A REAL SCARE.......a body
This exceptionally warm winter has led to animal as well as plant life not going into a dormant stage
early this morning on my usual walk to the beach a sight to chill the blood. Fortunately I carried a torch or I would have stepped on it.....and goodbye to Verdun folks 
/
........
the biggest snake I have ever seen in the wild out there just lay there half curled,half stretched out. Without a word of a lie it was 5' long at least and the thickness of my wrist. Just did not move but thought I could hear a warning hiss under the noise of the sea. In my panic I nudged my torch off so beat a hasty jump retreat. I got to turn my torch on again not sure if it pursued me and the thing was still there. My dog was well away. Got nearer thinking it was dead but it moved...maybe the shadow created by my torch .....and I beat another hasty retreat.
still pretty dark and had to think about others walking out there. Another regular walker was approaching ....he has 3 small dogs.....so I waved my torch up and down as a warning. He gathered his dogs and held mine whilst I approached the snake.....not an adder, far too large for that, and not a python either. Got to 6' or so and to my horror the realisation hit me hard. It was
a piece of rope 
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Chortle!!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I remember standing on a bit of old bike tyre innertube in the sea in Goa, only to have it swim round my legs and let me know it was a highly poisonous sea snake over 1m long.
You've never seen two old poofs move so fast.
It's amazing how your imagination runs riot in such a split second.
I had a similar incident, before we moved here, I used to walk my dogs in Ashdown Forest, about 7 years ago, during a hot spell, we were warned about Adders, I had 3 curious dogs, who, went over sniffing this "Adder", I approached very cautitiously, while calling my dogs away, only to be confronted by a terrifying - BROWN LEATHER DOG COLLAR!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.