Stretchworth to Icklingham: Greater Ridgeway Day 23

A walk through an increasingly flat landscape and several villages.

Paths confined by hedges seemed characteristic of the first part of my walk today. Behind the hedges were horse paddocks and "gallops" for exercising the animals, although I saw few horses using these facilities. With Newmarket nearby, famous for its racing, the number of equine establishments was maybe to be expected. 

Path lined with hedges behind which there were horse related establishments.

Back in open fields a herd of grey-black deer ran out from behind a hedge, they stopped briefly, looked at me, then returned to where they had come from. On rounding the hedge I could see no sign of them, they had disappeared into the landscape. The fields themselves were either lines of grass (or maybe they were young crops of grain) or some kind of widely planted brassica.

The villages I walked through seemed to have been prosperous with some large, old, attractive houses, as well as the flint walled churches with square towers typical of the area, but maybe not able to support a congregation every Sunday. I was particularly anticipating the church at Gazaly as my research suggested it had tea and coffee making equipment, of key interest due to the sparsity of tea shops. My wish to reach it was frustrated by a detour in the Icknield Way, which added an extra few kilometres by completing three quarters of a circle through countryside rather than a direct approach up the road. However the diversion was undoubtedly more attractive than the shorter road route. I spotted my first snowdrops in flower and a few groups out for a Sunday ramble, busy chatting to each other.

The first snowdrops I had seen in flower.

Sadly, Gazaly church had facilities for making neither coffee nor tea, only a collection of second hand books and vinyl records for sale, so my donation to church funds was suitably reduced. One new book being advertised was about the 16th century wood carvings on the chancel roof. Unfortunately, without binoculars you could not see the animals said to be carved on the wooden bosses.

After a period of wind the afternoon brought intermittent sunshine, making views of bare branched trees and even telegraph poles look attractive. At Tuddingham, after a conversation with an older farmer about what his son might be doing with his forklift, I was rewarded with a coffee and cherry & custard strudel at a farm shop. I also bought a "smartie" cookie for later but unfortunately it was so attractive it predeceased my coffee.

Cavenham Heath had a sign describing the Brecklands, an area of sandy heather covered heath and woodland (where it was not farmed). Although shadows were lengthening as the sun dropped lower in the sky, many families were still enjoying a weekend walk on the heath as I crossed it. I reached the edge of the village of Icklingham as the sun was setting. In the dusk twilight I followed the Icknield Way around the north of the houses and then into a large area of forestry. By the time I had reached the main track through the forest my head torch was needed. Finding an area of grass down a side trail, I started to pitch my tent. Although I had seen no-one for a few kilometres, my act of pitching coincided with the sound of a car on the main track. Once inside my tent there was a roar of motorbikes which stopped not so far from my where I had pitched. They departed but were replaced by a car which stopped nearby, more motorbikes and the sound of distant conversation. At first I switched off my head torch, thinking meetings in a remote spot like this, rather than in a house, café or pub, must be for some nefarious activity. After a while I decided that the bushes between me and the main track would hide me. I turned my torch back on, ate my tea and completed my other evening activities. I am still listening to distant motorbike noises.