Category: LDWA 100

This was our sixth walk in preparation for the 2021 LDWA 100.

WALK NUMBER: 6 (National Forest Way, Branston, Burton and Swadlincote)

DISTANCE COVERED: 21.2 miles

NUMBER OF NATHAN’S FRIENDS WE “ACCIDENTALLY” BUMP INTO: 0 (but we weren’t in Norfolk)

SUFFICIENT BEER CONSUMED: Yes

PUBS VISITED: 8

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Fair

ATTACKED BY ANIMALS: Yes

NUMBER OF SNAKES SEEN: 0

It’s been a while since we went on what might be defined as a training walk, but we bravely decided to go out of the county for this one, to Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

This is the YHA where we were staying. More on this later….. Incidentally, since I get a bit complainy later, I would add here that the staff at the hostel were friendly and it was one of the quieter ones that I’ve visited.

And the trek started by walking into the village of Overseal, where the pub the previous evening hadn’t quite met our expectations. More about that in another post though….

The weather looked favourable in the morning and we were following the National Forest Way from Overseal into Branston, a section which was about 15 miles.

My navigation was excellent and we strolled past lakes, trees and fields confident in our direction. By excellent, I mean generally excellent, there were a few fields which proved to be confusing.

Walking through some crop things.

The trail was relatively well signed throughout, other than when someone had built a reservoir across the path. But I’ll come onto that later. The Best Kept Villages trail is a nine-mile circular walk that takes in Coton, Botany Bay, Netherseal and Lullington.

The path went off into the trees near to Rosliston Forestry Centre. It got a bit muddy here.

And a rather pleasant lake.

By now, it was 11:30 and we were approaching the village of Rosliston. So we faffed about by going to the Co-op and looked around a church, as that meant we could visit our first pub of the day which opened at 12:00. Incidentally, the Co-op sausage roll was packed with 7% pork and it was a pretty dreary affair. But, at least it was hot. The village needs a Greggs is all that I’ll say here.

The main excitement of our outdoor lunch spot wasn’t though waiting for the pub. It was watching Nathan preening himself with tissues. Some mud had splattered up his leg and so he purchased a multi-pack of about 8,000 tissues that didn’t even fit in his bag. Not through choice, more because that was all that they had left. So, he confidently cleaned his shoes confident that we wouldn’t be going through any more mud. This was aspirational to say the least.

The Bull’s Head in Rosliston and I will write all of these pubs up separately, but for now, I’ll limited myself to brief comments. We liked this place as it was quiet, traditional, laid-back and seemed like a competently run village pub. It was also a chance to get a pint of Marston’s Pedigree.

The next stretch of path was from Rosliston to Walton-on-Trent. Here we are in the above photo with Bear Grylls battling through the undergrowth and hardly complaining about the nettles and thistles. I didn’t say anything and just let him get on with it.

We had a little incident here. Let me paint a picture of what was in the next field. Imagine a field full of cows in our way. Right, that’s the picture painted. That is undeniably a bloody inconvenience as I don’t like cows (nothing personal, they’re just big and threatening) and Nathan is hardly a cow whisperer. These big muddy patches are a legacy of the cows stampeding around the corner and we wanted to avoid that.

So, we decided we’d ignore the National Forest Way and just go down a track via a farmer’s field. This was easier said than done as the farmer wasn’t fussed about mud as they no doubt get about their land using a tractor. And then we had the delight of the farmer watching us, more puzzled than angry I’m pleased to say. So, we admit that his cows scared us and we want to use his farm to get out. The farmer was willing to deal with this crisis dumped upon him, and so we were shown the muddy path to escape. I suspect he thought that we were idiots.

I’ve never heard of Joseph Heler Cheese, but I liked the farmer who let us escape without being trampled by a herd of cows, so I’ll eat some if I see it.

We debated whether or not we should go into the Swan at Walton pub, but not for long, so we went in. For another pint of Pedigree, albeit served in a London Pride glass from Fuller’s. This tasted the same as the previous Pedigree and we were fortunate to get space in the beer garden as inside was full. Nathan’s shoes were also covered in mud, which he half-arsedly tried to clean again before we went in, so probably best we were outside away from their clean floor. The food coming out from the kitchen looked all rather lovely, but I had a pasta salad from the Co-op and Nathan had a scotch egg from the Co-op so we didn’t want to be too decadent by buying a rather lovely looking burger as well.

I had to have a quick look at the church opposite to the pub, some interesting history there. More on that in another post, as my posts about churches aren’t exactly the most stimulating content to some people (everyone) so I’ll contain myself here.

The bridge we crossed into a new county. There were a family the other side who looked moderately annoyed that we were on the path. But we ignored them and started to get ready for our river walk.

Incidentally, this is the change in county from Derbyshire to Staffordshire. As an aside, Staffordshire is home to the marvellous Keele University, so this sign is a distraction.

This bit puzzled us. We might be two of the finest minds in the long-distance walking community (I hope no-one else from the LDWA reads this as I’m clearly lying here) but our route seemed to be flooded. After some investigation, it was less flooded by recent rain, and more flooded as there is a reservoir built on the route. After we stopped for lunch by a bench looking at this irritating dollop of water dumped down, we meandered around it. It took ages and the signage wasn’t great.

Back to walking by the River Trent. The pleasing thing was that we could still get around the lake, as otherwise it would have been a fair amount of road walking.

Even the railway crossing had moved, they’d built this instead of expecting people to walk across the track. It was also here that it decided to rain, the only really bad weather that we had in the day. It started to rain three seconds after I took my coat off, which annoyed me and humoured Nathan.

The path goes across a housing estate at this point. I say path, but I more mean stream with some delicately placed bricks to walk on.

We had now reached the town of Branston and this was enormously exciting as this is where the pickle first came from. Branston Pickle is a food of the Gods, so we were delighted and honoured to be in such an historic place. There are no Good Beer Guide pubs in Branston, despite my hope they’d serve a marvellous Ploughman’s lunch with pickle. So, we opted for the Blacksmiths Arms. The first pint we ordered was not well-kept, and despite Nathan trying to battle through it, I have a very developed beer palate and I sent mine back. Nathan decided to keep testing his pint before sending his back. The staffing was friendly through and it got us out of the rain. Despite trying not to order Pedigree, we got another pint of it here, so our third of the day and it tasted like the other ones.

I’ve commented on numerous occasions over the last week about how Greene King really aren’t very innovative in their management of pubs, with beer choices being often way below par in my view. So, this is a great innovation, someone has paid for a support centre to deal with customers who have been traumatised by Greene King pub experiences.

I have no idea why Punch Pubs have that logo, but this is a PubCo that really needs putting out of its misery. Anyway, let’s not get political here.

Walking into Burton was quite exciting, as this is the brewing centre of the UK. And there were no shortage of Good Beer Guide pubs for us to go in. This is the Last Heretic, an excellent micropub that I’ll write about separately, and we moved away from Pedigree at last to Antracite. As a pub, this was really was a treat and I hope that it can go from strength to strength as it’s a location that Burton should be proud of.

After the Heretic, we walked around the corner to the Roebuck Inn and had a Theakston’s Old Peculier, a beer I’m rather partial to. The pub was friendly, you could play football in the toilets and it’s another justifiable entry into the Good Beer Guide.

The Burton brewery of the huge Molson Coors.

Opposite the brewery was this marvellous pub, although we were disappointed that they weren’t doing their home-made Scotch eggs. The rum porter I had was rich and delightful, so lots more about this pub in another post. This was our sixth pub of the day and we were going to pop to the Wetherspoons in Burton for a quick snack, since we couldn’t eat in the Coopers Tavern. The Wetherspoons looked a bit full, and just a little raucous so we went to McDonald’s, which was annoying as they were shoving all their customers into the same area and hidden the toilets. The wrap of the day was delicious though, so I forgave them.

Nathan, who is obsessed with buses, took control of getting us to Swadlincote. He did tell me all about the bus we were on and who made it, when and where, but I didn’t bother listening.

Our seventh pub of the day was Bodell’s, where there was a decent choice of beers, although I thought they were being served just a little too cold. Anyway, more on that another time. I’d add that Nathan will get annoyed if I mentioned that his sports casual outfit (or sports sports outfit as he called it) was probably looked at by customers in pubs since it was Saturday night. But I didn’t say anything.

Our final pub of the day, and pint number eight, was the Wetherspoons in Swadlincote and it was by now just before 23:00. They were serving reduced priced curries, so what better thing to have at this time of night than a £3.99 chicken vindaloo? This was one of the better JD Wetherspoon outlets and not a bad place at all to end the day.

Then it was just a three-mile walk back to the accommodation from Swadlincote. Nathan was livid at this bus stop opposite a bus stop, but he calmed himself down after a while at the lack of bus stop planning.

The story should end here really, it took us an hour to get back, so we reached the YHA at around 01:30. Now, I’m very forgiving, but it’s fair to say that the YHA here failed us. They had told us the door code when we checked in, but they didn’t make any reference to it changing every day. The new set-up also means you leave the YHA via the back door, so it’s actually essential to tell people at check-in that it changes, otherwise they can’t possibly know.

To cut a very long story short, the YHA emergency number wasn’t answered, the YHA itself didn’t answer and there were no clues as to how to get into Fort Knox. I became expert at checking every door in the building and managed to get into the meeting rooms section of the building, but this didn’t allow access to the main area. I was considerably annoyed at this situation, as it was avoidable by either having an emergency contact who answered, or not putting people in this position in the first place. A YHA in the middle of the country will likely frequently have walkers or cyclists coming back late, but I won’t dwell on this.

After debating what to do, my investigations continued and banging on a door did manage to get the YHA custodians out, much to my relief. It’s fair to say they knew that I wasn’t best pleased, but it did mean that we could get back in and life was again back to some sort of normality. They were keen to explain that code to the corridor upstairs had changed as well, but since that corridor has a door where the lock doesn’t work anyway (it just opens without the code), I wasn’t going to overly concern myself about this. Nathan was back in his bunk bed (this in itself says a lot about the luxury accommodation that we had chosen) by 02:00 and all was well with the day. Well, all was well with the night.

YHA debacle aside (and I can’t see Nathan going back, but I have to since I’ve got numerous YHA bookings ahead) this was a marvellous day. It goes to show what thirsty work this walking is, since we had to go into eight pubs (plus a McDonald’s and a Co-op) to stay hydrated, but that’s very important. I think we probably meant to order half-pints, but we got muddled up and never managed to do that. The total walk distance was 21.2 miles and we’re now prepared for the LDWA 100. Well, we’re not, we spent most of the day practicing our pub skills, but it was still a very brave effort.

Very lovely.

This page is all part of my effort to walk the 2021 LDWA 100.

This is part of my little series in asking those who have completed the 100 just how they did it, and whether it’s an entirely good idea. This set of answers is from Tara Williams, who perhaps sensibly thought that just one of these 100s was enough, but then decided that perhaps she’d do more. I’m still sure I won’t be doing that, I just have to remember to stand firm on this… (which incidentally is what I’ll probably do on the 100 rather than walking because I’m quite good at standing). Anyway, I digress.

Incidentally, I’m now moderately worried about toenails, Chelle Armour mentions those as well when talking about the 100…. I like the whiskey bit though, although mine will be beer, but the logic holds. And I’ll be amazed if Nathan doesn’t have a tantrum when we walk it, and I doubt I’ll be a bundle of joy either.

Q. When was your first 100?

Having discovered the LDWA in 2007, my first 100 was the Wessex in 2009.

Q. When you finished your first 100, did you think you’d do another?

I had stated categorically that I was doing ONE (and ONLY one) 100…I completed the Wessex…job done…or so I thought…

Q. When you e-mailed me about answering some questions you mentioned you’d had some tears and tantrums on the 100. This sounds just like what I’m hoping to have, tell me more.

The 100 reaches parts of you that other events just do not reach. It can take you to some amazing highs but also some very deep, dark recesses of the mind. The tears can be due to pain, suffering, self pity, fear or just the sheer joy of knowing that you are within stumbling distance from the end.

The 100-related tantrums can rival a 2-year old in their ferocity. The best one was having completed the Housman 100 (2011) and then finding my travel tickets in my bag, having been ‘abandoned’ by my partner…whhhomppp…I went off like a rocket, no holding back. FULL on tantrum…for which I was congratulated (by a lovely lady in the first aid room, whose name I cannot recall…but I am guessing that she remembers me!) as it was pretty spectacular from someone who has just finished the 100!

Q. What would you pick at a checkpoint, two sausage rolls, one chicken bake or one steak bake?

In the early stages, I keep it savory to prevent the sugar rush and save that for the later stages…when I need it. Sandwiches (especially the ones at the Devon and Cornwall group CP, although their CP is later in the event), quiche etc to start then after about 50 miles, anything and everything…and all at once! The only non-negotiable is my large slug of Whiskey at the breakfast stop. That tradition started on the Heart of Scotland 100 and was actually what got me out of the breakfast CP and on the road again.

Q. How important are the marshals to you at checkpoints on longer challenge events?

Very, very, VERY important!

Q. Are there moments that you’ve nearly retired from a walk only to then finish? How do you get that mental strength?

That will be most events! There are a lot of mind over matter situations on events. Usually a ‘pep talk to self’ will do it but when a ‘diva meltdown’ threatens there is always the thought of the people who have had to walk hundreds of miles when fleeing war, famine etc. They did not have all my nice kit and a welcoming checkpoint every few miles. That usually kicks me into gear again…feeling rather ashamed of my (self-inflicted) predicament.

Q. Have you hallucinated towards the end of a walk?

Yes, during a walk, I saw a deer fence which went up, up, uphill and through a never-ending bog…and it was raining…and the deer fence continued, and so did the hill… If you were on that 100 (HoS), you will know exactly what I mean but it was (unfortunately) REAL!

Q. Are you more reliant on the route description or the GPX file?

Route description – it has been written to get us round so I will use it. I am not a fan of GPX…but could change my mind rapidly if I was asked that question when I am lost!

Q. What are your top tips for footcare on the 100?

Accept the fact that your feet will never be the same again! A few days before, cut your toenails short, remove any rough edges and paint them a BRIGHT colour. That way, if you arrive at a CP (Aberfeldy on the 2010 HoS) and remove your sock to get the ‘stone’ out, you will easily see that one bright pink splodge is missing…and will be able to spot it and retrieve it quickly…before anyone notices that your toenail has just gone flying across the floor!

Q. Have you been scared of a sheep / cow / snake / pig / seagull or similar on a challenge walk?

Llamas and anything that looks like a sheep/camel cross can usually be very territorial or just plain angry!

Q. To those people who are thinking about taking part in their first challenge event, maybe just 18 miles, what advice would you give them?

Everything you do in life starts out with taking the first step. You do not know what you are capable of until you try…and then are usually very surprised at what you CAN do.

This page is all part of my effort to walk the 2021 LDWA 100.

This is part of my little series in asking those who have completed the 100 just how they did it, and whether it’s an entirely good idea. Adam Dawson wasn’t perhaps sure after his one and only completion, but Ken Falconer, a stalwart of the LDWA, certainly is given the number of 100s that he has completed. As Ken notes below, he’s completed 34 of these events, which makes him just about the most qualified person to ask about the 100s.

Everyone walks these events differently, but the thought of not having the GPX to rely on frightens me just a little, but Ken has coped perfectly well without it. Assuming that next year’s event goes ahead, Ken is doing the marshals’ version of the walk, which is the same one that Nathan and I are completing. I suspect Ken will be quite a bit faster than us, although I also think that everyone else will be quite a bit faster than us so this isn’t really saying much.

There are a few questions I didn’t ask Ken, but this is because he’s put together a marvellous post together about how to walk the 100, which is at https://www.ldwa.org.uk/library/hundredsurvival/hundredsurvival.php, which is essential reading for all potential entrants.

Q. When was your first 100?

Snowdonia 100, 1983

Q. When you finished your first 100, did you think you’d do another?

Not for the week after finishing my first, but after that I never looked back.

Q. How many 100s have you now completed?

34, of which 21 were Marshals’ 100s

Q. What would you pick at a checkpoint, two sausage rolls, one chicken bake or one steak bake?

Probably the chicken bake.

Q. Is there any part of the UK where you haven’t walked a 100 but would like to?

The 100s I have done have provided a pretty good geographical coverage of the nicest walking parts of the UK.

Q. How important are the marshals to you at checkpoints on longer challenge events?

Very important – their care and encouragement really spurs one on.

Q. Are there moments that you’ve nearly retired from a walk only to then finish? How do you get that mental strength?

No. But there was one 100 (the 2017 North York Moors) when I should not have retired at 80 miles and have regretted it ever since. I ignored my own advice that I should rest for a time and then seen how I felt. As soon as I got back to HQ I was walking again without difficulty.

Q. Have you had a walk where it has rained nearly constantly? How did you deal with that practically and mentally?

The one that I remember as particularly wet was the 1985 Yorkshire Dales 100 – I don’t think that it stopped raining much at all and it was also windy. The 1983 Snowdonia was also rather wet. Apart from these it has rarely rained for more than about 12 hours in all. At the other extreme I suffered considerably from heat on the 1992 Invicta and the 2018 Cinque Ports.

Q. Have you hallucinated towards the end of a walk?

No, though I know several people who have. It’s usually on the second night that walkers start to hallucinate – and I have never gone into the second night, though I can see this coming in the future!

Q. Are you more reliant on the route description or the GPX file?

I’ve never used GPX files. I carry a map case to display the route description on one side and the 1:25,000 OS map on the other.

Q. Do many people have a thirty-minute or so sleep at checkpoints? Do you recommend that?

I know that some people lie down for a while – if people feel they need it they should do so. I would not personally try sleeping unless I was in fairly bad shape.

Q. Have you been scared of a sheep / cow / snake / pig / seagull or similar on a challenge walk?

On the 2013 Camel-Teign I (and others) were attacked walking through a farmyard by an aggressive turkey! On another 100 I had to move slowly through a herd of cows that were blocking the exit gate to a field.

Q. How long do you take physically, and mentally, to recover after completing the 100?

I’m usually a bit stiff for a day or two, but no blisters since my first 100 when I wore heavy boots. My mind ceases to be fogged after a good night’s sleep.

Q. To those people who are thinking about taking part in their first challenge event, maybe just 18 miles, what advice would you give them?

Think of the walk in stages, keep in mind that it’s just 3 miles to the next checkpoint and not that it’s 14 miles to the end. Above all enjoy it: the views, the wildlife, the company, the checkpoints – and the satisfaction of finishing.

This page is all part of my effort to walk the 2021 LDWA 100.

This is part of my little series in asking those who have completed the 100 just how they did it, and whether it’s an entirely good idea. This is from Adam Dawson, known by many for his huge contribution to the LDWA’s web-site, who has a view on 100s that is more akin to mine than some other people who have answered questions. This is that I will only be doing one as they sound very difficult indeed. There are some people who tell me something like “you’ll love it, you’ll be doing it every year”. I bet I won’t….

Anyway, I digress, so back to Adam and his kind offer to answer my questions.

Q. When was your first 100?

Hadrian Hundred, 2019

Q. What training did you do before your first 100?

I recce’d the route over 5 days, a couple of months earlier. Then I tried to go on LDWA social walks a few weekends before the event. I also found running uphill was very good for developing stamina and the ability to “dig deep” in the tricky sections of the 100 itself

Q. When you finished your first 100, did you think you’d do another?

No, and I still think that. I don’t think that the human body is really designed to walk that far, and I don’t think it’s good for you to do it repeatedly. I have marshalled at the end of a couple of hundreds, and to be honest I was a bit shocked by the condition of some of those staggering over the finishing line.

Q. What would you pick at a checkpoint, two sausage rolls, one chicken bake or one steak bake?

Probably the steak bake if those were the only three choices. But ideally I’d like spaghetti and flapjack in the earlier checkpoints, and jelly and custard at the later ones (because it’s easier to eat and I found I was feeling nauseous towards the end)

Q. Do you carry an item of food or drink that helps you get round? I’m going with jelly babies…..

TBH, SIS energy gels keep me going between CP’s. I alternate between the regular ones, and the caffeinated ones

Q. How important are the marshals to you at checkpoints on longer challenge events?

Totally. 110%!

Q. Are there moments that you’ve nearly retired from a walk only to then finish? How do you get that mental strength?

No – I’ve never nearly retired from a challenge walk, though there have been occasions on LDPs after hours and hours of freezing rain when I’ve had work hard to find the strength to carry on. Especially when you know you only have a cold wet tent and damp sleeping bag to welcome you at the end. Usually I have to carry on as I’m in a remote spot with no escape, so dropping out really isn’t an option.

Q. Have you hallucinated towards the end of a walk?

No – but on the last stage of the Hadrian Hundred I noticed that I could hear snoring somewhere nearby. I realised that there wasn’t anyone around, and that actually it was me. I had fallen asleep while walking.

Q. Are you more reliant on the route description or the GPX file?

Almost exclusively the GPX. I read the RD for general background info about the route and to get the exact Grid Refs of the checkpoints, but that’s about all

Q. If the Wales 100 goes ahead in 2021, will it rain?

Yes

Q. What are your top tips for footcare on the 100?

Keep your feet dry. I wear a combination of sealskinz socks and goretex boots, which usually works well. Wet feet = blisters

Q. Have you been scared of a sheep / cow / snake / pig / seagull or similar on a challenge walk?

Not personally on a challenge walk. Though I remember on the Founders a few years ago we had to do a hasty route diversion after a farmer introduced a herd of frisky bullocks into a field right in the middle of the route, the day before the event. I have been mobbed by cows a couple of times on LDPs and it can be a bit of an alarming experience. Nowadays, I always try and plan an escape route when crossing a field of cows. Farmyard dogs can be a bit scary, too

Q. Is entering the 100 a good idea? Asking for a friend…..

Yes. You will feel a lifelong sense of satisfaction at having done it.

Q. To those people who are thinking about taking part in their first challenge event, maybe just 18 miles, what advice would you give them?

Don’t give up. Just think how good you will feel when you have finished. Also, you will never have to do it again!

This is a little bit of a holding page at the moment, but this is where we’ll put links to the podcasts that we’re doing for all of our training walks. The index to our plan to walk the 100 is at https://www.julianwhite.uk/ldwa-100/.

Before I start, a quick few words of explanation. The production standard on these isn’t great, we don’t know what we’re doing with audio and the content isn’t exactly Terry Wogan quality. We also don’t think our first efforts are really that exciting either, but the only way we can make them a bit better is to start doing them. So this is our best effort  🙂

There will also likely be a delay between the blog of a walk being posted (that’s much easier) and the podcast. This is primarily as we have to find time to record it and then for our professional sound engineer (Nathan) to publish them.

Oh, and we don’t have a podcast name yet either. Suggestions welcome, although it’ll be something like from 0 to 100, but perhaps with an edgier tone to it. There’s a limit to how edgy we can make these things though…

INTRO: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kSmJWQnbBUf2HxpDO-K0kYzgZeZJi5xC/view?usp=sharing

An introduction to what we’re doing.

WALK ONE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tBrprrhtnak_nXk00eYwTj65Vbr9iRKO/view?usp=sharing

The podcast that goes along with training walk one.

The main page for this walk is here, this blog post is just the section from Rockland St. Mary to Norwich Railway Station.

This photo is really just for Leon. DIGGER!

So, we’d now reached Rockland St. Mary and that’s Rockland Staithe, meaning that we’d completed 28 miles of the walk and it was 19:30.

From this time of the evening, the lighting started to work well for photos.

The beer garden of the Surlingham Ferry.

This was the final stretch of walk along the river and we were a little nervous that it might be just slightly overgrown in places and we could do with being stung by nettles. It actually proved to be fine, but by now, general fatigue was starting to creep in as we went past the 30-mile mark.

It was true that we were tired, but these were some beautiful views.

This is the RSPB reserve at Surlingham.

Saint Mary’s in Surlingham and by this stage, this was as near as I was prepared to go as I didn’t want to add on any extra distance to walk around it taking photos. Interesting round tower church, I’ll go back there at some point.

This looks narrower in the photo than I remember it.

Some of the photos as it started to get dark, I’m still very pleased by my new (well, relatively new) phone camera.

This is Billy Bluelight, the nickname of William Cullum (1859-1949) who here is decked out in his protective equipment. I’ll write more about him another time, as he’s an important local figure, but the salient point here is that he was known for his running. He’d run up and down the riverside path and offer a race to those on boats, claiming he could get there faster. He usually did manage to get there faster and would be rewarded by pennies and beer. And perhaps, this is a new summer job for Nathan. He could sit at the pub and offer to run up and down the path in reward for a pint at Reedham.

The statue is at Water’s Edge in Bramerton.

I don’t think Nathan will mind me saying that by this point, he was struggling a little, but his achievements in getting this far were still remarkable for someone who hasn’t done long-distance walking. I didn’t help by telling him there were no more fields, then there was this one that I’d forgotten about. I also made a slight navigational error, although fortunately we worked it out quickly and so only went around 20 metres wrong.

As can be seen, it was starting to get just very slightly dark. This photo was taken along Whitlingham Lane, which I’ve walked down many times and it just seems to go on and on…..

By this time, we were well and truly looking forwards to getting back home, this is Riverside in Norwich.

The Queen of Iceni pub in Norwich, operated by JD Wetherspoon, where the partitioning for their re-opening is already mostly in place.

And, this was the end, Norwich Railway Station, which we reached at 22:55, so we had beaten our target of 23:00 which we’d set a few hours before. Nathan was only moderately annoyed to see that there were no taxis at the railway station, which meant he had to walk home, adding another mile onto his route. I was pleased to only have a walk of half a mile back home.

So, did we enjoy it? Speaking for myself, the last ten miles weren’t the easiest, although I was in no pain and had absolutely no feet problems. For someone who gets blisters, this was very important and gives me lots of confidence for the 100. And writing this a couple of days on, and after checking with Nathan, we absolutely did enjoy it and want to do similar distances again. There’s a strange thing about these walks, there are times when they are a nightmare and you ask yourself why you’re not at the pub (well, obviously that’s an easy one to answer at the moment, but my point is more general), but when they’re over and you look back, there’s a certain fondness to the whole arrangement.

The highlights for me of the day were going on Reedham ferry for the first time, being delighted when sheep moved out of the way early on (thereby not attacking us), as well as having a beer in Loddon/Chedgrave (I get them muddled up). The walk was 37.87 miles (although Nathan and I did around a mile each outside of this to get to and from home) and it took 13 hours, 46 minutes and 32 seconds. That’s an average of 21.49 minutes per mile and a burn of 3,537 calories. The highest elevation during the walk was 50 feet (who says there are no hills in Norfolk?) which was towards Norwich and the lowest elevation was apparently -43 feet a few miles from Norwich. I have no idea how accurate those statistics are.

Unlike Nathan, I don’t pause Runkeeper when we break, so his time splits are more useful as my timings include breaks. However, we started off doing around 18 minutes per mile, slowed down by vegetation a bit and then we returned to those sort of times. Our fastest mile was thirteen miles in, when we achieved a mile in 16 minutes and 53 seconds.

Particular credit to Nathan for this, as he was having to power through, but our last three miles were done in an average of 17 minutes and 30 seconds (indeed our second-fastest mile of the day was the 37th mile at 17 minutes and 15 seconds) so we made one hell of a pace towards the end. Of course, we could have speeded this all up by not having as many breaks, but they’re part of the fun of a walk like this and we were never that focused on the time, as long as we were back by midnight. The least exciting part was the problems we had with a rash from the vegetation that we had ploughed through, which wasn’t ideal.

So, all told, this was a suitably exciting adventure. I think we’ll do this again……

The main page for this walk is here, this blog post is just the section from Chedgrave/Loddon to Rockland St. Mary.

To put this walk into context, Chedgrave is 15 miles into the Wherryman’s Way (if walking from Great Yarmouth) and we were expecting the walk to be 37 miles in total. As an aside, due to diversions, it was 38 miles, with Chedgrave being geographically halfway between Norwich and Great Yarmouth as the crow flies. But, due to the way the river bends and the path diverts, we still had some way to go, but we did feel that we were halfway. Even without realising I’ve split this walk into five separate posts, and I’m starting the fourth post here, well before the halfway mark.

I mention all that as I think at this stage we realised just how much more walking we had to do and the above photo was taken at 15:30. Any plan of arriving back by 22:00 was now not going to happen. In the above photo is a section of the mast from ‘Hathor’, a wherry which was built in 1905 and is still owned today by the Wherry Yacht Charter Charitable Trust.

And an information board about the Wherryman’s Way.

I always think of a certain car driver when I see that road sign.

The sweeping views of the Norfolk countryside begin again, that’s the River Chet on the right.

And a little further along the River Chet.

This is Hardley Cross (I’ve written about this before) and it marks the former boundary between Norwich and Great Yarmouth and it’s where the River Chet meets the River Yare.

Now walking along the River Yare again, the wide skies of Norfolk showed themselves.

Hardley Mill, which I’ve written about before.

The delights of Cantley sugar factory, which is of some note as it is visible for miles before you reach it and for miles after. It’s like the Eiffel Tower of Norfolk…..

The weather stayed dry after the torrential rain in Loddon, but it sometimes looked a little ominous. There was a stretch of walking that proved just a little annoying, which is the walk into Hardley Staithe. It’s not very far, but the GPX route forgets that it’s there, so it added on just over half a mile and we were now conscious that not only had our 22:00 arrival into Norwich gone awry, but that 23:00 was not looking hopeful. But, we persisted.

This is the Beauchamp Arms near to Claxton and was at the 25-mile mark for our walk. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening to it as there seems to be a large maintenance project going on and it’s clearly not going to re-open in its previous form for some considerable time. It’s a large building and has one of the best locations in the area, so perhaps they’re planning to take it a little upmarket.

I led most of the walk since I had the GPX route, but here Nathan takes charge.

And these are three photos of the walk into Rockland St. Mary, which is at the 28-mile mark. Certainly, tiredness had crept in by this stage of the adventure, although we were conscious that there were now only ten miles left. Given that Nathan had never walked more than 22 miles before, he’d now gone over a marathon distance and we had the advantage that a finish by 23:00 was now more likely than not. Our bravery was evident and we had just one long stretch to go to reach the beautiful city of Norwich.

The main page for this walk is here, this blog post is just the section from Reedham Ferry to Chedgrave/Loddon.

In my last blog post, I mentioned that it was just a short walk along the river towards Reedham Ferry. This transpired to be untrue, as the river section is closed and it required a diversion up via the village’s railway station. We tutted silently at this additional length (although to be fair, it wasn’t much), but it was a handy opportunity to take a quick look at the railway station.

Reedham railway station was built in 1844 on what was the county’s first railway line, the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway. Today, the line serves both the Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth branches.

More on this railway station in another post, but we meandered off the path to have a quick look at it.

Looking back to Reedham on the road which leads to the ferry.

In the background of this photo is Cantley sugar factory, more on which later.

This looks an old sign….

And we waited at the appropriate spot for our ferry journey across the river, this is the only river crossing for cars and pedestrians anywhere between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. I’ve never made this crossing before and I think it was a little bit of a highlight for us, although perhaps that just means we need to get out more….

There wasn’t a long wait for the chain ferry to return from the other side to pick us up.

The fare is 50p per pedestrian to cross the river and it can also carry up to three cars.

Nathan looking excited on the ferry.

The view from the ferry, with the current chain ferry dating to 1984, but there’s been a ferry crossing here since the seventeenth century.

Departing the ferry journey and we very much enjoyed our 60-second cruise. We chose not to upgrade to first class.

The spot by Reedham ferry is a nuisance in many ways, as there’s no way of crossing the next section of river to the next stretch of path, which means a long diversion round to Loddon and Chedgrave. So, contemplating this state of affairs, we had a rest and I had the remainder of my meal deal.

This is St. Gregory’s Church in Heckingham, more on which in another post, but it’s a twelfth-century redundant church (I mean it’s redundant now, it wasn’t redundant when they built it) which is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

Although we didn’t much mind that a couple of dogs came over to play, I do wonder whether perhaps owners should be more careful as for all they knew Nathan might have dognapped their pet. I hear this is a big thing in Suffolk…..

Holy Trinity Church in Loddon, which again I’ll come back to in a future post.

We had always intended for Loddon to be where we restocked, but since our water levels were high not much more was needed. As it was now quite warm, I decided that an ice cream would be my decadent treat (I say decadent, it was £1). We looked at the Magnums but thought they were too decadent at nearly £2 each, Nathan went with a Feast for £1. No expense spared….

One issue was that the shop took longer than we had anticipated as two elderly ladies were ahead of us in the aisle and were looking at nearly every item in great detail. A queue was forming behind and I really wanted Nathan to go and say something, but he was too polite. So we did the very British thing of staring at the back of their heads with a grumpy look, as this made us feel better.

A few weeks ago, I popped into the Premier store and obtained some banana bread beer from Eagle, which I rather liked. Unfortunately, they’d run out today, so Nathan opted for a Newcastle Brown Ale and I went for an Adnams Broadside (I say I went for, Nathan chose for me as I was outside finishing my ice cream and getting the best value from my £1 possible). That was the best choice of a bad lot, but they went down surprisingly well. It was just a little hard to entirely enjoy them to their fullest extent though as something akin to a tornado and Biblical flood hit the village during this moment.

On that note, we then left the metropolis of Loddon and Chedgrave, often referred to as the Las Vegas of Broadland, moving on to the next part of the walk.