Boog's Blog

14 October. Warm and sunny

Returned the car and we are now on foot and train; arrived here on the high speed train from ST. Pancreas, excellent.

A true ball of string here but first the pictures.

We are staying in the oldest inn here, established 1403, a real coaching inn. Sharon immediately called it a dump. My view is different except for the usual small double bed. Last night we stayed in a very inexpensive chain hotel, Premier hotels. Probably the best hotel of the trip in terms of comfort and layout. Here, we have old stuff, but more interesting.

Pilgrims hospital is open for visits, will do that on Sunday. Notice the 12th century date.

The ball of string: we passed the cathedral and noticed Evensong at 17:30. We joined. Service ran almost an hour and was significantly different than Conques France Evensong. Maybe Anglican versus Catholic.

Excellent young boys and adult men choir, organist, two readings, one from the old and one from the new testament. Naturally the sound reverberated and slowly faded away into the massive columns.

After the service I asked a priest about the concert tomorrow night. Sold out? Let me check. He pulls out a walkie talkie and connects immediately to another. Better service, by far, than we have received from Amex, but that is a different story.

Tomorrow, Rochester, Pickwick papers route walk. Maybe a Soweto concert.

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13 October. Gray and white clouds, some drizzles

Wicken Fen is the last preserved fen, or so we were told by the National Trust office when we again paid a fee to walk about. The fen was reserved for the trust in 1899.

We have walked some fens before but this shows what an untouched version looks like. In the USA I bike through several areas that were in the process of restoring the earlier prairies. Nice to see another preserved type of landscape.

After the walks, muddy at times but I wore my Wellies, we stopped into the Trust cafe for some tea and scones.

Sorry, no scones. Ran out of flour. More will be delivered today.

We had tea cakes, also good.

Lots of thatched houses and other structures in this area. Excellent thatching. Cannot tell the age.

Tonight a convocation of sorts. Dinner is planned with Andy and Sonia, Bobby is coming up from London, and David, Dalik, Jones will also join. Dinner at the snooty tavern.

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12 October. Gray skies, rain held off until end of walks

Wandering over to and around old hunstanton. Very different coastline as can seen in the included pictures. Formations and cliffs.

Monument to Edmond, ninth century martyr done in by the Danes, built in late 13 th century. The is Edmund of Bury ST. Edmond, also of wolf fame.

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11October warm, rain threatening but ….

Heading to the Norfolk coast we wandered Sandringham, royal home and current residence of the Queen. Alas we were not invited to tea, or anything else.

The landscaped gardens, Victorian era, with lakes and beautiful trees, as well as nature walks. Thousands of acres of land are owned by the ” estate”. We even broke down and toured the house, a bust from my viewpoint. Maybe in other parts of the house they have installed a color tv and some furniture that could be used to sit, read, and sip a cocktail.

Fine apples and other produce are grown and sold as part of maintenance. The proceeds of the well stocked gift shop also go to the Queen. They sheepishly admitted it when I enquired.

Wildlife, deer but and pigeon, many ducks. No sheep seen.

The coast is windy, closing down as the season is finishing up. Water looks grey, dark and chilly. Picture on G plus with more likely tomorrow.

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10 Oct. Windy, more windy, dangerously windy at times

Special dedication: Bobby missed a great walk, especially the food.

Back to the coast, the Norfolk one this time. The Norfolk coastal path starts at the edge of the bird sanctuary, and runs out to wide open expanses of flats. We then turned inland, a break from the wind, past the windmill, and eventually around the National Trust land, one part pictured.

As we were wrapping up the walk we saw a sign for a cafe. Small nondescript sign at the edge of a farm. Great surprise. The cafe was an outstanding locally farmed restaurant. I had Tuscan bean soup and the pictured black Russian tomatoes, roasted with olive oil on garlic bread. The low G.I. Multigrain bread served with the soup was so good we later drove to the village of Burnham Market to get to the source.

QB was especially happy with their scones and other baked goods.

With all the locally available food it is a cook’s paradise.

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9 October warmer, windy, no rain

A walk in the Wash, at the edge of the mudflats. Very flat.

Apples apple apples. Each tree different, almost all with excellent non cultivated varieties, still firm and tart the way that they should but often are not. Bobby and I knocking some down in the picture.

The Dartmor pony is an endangered species according to the rider. Very gentle, sting and good with young’ins. She was riding with another person on a show jumping horse.

As usual a walk of increased distance due to poor AA map guidance. Maybe just another hour. Google Maps and fellow travelers helped. This has become a recurrent problem. It is as if the AA authors stopped doing this and several other of our walks as they were in a hurry to get to a pub before the drive home.

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8 October. Intermittent rain

Bobby joined us for this walk along two muddy rivers with mudflats, they all look the same. The route starts and ends in the historic district of Kings Lynn.

After last evenings dinner we decided to eat at Nandos. Chain restaurant serving chicken and sides. Filled mostly with the cool set, miniskirts, no leggings or stockings. Food was decent.

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7 October. Sunny, bright British autumn day

Off to the medieval market town of Kings Lynn. Chartered by King John II, giver of the Magna Carta, also known earlier as John Lackland, it is rich in old buildings.

The drive included several long stretches on especially narrow hedge roads. Fortunately the 16% percent grades were traversed without undue road squeezing.

We will do several walks in this area, one urban, one or two coastal, and maybe one inland. Bobby is coming tomorrow to join.

The hotel plan here too includes half-board. After the pretentious food of Favorsham in Helmsley thought we might get simpler fare here.

You may judge for yourselves; this was the best of a bad lot. Apparently there is one restaurant in town with ok reviews. Booked until 9 pm tomorrow. Bobby suggests, as an alternative, Nando’s.

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6 October. Wet, windy with patches of sunshine.

Mostly food pictures follow. Today was our first rest day – no walk – and a very nice nap. Helmsley is another medieval market town, excellent church of just post Norman period, as well a traditional square with spire.

While wandering Helmsley we stopped into a speciality grocery, old style. Asked the propriator what might be covering of a vegetarian haggis. Plastic. No, I said, in my nicest possible dissenting voice. Another patron suggested collagen. Time to move on.

Dinner starter looked better before I remembered to take a photo. Mullet, cockles, scallop, yellow courgettes.

Main was mallard with some veggies nicely hidden away from sight.

Dessert was a special – menu said lemon and verbena posset. Had to look it up. The one pictured is the 750 cal per serving kind, three cups of heavy whipping creme to 1 1/4 cups sugar. Some lemon too.

As to the person in the photo, someone who caught QB’s attention.

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5 October. Windy, very windy, dangerously windy at many times

In Middleham one finds Richard III castle, his boyhood and favorite one, or so the plaque says. We eschewed the large entrance fee and headed up the hills of North Yorkshire.

The walk is entitled My Kingdom for a Horse. This is certainly horse territory; local explained that thoroughbreds have been bred here for a hundred plus year. We saw some but not the tourist ball of string: them galloping by the galloping fences in the gallops. Yep, specialized vocabulary here.

Another top rated walk and it certainly was. The wind, however, was fierce. News reports said steady 20 mph with gusts twice that amount. Felt like the weather persons look during broadcasts of incoming hurricanes.

Literally had to use my trekking pole to keep the wind from knocking me down. Not once but many times especially across the moor.

The day started with Fawlty Towers service at breakfast. What are Scotch Pancakes I ask. Manuel says let me get Mr. Fawlty. Does not end there. Quite humorous when having a relaxing breakfast.

Walk had challenges such as instructions to go to the lych gate, or follow the galloping fences. Stiles were often gates. Footpaths changed. The walk was marked 145meter ascent. Gps said 585 meters. Doubt that AA ever took this walk.

Dinner last two nights included cockles, mullet, partridge ( saw a lot of them on the walk and in the road as too windy to fly ), cod and very weird deserts. Vegetarian dinner with shrooms was ok.

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