Cavenham Circular Walk

Emboldened by the success of my walk constructed on a map beforehand on Tuesday, I decided to make another one up. I wanted to do one that wouldn't get too muddy and I thought of the sandy heathland of Cavenham Heath. I remembered taking the kids there a few times about 12 years ago, and sure I enough, I found these posts on my old blog. I'm not sure I'd been there since. But I wanted to make it a decent length walk so I decided to do a circular route starting from Cavenham and visiting Icklingham and Tuddenham. I told Joyce what I was planning, as I knew it was almost her back yard, and she suggested to add in Herringswell, but warned that the paths out of Cavenham weren't exciting.

I was a bit later setting out than I should have as I decided to get my Times for the Times blog of next Friday's Quick Crossword drafted (using our bloggers' time machine) first, so I didn't get there until 11am.

This was my route - pretty much as planned except for the first stretch where I had to adopt 'Plan B'.

The start was good. Some nice houses and... this amazed me... some daffodils in flower already!

Lesson learned number 1 - There was an inviting looking track on the map that would take me off-road and through some interesting countryside. But when I got to it, this is what I found.

The lesson being.... if it's not marked as a public right-of-way, you might not be permitted to use it. Fortunately, I had planned on an alternative route if needed... walk straight along the road. There was very little traffic so that was fine. What is more I had a nice following wind and the rain was only really intermittent drizzle.

I did a little tour of Icklingham, joining the Icknield Way Trail, which I would follow for about half of my route. I visited All Saints' Church. The pews didn't half look uncomfortable!

I found this blown-over shed on the path. I'm glad I wasn't on the path when it fell.

Now I was on heathland, crossing Temple Bridge onto the path between Cavenham and Tuddenham heaths. Maybe I should have included a wander through them, but my route was long enough.

Lesson learned number 2 - I walked past the Organic Farm Shop as I entered Tuddenham...

...but didn't stop. My plan was for a beer and a sandwich at the White Hart...

Oh dear. Note to self. Check that planned refreshment stops will be open! Never mind. I did have my banana and a bottle of water in my rucksack. But by now I was walking into the wind and the rain had got a bit heavier. And as I headed towards Herringswell, the landscape got more agricultural... and muddy. But there were some nice compensations, like the local version of the Dark Hedges...

..and this most amazing swathe of snowdrops.

And then, as I walked back to Cavenham , I got the view I'd done the walk for...

I just love the silhouette of the line of trees dividing the fields. Iconic Breckland? And the rain finally stopped as I did the last 1/2 mile past Pigtown...

Actually, despite the less than ideal conditions, I rather enjoyed it. Mission accomplished. Here is a slide show of my photos...

And you can see all my photos individually here on Flickr and more details of my route here on Strava. Oh. And one oddity... I never met a single other walker in my 12 miles. The weather wasn't that bad, was it?