Sunset on the Flood

A WEEK on from the fog and it was a very different Chet Valley this Sunday evening. Visibility was perfect as the sun went down over Hardley Flood – which you can just make out to the left of this picture. Last week the thick mist muffled every sound. Tonight the squawk of the pheasants and the honk of the wildfowl seemed to carry for miles. I took this photo on a bridle path close to the ever-spooky Hardley Hall. Look one way and you see Hardley Flood – which used to be a mixture of arable land and copse until the great flood of 1953. Look the other and you can see for miles across the Yare Valley towards Buckenham, Cantley and Reedham on the north bank.  The chimney at Cantley’s massive sugar factory keeps pumping it out. The wind wasn’t quite in our direction, but there was still a faint smell of sweet molasses in the air. It remains amazingly warm. It might be December next week, but it still feels like Autumn.