Getting to North Norfolk

Sorry for the radio silence - I have been too stupid to break into my own blog.

Day Zero
We started out from Barcombe on Monday, calling first at Alexander Close, Newick, the village where I was brought up. On to Crawley Down in north Sussex, guided by my Garmin Gadget (GG for short). A scenic and very up and down route. Then on towards Strawberry Hill where we would spend the night. 49.6 miles and we survived.

Day 1. Tuesday.
Made our way to Hastoe's head office in Hampden Wick where photographers from the local press and many staff gathered to give us a splendid send-off. Several of the staff came with us as we set off  through Richmond Park and along the Thames to Waterloo. There we said goodbye to our escort and resorted to GG which had some slightly wild ideas of a route. After a while of being bullied by GG, Harry was so put about that she lost concentration and fell off and bruised her knee. We decided to soldier on but I guess the shock had affected her as she misjudged a turn and came a cropper again, this time injuring her forearm quite badly. After quivering by the side of the road, debating calling the ambulance (she said no) we proceeded rather cautiously through east London and eventually emerged into the countryside to find ourselves at High Ongar in Essex at 6.00pm where poor John Lefever of Hastoe East was patiently waiting for us. We met a Hastoe tenant who showed us into his straw bale house, the only social housing built this way in the UK ever.

Day 2. Wednesday.
Harry's knee looked pretty horrid but it was her left elbow, puce and looking rather as though someone had sewn in a large cucumber, which had onlookers turning away and holding the wall for fear of fainting. But she is not a quitter and we decided to ply on and called as planned at Castle Hedingham, and Lavenham. This should have been a 42 mile trip but we must have given GG some reason to be cross with us, for we contrived to cover 60 miles including some off-roading which Harry did not appreciate at all, reasonably feeling ill-inclined to risk another fall.

Day 3. Thursday.
Harry's arm now looking more like an aubergine, we were armed by our kind hosts with maps of Suffolk and Norfolk as a prophylactic against the worst excesses of GG. It worked. We made our way without incident to Hastoe housing schemes at Nedging Tye, Swilland, Kettleburgh, Framlingham and Pulham St Mary in South Norfolk. Some 54 miles. Our kind hosts in Pulham Market were also hosting a birthday party and I consumed rather more of their excellent Pimms than was wise, causing my heart to flutter - not in a good way. A recurrence of an old complaint - atrial fibrillation - left me starting the next day considerably impaired. We prayed. The AF departed after half a day. We gave thanks.

Day 4. Friday.
We started the day at Pulham Market, then a delightful visit to the Gaymer Memorial Cottages at  Attleborough where a resident opened her house and we were treated to tea and goodies. These cottages were built in 1947, with outside toilets and still pretty primitive until a couple of years ago when Hastoe got a grant to modernise them with many high tech Eco-friendly touches. On to Hingham, Great Ryburgh, Fakenham. A day of quiet and flat riding so that our 47 miles seemed much easier than the distance sounds. We were with our hosts a little beyond Fakenham by 4.00pm.