Sunny Sheringham

I decided to be energetic this weekend and go for a walk on both Saturday and Sunday. I was them particularly impressed with myself that I stuck to this resolution despite the news that Sunday was to be the hottest day of the year so far, with the mercury hitting the 29 degree mark. I took myself off to Sheringham to take on one of the walks in the Bittern Line Railway Rambles book.

The route started at Sheringham train station and took me straight through the town and on to the seafront. It was at this point I started to realise just how much I have enjoyed the almost deserted nature of the areas I've walked in so far. It being a weekend in June the town was full of families enjoying the sunshine, meaning that for the first mile or so it was pretty difficult to build up any sort of a pace.

Soon, however the trail took me away from the seafront and up to Beeston Bump where some good views of the coast line open up. It was good to find myself having the opportunity to do a bit of uphill walking, even if Beeston Bump isn't nearly as big as I remember it seeming as I was growing up!

view from the, not as tall as I remember it, Beeston Bump

The route then took me back down 'The Bump' and past the edge of the Beeston Regis nature trail before taking me across the railway line and into Beeston common, past Beeston Priory. The common was unlike landscape I've walked through before, I could certainly hear a lot of nature (rattling, clicking, buzzing etc) but I couldn't quite see it which I did find slightly un-nerving....

Beeston Priory

After the common I moved into Sheringham woods, which I have to say is the only part of the walk that slightly unnerved me. It seemed very isolated which put me on edge at first, I then struggled to follow the directions in the book which is surprising as I've always found them so easy to follow on every other walk I've done. The main problem was that there had obviously been significant tree fall since the book was written, meaning that working out what was and what wasn't a path was difficult, and I wasn't able to find the promised blue waymarkers, maybe they were on the fallen trees! I took the decision to find my way out of the woods and then try to find my way to the next part of the directions. I was then extremely impressed with myself that I had only left the woods a path earlier than I should have so finding my way onto the next marker was straightforward.

is that my path???

The route continued along a grassy path into Upper Sheringham and through the village into the stunning scenery of Sheringham Park, a National Trust attraction. I then walked through, past Sheringham Hall and up a steep climb to 'The Gazebo' - a tall viewing tower giving great views of the North Norfolk coast which were particularly spectacular in the sunshine. Following this I headed to the cliff-top path to head back into Sheringham.

view from The Gazebo

I followed the coast path back into Sheringham, admiring the see views. At one point I was treated to some air acrobatics from two bi-planes circling the cliff top which was an unexpected bit of drama for the afternoon. The path led me back to the seafront and therefore once again the crowds. All in all though a lovely walk with some spectacular views made all the better by the bright sunshine and fantastically blue skies. I'd definately do this walk again, although probably on a cooler, less busy day. I did however learn from this walk that it really isn't a good idea to forget your hat on the hottest day of the year, and that even if you want to build up a good pace you really need to stop and reapply your sun cream - suffering on both counts now.....

beautiful

Didn't see that coming......

The first of this week's two weekend walks was to explore some more of Wherryman's Way - starting at Reedham, heading towards Great Yarmouth before turning round at the 4 mile point and ending back at Reedham Ferry for a well deserved sit down and a drink at the pub.

We started the day with breakfast at the, relatively, new House cafe on St Benedicts. A great discovery and we will definately be returning. It turns out coffee and a cheese toastie is pretty much the perfect way to fuel up ready for a long walk. Shame I won't be able to visit at the Ben Nevis start of the actual walk!

the perfect start to a lovely walk......

After breakfast we caught the train to Reedham and after a short 25 minute journey arrived at Reedham and made the short walk down to the river at Reedham Ferry before picking up Wherryman's Way and following the path of the river towards Great Yarmouth for just over 4 miles. The weather was almost perfect for walking, a nice cool breeze and although rain seemed to be threatening it never quite reached. We were impressed by the number of mills we passed along the way - from the abandoned and crumbling to the one that had been turned into an impressive house. Towards our turning point we could just see in the distance a few traditional mills, back dropped by a wind farm in the distance, a great view of old and new.

wind farm in the distance behind a more traditional wind mill

On the way back to Reedham Ferry we spotted in the distance two people coming towards us, an usual sight as we'd barely seen anyone since we set out, as is quite usual for the walks I have completed to date. Even more unusual however was the fact that one of the two was carrying a microphone! It transpired they were from Future Radio and doing a piece on The Broads and so asked us a few questions. A very bizarre, unexpected (but welcome) interlude for our walk!

unexpected enocounter....

I did unfortunately manage to have another hypo on this walk, another wake up call that I cannot forget diabetes entirely while training. Was quickly sorted though and all too soon we were back at Reedham Ferry to enjoy a very welcome drink outside the Reedham Ferry pub, watching the boats go past before returning to the station and Norwich. In total an enjoyable 9 mile walk. Having now completed several sections of Wherryman's Way I'm determined to do the whole distance, even if it's in sections, before the summer is out.

Gas Hill

For anyone who has trained for anything walking, running or cycling related in Norwich Gas Hill doesn't need any introduction. An unfeasibly steep hill not far from the cathedral. In an attempt to start to introduce more hills to my training I've now taken to visiting Gas Hill on my lunch break, and walking up and down for as long as I have time for - currently I'm up to five 'up and downs'. Also on the days I don't go to the gym I'm taking a slight detor and walking home via Grapes Hill. Here's hoping the introduction of a bit more hill work has a positive effect on my training..... 

Uh Oh Hypo....

Just a short (4.5) mile walk for me this weekend as I've been away. We went to explore the various arrowed walks in the woods around Whittlingham. One of the first sights was a sign saying 'danger, wasp nest' so we took care to avoid that route and, as Hetal called it, a 'My Girl incident'.

It's been quite a wet weekend so the walk gave me the opportunity to test out the waterproofness of my new jacket - I was pleased with the result although I need to get to grips with arranging the hood so I can actually see/hear things! It was a nice route, various forest paths with regular 'ups and downs' which is a bit of a novelty for me and something I need to find more of. About halfway through we came across a hidden adventure playground, which of course we felt obliged to try out.....

The one downside of this walk was that, about 2/3 of the way through I had a hypo, my first 3 Peaks training hypo. I hit 3.2 which ,although low, isn't dreadfully low but I tested about 10minutes after eating several mouthfuls of Percy Pigs so I suspect I had been even lower. As I was only planning a short walk I, maybe over-confidently, hadn't taken all the usual hypo treatments that I usually carry with me. I had jelly babies so was fine but it was a bit of a wake up call to remind me to prepare better in the future......

Singing Cher to cows....

First things first, I saw the topless Worzel Gummidge again! This was more or less in the same place as last time so I don't think he's stalking me. I really want to take a photo so everyone can see the likeness but I can't think of a polite way to say 'you look like Worzel Gummidge, can I take your photo to put on line please?' (I'll work on it!)

Today's walk started at Reedham, following a family lunch at the Reedham Ferry pub. I then followed the river along the flood banks to Cantley and Buckenham (beside the marshes that I walked along before), finishing in Brundall, a total of 10.2 miles. Much of the walk was the sam route I've taken before, but I was surprised to see how much difference a few weeks had made to the landscape, the clear paths I followed before are now overgrown, if I hadn't been there before I'd have struggled to believe I was going the wrong way. This wasn't helped by the fact that, I presume, a farmer had decided to chain up one of the gates I had to go through meaning that I needed to do a rather impressive vault over it!

I complained before about the holes in the ground which I nearly fell into:

This had been replaced by:

Unfortunately the holes were still there, I just couldn't see them so I did have a few, too close for comfort, stumbles along the way.

This route was more or less deserted, I think I passed two people in total. Those of you who know me will be aware that I am tone deaf and therefore not normally allowed to sing in front of people. In an attempt to make the walk go quicker I thought I'd take advantage of the solitude and belt out a few hits - it turns out I can do quite a mean Cher impression that the cows seemed to appreciate! One thing I didn't account for though was the fact that, on the other side of the overgrown reeds was a rather busy river, with a lot of boats going up and down. So, I would like to apologise to anyone who found their peaceful outing on The Broads disturbed by my over enthusiastic Cher and Beyonce routines.....
There was the usual mix of wilelife enroute, with many birds I simply don't recognise. Was quite excited to see that the swans on nests I saw last time had been replaced by lines of cygnets. There were a lot of butterflies fluttering around as well as dragonflies, including these funky blue ones which I'm sure would glow in the dark....

All in a good walk, although it is some time since I did one of this length so I think I'm going to feel it in the morning.....

Reluctantly taking a break.....

It's been a quiet week on the training front this week. I'm been suffering with a pesky cold which has put paid to all the good intentions I had. It seems to be on its way out now though so hopefully I'll be back up to ful strength for next week. The one positive I've been able to take form this though is that I've ben quite frustrated that I've not been able to train, and missing it. Must mean that I'm really starting to get in to it.

Without any training stories to tell this week this might be an opportunity to, shamelessly, plug my fundraising site for any of you feeling a little generous

click here to sponsor me!

Here's hoping that normal service will be resumed next week.....