Walking, getting lost, getting found and receiving far more than one gives

Thought for the day:-

We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads are equal in value no matter what their colour. Maya Angelou, poet (1928 – 2014)

Going back a bit, when the world was sunny and the countryside not covered in a cold damp sea fret, the 21st of May to be precise, I walked the southern end of the Peddar’s Way from Little Cressingham, where I’d left off the day before, to Thetford, which is where the Peddar’s Way becomes the Weavers Way…..

The fun began almost immediately with dozens of signs like this along the footpath…..

The path leads on close to the villages of Tottington and Merton…….

Despite the warnings all was quiet and peaceful……

On to Thompson water with its abundance of bird life….

The hedgerows are ridiculously beautiful……..

Around Stow Bedon the landscape undergoes a rapid change, and one is treated to huge pine forests – The Thetford Forest…..

It was just beyond this point, beyond Bridgham, that I tripped and fell over (although my son, Charlie, tells me that at seventy I should actually be saying that “I had a fall”……)

I was bruised but not broken and, as luck would have it, two charming police officers were exercising police horses through the forest and they were so very kind……

The river at Brettenham is quite lovely although this area does flood and becomes very muddy after heavy rain…..

At Shadwell I came across a housing estate for pigs, no variation in the style of housing, no individual colour schemes, no cottage styles, or town houses, poor planning laws, if you ask me…..

And the pigs themselves were as happy as pigs in a water trough ……

And at long last I reached the south end of the Peddar’s Way at Knettishall Heath Nature reserve, where son Charlie very sweetly motored the forty odd miles to pick me up.

Between walking I am making a wedding dress. Sorry, no photos, the bride would kill me…..

But here’s a photo to make you smile, the team standing to attention and ready to tackle the out-of-control creeper on the front of the Hall. Two of these guys are my sons, see if you can guess which…..

On Sunday 27th I got up extremely early and cooked for our village open gardens, I made 40 fruit tartlets and 40 apple slices…..

Last Tuesday, despite the rolling sea fret, I decided that I really must finish the very Northern part of the Peddar’s Way which runs from my home here to the coastal village of Holm……

Despite the sea fret, there were little pockets of the path completely fog free and very beautiful……

And the headlands were a mass of wildflowers….

And lots of families taking to the path…..

On Wednesday I walked to Snettisham for a doctors appointment, it’s only 3 miles away but a very heart- lifting 3 miles……

I love the way the hawthorn blossom begins white and changes to a very deep pink….

The dogs roses are in full bloom…..

Buttercups……

Brambles…..

And Elderflower, a favourite of mine, not just for the Elderflower champagne we made in my youth, nor indeed the Elderberry wine although this should definitely not be overlooked… My childhood was not a happy one, and I would escape for hours in my ‘camp’ under the Elderflower bush at the bottom of the garden. The site and smell of this much ignored plant brings me huge comfort so very many years later…

And suddenly it’s half term and my lonely little house is filled with laughing grandchildren, and my lonely little bed hosts Marcel and Eva enjoying a cup of early morning milk and ‘GranPa’s’ biscuits……

But half term all too soon came to an end. My daughter Hatty wanted an early start on Sunday back to Bristol, so we packed up and Hatty drove to the Knights Hill Hotel in Kings Lynn where the three of us had a scrumptious breakfast and then parted, Hatty and Marcel drove off home to Bristol and I set off to walk the 16 miles or so back here.

It was all going so well. From Kings Lynn I walked to Castle Rising, and from there I took the bike/walking path to Sandringham, this path was originally the old road, and is once again a truly lovely walk…..

By the side of this path there grows ‘Horses Tails’ which although only a foot or so high are the oldest trees on the earth. They have been discovered fossilised, millions of years old. I know all this because my husband, the anthropologist, told me.

Close to Babingley I came across hundreds of Funnel spider webs belonging (I think) to the Labyrinth Spider….

And here’s one at home…..

Once on the Sandringham estate, which sits on acid soil, the bracken, foxgloves and rhododendrons are giving quite a display…..

On I plodded, up this road to the Sandringham Visitors Centre…..

This is the point where my walk went just a bit Pear Shaped!

I have been to Sandringham more times than I care to remember, but alas, I got lost, I was so sure of the way but the woods are large, with very many footpaths. And I was literally going around in circles…..

I think there must be a story here, this lovely wedding bouquet was placed in the crook of a tree…..

I tried the google map app on my phone, but it seemed to think I was in a car and kept trying to send me to the busy A149…..

An hour later I arrived back at the visitors centre……

Five hours after parting from my daughter and grandson I arrived home. They had arrived in Bristol an hour earlier…….

Note to self:- Buy a map!

A long blog today, I hope my ramblings don’t bore you…. another note to self, do blog more often, so they are shorter…..

I find the world so lovely, so inspiring that I want everyone to share the wonders I see all around me. I want everyone to find the love I found on the Camino, everyone to be kind to each other. Everyone to “go the extra mile”. You will be ‘let down’ you will be hurt and disappointed. But for everything you give you will be rewarded a hundredfold. In other words what goes around, comes around. Yesterday I came across an old lady complete with walking stick, slowly exercising her dog in the little village of Sherborne, what could I give her? A little of my time maybe? We chatted, she told me that she was ninety and that her and her husband had lived in the village all their lives, we were standing outside the Church, she had been married in that Church, and her children baptised there. Here husband’s father had built the alter in the Church, he’d been a cabinet maker for the Royal Estate. She told me where they had gone mushrooming as children and where they had scrumped apples. She told me what the village was like before the bowling green was built…….She’s going to visit a cousin in Whitby, her daughter is taking her, she has not seen him for fifty years. What did I give her? Nothing, she gave to me a history that has enriched my life. I pass that way often, and from now on the village will be forever alive for me…..

I wish you all peace and beauty in your lives, I wish you memories that make you smile, and gladness and joy in your hearts…..

Love Susan x