Breakfast at Mangreen Country House is excellent with not only vegetarian sausage but vegetarian bacon too, so a gold star for that. We leave retracing our steps for a few hundred metres to avoid walking along the busy A140. We turn down another green lane with a knocked down closed footpath sign. We pass a tent in a copse - is someone living there or saving money while working nearby?
There are no obstructions on the path and we exit onto a road but soon pick up another track with no closed sign, but no pointing footpath sign either.
The day is sunny and bright again but the wind is whipping around us, perhaps presaging the forecast storm. Suddenly, we are faced with a traffic cone and two low slung hawsers that appear to be leading to the nearby electricity pylons. They seem unlikely to be live, but we don't risk it and get down on our hands and knees to wriggle under them, dropping even lower to be sure our packs don't accidentally catch. We 'limbo' beneath without incident, mercifully. A bridge takes us across the main railway line from Norwich to London then we run over the A140, thankful that it's only single carriageway. The road now takes us into Stoke Holy Cross, passing Stoke Mill on the river Tas, a smart restaurant that looks rather better kept than yesterday's mill at Marlingford.
As we reach the village, we meet Nicky a devices rep I know from work who is going to look after her 3 year old granddaughter on her day off. I've worked for the biggest employer in the region for 20 years, so it's not surprising we meet people I know. We head away from the centre, again taking a dog leg, this time to avoid too much road walking as it's fairly busy round here.
We take a footpath into a field and, as well as the usual pheasants, partridges and buzzards, a pair of skylarks take flight. Shortly afterwards I feel like I'm flagging so I turn around to see a wide vista behind us - we've been walking uphill without realising and the view is stunning.
At some point, we cross a tributary of the river Tas, but it must be tiny because we do it without noticing. We emerge onto a road that is also part of the Boudicca Way, a 36 mile trail from Norwich to Diss. It passes through the Roman administrative centre of Venta Icenorum and runs parallel to the old Roman 'Pye' Road, better known now as the A140.
We walk into Upper Stoke. This feels quite high and Rich informs me that there is a primary trig point between here and Poringland. We can't visit it though because it's in someone's garden! Instead, we admire the two radio masts. One of these is part of an MOD radar station, the more shapely of the two is a telecommunications mast of an unusual design.
We pick up another green lane footpath that eventually leads us to Poringland. Here we buy sandwiches at the Premier shop then stop in the churchyard for our morning break. I put on my sports glasses as my eyes are watering profusely from the wind - I seem to have been developing Sjögren's syndrome for a while, a known complication of rheumatoid arthritis. I also put on my down jacket, which then stays on for the rest of the day. The church bench is not very sheltered and we eat our Tunnock's tea cakes fairly hurriedly. We leave Poringland and soon pick up a track, which is evidently a byway accessible to all vehicles but it is very narrow and flooded in places, even when it widens out.
We pass through the edge of the hamlet of Bergh Apton and walk for a while along an unclassified road. A cyclist passes by and Rich comments that he's smiling as he's going downhill with the wind behind him. We're walking in the opposite direction. We soon leave the road to pick up another track. The tea cakes haven't filled us up and we start looking for a suitable lunch spot out of the wind. We identify a sunny patch of grass and stop to devour the rolls we bought in Poringland. This location is so pleasant that we soon both settle down for a nap. When we wake, the sky is clouding over.
After lunch, we descend a short, steep path and surprisingly find ourselves in the award-winning Chet Valley vineyard. The vineyard path leads to another quiet road and we head towards Bussey Bridge to cross the river Chet. Here, Rich spies a kingfisher and a heron. There are more tracks and roads, including a path passing a slightly dilapidated, wooden church tower. A peek through the hedge and we find the thatched St Mary's church , Sisland. The thatching mirrors the several thatched properties we've seen on this walk. The church is the only community building in the village and is evidently undergoing a 'facelift' as it's become, according to the diocese website, rather porous.
At the church, we rejoin the road and head towards Loddon, crossing the last major trunk road, the A146, on the way. We enter the town cross-crossing the street as the pavement moves from one side to the other. Our stop for the night, the Swan Inn, is in the middle of the town and we are staying in the annex, with a Minton tiled hall floor similar to ours at home. We settle in and wait for the storm.
Total distance: 30 miles
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