Peddars Way

3: Stonebridge to Thompson

11 April 2010

A bit of spare time on Sunday afternoon, and Stephen decided to pop back to Norfolk for another short visit to the Peddars Way.


So, from our most northerly point reached yesterday, we look along the Peddars Way through Stonebridge. Just visible as the road bends to the right is the signpost which points the way along a minor road which we follow for a while.


An impressive house which looks recently constructed.


Walking along the minor road which follows the route of the Peddars Way here.


Chicken houses are a common sight around here.


Walking along a road is never terribly exciting - especially when you've just walked it in the other direction from the car to the start.


Eventually we pass the car and reach the point where the Peddars Way goes straight on as the road bends left. The road to the left doesn't go far before it reaches the army training ground.


The rest of the walk is along the edge of the MoD's Thetford infantry training area - but just looks like a mixture of woodland and heath, with some sheep. A little wiggle in the straight path offers a bit of interest to the straight line walker.


Continuing north along the straight Peddars Way


The footprint of our ancestors
Familiar as our own faces
Remote as fossils
Written on clay
And washed away
Over & over
Over and over

These stones along the route of the Peddars Way are part of "A Norfolk Songline", a multimedia arts project inspired by the Peddars Way. The idea of a songline comes from the Australian Aboriginal belief system, in which each ancient track is the score of a vast, epic song, whose verses tell the stories of how the landscapes and its landmarks came into being. In this project, Hugh Lupton created a Songline for Norfolk, using story, poetry, image and song to evoke the landscape, history and geology of the Peddars Way.


It looks like we've reached a corner, but it is an illusion as the track bends right the Peddars Way continues straight on between the concrete blocks.


The character changes slightly with younger woodland on both sides - though it is still MoD property. Just visible at the far end are more concrete blocks where the road from Thompson reaches the Peddars Way.

There we stopped for a drink before turning round and heading back to the car.

Total 11.8 km, (5.9 km progress along the Peddars Way) in 2 hours 36 mins.

Pleasant enough, but not a lot to command interest to be honest - it may improve again over the next stages, where we get some corners too!

 

 

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Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright (c) Stephen and Lucy Dawson