I walked this, the third stage of my Grand Norfolk Hike, on Sunday 8th January 2012.
This might sound a little odd but the title of the post is wrong, the correct title is the one above, just under the map. The reason for this is that Jo drove me to Shippea Hill station so I could walk back to Ely. There is only one train per day to and from Shippea and it leaves at 7am or something similar, and I didn’t fancy that.
This is the first stage of the Border route of the Grand Norfolk Hike, where I’m heading east towards Lowestoft on the coast. You can check out the main hike map if this all sounds a tad confusing.
So, Jo, Harry and Evan dropped me off at Shippea Hill station.
My plan was to take a farm track down to the the Lark river and walk down to the village of Prickwillow. From Prickwillow I’d take the Hereward’s Way footpath to Ely, a walk of about 9 miles.
The walk got of to a bad start when I found a big ‘Private, No Access’ sign at the start of the farm track. This meant I had to take the road 3 miles or so to Prickwillow and a pretty dull walk it was as well. I amused myself by singing songs and taking photos.
Songs sung on the never ending tramp to Prickwillow:
- Scrapple From The Apple – Charlie Parker
- Country Boy – Johnny Cash
- The Prettiest Star – David Bowie
- Last Gang In Town – The Clash
- Battle Cry of Freedom (Union version)
- Might as Well Be Spring (Stacey Kent’s version)
- A Good Sword And A Trusty Hand
The good lady Eris showed her approval of my choice of song:
I finally arrived in Prickwillow and found a place by the Lark to sit and eat my snacks.
I also recorded a short video blog thing.
Refreshed, I took the Hereward’s Way track to Ely. The track might have been interesting in Hereward’s day but to be frank it was pretty damn dull. I amused myself by singing more songs and chatting with wildlife in Spanish, Basque and French.
Arrived home tired but happy.
Have fun martin…