Jane’s Walk 2023 – Day 2

We spent another excellent evening at a farm near Gately. They are a charming couple, both over 90 and still hands-on farmers. We collect Charles and Angela in Bircham, where they leave their car, as this is where our walk ends at the end of the day. They have breakfasted in an excellent local store and coffee shop, so Richard agrees to return and purchase pre-ordered sandwiches for our lunch.

Back to Peddars Way, but this time, we are off-road and on to tracks and farm lanes all day, making walking far more pleasant, although some bicycle tracks made walking difficult in parts. I find myself imagining the many people and vehicles this lane has seen over the past 2 thousand years! I always find these ancient tracks rather evocative and romantic With high banks of mainly brambles on either side, lined with trees, we enjoy some shade most of the day. We graze on blackberries as we go. It has been a good year for them. Very plump and sweet.

It is another scorching day, rising to 25C by the afternoon. At midday, we return to the Bircham stores to eat our sandwiches comfortably on their chairs outside the shop and use their loo. It’s a very popular place and shows what can be done with imagination, which was so lacking at the pub we visited yesterday.

The afternoon walk was similar to the morning but rather more open, and I began to get a sense that the sea was nearby, although not yet in view. We make good progress, refreshed by our lunch break and make the end stop faster than anticipated.

We say goodbye to Charles and Angela, who return to Oxford tomorrow and drive to our hosts for the night, who live in the same village.