 74 sps). The church was quite small and plain but had memorials from the 18th century (one of the local documents talked about there being two churches until the 14th century, so it was seriously old). The most attractive feature was an array of embroidered kneelers.

The first external business of the day was to visit Wymondham, the biggest village in the area. A music festival was happening there and Saturday morning's activity was a school band performing in the market square. They were a school band, and sounded better when a bit further away. We then found our way to the Abbey. This had been an abbey and a church in combination, but following the dissolution of the monasteries the Abbey had been demolished and only the church was left. It was quite an extraordinary building:

• the ceiling was supported by angel buttresses (that were very resistant to being photographed);
• a very ornate altar screen had been built; and
• a sign set into the floor mentioned services being held there for more than 900 years.

The next stop was Norwich where Frances toddled off to the Cathedral and I went to search for an internet cafe. Both were successful after initial frustration at finding all the car parks were full.

The 'cafe' was in the Library and was very effective. I was able to check emails (finding out that Australia had a new Prime Minister) but since I didn't want to put my pendrive near a public computer, not upload anything to the blog. I had gathered the impression from the Biking Birder blog (a guy trying to visit every RSPB Reserve within a year, by bike) that libraries were the go. This library was in the Forum - a huge building for community use, financed from lottery funds in about 2000. As well as the library the ground floor seemed to be in use as a speakers corner where every left wing “human conscience” group in the area had a stall! Even someone selling the Big Issue!

Then to the University of East Anglia to check out the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts. Frances thought this was pretty good but to me it was more or less the Sainsburys emptying out their attic (with, it must be said, some goodies therein) and the alleged curators of the collection refusing to give information about the many works but 'letting the work speak for itself'. Post-modernist crap: wood and stone are pretty silent. From my view the best stuff was a sculptor - John Davies – who had managed to capture the look and feel of the 'living sculptures' found in many tourist sites  (folk imitating the Statue of Liberty etc). Sort of art imitating art.

The next activity was to go back to Wymondham for a beer. Unfortunately, and despite what was said in the Good Beer Guide, the pubs listed in that tome were shut until 5:30. This did mean we had several opportunities to walk past a wedding being held in the Methodist Church. The emphasis on bright colours so evident in Tescos was very present here in the attire of the 'ladies': unfortunately so was the level of taste.

I went for a short stroll round the village before tea. This revealed a huge number of Wood Pigeons (at least 50 in one field) and a surprising number of Greenfinches (4 in a row on a phone line). The windmill was a disappointment as the sails were laid on the ground beside it.