Day: 209 1/6/99 King’s Lynn to Sutton Bridge

Weather:  Sunny & Warm / Hot

Distance:  26 km (16.2 miles)    Total Distance:   2723 miles

The previous day I had dropped Margaret and the boys off at Fishguard harbour where they left to go to Bray for four days.  We had been camping in St David’s with frieds.  I had then driven to Cardiff and had tea with Mum and Dad and then returned to Coventry for the night. 

I left Coventry at about seven o’clock and drove to King’s Lynn.  I originally parked in the docks but had second thoughts and moved the car to a side street near by.  I walked through the town, buying a couple of apples in the Tuesday market and making a few failed attempts to get down to the harbor including going down the alleyway where the ferry left only to find it was a dead end path.  King’s Lynn had a nice old part to it when I eventually did get down to the River Ouze, which I followed up stream leaving the town, and stopping briefly to apply some sun cream as things were getting pretty hot. 

I crossed the River Ouze at the first road, and headed North again on the other bank.  I was soon in West Lynn, an attractive looking village seemingly dominated by the Del Minto (?) food factory.  I made the same mistake again and went down to where the ferry left from only to find that the path joined the river a little further up.  Once on the path it was out into the wild – I could see the Dow Chemical plant on the opposite side of the river but that also soon passed as I headed out into the estuary.

Things got pretty quiet walking on the empty sea defences.  I came across an elderly gentleman sitting next to his bike looking for estuary birds.  He was pretty chatty and told me a bit about the area.  I told him how I got on walking through the Sandringham Estate last time I was here.  He also told me that another couple of walkers, a man and his daughter, were walking about an hour ahead of me. 

In much less time than that I had caught them up just finishing their lunch.  I stayed with them for a couple of hours walking slowly and chatting to them.  It turned out his eleven year old daughter was on her first major walk and in fact he had only taken up walking some four years before.  He was taking it all a bit seriously I thought and had bought army rations and a stove for then to make their lunch on. They also told me what time the buses back were – something I had not done any homework on.  When it looked like they may need a break, I pressed on and put on a spurt thinking I may get the previous bus to them.  I rounded the bend and headed inland once again up the River Nene, past Peter Scott’s Lighthouse, or at least the one he used to live in when he was alive. 

It was now pretty hot and the half-hour walk up the road to Sutton Bridge was none too pleasant.  I missed the bus by about ten minutes – I saw it go over the bridge ahead of me.  I tried hitching but it was a hopeless road to hitch on – the cars and lorries were coming off the vast metal bridge much too fast.  I saw a pigeon sitting in the t-junction at one stage looking as if it could not fly, so went to rescue it from getting run-over.  Just as I lifted it up it flew out of my hands – a bit like releasing a dove. I went back to the village, checked in the butchers shop where the bus left from, and waited.  I had seen the man and daughter coming up the river and was hoping they would make it in time for what was the last bus – they just made it.  What a long walk for an eleven year old girl in such heat. She was falling asleep on the way home on the bus.

I decided that the forecast for the following day was so bad that I would not walk and instead drive back to Coventry and go into work tomorrow instead.