13 miles walked today
73 miles walked in
total (average 14.6)
I stayed at Lowestoft last night at the Viking
Hotel after getting the train up from Portsmouth
Had a bit of excitement at Lowestoft
as I realised I was at the most easterly point I’d get to on my walk. Only another three directional milestones to
go!
At the actual point, there’s a bizarre circle in
the centre of the prom with names and distances of various places around the
outside of it. The distances shown are
as the crow flies and include Lizard (352), Lands End (364), Cardiff (224),
Edinburgh (516), Dunnet Head (472), John O’Groats (465) and London (106), all
of which I’ll visit on this trip.
When I finish my walk, I’ll go to Athens Athens
As I was walking around this circle noting the
measures, I swear I could hear ghostly church bells coming from the sea. It was very eerie. Maybe I’ve read too many ghostly adventure
stories. (Spookily enough, H Rider Haggard
used to visit Lowestoft on holiday and had a
home at Kessingland.)
I carried on road walking until I got past Lowestoft harbour entrance and carried on along the
promenade for a while before finding a public footpath which took me over
Pakefield Cliffs. Walked past my first
Ministry of Defence site, but didn’t need to stop as the red flags weren’t
flying. The footpath also went through
woods and fields – the woods were especially tricky as the branches were very
low and I had to keep bending – not easy with a rucksack. I don’t like woods much anyway to walk in –
too many things to bite, scratch and sting you.
The
stretch from Kessingland to Southwold should have taken two and a half hours
according to the path signs, but, again, I got distracted. As I got to Benacre Nature Reserve, I watched
in amazement as a huge boat was being built in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t strike me as being very seaworthy
though – it all looked a bit, well, flimsy.
Being well qualified to chat up workmen, I decided to go and
investigate. Apparently, Bob Hoskins is
in Suffolk
The walk across Covehithe Cliffs was dead easy! I love grass and cliff walking. The bit at the other end to Southwold,
however, was horrendous – sand and shingle.
(As Amanda pointed out, I shouldn’t really expect anything else at the
coast!)
At Southwold, I looked for the lady who caused a
furore a couple of years ago, but couldn’t see her. The residents of Southwold are a bit posh and
didn’t want street traders lowering the tone, so they tried to get the licence
revoked of the ice cream seller on the front.
She’s quite posh herself actually with a neat little pinny and hat and a
proper trolley and parasol. Probably too
cold for her today though.
Southwold is very pretty with a market square and
lighthouse in the town. Also, Adnams
Brewery is based here and the pubs look very well patronised. And, because Southwold is so attractive and
in the middle of a drama festival, accommodation is nowhere to be found. I know I wanted adventures, but not having
anywhere to stay was not what I had in mind.
The lady at the tourist office took me to be a complete imbecile for
having turned up with nothing booked.
However, she very quickly composed herself and found me a B&B at
Halesworth, a twenty minute bus ride from Southwold.
I have to say the B and B was absolutely brilliant
and I was very lucky.
I also have to say that my mother may be right –
perhaps I ought to book accommodation in advance – it would save a lot of
aggro.
I’m still not buying a tent!
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