Railway line near Aylsham to North Walsham (circuit from Felmingham)
Saturday 24th July 2010
About 10 miles of walking (5 miles along path, and return)
Click here for all our photos from this walk.
We hadn't walked on the Weavers' Way since April (though we had done plenty of walking in the meantime, including from Penzance to Falmouth on the South West Coast Path, and St Cuthbert's Way) and I was keen to get back to it, though not particularly looking forward to this leg along the railway line (the former Midland & Great Northern line from Peterborough to Great Yarmouth). I was pleasantly surprised - the overhead powerlines were a bit of an eyesore in places, but they weren't so obvious in the frequent and attractive wooded areas. The walking was very easy and the countryside was all very pleasant.
It was a dry and sunny day though not too hot. We drove to Aylsham by way of Dereham (where navigation depended on map-reading - there were no signs to any of the places we wanted to go to), Swanton Morley, Bawdeswell, Reepham and Cawston, then round the Aylsham by-pass and along the B1145 to Felmingham and right onto a minor road signed to 'Skeyton Corner'. This took us to the Weavers' Way car park at TG250286. One of the additional joys of walking the Weavers' Way has been discovering some of the pretty towns and villages in the middle of Norfolk as we've driven across the county.
The former Felmingham Station is still there, with a surprisingly long platform, and we initially walked from here towards the west (towards Aylsham). This took us through the Felmingham Cutting, now a butterfly reserve - in fact there were lots of butterflies everywhere, not just in the reserve. The area around Blackwater Beck was particularly pretty. We crossed a road and went under another (it was on a bridge) and we were soon back at the disused station (now smallholding) at TG214283, that we had reached back in April.
We retraced our steps to Felmingham Station, stopping for an early lunch at a conveniently positioned bench. Past Felmingham there was more attractive woodland (including North Walsham Woods) and we were also pleased to discover that the route into North Walsham set off along a (new?) path beside playing fields rather than along roads. Past the railway line it was just a short walk along pavements to the town centre.
North Walsham became prosperous as a weaving centre in the 12th Century. It has a distinctive market cross and a church (where a wedding was taking place) which had the second tallest steeple in Norfolk until its collapse in 1724; the ruined tower is now dominates the town. We stopped for a cup of tea at "Christopher's" then retraced our steps to Felmingham. We drove home by way of Felbrigg Hall, to enable me to visit the walled garden in its summer glory. (Our photos of Felbrigg Walled Garden are here.)
