This morning my tent's flysheet was coated with sparkling white frost. Despite the cold my winter sleeping bag and air bed had kept me warm overnight, although I was conscious of an occasional drip of water from condensation above my head. Outside the tent a scattering of small clouds above the trees were capturing the pink light of the sun, still over the horizon. One of the joys for me of wild camping is being up to see the sunrise, away from any light pollution, and the effect of the low sunlight on the landscape.
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| Sunrise. |
Packing my tent into its bag was a struggle, its material still stiff and packed with frost despite my attempt to shake it off. I was curious to see what might have caused motorbikes and cars to stop on the main track near my tent last night. There was an area where the track was enlarged, widened with numerous rutted tracks. Maybe a convenient place to stop and chat. Yellow signs on trees said the area was monitored by CCTV. Nothing was explicitly prohibited, so I asked a dog walker the purpose of the signs and was told some of the Land Rover drivers were "animals". Most of my walk today was on "byways" on which you can legally drive your four wheel drive vehicle or scrambler motorcycle. There were plenty of both out today, maybe as it was a weekend, the motorbikes loudly screaming down the tracks, the four wheel drives moving at a more cautious pace with older men driving.
Rutted tracks were lined with birch trees, their white bark side-lit by the morning sun. Beyond the birch there were the regular rows of a mature coniferous plantation. Even after I left the forested area, lines of pine trees marked the edge of fields I crossed on wide, rutted lines. In places a copse or larger wooded area was on one side of me and open fields on the other, elsewhere I was on a tree lined track through fields. Pigs occupied several of those fields, each with its own pig house and bales of hay.
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| Rutted tracks through Thetford forest, made by four wheel drive vehicles and motorbikes which can legally drive on these byways. |
The only village on today's route was Euston, and I merely touched the edge of it by the grounds of Thetford Rovers Football Club which seemed to have just finished playing the Bulldogs. Although only a village league there were many cars in the parking area.
The Icknield Way ended at Knettishall Heath, an area of rough ground with grazing ponies behind a fence. A small child tried to attract their attention but the horses were facing away from her and ignored her entreaties. I had planned to continue up the Peddars Way, the next waymarked trail on the Greater Ridgeway, camping in some woodland area, but the weather forecast was warning of high winds overnight with a yellow warning from the Meteorological Office. As the day had been sunny throughout and the air still, I was not sure I believed the forecast. However my tent was designed to be lightweight rather than rugged and sheltering in woodland might not be prudent with the risk of branches or trees falling in high winds wind. Consequently after walking a short way up Peddars Way through woodland, I turned down a quiet road towards Thetford.
This town was several kilometres away but the nearest I could find accommodation. My knee was causing me pain and the thought of a two hour walk was depressing. However, I was extremely fortunate that a car stopped and a kind lady gave me a lift into the town centre. Having been without coffee for 24 hours, that was my first priority. My driver took me to a Portuguese café where I had a coffee and cake, and bought her something similar in gratitude for saving me a long road walk. As well as pointing out some handy East European food shops where I could resupply she told me that Thetford was where "Dad's Army" had been filmed. A TV comedy favourite from my youth I was surprised that it was filmed in Thetford as the events supposedly took place in a seaside town (the fictional Walmington on Sea). Outside the Travelodge where I am staying there is a statue of Captain Mainwaring, the leader of the Home Guard troop featured in the series. Private Pike was painted in a doorway nearby.
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