The storm rages overnight, causing our room door to rattle until Rich gets up and wedges the ironing board complete with iron up against it. Its original position close to the door suggests that he may not have been the first person to do this. By morning, only scattered rain showers remain and the cloud cover means that it's a little warmer. The Loddon Swan also provides a vegetarian full English breakfast, so gold stars all round this trip. Take note, Oxford Spires hotel.
We check out then cross the road to buy provisions at the trusty Co-op. We pass the church then leave Loddon following the Wherryman's Way. The Wherryman's Way is a meandering 37.5 mile route from Norwich to Great Yarmouth. It takes its name from the black-sailed cargo barges that were once typical of this region. The route is less than direct, in part because access was not permitted across certain land. It's the same lack of rights of way that has caused us to follow this lone footpath out of Loddon and it all goes back to the Enclosure Acts again. It's strange how laws passed as early as 1604 still impact our lives today. Incredibly, the last parliamentary act of enclosure was granted in 1914. There were over 5,200 enclosure bills in total, relating to a fifth of all land in England, some 6.8 million hectares.
I spot a jay then we are soon back on a road again, though not for long before we take a path through some fields towards St Gregory's church Heckingham, startling some dogs on an early morning walk on the way. We're back onto a road again, but this is one of Rich's rabbit motorways, with grass growing up the middle. We see no cars, but a stoat scurries over the road in front of us. We approach the village of Thurlton where we have a choice of routes. We can do a shorter route with a small amount of path and some road or a more circuitous one with more footpath and about the same quantity of road walking. We both choose the shorter option and set off through a fragrant field of purple crop flowers. They smell like flax, but it's too late in the year, so maybe they're soil-enhancing phacelia?
We're then back on another unclassified road, heading towards Thorpe-next-Haddiscoe and St Matthias church there where we should find a seat for our mid-morning stop. There isn't a bench but there is a brick structure with a stone top that looks more like a seat than a grave, so we settle for that. As we are finishing, it's starting to rain and a voice shouts from over the fence to ask if we want a cup of tea. We've never accepted before and I don't know if it was the friendly Norfolk accent or the impending shower, but we both agree enthusiastically.
By the time we arrive in Trevor's garden, the sun is shining but the tea is still very welcome. Trevor has lived around here all his life and is able to reassure us about crossing the Haddiscoe marshes, the next stage of today's walk. Ever since the bog in Poulary on the HoCWalk, we've been a bit wary of wet ground. We head off down to the marshes with Rich's bag heavier with tomatoes from our host's greenhouses but our hearts lighter from this chance encounter.
The marshes are in fact mostly grassland grazed by horses and cattle with drainage ditches taking most of the water off the land. There is a 0 metre contour on the map here, but it's not clear if we're going to be walking above or below it. As we approach, some horses trot over but are held back by a drainage dyke, much to Rich's relief. There are herring and black-headed gulls as well as a murmuration of starlings in the distance. We disturb a family of mute swans and some skylarks, as we walk past. And there are deer, lots of them.
Haddiscoe marshes are part of the Broads National Park. This is Britain's smallest national park and home to over a quarter of our rarest species. The deer are Chinese water deer and there are now more of them in the Broads National Park than there are in China. As we go on, we find that there are more horses as well and these are not held back by water. They are mostly from Hillside, a shire/heavy horse sanctuary, so they are not small. They show us a passing interest, but thankfully that is all.
We leave the marshes to emerge onto the A143 to cross the Lowestoft to Norwich railway track and the river Waveney. This leads us into St Olave's, where there is a priory. Rich remembers this as a priory with a coffee shop. I remember it as somewhere we had to obtain a key to get into after a 7 year old Rob vomited in the car on the way. Regrettably, I was correct. The car upholstery never recovered. Irrespective of the priory, St Olave's is a pretty, bustling village with a marina and an attractive pub, but we cannot stop yet and so turn off up the B1074 towards Somerleyton with a sign stating Lowestoft 8 miles.
This road is quite busy and we're glad to turn off as we reach the brow of the hill. We soon join the Angles Way, still following the road. At some point, we have crossed the border into Suffolk, but there is no sign to indicate exactly where. The Angles Way runs for 95 miles between Great Yarmouth and Thetford and we met in previously on the HoLEwalk. As we crest another hill, we follow a path off to the right, still on the Angles Way and decide to continue on this route to reach the isolated Ashby church where there is not only one bench, but two, so double the lunch options. There is also a memorial to US airmen who were forced to make an emergency landing nearby after their plane caught fire. Five of the crew baled, but a further five, including the pilot, perished.
After lunch, we carry on towards the village of Blundeston. From here, we have a choice of carrying on east towards the coast and then following the sea down to Lowestoft or taking a more direct route to the outskirts of the town and walking in through the suburbs. We decide on the latter, in part because there doesn't appear to be a path along the coast, but mostly because it is shorter. The route from Blundeston is not entirely straight as, according to the Ordnance Survey, there is a prison in the way. This was HMP Blundeston, a category C men's prison that closed in 2014. As we discover, there is now a housing estate in its place, but still no rights of way.
The paths circumventing the old prison site are barely passable, the first time this has happened on this or the HoLEwalk. We find ourselves trawling through brambles, bog, nettles and the invasive Himalayan balsam. Rich says this is a final kick in the teeth before the end, as we trudge wearily past the Home Office keep out signs. We follow a shallow valley up to a farm and then a narrow path leads to a dilapidated, overhanging style. It's tricky to negotiate and disgorges us directly onto the busy B1375, which has no verges.
We arrive in Oulton and turn off as quickly as we can to follow an intricate route through the outskirts of Lowestoft, avoiding the trunk roads. We eventually alight on a tarmacked 'bridleway' which looks as if it hasn't seen a horse in decades. This terminates at the A47 (labelled the A12 on our out of date map), here a more genteel, single carriageway with good pavements. We follow this into town, turning off towards the coast, just before the town centre.
Surprisingly, we soon come across the Lowestoft Lighthouse, high up above the coast. Originally built in 1609 and rebuilt in 1676 at a cost of £300, this high light still functioning today albeit with successively modernised optics (including at one point, a spangle light). Its low light partner, situated down on the Ness, was extinguished in 1923. We turn right and take the slippery steps down the 123 feet of the Lighthouse Score to reach the shore.
We arrive at the Lowestoft Denes and it is immediately apparent why there is no coastal path marked on the map. The tide is high and the waves are breaking almost over the coastal defences. There are plenty of rocks but no beach to be seen. As we walk towards Ness Point, there are dire warnings about crossing the wall, not that we were seriously considering it.
As we approach the Ness, two cormorants fly past us and three plovers join the gulls on the groynes. We stay awhile at Great Britain's most easterly point, examining the location and distances on the euroscope - Land's End is there but no Cape Wrath. Eventually though, the light is fading and it's time to make our way home. Part 2 of the HoLEwalk awaits us next year.
Total distance: 48 miles
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