April 29, 2013
WE decide to halve the distance to our next scheduled stopping
point, my brother-in-law’s house in Hertfordshire, by breaking our journey at
Thetford Forest overnight.
The Waveney Farm Shop off the A413 proves a happy hunting
ground, and we emerge with Gloucester Old Spot bacon for our breakfast.
Signs to Grimes Graves tempt us off track, and how glad we
are. We discover it’s the site of a Neolithic flint mine, now cared for by
English Heritage. We wander across a wonderfully peaceful landscape, pockmarked
by filled-in mineshafts, with no sound other than the song of the skylark, then
don hard hats and descend 30ft into the gloom of a large central pit,
surprisingly untroubled by my usual claustrophobia. Really interesting.
Next stop is Weeting, where we pull in at the nature reserve
and are lucky enough to see two stone curlews sitting on nests scraped out of
the rough ground.
By the way, does anyone know why, after you’ve gone over a
level crossing, you often see a sign saying “Park here and use phone at
crossing”? A bit late by then, isn’t it? What for, and why go backwards?
We stay on a very calm and neat Camping and Caravanning Club
site near Wretham, with a network of woodland walks alongside. The air is full
of birdsong, and the crowning glory is a nightingale singing right outside the
van at dusk.
Our trip’s at an end, but our homeward journey throws up two
of those questions that are destined to remain forever unanswered.
1)
Why was there a lone bagpiper standing in a
field by the side of the A11, right in the middle of nowhere, shortly before
the A1303 turn-off?
2)
2) Why does Hertfordshire dub itself ‘County of
Opportunity’ on its signposts? Given the potholed state of the roads, it’s an
opportunity to be shaken to bits, according to David.
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