Thetford Forest Round - 16 Miles

Hello again Dear Reader,

The training continues on apace. This weekend, we travelled up to Norfolk with Rufus for a short stay in Great Cressingham, so I decided to notch up another long walk. Since this walk was over such a short distance, if you can call 16 miles short, I decided to do this at marching pace! The aim was to finish in no more than 5 hours to keep to just over 3 miles per hour. This is to make sure I can keep up the pace when we do the challenge in June.

I started from Thetford at Nuns' Bridges, yes that was bridges, not britches, so less of the tittering! I then aimed to circle the forest between Thetford and Bardon and back, skirting across the top of Elveden Forest Park.

Again, as with the other Forest Walk, there is not a lot to say, as it was flat and for the most part, trees, so enough said! I set off at 1pm, whilst Karen went to Bury St Edmunds to see the beautiful market town and catherdral, and I got back at 6pm, so job done.

Here are some of the images from the route;

The start at Nuns' Bridges

Rufus pulling a funny face on his first dip of the day!

We had to cross the railway line. 

As we got to the railway crossing, the sign said "push button and wait for green light before crossing. If you do not see a green light, DO NOT CROSS". Well, we didn't see a green light, but I couldn't hear anything coming, so we made a dash for it.

It chucked it down 20 seconds after I took this.

Rufus decides to go into church to make a confession for being a naughty boy!

Aw, how cute is he?

Rufus is getting an expert at river crossings now.

I saw loads of deer in the forest.

Rufus finds a swimming pool made just for him in the middle of the forest.

OK, so doesn't look like I'm going a wandering then!

Soon after this place, I got to the A11 crossing. OMG, what a nightmare. Constant traffic both ways, going 70 miles per hour. We waiting for a tiny gap in the traffic and just sprinted over to the other side!

This was the view on the other side.

Once I got to the outskirts of Thetford again, I had to cross Barnham Cross Common, shown below. It was here I ended going around in circles for about 20 minutes. Very frustrating.

We eventually came back to the beginning again to meet Karen in the car park. I had pushed as hard as I could, so a good training walk again.

This is where we stayed for the night.

Ruins of the Abbey at Bury St Edmunds

Inside Cathedral of Bury St Edmunds