Monthly Monday Walks # 14
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MONTHLY MONDAY WALKS # 14 MONDAY 7th JANUARY 2019 Start and Finish: Layby adjacent to The Gull Inn, A146, Loddon Road, Framlingham Pigot. Weather: For an early January walk the weather was very kind today. Overcast, grey skies, 9 degrees, but chilly in the occasional wind. Stayed dry although it looked like rain towards the finish. Walkers: Gus Williams, Paul Marcus Loveday and Barnaby the Dawg, Michelle Lillie, Mike and Paula Lane, Andy Haggith, Bernie and Ann Kerrison, Malcolm Page, Phil Beaumont, Jeff Watkinson, Sean Tearle and Andrew Haggith. And this month four new walkers. Welcome to Bryon and Chris Sparkes along with Gary and Nicola Corbett. What a way to start the new year, a brisk but dry walk in the centre of Norfolk! We were even spared the mud that I had forecast, so I apologise to Paul Marcus who walked in water boots expecting mud. Large group today, but only quite lanes or foot- paths to negotiate so we all should be safe So, we all met up as arranged in the layby on the A146. Unusually, Mr Andrew Hag- gith was not only early, but was also not the last to arrive. So two firsts for him on one day. Can he maintain this high level of punctuality in future - we will have to wait and see. (Come on Andy, make it a new years resolution). We all crossed the very busy A146 without anyone getting squashed or mashed, and walked for a few yards southwest on Gull Lane before branching off south on a wide footpath which slowly makes its way uphill towards Boundary Farm. We soon lost the footpath to walk across arable fields planted with various newly sprouting crops. We are walking into the gusting breeze which makes the 9 degrees feel a lot colder but everyone is well wrapped to keep warm. I had planned to zig-zag across the fields to arrive at Boundary Farm, but because I was nattering away, and not paying attention, we suddenly arrived at the Yelverton Road, having walked a straight line since leaving Gull Lane. So, in fact, we had been trespassing on “Farmer Palmer’s” land for about a third of a mile. But, no-one got shot or savaged by dogs, and we had caused no dam- age, so all was well. Note To Self: Concentrate on the map reading, not on the conversation. At the Yelverton Road we turned left, then right onto Church Lane heading south again towards Church Farm. Church Farm has a well stocked farm shop and Café. Paul Marcus wanted to stop for coffee and bacon rolls but as the premises is not li- cenced to sell alcohol I insisted that there was no point in stopping. We carried on south to join up with Burgate Lane which we followed past Orchard Farm, and then Turned southwest again onto a wide footpath towards Wash Lane. We skirted fields and small woods, downhill now, to join up with Wash Lane where we turned left to make our way past the sewage works and onto Dove Lane. At Dove Lane we turned right to the B1332 Bungay Road. Another busy road to cross and of course the Dove Public House to avoid, several were tempted but I decided it was too early for lunch and hounded the group over the B1332 then left onto a rickety plank bridge over a small brook (Well Beck), and then into an overgrown footpath heading southwest again towards Howe Lane. The hawthorn bushes and brambles were a bit difficult to walk past, but with copious swipes with a walking pole to knock back the thorny blighters, we all made it without too much damage. At Howe Lane I requested the group to bear with me while I made a short looping detour from our route to visit to the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, at Howe. I had been told that the tower was Saxon, and I wanted to give it a “butchers”, to see if it was so. Not all round towers in Norfolk are Saxon, the Normans also built round towers on churches after they arrived in 1066. On arrival Malcolm Page and I made a close inspection of the church and tower while the rest of the group waited on the roadside outside the church graveyard. (Probably tutting and moaning about “Gus and his churches”). The tower is certainly round in construction and is pierced on north and south sides by two small circular windows about 15 feet from the ground. These windows splay out from inside to outside, (a bit like an archers slit in a castle keep). These round windows are not typical of Norfolk Norman built round towers, so I would hazard a guess that this is actually a Saxon tower. The roof on the church nave and chancel are modern roof tiles, as is the conical roof on the tower. The church was locked up with a heavy chain and a padlock that weighed about two pounds (that’s a kilo in Napoleon), so Malcolm and I did not get to look inside, much to the delight of the group I am sure. Anyway, detour and church tower inspection over we continued. We left Howe and made our way east across yet another arable planted field to pick up a wide track heading south then back over Well Beck and east past Brooke Lodge to join up again with the B1332 where we used the footpath beside the road to take us to Brooke village and lunch. Photo on previous page taken in the Beer Garden of the Kings Head in Brooke. Photo by Bernie Kerrison. Persons left to right seated: Andy Haggith, Jeff Watkinson, Paula and Mike Lane, Michelle Lillee and Bernie Kerrison Persons left to right standing: Sean Terle, John Eglen, Gus Williams, Chris Sparkes, Paul Marcus Loveday, Barnaby the Dawg, Ann Kerrison, Nicola and Gary Corbett, Bryon Sparkes and the ‘ever smiling’ Phil Beaumont. ………………………………………………………………………………………….. As you can see everyone is happy, even I have a smile on my face which is a miracle when you take into account that the glass of water in the very foreground of the photo- graph is mine. Yes, Gussie is doing the “Dry January” thing. I came in for some ribbing in the pub from the personages of Paul Marcus and Bernie, but I will stick with it, only another 3 weeks. And a big “Thank You” to Ann Kerrison for the lovely Christmas Cake, just enough for the seventeen of us, it went down well. Right then, some Brooke facts for you. 1. Bernard Mathews of “they’re bootiful”, turkeys fame, was born in Brooke. 2. The transsexual model Caroline Cossey, of the Bond Film ‘For Your Eyes Only’, cast and credited as ‘Girl by the pool’, and the first acknowledged transsexual to pose in Playboy magazine, was born in Brooke. 3. Population in 2011 census -1399. So lunch was taken, and we headed off again, through the village past the ponds and then a sharp left turn, north, across yet more fields to Entrance Lane. Straight over the Lane and again north towards Wellbeck Farm, (bet you can guess where it’s name came from?). At Wellbeck Farm, the very kind ‘Farmer Palmer’ had ploughed up the footpath so we had to detour around the curtilage of the field and pick up the path as it goes over Well Beck (again). We then zig-zagged through high undergrowth, to head again north to Hall Farm Cottages and Alpington Hall. We took the service road for Al- pinton Hall for a short distance and then struck off by way of a very nice leafy path through woods then open fields again to zig-zag our way to Alpington village. At Wheel Road we turned left to walk past the “Wheel of Fortune” public house (closed on Mon- days). We turned right off of Wheel Road to a footpath heading north. Again a nice leafy path through trees then onto open fields, past The Hall Moat and The Hall to Yelverton Road just west of Yelverton Village. Here we turned left past the water tower (very ugly thing), then right at the very posh new thatched roofed mansions at Boundary Farm. The houses probably cost a fortune (gedit?), but I am pleased that a public footpath cuts right through their shared driveways, or is that my socialist side showing through? Anyway, we then continued north and zag-zigged down hill back to the A146. We all managed to cross the road, safely and whole, back to our motor vehicles. TODAYS NUMBERS Total Miles: 8.73. Total Elevation gained: 172 feet. Total Walking Time: 3hrs 15mins. Entire walk: 4hrs 8mins. My Garmin Watch is back in operation, so these are my numbers this month. The numbers suggest that we whizzed along at nearly 3 miles per hour. Not bad for a bunch of pensioners (and their carers), but it was chilly and I did get a bit of a wriggle on after lunch as I thought it was going to rain. NEXT WALK Monday 18th February 2019, 10.30am. Trimingham, Paston Way, Frogshall, Northrepps, Overstrand, Trimingham Start: Another lay-by again. On the Coast Road (Church Road) just west of Trimingham Village. Postcode for Church Road, Trimingham (this bit of the coast road with the layby) is NR11 8HT. I will check this out and get back to you if this is wrong in any way. The walk is mainly quiet lanes, well maintained paths and the coastal cliff walk.