The aim was to travel light, move quickly and have some long days on foot in Norfolk. This would be a chance to revisit some of the places from my childhood memories; including walking sections of the coastline along the mashes and birdwatching with my grandfather along with digging in the sand at with my brother.
Planning
During the first UK lockdown I had purchased a number of the Harveys maps for long distance paths around England and started planning trips to do in England when the restrictions started to lift. One of these maps covered the whole of the Peddlars Way and Norfolk Coastal Path. For anyone looking at starting some long distance paths I have found these maps great and I have previously done the Northumberland Coast Path using one of their maps.
To plan these trips I start by working out how far I think I will be able to travel in a day, talking into account terain and ascent as well as distance. Then I look to see where I can find accomidation. I have found I need to iterate though the process a few times, particularly in places with limited accomidation options so I don’t end up with any day being too long or short.
For accommodation my favourite approach is to trace along the route of the path using the interactive maps on Booking.com and AirBnB. I find this gets me most of the places to stay and I like the confidence the customer reviews give me that the accommodation is going to be nice. In areas with only limited accommodation options this does not always turn up somewhere to stay so for these I then used google maps and individually open searched for information on each accommodation option marked on the map. For me if there is accommodation available then it is ideal as the rucksack I would be carrying can be so much lighter. Great example of this was when I did Fastpacking Luxembourg Sentier du Nord
For this particular trip as I had a couple of nights were I was not able to find suitable accommodation, so I embraced the chance to do some bivvying on the trip.
Peddars Way
With my OMM rucksack packed and standing at Thetford railway station watching my train head off it was time to find some food, then a short taxi ride we see me start with an evenings walk. Having spending most of the day travelling, my plan was to just jog and walk till I wanted to sleep. Then find a quiet corner of a field to sleep in; applying the ‘arrive late, leave earlier’ approach to bivving. That evening I eventually settled down to sleep at 2am with American Osprey aircraft buzzing over head.
I enjoyed the Peddars Way, although I would suggest it would probably make a nice bike ride than run as there is a cycle route that follows much of the same trails and there are some large gaps between some of the more interesting sights.
For me one of my favourite villages along this part of the trail was the lovely village of Castle Acre, with it’s monastery and castle. I slightly regret not having more time in Castle Acre as I only had a quick look at the monastery, castle and historic village, before heading on after lunch.
It never ceases to amaze me how much better the world feels after a bath, good nights sleep and good meal. Which was a good opportunity to rest before the next section which was going to be one of my longest days. I would be passing through the Sandringham Estate before heading down to the coast, and Holme Nature Reserve where I first stating birdwatching with my grandfather.
With a number of pubs not serving food and shops closed due to covid I was very grateful to arrive at the White Horse at Holme-next-the-Sea and settle down to a cheese salad, which was going to become a staple of this trip. The pub felt like it had not changed since I was last there around twenty five years earlier, having a ploughman’s lunch with my grandfather after a wet walk.
Norfolk Coastal Path
After making it over to Hunstanton it was now time to start the second trail where again my plan was to head on till it was dark and then find a bivvy spot in the sand dunes; before meeting up with my girlfriend at Brancaster in the morning.
When deciding about what bivvy gear to take with me, I had waited till fairly close to the leaving home to make a final decision. I wanted to see what the weather forecast was, with regards to temperature and rain for the trip. The forecast was looking like it was almost definitely going to be reasonable warm and dry so I decided on a lightweight PHD sleeping bag, light pertex bivvy bag to keep the dew off, silk liner to protect my sleeping bag and to use the OMM rucksack back foam and very thin groundsheet under neither. The exact details of the kit I took I have listed out at the end. I found this combination worked really well for me on this trip and with no cooking gear, I had manage to keep the weight down to one kilogram for all my sleeping equipment.
There really is something amazing about waking up with the sound of the waves. My girlfriend arrived on the bus, which I saw drive passed me as I jogged to the meeting point.
For me this was my fourth day in a row on my feet and for now I was struggling a bit keeping up with my girlfriend, with her fresh running legs and a lighter rucksack as there was plenty of accommodation on this section so no need for her to have bivvy gear. After a few more day my body realised this was going to be what was expected of it and would settle into a rhythm although for now it felt a little reluctant.
These next few sections were some of my favourite from the trail; a great mix of running through salt march, fresh water marsh, beaches and old villages.
The forecast had not be wrong and it turned out to be wall to wall sunshine each day. We made good progress along the good running trails and even when we were forced to run along the softer sand our sprits were high and before too long we in a cafe having lunch.
I had hoped that by September the schools would be back and I would avoid the crowds. Unfortunately his was not the case as with restrictions on travelling abroad and the amazingly good weather everywhere was packed. Luckily we had booked the restaurant in advance for our evening meal as Wells-next-the-Sea as other wise we would not have got in anywhere without a reservation in advance.
After another great cheese salad, we were soon at our accommodation for the night and time to explore the local churches, which size and grandeur really reflected the prosperity this area once had.
Our last day together took us though more popular beaches and resort towns although we mainly managed to avoid the crowds, before a last evening together with a swim in the sea.
For my first day on my own again I had an ambitious day planned to get to the broods at Horsley. So after a reasonably early start I headed off, luckily my legs felt happier about running and on a few section I managed to run along either the concrete of the sea defences or the hard sand by the sea, which helped me make good progress. In places the path was close to the edge of eroded cliff tops and other parts it was along the beach.
I pushed on, with only brief stops and I made it to the lovely Nelson Head pub where I had my first taste of the Norfolk Broads before a good nights sleep.
The next day was hopefully going to see me get to the finish although as it turned out it would not be with out its challenges. After a hearty breakfast I headed off and then almost immediately stopped to watch the seals in the colony from the top of the sand dunes.
After an enjoyable time watching I really needed to head on; again my legs were feeling good. Maybe due to settling into the running, maybe due to the knowledge I had another long day ahead of me or maybe knowing this was going to be the last long day.
had a good day running along on the sweet spot where the sea and the sand meet. On arranging at Great Yarmouth I checked into my hotel and dropped of my extra kit before heading out to the end of the trail with a brief stop at the Pier Hotel for some dinner. After running along the promenade, the path dropped down to the beach and I headed along with my head-torch on, the light had gone, the sea was in and I plodded on hoping that the sea would not make it all the way up to the cliffs finding the signpost for the end in a small village.
The plan was to get the bus back to the hotel although unfortunately the road was closed and the detour the bus need to take took well over an hour extra. This marked the end of my trail running and all that was left was to spend a couple of days in the Norfolk Broads doing some gentle walking and exploring before getting the train home.
So what had l learnt, other than proper planning does prevent poor performance. I had also had the chance to rekindle that connection you get when days after day all you are doing is moving on to the next place travelling under your own steam and for me this feels so much closer to our nomadic routes than most of our life. This trip also served as a reminder that keep to a small bag and sacrificing a little comfort (although not too much) made for smoother fast packing experience. Something that I would go on to apply to my next trip cycling the Pennine Cycle Way.
What I took with me
- rucksack OMM 32 Classic
- used back as sleeping mat
- tyvek groundsheet
- RAB survival zone bivvy
- PHD Minim 200
- sea to summit waterproof liner
- rubble bags for shoes overnight
- waterproof jacket
- waterproof trousers
- windproof jacket
- OMM gilet
- warm hat (to sleep in)
- buff
- light gloves
- midge head net
- first aid kit
- spot tracker
- sunglasses
- map & map case
- compass
- camera
- smart phone, headphones & waterproof case
- charger, battery pack & cables
- head-torch & batteries
- washkit (multipurpose soap, razor, deodorant, tooth brush and paste)
- tuff tape and sewing kit
- towel
- suncream
- insect repellent
- hand sanitiser
- fleece jumper
- shorts
- running tights
- thermal top
- t-shirt
- boxers
- socks
- trail shoes
- z poles
