Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Suffolk

Bungay Pub Day – Two Julians

After what we considered the great success of our days out in Dereham and North Walsham, Julian and I decided that it was Bungay that we should investigate for our next study tour. This is an area I haven’t much explored, only having visited the Green Dragon, but Julian has many more experiences of the hospitality venues in the town.

Excluding the golf club, there are five pubs in the town and we were able to visit all of them. They were the:

Fleece Inn

Castle Inn

Green Dragon

Three Tuns

The Chequers Inn

And I’m delighted to say that we enjoyed them all.

The excitement of lorrygate when the local denizens had their peaceful early afternoon rest impacted by a lorry struggling to get past another lorry. I say excitement, but it amused us for a few seconds. I accept that I in particular am easily pleased.

I took photos of numerous former pubs in the town, this is the Ship which was taken over by Lacon’s in 1923. I’ll get another post written at some stage about the pubs that have been lost in Bungay, there seem to be some intriguing tales from what I’ve been reading about some of them.

We had chance to look around the local church, but more about that in a separate post. This series of posts is far more about the beer without me getting distracted once again by church history.

Another grand building lost to the hospitality trade, this was the King’s Head Hotel.

And evidence of another one lost…..

There’s a story here, but I’m not quite sure what it is.

I was suitably humoured by this, it’s very true.

Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to enter the castle, but I took this photo over the fence so that’ll have to do.

It’s clearly important to explain the principles of the 24 hour clock to local potential bus passengers.

Our bus back turned up late, for reasons unknown, but just after First Bus had sent me a message on Twitter saying they were looking for it. We arrived safely back in Norwich in one piece and only a little after schedule. Fortunately we weren’t back too late as Julian and I needed to pop out to visit some Norwich pubs in the evening, as our study tours are never ending. I was especially fond of the Fleece Inn for its food and ambience, but all of the pubs had inviting atmospheres and staff who offered us a friendly welcome, it was certainly a rewarding day in that regard.

The next visit will be to Aylsham and we’re both looking forwards to it as we don’t get out much.

May 23, 2023
Bungay Pub Day – The Chequers Inn

The fifth and final pub to visit on our day trip to Bungay was The Chequers Inn, located on Bridge Street, which has been trading in some form since the seventeenth century although the bulk of the current building is from the eighteenth century. We had visited earlier on in the day to find it closed, but that was because CAMRA’s Whatpub was a little more aspirational about the venue’s opening times than the pub itself. As an aside and sort of a fun fact that I’ve learned from CAMRA, apparently “some pubs displayed the sign to indicate that they would change money or acted as bankers in some way”.

The bar area feels modern and contemporary, with the welcome from the staff member being immediate and friendly. As can be seen from the blackboards, they have regular live music including from Lee Vasey. Julian said that he remembered the pub when it was something of a real ale destination pub, but CAMRA notes that it has been under new ownership since early 2022. Julian’s reminiscences seem accurate though, as the pub was listed in the 2001 Good Beer Guide when it had six real ales and an annual beer festival going on.

There were three real ales on, including two from the local Bull of the Woods brewery, the Rock Steady and the Satan’s Session. I couldn’t find the beer on Untappd, so I’ve gone with it likely being the Satanic Majesty which has the same ABV. It was well kept and at the appropriate temperature, a basic and inoffensive session bitter. I was pleased to see the beers from the local brewery, as I think I’m right in recollecting that it was only this pub that had any on.

This was a fine way to end our pub excursion, some different ales to try and a comfortable atmosphere. Some recent reviews say that food is offered occasionally, but there was nothing evident when we visited so it might just be for special occasions. It has something of a traditional feel to it, definitely worth popping in for anyone visiting Bungay.

May 23, 2023
Bungay Pub Day – Three Tuns

The fourth pub of our day out was the Three Tuns, a substantial building which was formerly a hotel and coaching inn. CAMRA note that there has been a hospitality venue here since 1540, although a new building was required after the 1688 fire.

As an aside, I’d suggest that this was a sub-optimal night for Bungay.

I’m not sure what I expected, but I really rather liked the grand room when we entered the pub. The service was immediate and helpful, with two real ales available. I went for the Trawlerboys from Green Jack which wasn’t quite at its best, but not in such a state I needed to return it. I was pleased that the pub accepted cards, as indeed did all of the town’s pubs, which made matters easier since neither of us had any cash.

For those who like to watch television, there is a little arrangement of sofas in front of one.

Not an ideal photo due to the lighting, but this is the main bar area. This was one of those pubs where everyone seemed to know each other, or at least other than these two strangers from Norwich, but there was nothing unwelcoming at any time.

The pool room.

The other side of the building, which is apparently one of the most haunted in the town. For a long time there were medieval banquets held in the cellar, but the building was put up for sale for £375,000 in 2008 by Admiral Taverns who ended the leases of the banquet company and a fancy dress company. It was purchased in 2009 by Paul Trevitt, but he stepped back in 2020 and defined as pub as so dangerous that he needed a riot helmet. I mean, I have been in pubs like that in the past, but it’s not ideal is it?

The external signage, which has been here for twenty years, harks back to a different time in the venue’s history. If there are now no lunches, morning coffees or medieval banquets it seems just a little out of place.

The on-line reviews for the pub are mixed, but with the pub owner saying that he felt the venue was dangerous, that certainly provides me with a different proposition in terms of writing positively about it. To be fair, he’s now apparently appointed a pub manager to bring the venue under control, but I can see the challenging edge that they have here. There’s no food offered but so much potential given the space that there is, although they have now launched karaoke on the weekends which seems brave to say the least.

Unfortunately, I imagine the interior would need an expensive restoration now and as it’s a listed building, that would be quite the project. And anyway, the ghosts might not like it. Although if there is some modernisation, the owner had better not make the mistake of a previous owner who was fined £8,000 in 2008 for removing bits of masonry from the cellar. He said that he hadn’t realised that the building was listed. The court weren’t impressed.

I enjoyed this pub though, it’s got a long heritage, there’s a strong community feel and the prices are towards the lower end of the scale. I’m surprised that the owner hasn’t made more use of the sizeable building that he has available, but maybe there’s a long-term plan or perhaps it’s just nicely ticking over. It’s quite a way from the coaching inn that it once was, but it’s still open which is more than can be said for plenty of other pubs in the town.

May 23, 2023
Bungay Pub Day – Green Dragon

This was the third pub that Julian and I visited on our day trip to Bungay and I think it’s the only one in the town that I’ve been in before. I can’t claim to have been a regular, but it’s near to where we’ve been canoeing before and I also came here whilst I was waiting for a bus to Southwold. If it had a major bus interchange hub like North Walsham I might not have needed to find a pub to wait at, but I won’t digress here.

Formally the Horse & Groom pub, these are the bar and smoke room entrances.

The beer options, the one hidden by the light is the Gold and I don’t think that they had any guest beers on when we visited. As the board suggests, they’ve been trading under this pub name since 1991 when the pub brewery was established by brothers Robert and William Pickard. Their brewing equipment is at the rear of the pub and they also do tours if contacted in advance. Given the number of former brewpubs that used to exist, this feels like a particularly veritable venue where beer is brewed on-site and it’s the only one now remaining in the town.

What I assume is one of the pub’s earlier signs.

I went for the Strong Mild.

I felt that a food and beer pairing was essential here. The beer was smooth and rich, a very agreeable mild and a beer style that I’d like to see more of. I liked these crisps incidentally, I’ve never had them before.

Julian in his alcove and note that he’s always ready to take a photograph with minimal notice.

The food menu, served between Thursdays and Saturdays, although they seem to also have food trucks on some Sundays. There look like some suitably interesting options on there, but we had already eaten in the Fleece and so didn’t partake on this occasion.

This is the only pub in Bungay which is listed in the Good Beer Guide and it has also won numerous CAMRA awards. Well-reviewed on-line, it’s a traditional pub which doesn’t feel unnecessarily staid. The service was polite and helpful, there was a relaxed and inviting feel with plenty of customers in the large outdoor drinking area. All rather lovely.

May 23, 2023
Bungay Pub Day – Castle Inn (formerly known as the White Lion)

This was the second Bungay venue of the day for us and just writing for me, it seems a little bit of a shame that relatively recently the White Lion was renamed to be the Castle Inn, as it has been a hospitality venue with the White Lion name since the sixteenth century. Although under blue paint, that old name and the Lacon’s Brewery is still prominent to this day and it looked to me at first sight a little muddled especially when there is Three Cooks branding on the signage as well. I imagine that the listed building status is likely the biggest limitation here rather than anything else.

The real ales are on the reverse of the central bar, with the only two other customers in the venue sitting right in front of them hence this zoomed in photo. They had Deuchars and Gone Fishing from Green Jack Brewing, with the prices being reasonable. The service was attentive and friendly, with the atmosphere feeling inviting.

I went for the Gone Fishing from Green Jack Brewery and it tasted as expected and was at the appropriate temperature. It was a peaceful atmosphere in which to enjoy a drink, so we lingered here for a little while. We were thanked when leaving and I liked the pleasant environment that they’ve created here.

Those just wanting a drink are absolutely welcome, but the interior has been set up primarily as a restaurant. There are also four rooms available for those who want to stay overnight and I particularly like how much history about their venue is on their web-site. I noted that they mention the 1750s advertising of rooms mentioned the “latest designs in wallpaper”.

The desserts menu and the other part of the restaurant. I suppose I yearn for the feel of how this must have been in the past, a vibrant pub with bustling trade, but I can’t unfortunately find any old interior photos. Historically this appears to have been a substantial venue with numerous bedrooms, extensive stabling, a bowling green and a large yard.

The venue doesn’t have a menu I can find on-line, but there is one posted up at the front of the pub. They’re running with two menus, one primarily Asian meals and one primarily traditional British food. This seems to be provided by the Three Cooks who have moved from their previous restaurant located a little further down the road. I’m sure that the menus are delicious and everything is beautifully prepared, but with no prior knowledge I’m always a little nervous when there are two completely different menus as I’d rather they just put forward their best food. I’m also, if I’m being honest, not entirely confident about the “kitchen hours may vary” and the use of the word “approximately” as it sounds as though they’re often quiet and so stop serving food early. I’ve always been one for clarity, I just like knowing when a venue opens and closes, along with when the food will be available.

Lovely as the welcome was, I didn’t fully get to grips with this venue, it was a warm and sunny day in late May with a spring menu being advertised alongside a winter themed A-Board. The on-line reviews are broadly positive but still a little mixed for the food, but the accommodation element is well reviewed and it seems well cared for. Looking at the photos on the venue’s web-site, one of the four rooms has the beds in the arches of the old bread proving oven which seems a marvellous piece of history. I can imagine there’s plenty of character in the rooms and it’d be a quaint and very British place to say.

Regardless of my slight confusion over branding, the service was friendly, there were a couple of real ales and the venue was warm and comfortable. They’ve ensured that drinkers are welcome, even though it’s not their main emphasis, and it’ll be interesting to see how the restaurant element develops. As an aside, the venue is also closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we were fortunate that this wasn’t one of our Wednesday sojourns.

May 21, 2023
Bungay Pub Day – Fleece Inn

First in our visit to every pub in Bungay was the Fleece Inn which has been a hospitality venue since the fifteenth century. CAMRA note that it has been known as the Fleece since 1711, having previously been known as the Cross Keys and that seems an acceptable amount of times to change a pub name. Until recently it was part of the Adnams estate, but it now appears to be free trade.

There’s been a sensitive modernisation recently which has given the interior a clean look without impacting negatively on the heritage of the building. Julian has several stories about this venue from years gone by, but they wouldn’t be at all suitable for this blog.

There were three real ales available, Amarillo from Tindall Brewery, Nightingale from Green Jack and Greene King IPA. This seemed to be a reasonable choice from three different breweries and I hadn’t had the Amarillo before. Service was immediate and friendly, with some gentle upselling going on to offer us food. As this seemed a positively good idea given we needed sustenance after our bus journey, we decided to look at the menus.

The nibbles and starters from the seasonal all-day menu.

The mains and also the lunch menu. Given how prices have been increasing recently, these seemed entirely reasonable, especially as they’ve made a substantial effort to buy from local suppliers and they’ve listed those on their web-site. The venue was moderately busy, sufficiently full to suggest to us that the food was likely to not disappoint.

The Amarillo from Tindall Brewery was well kept and refreshing.

The Nightingale beer from Green Jack was equally well kept and complemented the Ploughman’s rather nicely. Homemade bread, blue cheese, Cheddar cheese, celery, grapes, chutney, small pickled onions, salad and ham. For the price point charged, this was most certainly most agreeable. The cheeses had a depth of flavour, the ham was salted and tasty, the bread was warm and soft, this felt like an appropriate meal for such an historic venue. Julian went for the home glazed ham, bubble & squeak and a poached egg and seemed equally as content with his meal.

We didn’t partake, but there was also a dessert menu.

We sat in the snug area which is to the front of the pub and a fair way below street level so we were looking up at people walking by. This structural history has meant disabled access is possible only through the rear of the building, with an old door visible at the rear of the photo in the snug area.

There’s another seating area to the front of the building. The on-line reviews are broadly positive, although their spell of responding to reviews in a quite direct manner has seemingly passed, which is a shame from a reader’s point of view. There were no negatives that I noticed, this was a welcoming and warm venue with helpful staff and a comfortable environment. Pricing was reasonable, the menu was intriguing and extensive with the quality of the food being high. It set quite a high bar for the four remaining pubs in the town that we were then going on to visit.

May 21, 2023
Lowestoft – Lowestoft Tandoori

Excuse the only occasional blog posting at the moment, I’m not doing anything of even slight note in the main, but travels will continue later this month.

As I’m around for a couple of weeks, Richard had a brilliant idea of suggesting going to the Lowestoft Tandoori. He had visited before and enjoyed it, and since it’s my favourite cuisine, it seemed worth a visit. Richard feared that it might not match expectations on his return, that’s always the danger of returning somewhere and it not quite matching up to previous experiences. However, it was well reviewed on-line and I was optimistic.

The welcome was immediate and felt authentic, with Richard’s idea of booking a table being most sensible since it was otherwise full. The relatively small space of the restaurant did surprise me slightly, but they’ve carved it up neatly so that no table intrudes into the privacy of another. We were offered poppadoms and I immediately said yes, forgetting whether to check with Richard, but he rarely needs much convincing on matters such as this.

This is the finest array of dips, condiments, sauces, or whatever you want to call them, that I’ve seen in an Indian restaurant. I’ve had something of an obsession with Indian food since going there many years ago, with my aim of visiting an Indian restaurant in every country only losing its pace since I keep going back to the same countries. I understand that the British version of Indian cuisine is inevitably different, but there was a passion here on detail and that was evident whether measured by the variety of condiments or by the quality of them.

And there was no shortage of cucumber and onion salad, and when we finished that one, they brought over another bowl. It could have done with some tomato in it, but that’s about as critical as I’m going to get with this post. I think we might have got a little swept along with the excitement of poppadoms, which is something that I think is a thing, and we (well, I, again without consultation with Richard) ordered more.

Indian restaurants should have mango lassi, this is a key element that I want to see. I feared they didn’t serve them here, but not only did they serve them, that presentation is on a level I’d expect from a fine dining restaurant. Even Th@li, a rather decadent central London Indian restaurant which is well reviewed other on Google for reasons unknown, wasn’t operating to these high standards. The taste matched the presentation, this was nicely done and the first time I’ve had a little umbrella on my mango lassi.

One of the interesting quirks of this restaurant is that they give quite a lot of stuff away free of charge, indeed, on such a regular basis that the owners must carefully price it into the rest of the meal. I say carefully, but the prices here are by no means expensive, indeed, I thought they were very reasonable. We each ordered a curry, a naan bread and a rice, but yet they came and gave us, without charge, a lamb & beef dish, a side of onion bhajis and a side of Bombay potatoes. Let’s just say that Richard took a doggy bag home with him, there was too much food for us to eat. But, I very much liked the concept of ensuring we had more than enough. It’s a concept incidentally that the Five Guys chain sort of have, they deliberately try and over-supply food to make it seem like extra value, although even they don’t give away quite so much.

It was rather difficult to photograph everything as they kept bringing more things, it was like a birthday with more presents appearing.

The peshwari naans arrived last, and I fear that we probably should have got one between us. But, back to the food, I had gone for the South Indian Garlic Naga Chilli Chicken, which wasn’t quite as spicy hot as I had expected, but it had a depth of flavour to it from the garlic, green chilli and peppers. The portion size was generous, although that is a slightly moot point given the number of sides that they brought over. The lemon rice was suitably lemony and the service remained attentive, polite and efficient. The onion bhajis were excellent, crispy on the exterior with a rich taste on the interior, and a generous side salad to go with it. I will confess to eating a chunk of that side salad, despite Richard promising to keep that a secret.

The first dessert which was brought along free of charge. Despite the restaurant being small, there were no noise issues, with the atmosphere feeling vibrant but not loud. Richard created quite a mess on the tablecloth, but like the professionals that they were, the staff didn’t say anything.

And the second free dessert….. There were also complimentary chocolates with the bill, just in case we hadn’t had enough. It’s such a clever concept, as those desserts likely don’t cost much, but it’s such a kind gesture that it is a final positive element to the entire visit. I wasn’t surprised that two staff members said goodbye as we were leaving, they were pro-active and efficient throughout the meal.

The reviews for this restaurant are some of the best that I’ve seen, it’s top on TripAdvisor for the local area and it’s sitting on 4.8 on Google Reviews. Given that they do deliveries and takeaways, which often get lower scores, it’s difficult to imagine any restaurant getting a higher rating. And they’ve sustained these positive reviews for years, so it’s no wonder that advance reservations are recommended. They have picked up a few reviews that they placed down items and demanded payment for them at the end of the meal, but I suspect those customers were mistaken, they just hadn’t realised how generous the restaurant was being.

I am keen though to ensure that standards are maintained, so I intend to go again, and I’ve already started hassling my friend Nathan to go there in a few weeks. Then I’ll start on other friends, as I feel I might be popping back here on a regular basis. I can think of few other restaurants where the quality of service is so professional, so all really rather lovely.

August 7, 2022
Saturday and Sunday : LDWA Boat Trip Along the Orwell

There was little of consequence on Saturday because I was far too focused on the excitement of the LDWA boat trip that was taking place on the Sunday. There’s the usual heap of photos at https://flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720300345889 for anyone who wants to trawl through them all.

My friend Liam, who is pub obsessed, demanded that we go to Briarbank, even if it meant missing the pre boat trip walk, so I decided that we’d better do that to keep him happy. I went here a few months ago, it’s a laid-back and friendly venue which would be easy to miss. And here’s a quiz question, there’s a subtle hint in the photo as to what this building used to be.

Here’s the answer and well done to anyone who noticed what was above the door in the previous photo.

The frontage of the building today. They’ve got a pleasant outside area I noticed later on and I enjoyed my visit, the Briar Cobnut brown ale was well-kept and quite malty.

Here was the vessel for the day, the Orwell Lady. This boat trip was paid for by Norfolk & Suffolk LDWA as part of the national organisation’s 50th birthday and I think 40 or so members came along for the journey. I had thought that the boat was a bit bigger than it was, but it’s a vessel with an interesting history, it was once a Thames River cruiser which was put together in 1979. It operated from Westminster Pier for a decade, then moved to Brownsea Island near Poole and has been meandering around Ipswich since 2001.

There’s the new N&S chair in the centre, Hilary, taking control after Hayley (on the left) yelled at everyone to be quiet. She’s good at getting quiet is that Hayley!

And we’re off! The captain, or whatever he’s called, gave a running commentary during the day of things to look out for.

We had to go into a lock to get onto the Orwell from the Marina and there was a bit of a queue for that, so we did a little tour of the harbour first. I remember Ipswich marina as an industrial and quite derelict area nearly two decades ago, it has very much changed to be really quite decadent now.

This is the grand building of the Old Customs House, originally built in 1845, replacing the previous building was which thought to have been there for over 400 years.

Into the lock. As Alan Partridge would say, it’s all happening now. Susanna was on the vessel and I was surprised that she hadn’t been to Ipswich before, as she’s been just about everywhere. I was impressed that she wanted to see the Wolsey Gateway, it’s one of the treasures of Ipswich that I’ve thought doesn’t get the recognition that it deserves. Ipswich could have been very different today if Wolsey’s plans for his Ipswich college had come to fruition, it could have perhaps been more like Cambridge and Oxford. The Gateway is a remarkable survivor and was intended to be the entrance from the river into the college, which itself was never built.

All of these containers are courtesy of Matt Hancock, hundreds of them, all with PPE waiting to be destroyed.

I’ve walked along the riverbank before, and gone over the Orwell Bridge in a car, but I’ve never been in a boat thing that goes underneath the bridge.

A little island with some fishermen.

And a hawk’s box, or some sort of bird like that. I’m pleased at the zoom on my camera, this is the first time that I’ve properly tried it out on something I wanted to see. What I wanted to see wasn’t there, but I guess that’s not quite the point.

I don’t think that I’d want a yacht, it looks a right hassle to maintain and manoeuvre about. I imagine it’s a very expensive hobby as well, so I think I’ll stick to craft beer where I’ve got no fears of capsizing. Well, I hope not anyway.

Look at the size of this container ship operated by Maersk. I remember being close to container ships in Seattle harbour when I went on a little boat trip there, but I don’t recall ships any of this size. Apparently this can hold several thousand containers and it still amazes me that the thing can still float with all that weight.

The cranes for taking containers on and off ships.

We didn’t unfortunately get up the powerboat speeds of when a little group of us went on the Thames Rocket a few months back.

Harwich and its lifeboat station, which is one that Liam didn’t build.

It’s a long time I’ve been to Harwich, I fancy another visit at some point. The geography of the situation, namely the big river in the way, makes it harder for me to get to than Felixstowe, despite them being so close on the map.

There was some kind of emergency, so this little boat thing was allowed to travel at speed ahead of us.

There’s Simon, Jane and Liam. Richard managed to break one arm off of his sunglasses as a party trick to amuse people which was kind of him.

Back under the Orwell Bridge, with the whole trip having taken around three hours.

The Cliff Brewery building originally constructed in 1896 and not in very good shape at the moment. There are plans to get on and fix this building up, but they need to hurry up before it just falls down. There’s more about this building on the Ipswich Maritime Trust web-site.

Sitting in the lock waiting to re-enter Ipswich Marina harbour, it’s surprising (to me anyway) how quickly the water level rises but without being able to feel it.

Anyway, all in all a very lovely day, thanks to Simon and Hilary for organising this trip, a lovely way of commemorating the LDWA’s 50th birthday. I’m pleased to say that no-one fell overboard, no-one was seasick and everyone was actually quite brave. It was also lovely to catch up on gossip, which I think was the main function of the day really.

Liam had never been to Tim Hortons, so we had a little visit on the way back to their new Ipswich outlet.

I quite like the chain, although they’re expanding quickly and I wonder just how different their offering is. Anyway, this is a bit of an aside to the rest of my post about the boat trip, but I enjoyed my chicken strips anyway.

July 7, 2022
Sunday : Rodent Wriggle LDWA Challenge Event

There was excitement in the air on Sunday 8 May 2022, as Norfolk & Suffolk LDWA had a new challenge event, the Rodent Wriggle. It takes its name as the event meanders around the River Rat, with three different distances available for entrants which were 13, 23 and 31 miles. We had around 180 people taking part across the different lengths, with the longest one being 50km in honour of the LDWA being 50 this year. The shorter distance was to encourage some people to enter who wanted to experience how the event worked, and we were pleased by their feedback.

The calm before the storm. We arrived early at around 06:30 and it does feel odd being in such a quiet location in the knowledge that it will be absolutely packed within an hour or so with excited entrants getting a hot drink and biscuit before their adventure begins.

I had a little look around the village hill, whilst Richard was setting up. It’s important someone takes charge of proceedings and Richard was very useful support during the day when I was very busy.

A map of the three different distances. For anyone interested in the exact routes, the GPX files and the route descriptions are at https://ldwa.org.uk/NorfolkAndSuffolk/W/1409/n-s-events.html.

All ready in the technology corner.

Waiting for the off. I have to mention here that I was at the registration desk all day there aren’t photos from me from around the event, and I was so rushed off my feet there aren’t that many from the hall either.

There’s a generous amount of food and drink available throughout the event at numerous checkpoints, all staffed by enthusiastic volunteers. The HQ seemed to acquire a heap of bananas and not many crisps, but I’m pleased to say that they did make their way to the end eventually.

Incidentally, I knew that there were crisps at a checkpoint as Peter put this on the organiser’s WhatsApp group to annoy me….

The meal for those completing the event was a jacket potato with a choice of toppings, along with a dessert option as well. I selflessly volunteered to test the first jacket potato in the morning that was put in to check the oven was working, which proved to be a handy breakfast to sustain me through to lunch. Incidentally, as the group’s official food tester, I don’t mind checking whether everything is up to standard (terms and conditions apply here, there are some things that I don’t bother testing, such as bananas).

Simon H (who took this photo) managed to professionally deal with the Rattlesden village fete rubber duck race which was on the route of the event, but his swift actions prevented a pile-up of tourists and walkers. That seemed to be the only little unexpected organisational challenge that we experienced, but we had plenty of highly trained marshals on the ground ready to deal with any other issues such as this.

At the end of the event, this is Susanna taking control of the camera taking photos of the very brave entrants from Hike Norfolk.

Like watching an artist at work with her ordering about 🙂 Here are Susan, Heather, Ian, Maggie and Graham, with Clive about to appear on the scene. They all completed the 23 mile distance, but I have to note the even more exceptional bravery from Sarah, Andy and Mel, who completed the 31 miles. I suspect Sarah will be in with a shot of winning the “bravest walker of the year” trophy at the Hike Norfolk Christmas meal, a very prestigious honour that is currently held by me (did I mention I walked 100 miles in 2021?). But, I’d better add that it’s all about enjoying the day, it’s not about the distance walked or the speed, it’s all a personal challenge (although walking 100 miles is particularly brave).

Back in and I know how delighted the organisers were with the feedback, and I’m hopeful that the event will be repeated given what entrants told us about their positive experiences of the event. Those who walked the longer distance got to see ten different churches, a really quite marvellous walk to see that much heritage. Some of the entrants mentioned to me that they’d found time to have a quick look around them all, or at least the churchyards, I was delighted to hear that. We also ensured that there weren’t too many hills, they can go off to South Wales if they want to climb mountains.

And everyone who completes the event gets a certificate as a permanent reminder of their brave adventure in Suffolk. Thanks of course to all of the volunteer marshals at the Rodent Wriggle, it wouldn’t have been possible to hold it without their help. But particular mention to Nicolas and Simon, who organised the entire event and planned the route, which is no small achievement. And Richard, who is getting ever better at the registration desk, and I think I’m ready to let him have more responsibilities at the next event, which will include moving the certificates from the printer to the tables.

For anyone interested in challenge events, give them a go, they’re a marvellous day out for not much money. Food and drink is provided, along with a route description and GPX, with numerous checkpoints along the way. We didn’t have any issues with anyone getting lost or going off-course, but there is back-up available if anyone needs help along the way. We have some shorter distances for those who want to get started and this is absolutely not a race, it’s just about enjoying the countryside. For those who want to walk with others, there’s lots of opportunities for that on the day, so it can be as social (or not) as an individual would like. More information about the LDWA is available at http://www.ldwa.org.uk/.

May 30, 2022
Eye – Eye Airfield Industrial Estate Heap of Containers

Well, this is slightly less than beautiful….. We drove by (well, my friend Liam drove, I sat in the passenger seat and had a rest for the entire journey) this little arrangement at the Eye Airfield Industrial Estate at the weekend. It’s not really ideal and the BBC have now published an article about the containers, which are apparently mostly empty and are also at other sites in Suffolk. There were rumours that it contained heaps of useless PPE equipment that the Government had purchased, but it seems that these stories aren’t true.

November 10, 2021