Palm Paper Factory, King's Lynn

Earlier this year I posted that this place was a sugar beet factory. Well I was just showing my age and my ignorance. There was a sugar factory here many years ago when I first came to this land (early 1980s) seems it closed mid-1990s. Now it's this magnificent, steamy place. This I read has the "world's widest, largest and most powerful newsprint machine in the world" and to show you just how whoopy big that is I read that it can produce 2000 metres of 10.3 metre wide newsprint every minute, that's ample space for a lot of lies I think you'll agree.

There are in fact two bridges across the Great Ouse in this picture, the front is for local traffic to and from West Lynn, the rear one carries the A47 road which goes from Birmingham to Great Yarmouth (and back again) should you wish.

As idle as a painted ship

Here's an old barge marooned in the silt of the Boal Quay which has attracted the attentions of local painters and decorators and become really quite colourful, almost as colourful as the character it is named after, Tosca. A little research, like a little learning, is a dangerous thing so for what it's worth I can say that this area was a loop of the river Nar which emptied into the Great Ouse at the far end; changes to sluices and other works mean that it no longer flows around here hence the silting and 'nature' moving in. Some tidal water does reach in giving councils the excuse to erect signs warning of danger but it wasn't that that stopped me from going further to explore, no sir, it was inadequate footwear, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Tosca is apparently not the only boat lost in this gloopy greenery, a local historical site informs of others lost over time in the mire.

... and those menacing clouds duly emptied themselves on our heads soon after making us seek cover.

St Peter's Church, West Lynn

This little church made a brief appearance in a post sometime back (here) without any comment. So today here's St Peter's over in West Lynn from the King's Lynn side and below a little bit closer. The building dates from Norman times and has had bits added over the years including the tower in the 14th century with the last renovation in the 20th century.

The Government has decreed this evening that we shall not leave our homes save for essential shopping, medical needs and exercise once a day. Meh! I usually only ever leave my house for essential shopping, medical needs and exercise once a day in any case so this don't impress me much. Non-essential shops are being closed (*gallic shrug*) and bus services are being cut back but then they never ran on time  so I doubt we'll notice. All should be well unless tell-tales, nosy neighbours and the police decide to play silly buggers in which case all will be far from well. It's hardly the end of the world, yet. It's weird how many folk want their liberties taken away from them ("Please lock us up for our good"!). Oddly (or perhaps not) the most vociferous are those on the left who, well you might have thought they'd know better... I might write to my MP or then again I might not... I am bored by all this tedious nonsense as I'm sure most folk are and will try not to mention it again. You will not find me writing a diary of the "lockdown" (God forbid!) I shall just muddle on here as I always do. Oh before I go, never forget in all this no matter what you do or how you play it ... mors vincit omnia!

South Quay, King's Lynn

The weekend in black and white is here.

Yellow

The Great Ouse looking south towards the magnificent sugar beet factory paper mill.

The old trade

King's Lynn was first and foremost a port, exporting grain, salt and wool to Europe and importing wood and pitch from Scandinavia and wine from our friends in France. While the import side may not be so grand exporting grain is still big business as witnessed the huge grain silos I  posted yesterday. This ship, the Arklow Castle, was bound for Bayonne and arrived there a few days after this picture was taken. The church in the background is St Margaret's.

Something quite old and something relatively new

In the centre foreground the little King's Lynn ferry has, in one form or another , been shuttling folk across the river for over seven centuries, since 1285 so they say. The service does not run on Sundays or Bank Holidays and the last ride is at 6.30pm. I must get round to trying it out sometime.

Looming in the background are the grain silos of the port of King's Lynn with a 25,000-tonne capacity storage along with drying and screening facilities. It seems, a few years ago, there used to be silos to the south of town that were considered an "eyesore" and have been demolished. These however are a soothing balm to the optics.

Out to the Wash

Here we are again down the Fisher Fleet; this time with a bit of day light. If you carry on past the fishing boats you eventually fetch up at the river, the Great Ouse, which flows out into the Wash. The river no longer flows in its own free way but in a man made channel, dead straight. King's Lynn used to be much nearer the sea but land reclamation, drainage and such things means it's now a few miles inland.

The weekend in black and white is here.

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Hull anymore..."

The Great Ouse

Due to circumstances that need not concern you we, that is Margot and myself, found ourselves in Margot's birth town, King's Lynn in good old Norfolk. So in the 24 hours or so that we were there we played the dutiful tourist and shot a shed load of photos while Margot caught up with friends she hadn't seen in over forty years. Over the next few days I'll post the best ones here. I'm starting with the river because without the river there would be no King's Lynn. This is the Great Ouse which flows northwards from Bedford up into the Wash. There is a Little Ouse apparently which runs into the Great and also another Ouse in York and one in Sussex that flows into the Channel. There may be other Ouses, it's a popular name for a river.

West Lynn

Looking north towards the Wash