Sweaty mess!

Day four of our mammoth walk from Norwich to Great Yarmouth. It is mammoth because each walk seems to get harder and harder for me! Mum, on the other hand, feels as if it is getting easier!

The past few days have been extremely hot so I was very glad when I realised today would be cooler. It was overcast so realised I would not be able to wear my new hat with inbuilt solar panelled fan due to the lack of sun. We had our usual photograph at the start of the walk - back again at Reedham Ferry.

It was only 1 1/4 miles into Reedham village but by the time we got there I was a sweaty mess already. I am taking postpartum sweating to the extreme!!

At Reedham we met our third and final sculpture of a boat builder at work. If you look closely in the background you will spot the Cupcake Tearoom. We debated for some time whether 1 1/4 miles walking was long enough to warrant a cup of tea already but as it was 15 minutes to opening time we sadly walked past the cakes. 

I took some very uninteresting photos of Reedham despite it being a picturesque village along the river - the cloud didnt make a nice backdrop. The route took us up through the village and over to the Reedham Swing bridge. 

 (not my photograph)

It carries the Wherry Railway Line between Norwich and Lowestoft, across the River Yare. In a typical year it is opened 1,300 times (good old google). 

 Our next sign post stated it was 3 1/2 miles to Berney Arms - our only chance of a drink on the walk!

Our view for most of todays walk consisted of reeds - for miles and miles all you could see were the reeds.

 However, every now and again the reeds were gone due to flood defence work. We were not very happy when we saw this...

but were relieved when we realised we just had to walk down the mound rather than turn around and walk back.

We stopped for a break in between Polkey's Drainage Mill and Cadge's Mill where we spotted a new mooring for boats. 

By now we had a clear view of Berney Arms - although we had several bends in the river to contend with before we got there. 

We also had our first sighting of my Mums house - our final destination of the day (look closely and its the white blob in the middle!)

After admitting defeat last walk and wearing trainers that caused blisters I was even more determined to wear my flip flops today - however my feet took a battering!

 We finally came to Berney Arms Drainage Mill (the tallest in Norfolk) ...

and then a little while later to the Berney Arms Pub. There is no road access to the pub and it can only be reached by foot, train or by boat. It is a good walk from mum's so as a result we have visited this pub several times over the years. 

After a coke (no cup of coffee for Mum today) we stopped for lunch a little way up the river. We would have made my Nanny proud as in true Dugdale style we dipped our feet whilst eating! 

 

We went back on ourselves to the mill again in order to walk to Mums house. We would pick up the last part of the Wherryman's Way route on our last day of walking. Instead we joined the Weavers Way route towards Halvergate. 

We passed Berney Arms train station - although only two trains stop each day! 

We have completed this walk several times in all weathers so we didn't need to use the map at all. However, we came across the obstacles in the form of animals. We also discovered I have a fear of some animals.

Animal obstacle number 1 - swans with three cygnets who decided to sit right in front of a gate! I discovered I hate hissing swans.

Animal obstacle number 2  - a field full of bullocks. I am convinced these bullocks were after us. Mum thinks there were only 30 in the field but to me it felt like 300. They were circling us at point with evil in their eyes. Ok slight exaggeration but I have discovered a fear of bullocks! 

I was so focused on the bullocks that had circled us and were trying to attack us from behind that I didn't even look for cow pats! Slimy cow pats at that! 

                                                     

After finally composing myself of obstacle number 2 I had to contend with the next obstacle only two fields along! I was happy enough walking through fields of cows especially as Mums house was getting nearer...

 However we came across animal obstacle number 3 - some cows with their calves smack bang in the middle of the path. There were not moving. Mum told me to go to the left of her as we edged round. After the tension of the other field I must admit I even grabbed Mums hand - have no idea how that was going to help! Anyway, we get through the gate and Mum confesses as to why she got me to go to the left of her - so I wouldn't spot the massive bull in the field!

(admittedly it looks tiny on the picture but in real life it was huge)

So technically there were four animal obstacles if you include the bull that I didn't know about. 

We finally got to Mums house where my stepdad waved at us from the garden - look closely and you may spot him!

 After our long walk we had a well deserved foot soak! 

 We have two differing figures as to how far we walked today. According to Wherryman's Way sign posts we walked 8 miles. However, we tracked the walk using Mums phone which put the distance as 10.3 miles!

So only one more walk to go for us to have completed the Wherryman's Way route!

As requested - more photos of Adam. This week we discovered that although he was physically ready for a door bouncer (he has had control over his head from birth and can nearly sit) we isnt actally tall enough for one yet! The poor boy was just dangling from it and even when Chris pushed it down his feet still wouldnt touch the floor - hence Adams puzzled expression!

Adam continues his love affair with Pickle the Penguin 

and we continue to try to get Adam to smile (or even look at the camera) for family photos!

Remember you can sponsor my walk at - www.virginmoneygiving.com/EEdwards

and find out more about Hyperemesis and the Pregnancy Sickness Support charity at www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk

Broken body

Thursdays walk was the first time my body realised the enormity of walking 35 miles after being bed bound for 9 months. Up until now there have been aches and pains but they always resolve themselves by the next day. However, this walk left me unable to move that night and the next day!

It started off with me sleeping at a funny angle and getting a crooked neck. Each time I moved my shoulder or neck I had a shooting pain go down my back. Then about 1 mile into the walk I had to admit defeat with the flip flops and wear my walking trainers. The wet grass was too long with stinging nettles scattered around and the ground was too uneven. The trainers therefore resulted in blisters. Add on top of this the fact we covered the longest stretch of the walk - my body was not happy! Note to self - do not try a long distance walk again after recovering from 9 months without moving.

Despite all of this the walk went well and we managed to cover 10 1/2 miles! Although we finished the previous walk at Langley Abbey we knew that the next three miles was closed due to flood defence works. So we started our walk at Hardley Staithe.

Luckily there was a good breeze so the walk didnt feel as hot. We walked along the staithe to the river and then followed the river path which is where I had to change into more suitable footwear. 

 After 1 1/4 miles we reached Hardley Cross - which marks the ancient boundary of who controls the river. Depressingly from here we could see Reedham where we were walking to. However, we would have to walk several miles down the River Chet, back up the same river the other side just to go a few hundred yards. Admittedly there was a river in the way but Mum wasnt up for swimming.

Walking along the River Chet we came across Hardley Flood, which according to google is only a metre deep at high tide and has been there since the floods of 1953 (Note to Mum - perhaps we should google these sights before we view them!).

At times there was only a metre between the River Chet and the Hardley flood - although this photo doesnt illustrate that!!

By now we had walked 4 miles and had another mile to walk into Loddon, although we took a slight detour as we ran out of signs! Our reward was to have tea at Loddon Mill - yes my Mum got her coffee on this walk!

We even treated ourselves to cake too!

Starting the walk again was difficult - especially as the signs seems to disappear again. We ended up at Pyes Mill although we have no idea if we were meant to or not - despite there being one of the sculptures.

However, we had Mums map reading skills and we found our way back to the Wherrymans Way route - which took us to my favourite part of the walk. We had to walk through a field of sweetcorn!! As soon as we got over the gate we decided that the stinging nettles were too long and that we would have to walk through the sweetcorn.

Half way through our trek Mum decides to get the map out and we discover the footpath doesnt go around the field where we were walking but diagonally across. By this point we had walked too far so decided to carry on - I was having far too much fun! We did feel like escaped convicts or in our own horror film trying to escape from something! We did stumble across the 'actual' footpath which didnt look half as fun! 

All this time we were heading towards Reedham Ferry - we got excited when we saw Ferry Road - however, this is an extremely long road! It was made worse by seeing our starting point earlier that morning a stones throw away across the river.

Eventually we made it to Reedham Ferry - I dont think my feet could have taken any more! Reedham Ferry is the only remaining vehicular chain ferry in Norfolk (again this is according to google - we thought perhaps the only one remaining in England!).

We even got the Ferry to ourselves!

We had run out of water some time ago so a shandy was in order to quench our thirst at the Reedham Ferry Pub! 

So 10 1/2 miles later my feet would go no further. My shoulder hurt so much I was unable to lift baby Adam up that evening and I ended up going to bed the same time as Adam and slept 12 hours (thank you to my wonderful husband for getting up with Adam!).

Two days later my body is still not happy with me but we are on the home stretch now of the fundraising walk. We are on the correct side of the river so wont have to rely on long lifts in order to start our walks and I have completed the rest of the walk (Reedham to Great Yarmouth) before so we wont be needing to rely so much on the map!


Remember you can sponsor my walk at - www.virginmoneygiving.com/EEdwards

and find out more about Hyperemesis and the Pregnancy Sickness Support charity at www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk

Hot hot hot!

On Friday we completed the next 8 miles of the walk (with an extra detour)!

We started at Surlingham Church and immediately were relieved that we left Adam and the pushchair at home as the ground was marshy. However, the views were specular.

We had two obstacles to overcome this walk 

Obstacle number 1 - the heat. It was such a hot day. Not so bad if you were walking in the shade but a majority of the walk involved open spaces. Mum resorted to wearing her 'funny' hat and I had to put my hair up. The heat zapped a lot of our energy and made the walk harder.

Obstacle number 2 - finding a cup of coffee for my Mum! My Mum has now turned into my Nanny Doris who always wanted a cup of tea whenever we got somewhere (I travelled to Norway with her a few years ago and no matter where we were she didnt care about the view unless she had a cup of tea before hand). It wasnt an issue last walk day as we walked right past Whitlingham Country park that conveniently has a coffee shop. However, we werent so lucky day two - mostly because we set off earlier and came across the issue of pubs not opening until 12pm. We got to the first pub which was closed...

 ...the second pub was closed...

 (although Mum got a bit friendly with the local!)

...the third pub was closed! By this point I thought Mum was going to cry but we realised it opened in 10 minutes. By this point Mum had decided it was too late for a coffee and opted for a coke instead because of the heat!  

 By lunchtime we had got to Rockland Broad and carried on walking to Buckenham Ferry. The majority of the walk would have been impossible with a pushchair! Eventually we got to Langley Abbey where we collapsed with heat exhaustion and very sore legs. There was a light at the end of the walk though - Langley Abbey had a coffee shop and Mum got her coffee!

Chris rewarded me that night with a BBQ, beer and play time with my favourite boy -who has discovered his own version of a kiss!



Remember you can sponsor my walk at - www.virginmoneygiving.com/EEdwards

and find out more about Hyperemesis and the Pregnancy Sickness Support charity at www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk