MONTHLY MONDAY WALKS # 13

MONDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2018

Start and Finish: King William Country House Hotel, . The owners of the Hotel kindly allowed us to use their car park. So if you are passing, call in for a drink or a meal—food is good—staff very friendly.

Weather: It was our thirteenth group walk, so of course, poured it down. We had a short sunny spell around lunch time but for the rest of the time it was very heavy rain. But it was at least it was a warm 11 degrees.

Walkers: Only the hardy this month!. Gus Williams, Paul Marcus Loveday and Barnaby the Dawg, Michelle Lillie, Mike Lane, Andy Haggith, Bernie and Ann Kerrison, Malcolm Page and Phil Beaumont. I list these names as they come to mind, there is no prefer- ence over and above the fact that I am always first on the list.

I am the first to admit that the weather and underfoot conditions were not ideal for walking, but we all managed to arrive at the allotted place, at, or before the allotted time. The last to arrive was again Andy Haggith, but this time he has an excuse—he was travelling in a car driven by Malcom but navigated by me! For some reason I thought we were starting the walk in Cockley Cley, and insisted that we made our way via the A47 to Francham, it was only when I saw signposts to Cockley Cley that I real- ised that I was mistaken!!!! Silly Old Gussie. So, we were the last to arrive, but Andy was the last out of the car, so again, he was last to arrive. Anyway, all togged up in various forms of weatherproof gear (thank you Bernie for loan of walking pole), we set off through the village to the Church of St Mary The Virgin. This church sports one of the few Saxo-Norman round towers, built sometime in the 14th Century, but the rest of the church is relatively contemporary, (1770’s ?). We walked south through the churchyard, then over a very springy, (is that a real word?) footbridge over the River to the Sedgeford Road. Here the rain decided to be really brutal, pounding it down. We turned left (east) on the road for a few yards then headed south again on a wide farm track, making our way up hill (well, uphill for Norfolk anyway), towards Hardacre Wood. The wind and rain was coming in from our right hand side, the track was muddy and slippery in places, and it was a case of head down and plod on. Barnaby was having a field day, putting up pheasants and par- tridge. Paul Marcus wished he’d brought his gun—but kept a wary eye open for game- keepers, who do not like Dawg’s chasing their game birds apparently. At the Fring Road we crossed straight over and as the track levelled out we had a good view, off to our right, of just the spire of the church in , the church itself being out of view below the horizon. It looked like an intercontinental ballistic missile, ready for launch. We carried on south to cross the Bircham Road, and again off to our right we could see a great flight of geese coming into land alongside dozens of their ma- tes. Noisy beasts, honking away, they were very loud even though they were 1/4 of a mile away. We continued, slightly down hill now, which gave us a good view of the weather coming our way, huge black clouds, but in the far distance a slight brightness could be seen. Perhaps a break in the rain? It had been my intention to continue to walk south then west into Ingoldisthorpe, but as the weather was so bad I thought it prudent to take a “short-cut”, so when we came to a farm track off to our right I decided to head off to- wards Limekiln Plantation to pick up the footpath that runs roughly northwest into Snettisham village. As we approached the village on the footpath the rain stopped which allowed me to remove my wet weather gear, much to the surprise of the rest of the group. Several muttered that I would be putting it back on in a short time. But, the weather held off till after lunch. The footpath crosses St Thomas’s Lane, and then en- ters Snettisham House grounds. Here we saw the red deer of Snettisham Park Farm. The Park is worth a visit especially with young children. They will learn where our meat comes from, and you can do a “deer safari” on the back of a tractor and trailer. But we did not stay long, but continued through the village to the Rose and Crown public house where I intended for us to have lunch. I went in and asked if it would be alright for nine wet and muddy walkers plus one very wet and muddy Barnaby, to come and take refreshments. The look I got from the bar staff would have curdled milk at a hundred paces. I took this to mean “Thank you for asking, but feel free to take your custom elsewhere!”. Which we did, just along the road is the Queen Victoria, where we were welcomed with open arms and a roaring coal fire.

LUNCH AT THE QUEEN VICTORIA, SNETTISHAM

Left to right, Barnaby (not sure what he is doing to) Paul Marcus Lovewell, Gus Williams, Andy Haggith,

Phil Beaumont, Michelle Lillie, Ann and Bernie Kerrison, Mike Lane and Malcolm Page.

Thank you Bernie for the photo. We managed a dry and happy lunch break, with Paul Marcus and Bernie keeping us all well entertained with jovial anecdotes, and of course Ann’s marvellous Christmas Cake. She brought almost enough for two slices each, next year Ann bring the whole cake! Thank you Ann. Mrs Kerrison makes exceedingly good cakes. We did not tarry long, a very short lunch, due to the weather. It was not raining when we left but it did not last long, shortly after leaving the Vic it started to rain again. We headed out of the village past the Church of St Mary, we all stopped briefly to admire the mighty spire and dynamic buttressing of the aisles. We decided that the spire is much later than the rest of the church, but this does not detract from its magnificence. The whole roof appears to covered in lead sheeting, unusual given the price of scrap lead these days. Onwards and upwards, we move off along the Fring Road towards Six- penny Hole, (I just had to get “Sixpenny Hole” into the story somewhere and now I’ve done it twice!). But, just past the churchyard we turned north onto the very long Eaton Drove which carries on almost straight for more than a mile and a half to Eaton Farm. The walk was again slightly uphill towards The Belts and then downhill to Eaton Farm. Not a lot happened on this part of the journey, apart from everyone puddle hopping and trying to find the least muddy part of the Drove. Because of the rain, conversation was limited. At Eaton Farm we headed east past Segdeford Carr to join the Sedgeford Road again. After a couple of hundred yards we turned north again, into Sedgeford, on to the footpath over the river with the springy bridge, which we had used to leave the village. Back at the car park “Have a Happy Christmas” was shared around the group, and we all gladly regained the comfort of our vehicles. Not the most enjoyable of walks, but at least we all stuck at it, and stayed in good heart. I can only hope for better weather in January. Please!!!!!

TODAYS NUMBERS Total Miles: 8.56. Total Elevation gained: 443 feet. Total Walking Time: 3hrs 35mins. Entire walk: 4hrs 18mins. I have Bernie to thank for todays walking numbers, my Garmin GPS Wristwatch managed to switch it- self off during the walk. It was probably fed up with the wet and windy weather and decided to go home early. It’s called a smart watch.

NEXT WALK Monday 7th January 2019, 10.30am. Start: Layby just past The Gull Inn, A146, Loddon Road, Framlingham Pigot. The layby used to be the main road, but when they straightened out the bend outside the Inn they left the ‘old’ road in place as a layby. This is not in Framlingham Pigot village, but just within the eastern end of the parish. Post Code of the Gull Inn is NR14 7PL.

The walk is mainly tracks and footpaths with only short stretches of road with footpaths alongside. It is about eight miles, flat, but again, can be muddy after rain. Lunch is at the Kings Head in Brooke. I seem to have allowed the walks to creep up in distance during the year, I will attempt to make the re- mainder of the 2019 walks a bit shorter, unless I get an indication to the contrary. Up to you walkers?