Thorpe Woodlands Walk

Today we crossed the border into Norfolk for a walk.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Monday 16th January. A repeat of the Bank Holiday walk but in reverse!  A  9 -10 mile circular walk starting from Thorpe Woodlands, Shadwell, Thetford IP24 2RX . Please park in the first parking area (on the left) if possible and walk further down the road to the café. Meet at 10am for drinks beforehand or 10.30am at the café to start walking.  We will walk over to Knettishall Heath for a lunch stop (they have a refreshment truck) and then use The Peddars Way back to the start." 

I gave Jane a lift and we were joined by others at the café before setting out. This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos.

The café had comfy chairs, but we managed to stir ourselves to go walking.

The paths were remarkably dry after the recent rain. No mud on our shoes at the end.

The first part of our route was alongside the River Thet, which had burst its banks.

Roland had gone wrong trying to find the starting point and missed the start, but we intercepted him a little over a mile into our walk.

We passed a pig farm...

...where we saw some cute little piglets.

We went through the grounds of Riddlesworth Hall School, which Princess Diana attended between 1970 and 1974. Read more about her time there here.

Joyce told us that the Dutch name for bracket fungi like these means "fairy benches". I guess Miranda told her that.

We passed by some of the school buildings and St. Peter's Church.

Unfortunately the church wasn't open.

We didn't see any snowdrops today, but there were some winter aconites, their petals firmly furled still.

Now we were on a familiar path, part of the  Angles Way passing the front of the school towards Knettishall Heath and our lunch stop, both of which featured on this walk.

Joyce spotted a bird perched in a tree across the meadow. What was it?

A sparrowhawk, maybe?

We crossed the River Little Ouse into Suffolk. It was flowing freely, but not flooding here.

After our lunch stop (no van, alas), we did part of one of the marked walks on the heath. As we crossed the road we spotted the Exmoor ponies.

Did anyone else spot the unusual exception on the motor vehicles prohibition sign?

Here we were, as well as being on the Angles Way,  at the start of the Icknield Way, heading south and the Peddars Way heading north,

We took the Peddars Way and, crossing the river again, we were back in  Norfolk. Look how dry the path is!

A right turn off the Peddars Way and it was a short walk back to our cars.

Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and to the others for the company. You can see more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.