Great Eastern Pingo Trail

Saturday 20th October 2007

8 miles

Click here for all our photos from this walk.

Today we walked the whole of a long distance path (well that's how the Long Distance Walkers Association classify it) - all of eight miles! And what a grand title. However this was a thoroughly enjoyable walk on a lovely autumnal day, and an excellent way of getting away from a particularly busy and stressful period at work.

We drove to the trail via Thetford and East Wretham (also known as Stonebridge) and parked near Galley Hill, since we knew there was parking here from when we walked the Peddars Way (though it later transpired that there was plenty of parking at the official start of the Great Eastern Pingo Trail too). We left the car around 11am and walked along a pleasant and by now familiar (if rather damp underfoot) section of the Peddars Way, with the Army firing range on our left, though no sign of military activity today. We diverted slightly to go down to Thompson Water, where we watched some swans. 

We returned to the path for a very attractive section through trees and beside the water-filed remains of pingos. Pingos were originally low hillocks that formed during the Ice Age when water beneath the surface froze (and so expanded), pushing the soil upwards. The soil on the surface slipped off and accumulated around the periphery of the hillocks. Then when the ice finally melted, the hillocks collapsed and craters were left. We saw deer, squirrels and lots of birds and walked for some distance along a drainage ditch before emerging onto open ground and then onto a minor road past some houses.** Then we cut across a common, apparently grazed by a flock of sheep, but we only saw wild ponies. 

We reached the car park (the official start of the walk) at the old station at Stow Bedon*** and then followed the old Thetford to Swaffham railway line, stopping for lunch at a conveniently placed bench. We passed more pingos and eventually reached Cranberry Rough. This is the former Holkham Mere, a name very familiar to me from my Open University work as the source of core samples used to identify the different types of pollen from the past 10,000 years - and hence to infer information about past climate. We climbed up some steps to a minor road and followed this back to the car.

Eighteen years after this walk, in November 2025, my family history research suggested that Richard's 3 times great grandfather, one John Oakley, was probably born in the village of Thompson. Thompson village is north-east of Thompson Water, and the Great Eastern Pingo Trail goes very close to the village. Thus it was that, after visiting St Martin's Church, we found ourselves retracing the Trail between the points marked ** and *** above.The village and the church are pretty (though Richard's ancestors, who were agricultural labourers, like most if not all of our ancestors were at this time, so they probably had quite a hard life). The route of the Great Eastern Pingo Trail was well signposted with signs that I don't remember from when we were here before; the top photo on this page is from 2025 now 2007!