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Walked by Sally and Richard, 3rd November 2012
About 14 miles, including 6 miles progress along Hereward Way
Click here for all our photographs taken today
We woke to a cold November day. We had some light rain around lunchtime (which I hadn't expected) but the sun was out for most of the afternoon (which I also hadn't expected). The walk encompassed Breckland heaths and the edges of Thetford Forest, with more deciduous trees than I had expected and hence glorious autumn colours.
We parked at the Brettenham Heath car park (TL936864), close to the point where the Peddars Way crosses the A11. To get to this car park, take a minor road called High Bridgeham Road from the A11, signposted 'To the Heath'. (Note, there is another car park, with toilets, right on the A11 but there is no access to this from the east-bound carriageway). We set off walking at about 10.45, immediately onto an attractive wooded section of Peddars Way. We crossed the A11 and walked down the road to the level crossing (Shadwell Crossing).
Over Shadwell Crossing, we parted company with the Peddars Way, turning left at a sign to 'Brandon 10m'. The Hereward Way signs seemed to have disappeared (here and elsewhere), but the route was clear. We were close to where we had seen trees being felled when we walked the Peddars Way in September and the felling operation was still going on (though there was no activity today because it was a Saturday). We walked past large numbers of felled logs and along a track made muddy by Forestry Commission vehicles.
Eventually we left the felling operations behind us, and emerged onto East Wretham Heath. We crossed the A1075 and passed Langmere, though it took us a while to work out what we were looking at because there was no water in the mere. This is one of a number of meres in the area which are underlain by chalk, and only contain water when the water table is high. What I can't understand, given the amount of rain we've had, is why the water table is not sufficiently high at present.
We followed the track back into woodland, past some men out shooting. There were lots of 'shooting in progress; please keep to the main paths' signs about, and lots of bangs, but we had some difficulty deciding whether the bangs came from those shooting game or soldiers on the nearby Stanford Training Area (Stanta). The track became quite rutted and there were echoes of Flanders and Swann's 'Bedstead Men', with the remains of a TV and a three piece suite dumped by the track. However, as for the whole of today, the gloomily coniferous was mellowed by broadleaved trees by the track, and it was all attractive.
We emerged onto the road that Google Maps tells me is called Wyrley's Belt. The route of the Hereward Way turns left here, joining National Cycle Route 13. For a road, it is attractive - lovely autumnal woodland again - however it is a road, and given that there is an obvious alternative, it seems odd that the official route goes this way. The JordanWalks alternative is thus: cross the road (OK, onto another road, but you don't follow it for long) and walk along until the land falls away to your right - this is Fowl Mere, again with no water. The MoD land on the right-hand site turns away from the road and almost immediately take a broad track heading off into the forest on the left-hand side (south) of the road. This is marked with a large '64' and is a public footpath, althought this fact is not advertised at either end.
Very soon we reached the Devil's Punchbowl, which was lovely despite the fact that again it contained no water, and it was starting to rain. The Devil's Punchbowl (or perhaps I should say this Devil's Punchbowl) is described as a classic doline, a depression caused by a collapsed cave in the chalk below. We continued along the track, going straight ahead whenever there was a choice. We stopped for lunch in woodland near Mickle Hill and shortly afterwards we saw a fox - this was a peaceful and extremely pleasant section of the walk.
We reached the road and turned right, back on the official route of the Hereward Way. This brought us to Croxton, where there is a bench. A pity we'd already had lunch! We went straight ahead the road in Croxton, onto a track which took us through rolling countryside, past the banks of a reservoir, and into coniferous woodland alongside Thetford Rugby Club, which we remember as the place where I took off on a balloon flight back in 2010.
We turned back and retraced our steps (aside of the diversion along Track 64 to the Devil's Punchbowl). The sun had come out and it was delightful walking. We got back to Brettenham Heath at around 4pm, just as the sun was sinking.
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