Gt Finborough Walk Recce

I needed to do a recce of my walk for the Ramblers in 10 days time. I had last done a version of it in July and conditions might be a bit different in February...

This was my route.

And here are a few photos.

Shortly after the start, my route took me across this field.

By the time I'd crossed it I had an inch of mud on my boots. Oh. I think I need to find an alternative route to avoid that!

The tearoom and museum at Brook Farm are not open at this time of year, but you can still see the outdoor exhibits.

For most of the walk there is a view of Gt Finborough church.

A duck house is one of the sights.

As is OneHouse church.

It has some pretty winter aconites.

The route passes the Shepherd and Dog.

I was pleased to see there is a new Lakehouse cafe across the road. A stopping off point on a future walk, perhaps?

Back to the village.

And this is the car park. I hope it has enough spaces!
 

Well I think I will make a couple of changes to the route to avoid muddy fields, but most of it looks fine - even the path alongside the River Rat.

You can see more details of my route today  here on MapMyWalk,

QC Blogging Day

Times Quick Cryptic No 1539 by Breadman

A medium difficulty puzzle from Breadman to finish the week, I feel, taking me just under my average time. Some eclectic general knowledge needed, although nothing too obscure - A famous boxer, Baltic geography, a type of wine, a children's disease, a type of knitwear, an electrical weapon and a Scottish golf course. All readily gettable from the wordplay. COD to 4D for the nice surface. Thank-you Breadman. How did you all get on?

( Read all about it... )

Norfolk Nomads Walk

This was the invite from Joyce...

"Monday 27th January Norfolk Nomads. Glen is leading a 11 mile walk around Norwich and hi-lighting some wonderful vistas and other well kept secrets. We will meet at The Forum, Millennium Plain, Norwich, NR2 1TF for a 10am departure. Arrive earlier if you want a leisurely coffee/toilets. Lunch is en route with an afternoon stop at Whitlingham Country Park. "

In all, there were 5 of us "nomads". As well as Glen, our leader for the day, we were joined by Robert who has lived in Norwich for a long time and was also able to give us interesting snippets about the places we passed on our way round.

This was our route.

Wow! Did we see a lot! Here are just a few of the highlights.

We met at The Forum as planned and had a coffee before we set out. It is an impressive building. Glen lamented that there wasn't anything like it in Ipswich. It's a bit grander than The Apex in Bury St. Edmunds too.

It was still a bit damp as we set out, but the drizzle didn't last for long and we had lovely sunshine for most of the day. We were just finishing our walk as the rain returned.

We walked through Chapelfield Gardens passing the bandstand. It was described in the 1840s as "'the resort of loose and idle boys and being occupied partly by washerwomen seems to be in great measure deserted by respectable citizens". No loose and idle boys or washerwomen today. We were on a  mission to explore.

I liked the colourful dogwood in this bed. That reminds me. I ought to visit the Winter Garden at Anglesey Abbey soon.

We were heading towards the Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. I seem to recall it has a rather nice cafe. But we'd not long had a coffee so didn't stop.

Just past the cathedral we came across the secluded Plantation Garden. £2 each to visit and it was well worth it. "In 1856, a prosperous upholsterer and cabinet maker living in Norwich, took a long lease on an industrial site just outside the old City walls. His name was Henry Trevor, and for the next forty years, he spent considerable sums of money and much effort transforming a chalk quarry into a magical garden." It is now maintained by enthusiastic volunteers. What a lovely oasis in the middle of the city.

We crossed the River Wensum to Norwich Over the Water at the restored New Mills pumping station - a Water-powered air compressor station.  It has quite a history, as you can read about here. The river was running quite fast.

The old Bullards Anchor Brewery has quite a history too, see here.

We came across St. Georges Colegate with its interesting carvings above the doors and a notice saying it is one of 57 medieval churches built within the city walls of which only 10 are still used as places of worship.

I was amused to see the Flanders&Swann songbook in the window of the nearby music shop. Great songs. I have a copy myself and have been known to sing a few of them.

But wait a minute. Here I am with Robert and Joyce, but where are Glen and Jane? We had failed to follow our leader.

In the search for them, I didn't get the chance to point it out and ask Robert what he knew about this...

Any ideas anybody?

Meanwhile we all met up and headed on along the river Quay Side.

In a balcony across the river we spotted one of the Go-go Hares.

I think it is the Marching Hare. What do you think?

Further along the river we came to Cow Tower. It is one of the first purpose-built artillery blockhouses in England, and was built in about 1398-9 to command a strategic point in Norwich’s city defence.

In the tree next to it was this interesting piece of installation art - Spontaneous City.

 
Soon we came Bishop's bridge , which is the only surviving medieval bridge in the city. It was also the first bridge in Norwich to be built of stone and formed part of the city’s defensive walls, with three fortified arches and a large gatehouse at the western end which controlled entrance to the city across the river.

We crossed the river to Thorpe Hamlet and climbed up to Kett's Heights. What a great view!



Here is Robert explaining what we could see.



But what was this?

It turned out to be the Chapelfield Spire.

Of course we also got the classic view of the cathedral.

We descended and continued along the river passing Pulls Ferry. There were some lovely crocuses in the garden.

Now we headed out from the city towards Thorpe St. Andrew. We passed the Thorpe Tower folly in the grounds of the derelict Pinebanks.

As we descended to the river, we passed along a narrow ravine. Some of the path had collapsed. Don't go too close, Joyce.

Thorpe St. Andrew church is down by the River Yare (which has now met and merged with the Wensum).

Here we stopped for lunch.

I got a rather nice panini from this cafe for mine.

The cafe provides free bread for the swans.

We even had a picnic table.

This lady was having to bail out her boat.

Suitably lunched, now we had to cross the river, which we did via a narrow footpath at the side of the busy A47 dual-carriageway bridge. "We wont be stopping to take photos", said Glen.

When has that ever stopped me?

Now we were in Whitlingham Country Park. Here are some nice snowdrops.

Did I forget to mention we were now in Broadland? We were walking alongside Whitlingham Great Broad.

Across the water we could see Thorpe St. Andrew Church again....

...and the folly at Pinebank.

Time for an afternoon cuppa at the visitor centre.

Oo look. A sign for the Boudicca Way. We have some unfinished business here having done the first half last year. "Let's wait until it's a bit drier to finish it", said Joyce. I agreed.

We crossed the river and railway line heading back to the city centre.

As we passed the city walls we split into our separate directions. Some had to get to the railway station, I had to get to the bus station and Joyce had to find her car.

Well that was a great day's exploring. Thank-you to Glen and Robert for leading us around and telling us all about the fascinating sights and history, and Jane and Joyce for their company too.

See more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and a lot more of my photos here on Flickr.