Jane’s Walk 2023 – Day 1

For the 4th walk, our kind supporters Charles and Angela have joined us for 2 days, having come all the way from Oxfordshire to be with us.

The first leg of our walk is up the Peddars Way. This is an ancient way, probably pre-Roman, as part of The Ickford Way and then used by the Romans as a trade route to the coast. It is certainly very straight in the Roman style. We are walking through an area of large, well-kept farms, mainly arable, empty post-harvest. One field had 2 beautiful Aberdeen Angus bulls, which I feel must be show class and a vast field of pigs, all looking very contented in the sunshine.

We approach the town of Castle Acre, famous for its priory, large church and castle. We spy the priory from a distance. An impressive and well-preserved ruin. It was sacked by Henry V111 during the devolution of the monasteries, but with large sections still standing. It is built mainly of flint stone, with all the stone pillars and doorways made from stone imported from Caan in France in the 11 century. What an impressive feat that must have been in those days. I did not realise that Norfolk has no stone outcrops and, therefore, has no quarries. Some local churches have round rather squat towers, making them cheaper to build as the flint does not need stone or brick cornerstones.

We walk through a ford, much appreciated by Moses, into Castle Acre, a pretty town of Georgian houses. We lunch in a rather run-down pub garden before spending 1/2 hr walking around the outside of the priory before setting off again along a very straight bit of tarmac road with a steady incline to our destination. It was now getting hot, and the combination of hot tarmac, no wind and high hedges was rather wearing, so we were all pleased to get into our air-conditioned car, including Moses.

Our hosts have a swimming pool, perfect after such a hot day!