{"id":348,"date":"2012-03-22T18:23:42","date_gmt":"2012-03-22T18:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=348"},"modified":"2016-07-08T10:27:35","modified_gmt":"2016-07-08T10:27:35","slug":"grand-norfolk-hike-stage-10-downham-market-to-kings-lynn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2012\/03\/grand-norfolk-hike-stage-10-downham-market-to-kings-lynn\/","title":{"rendered":"Stage 10: Downham Market to King&#8217;s Lynn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I walked this, the 10th stage of my\u00a0<a title=\"More info on the hike\" href=\"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=78\">Grand Norfolk Hike<\/a>, on Saturday 18th\u00a0March 2012.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_366\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-366\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-366\" title=\"Downham Market to King's Lynn\" src=\"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/lunapic_133244222620405_1.gif\" alt=\"Downham Market to King's Lynn\" width=\"450\" height=\"465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/lunapic_133244222620405_1.gif 450w, https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/lunapic_133244222620405_1-290x300.gif 290w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-366\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Downham Market to King&#39;s Lynn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?page_id=149\">You can see a map of the hike so far<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The rain was coming down as I waited on Ely station for the train to Downham Market. \u2018Am I completely mad?\u2019 I asked myself. Rather than walking 10 miles or so up the Great Ouse to King\u2019s Lynn on a rainy Saturday afternoon I could have my feet up at home, listening to football on the radio and teaching the cats ninjutsu.<\/p>\n<p>But hell, adventure is the thing! Of all the glorious things, what can top adventure? And furthermore it probably wasn\u2019t raining in Downham anyway. The train pulled in, I got on it.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, it was not raining at Downham. I climbed up the bank to the Ouse and headed north. On my left was the Ouse and to my right the prettily named \u2018cut off channel\u2019.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"River Great Ouse and the cut-off channel\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-U01Fipk0FXk\/T2tFZfi21_I\/AAAAAAAABY0\/yhJ0fF1os2M\/s640\/1%2520-%2520Downham%2520-%2520Lynn.JPG\" alt=\"River Great Ouse and the cut-off channel\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">River Great Ouse and the cut-off channel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The plan was to follow the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.countrysideaccess.norfolk.gov.uk\/walk.aspx?id=21\">Fen Rivers Way<\/a> up to King&#8217;s Lynn, via a pint in a village pub along the way.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Fen Rivers path\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-du0DKJ-bQuE\/T2tFcjJAnTI\/AAAAAAAABY8\/UQSZ-AzMPDk\/s640\/2%2520-%2520Downham%2520-%2520Lynn.JPG\" alt=\"Fen Rivers path\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fen Rivers Way<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Just outside the village of Wiggenhall St Mary I came across the abandoned, but beautifully preserved, church of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.norfolkchurches.co.uk\/wiggenhallstpeter\/wiggenhallstpeter.htm\">St. Peters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"St Peter's church, Wiggenhall \" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/-2Cd6g5tB0FA\/T2tFmgrX-0I\/AAAAAAAABZU\/Cnlw8XXFM9M\/s640\/3%2520-%2520Downham%2520-%2520Lynn.JPG\" alt=\"St Peter's church, Wiggenhall \" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">St Peter&#39;s church, Wiggenhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There&#8217;s a bench on the path by the church where I \u00a0rested up a little and enjoyed some tea from my flask and a bit of cake.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Another shot of the church\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-xhWIhPn-hMY\/T2tFjvzcP_I\/AAAAAAAABZM\/u8xqmBTYK8w\/s640\/4%2520-%2520Downham%2520-%2520Lynn.JPG\" alt=\"Another shot of the church\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another shot of the church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A mile or so on from St Peter&#8217;s I arrived at the village of\u00a0Wiggenhall St Germans where I \u00a0stopped to sample a pint of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenekingipa.co.uk\/about-greene-king-ipa.php\">Greene King IPA<\/a> in the Crown &amp; Anchor pub.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Crown &amp; Anchor at Wiggenhall St Germans\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-74vYp8xgTg8\/T2tFoo-xLEI\/AAAAAAAABZc\/EHjembBpGBQ\/s640\/5%2520-%2520Downham%2520-%2520Lynn.JPG\" alt=\"The Crown &amp; Anchor at Wiggenhall St Germans\" width=\"640\" height=\"328\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Crown &amp; Anchor at Wiggenhall St Germans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Shortly after leaving the pub I had a chat with a goat, I&#8217;m unsure\u00a0whether\u00a0the two events are connected.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A talkative goat\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-3vLZBBvrtck\/T2tFuN_Dh3I\/AAAAAAAABZs\/b-JmxHku4F4\/s640\/6%2520-%2520Downham%2520-%2520Lynn.JPG\" alt=\"A talkative goat\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A talkative goat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An hour or so later I arrived at King&#8217;s Lynn and walked along the quayside. \u00a0It was easy to get a feel for Lynn&#8217;s rich past and heritage from the quayside.<\/p>\n<p>My eyes were constantly drawn to the horizon where a tiny gap in the coastline marks where the Great Ouse empties out into the Wash and onwards into the North Sea. \u00a0I&#8217;m looking forward to exploring the Wash coast later in the year.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"King's Lynn quayside\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-CZ1higdnzvs\/T2tFqxxUvwI\/AAAAAAAABZk\/p_k1qDA3IxY\/s640\/7%2520-%2520Downham%2520-%2520Lynn.JPG\" alt=\"King's Lynn quayside\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">King&#39;s Lynn quayside<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And it hardly rained at all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I walked this, the 10th stage of my\u00a0Grand Norfolk Hike, on Saturday 18th\u00a0March 2012. You can see a map of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,12],"tags":[32,31],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5247,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions\/5247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}