Monday 30 July - Peddar's Way Day 1

I woke up much later than usual – about 6:15. After sorting myself out, tidying up and so on, I was on the road out of Wokingham at about 7:30 and arrived at Thetford Station at 9:50. As expected there was a taxi driver who took me to Knettishall Country Park – the“trailhead “ for the Peddar's Way. The roads were pretty narrow, this is remote even for Norfolk.

And off I went at a good pace heading northwards – my target for the first day was Little Cressingham, about 14½ miles away. The first few minutes of the path were through woodland, leading to a stream – I crossed at a little bridge. This took me from Suffolk into Norfolk – my task was to walk across Norfolk over four days.

The path kept going northwards generally along a bumpy grassy track, generally through the Thetford forest. After about two miles I crossed the River Thet.

 

Another couple of miles and I crossed the A11 shortly followed by a railway line. There were very few people on the trail – indeed, I passed no one until much later in the day. After a short distance I came to a small hamlet – Stonebridge.

From the point onwards, the area to the left of the path was a training ground for the army. But much of it was cultivated, so presumably the army allow the farmer to harvest wheat or whatever. Much of the area though was wooded – I walked on relentlessly northwards, this part of the btrail being a minor road. I passed a couple of workmen repairing the road – they told me that this was their second attempt at the repair; the first one had subsided, probably because of tractors and lorries. I was rather surprised about lorries, because the road was small and didn't seem to go anyway. But sure enough, it wasn't long before I passed a truck and some tractors, presumably from forestry.

This part of the trail was very remote, and soon tuned back into a grassy path, and was mostly through woodland. I passed a few other people walking dogs. The path went close to a pond – invisible behind shrubs – and here mosquitoes bothered me. I saw various animals – a mouse, a few squirrels, pheasants. There were a few short light showers, but these didn't bother me as I headed on.

Eventually, the path turned sharply westwards for the last two miles uninteresting miles into Little Cressingham along country roads. At Little Cressingham, I called the taxi which picked me up just before the heavens opened with a heavy and prolonged shower. Driving back, I was surprised how far it was – the path goes in an almost straight line, through an area of no roads. The taxi had to go a long way around to get back.

Back in my car, I retraced the roads towards Little Cressingham and onwards to Swaffham, which looked like a nice little town. I found the bungalow that I was staying in and strolled back into town to get some breakfast. Later in the evening, I wandered around looking for some place to eat, and settled on Nico's, a little, and surprisingly busy for a Monday, Italian restaurant. After a great meal, I headed back to the bungalow to plan the next day's walk, which would all depend upon the rather poor weather forecast.