Peddars Way Day 4

Peddars Way Day 4 - Great Bircham to Hunstanton

Distance -  19.55 Km - 12.15 miles
Time Taken - 6.5hrs (inc. breaks)
Assent - 135m

We intended to get up at about 8 and leave at 9, so when  I woke early, the birds were tweeting and it was light outside a quick check of the watch showed it was half 3 in the morning!  The dawn chorus is lovely except when you are trying to sleep in a tent, bloody wildlife! I woke again later, feeling fairly refreshed and full of life.  Feet drained and cleaned we made it on the way before 9.30, our earliest yet!

Again we started off down a country road, 1.5 miles of tarmac.  Whilst it kept the pace up, I'm not sure how good it is for your feet (especially at my weight!).  The trail followed farm tracks and footpaths for the most part until Ringstead.  Again it was sunny and warm, so the white legs were out getting a good airing.  Like most of the trail, it was an arable field lovers heaven, with a few woods and hedgerow thrown in for good measure.




The village of Ringstead is the only place of any size on route and has a nice pub (The Gin Trap) and a village store.  However from Monday to Wednesday the store closes at 1pm so don't rely on it for lunch!  We ate sandwiches (bought in the Kings Head the night before, Michelin recommended sandwiches...) at the pub along with some nicely chilled fizzy pop.

Expecting another slowdown and crash we expected to take the next 2 miles to Holme by the Sea slowly, yet we made it in a nice 40 minutes.  As it was the seaside it seemed fitting to have an ice cream!

The trail leads from Holme along the seafront dunes to Hunstanton.  1.5 miles were along the dunes in soft sand, with the sun now beating down, this proved to be hard work.  Sand is always hard to walk along and after about 50 miles wasn't the greatest finish.  Hunstanton itself seemed quite nice and a mixture of old Victorian seaside with odd glaring modern buildings thrown in.

The finish line was passed and after a celebratory water and sit down, it was off to the pub for a couple of pints.  The feet were tender and thighs sore (chafe!) but on the whole I felt reasonably OK!  No real aches of pains, just a lack of energy and the mentioned sore bits.  On the whole I was very pleased with what I had carried.  I could of dropped the base layer and windshirt (didn't need either) and brought a sunhat!

The Peddars Way is a nice 53 mile walk, through nice countryside.  It doesn't have spectacular views or any great highlights, and probably follows hard roads for too great a distance but it is a nice walk to do and has a decent finish by the Sea.  Now we start planning the Norfolk Coast walk for later in the year!