LDWA 100 – Training Walk 2
This walk was socially distanced….. And is the second walk in preparation for the 2021 LDWA 100. But isn’t an LDWA walk in itself, because these have all been suspended until the troubles are over.
WALK NUMBER: 2 (Norwich to Mulbarton)
DISTANCE COVERED: 19 miles
NUMBER OF NATHAN’S FRIENDS WE “ACCIDENTALLY” BUMP INTO: 1
SUFFICIENT BEER CONSUMED: No
PUBS VISITED: 0
WEATHER CONDITIONS: Sunny (until it got dark, when it wasn’t sunny) and far too hot
ATTACKED BY ANIMALS: No
NUMBER OF SNAKES SEEN: 0
Since we were most impressed with the professionalism of our first training walk, we thought we’d go for a longer walk today, perhaps ten miles. We got a bit enthusiastic in the end though with the distance, but more on that later. Above is the pond thing near Trowse.
I had hoped to get a photo of the new Greater Anglia trains, but this East Midlands Railway train sufficed.
A field full of nesting birds. The first part of the walk went through Caistor St. Edmunds, so I’ve covered much of this in photos already. It was at this stage getting too hot, which was to be honest, a bloody nuisance. We had water, but no beer, so had the bare minimum that we needed for survival.
Nathan got excited by a rope swing. He scrambled down like a mountain goat. Well, a mountain goat with three legs anyway.
It all looked a bit high up to me, so I had a little sit down and took management control of the situation. Very much like Liam in his job, which seems to involve sitting down and drinking tea. Not that I had any tea, so I concentrated on the sitting down.
Anyway, there he goes. I was hoping he’d do something more dramatic, like go flying, but he was left uninjured. Which I suppose is handy, as otherwise I would have had to walk back on my own with him left in a heap at the bottom as I didn’t have a first aid kit with me.
Clear as mud, this sign is near the entrance to the metropolis that is Mulbarton. One of the most notorious members of Hike Norfolk lives in this sleepy little village and he has a room that only a favoured few have been into. Anyway, I can’t say any more due to potential legal action.
They were shut, which was most annoying as we had seen this sign from a distance and had planned what we could get ourselves. I was already trying to work out how many battered sausages I needed with my chips.
An old bus that excited Nathan, who is a former bus industry professional, as he likes buses. Shame the cafe bit wasn’t open though.
My bargain no-expense spared £1.35 snacks at the Mulbarton Budgens. The shop wasn’t exactly Harrods and some of the pricing seemed a bit dramatic, but I was happy with my value. Nathan was disappointed by the lack of sausage rolls, but he was the one who couldn’t be bothered to walk the extra 50 metres to the Co-op, so frankly, I didn’t have much sympathy. The Budgens did have this strange-looking doner kebab thing that looked hideous, but Nathan refused to buy it to test how awful it was.
Whilst sitting on Mulbarton Common, it was clear at this stage that our timing wasn’t going to get us back by the time that we had intended, but at least the weather was no longer too hot. Incidentally, Nathan thought he saw Clive just finishing his park run from February on the other side of the common, but I don’t think it was.
For those who are wondering whether they want to visit Mulbarton, it doesn’t have a Greggs, a Wetherspoons or a pub in the Good Beer Guide.
The medieval church of St Mary Magdalene at Mulbarton. We decided to head back the way we had come for most of the walk, as we were confident we knew the way. To be fair, we won’t dwell on our promptly going the wrong way twice debacle.
Flowers, we think that they’re bluebells. But we didn’t really have a clue and I don’t think we were that bothered.
Lots of lambs, all looked quite playful and I wasn’t scared of any of these. We’ve been very fortunate so far not to be attacked by animals or to see any snakes. Long may this good fortune continue.
An intriguing sky. Well, it intrigued us, so the bar here is low.
Books in a bus stop at Trowse. A nice idea. One of the elderly and vulnerable members of the walking community (who I won’t name) had placed some gin and tonic in a secure place for us, so we headed through Trowse to enjoy our liquid libation rewards. Which didn’t help with our time-keeping if I’m being honest.
As can be seen from the slightly fading light conditions, we didn’t get back by 7pm. Indeed, it is becoming apparent that our time-keeping is a little shoddy. Above is Pulls Ferry in Norwich, this was originally a canal which took the stone to the site where Norwich Cathedral was being constructed.
A heron or fancy pigeon, probably one of the two.
As a final note, we will be doing an audio recording, or Podcast if you prefer, of each walk and we’ll upload these for the first two walks sometime next week. It’s meant to cover the history of the walk, gossip about people who we know and some riveting information for anyone who might be tempted to start training for the 100. I can’t imagine we’ll inspire anyone at all, but it’ll keep us amused for a few months.
