From London to Norfolk in seven years

7/10/2018

Now, that's slow travel! We have finally completed one of our long-term walking projects: from Dan's parents' old house in Finchley to their holiday let in Old Hunstanton.

Person standing beside a sign saying NORFOLK Nelson's Country - and By Road

We did not go by road.

After finishing my River Rother walk, I had a few days at home before we headed up to Norfolk for a week. We planned to walk four or five days to complete our "every now and then" walking project between London and the north Norfollk coast. The weather was hot at first - too hot to walk on a couple of days, so I ended up going to the beach and swimming in the sea for hours instead! And then, of course, the day we finished was grey and rainy.

Eels!

We saw a lamb sneak under this gate.

I'll pop a few more photos down the bottom of this post, but I thought this would be a good moment to look back over the whole walk - which we started back in 2011, when we'd just moved to London from Australia. We didn't get back to it for a few years after that, but we've been fairly consistent in doing a section since 2015.

2011

Possibly early November 2011. Finchley to High Barnet.

Under the Dollis Brook Viaduct.

Boundary tree - Middlesex and Hertfordshire.

November 2011. High Barnet to Cuffley.

The prettiest toadstool near the M25.

Pretty autumnal path through the woods.

December 2011. Cuffley to Hertford; Hertford to Green Tye; Green Tye to Bishop's Stortford.

Pollarded trees in Daneswood, I believe.

Moore of this, please.

I was so young!

Sunset in Hertfordshire.

This was still quite a novelty - my first full winter in the UK.

2015

October 2015. Bishop's Stortford to Great Chesterford over two days (wild camping overnight). Read a snippet about this leg under "Other adventures" in this post.

Autumn colours

Now every time we go under this road we say, "We've walked here!"

2016

October 2016. Great Chesterford to Cambridge; Cambridge to Ely. Read more in a previous blog post, Rivers and Roman roads: An autumn walk in Cambridgeshire.

Autumn in Cambridgeshire

A friend near the river

2017

August 2017. Ely to Littleport.

Definitely in the flat lands now

2018

August 2018. Littleport to Downham Market; Downham Market to King's Lynn; King's Lynn to Little Massingham; Little Massingham to Old Hunstanton.

Still water reflects trees, clouds, tractors

Not pictured: just how hot it was!

Yesterday @thebooklender and I walked from Downham Market to King’s Lynn along the river. It was not as hot as the day before, the walking was easier and there was more to see. pic.twitter.com/NpYZ2WKZtB
— Jonathan (@jonathanworking) August 5, 2018

We measured our progress for a while against the many Wiggenhall St [X] church spires and stopped for a snack at a riverside pub. pic.twitter.com/p8rz1Dpd5i
— Jonathan (@jonathanworking) August 5, 2018

Along the aptly named Sandy Lane by Roydon Common, along the old rail line. There was a lot more to see today, and there were even some things that count as hills in Norfolk. pic.twitter.com/CpHqGOo05C
— Jonathan (@jonathanworking) August 6, 2018

We passed the hot hour challenging each other to write poems about this field, that view, each section between shade.

Buzzard over wheat,
sugar beet. We crane our necks,
hunting for the sea pic.twitter.com/x9RyKZI02b
— Jonathan (@jonathanworking) August 6, 2018

Person with umbrella in front of fancy building

Home, sweet home. (Just kidding, this is not the folks' holiday house!)

Some of our other long-term walking projects and incomplete paths include the Grand Union Canal, the Thames Path and the Ridgeway (which we also completed this summer - more to come). A friend recently asked us if this was a common thing to do . . . so, is it? Do you have any walking projects on the go?

2 Comments

Clare link

6/10/2018 06:36:09

How satisfying to have completed it, and always amusing to see my local stomping grounds in your photos. I’ve got a 20 mile section left on the Norfolk coastal path, would love to get that tidied up this year, I definitely need to do it before it all officially becomes the England coastal path, that would really keep me busy.

Jonathan link

7/10/2018 20:07:44

It felt very satisfying to have finished two of our long-term projects/unfinished walks. Good luck knocking off the 20miles - do you think you'll do it in one long day or in a couple of sections? (The East Sussex bit of the coast path is coming along, Kent's open... maybe you can start walking down to our place?!)