Updated 28th June
Having arranged to walk with Rina in Layer de la Haye the following day, this sparked a chain of events. I decided I couldn’t leave it any longer before I filled up my car with petrol. Normally buying petrol is no big deal, but as this was the first time I'd had to buy any since the 'lockdown', I decided I could no longer put off making a journey to the petrol pumps... something I wasn’t looking forward to!
I had already decided that I would try to pay at the pump, even though I’d never done it before. I thought, it couldn’t be that difficult. When I arrived at the petrol station, I was confronted by signage asking me to use the ‘pay at pump’ facility rather than go into the shop. I donned my mask and my rather conspicuous blue gloves and got out of the car. At first it was difficult to read the instructions because the mask was making my glasses steam up!
Eventually I managed to scan my loyalty card, having first tried it one way and then the other and even upside down. The machine then asked me to put in my payment card. After two false starts I was asked to remove it and pick up the pump nozzle. So far so good I thought!
Having deposited the nozzle into the top of the fuel tank, I waited for the gauge to clear from the previous sale. Nothing happened. I waited, still nothing. I tried pushing every button, still nothing. I finally gave up and went into the shop. This entailed a difficult discussion through my mask. The advice I was given was that the wifi sometimes 'drops out' and I should move to a different pump. This I did, but I decided to give the ‘pay at pump’ a miss this time and made my transaction in the shop - a much calmer experience.
June 3rd
With a full tank of fuel I set off to meet up with Rina at 10.00 am. We thought we could have a slightly later start as it was supposed to be cooler. Not long after 10.30 am the overcast skies cleared and the sun shone through!
June 4th
I took an interesting walk this morning with a couple of friends. The idea was to walk to Shrub End Post Office, they would conduct their business and we would then walk home. While I waited outside, I thought, why not walk on to Brickwall Farm and then cut through the Westfields Estate and back along Straight Road. While on this extended journey, my companions noted the Westlands Country Park and we peeled off the path earlier than I’d planned. It turned out to be a much longer walk, because we couldn’t find our way out. Once we were out of the park and back on known ground, we took several more detours and a shortcut via Prettygate, before we eventually arrived back home. Our total mileage was a shade under 6 miles - my Fitbit was very happy! I dare not phone my walking companions just in case they are still snoozing!
Hopefully the month of June will be a good one for increasing the mileage while preparing to walk Peddars Way.
10th June
Over the past week I’ve been maintaining good mileage everyday. Saturday was the only day I didn’t ramp up the miles - we had very high winds and I didn’t fancy being blown away.
Also met Rina today for one of our weekly walks, shorter than usual. We really couldn’t complain about that the downpour of rain. So much so that we were very, very wet. Decided we must have leggings should we have wet weather when we eventually walk to Norfolk.
12th June
As we were expecting rain, today we decided to walk in the morning. Returned to visit some allotments that I last seen in the Spring. The peas - purple and green - were looking great! Runner beans, courgettes, beets, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and everything else looked wonderful.
Tomorrow will be the first ‘Family Bubble Day’! At long last I’ll be able to connect with some of my family. It’s been along time to have been on my own. Walking everyday has been wonderful and I truly believe it’s given me something to look forward to.
13th June
I met some of my family in Manningtree this morning, we had planned a walk to Dedham via Flatford Mill.
We left Flatford to walk on to Dedham. Once there, I was treated to an ice cream!
By the time we arrived back in Manningtree we had walked 7.7 miles. A really lovely walk, I must do it again!
17th June
The first part of my Wednesday walk with Rina was in full sun, but later we were rewarded with much needed shade.
We crossed the Roman River several times before arriving back in Layer de la Haye! Great walk, approximately 3.5 miles.
24th June.
I set off in my car to Layer de la Haye today as Rina had another walk lined up for us. We decided to start early as the forecast indicated another very hot day in the 30s. It was already hot when I arrived at Rina's house a few minutes after 9.00 am. I was looking forward to this walk as she had promised the route would have some shade.
We headed to the Fox pub and turned right at the crossroads walking quickly towards the hill leading back in the direction of Colchester. As we began to climb we took a right onto a footpath into the woods owned by the MOD.
We soon met an elderly lady with her very hot fluffy dog, apparently he had been enjoying himself routing out the camouflaged soldiers who were dotted about in the undergrowth. She told us the wood was full of them and her dog had found quite a few and half licked them to death! We didn't spot any soldiers as walked, they had either moved on or were hidden under the bracken watching our every move!
It wasn’t long before we emerged from the woods into scorching sunlight with a large mown field to cross. Leaving the military land to find more shade, we came across a pasture of sheep, who had very sensibly also found a shady spot under trees, and were nibbling the grass where they lay.
Our journey took us down to a lovely watermill clad in Essex weatherboards, here we took much needed gulps of our quite warm water.
Leaving the mill we took a path to the left, and it wasn’t long before we were back in another wood. We came across more sheep and four pigs who had found some mud to lie in, unfortunately for them the mud was fast turning to concrete. I stopped to listen to their squeals and grunts as I wiped the stream of perspiration which ran into my eyes.
With the woods behind us we resurfaced somewhere in ‘The Folly’ and we trudged along the road back to Rina’s house and a much needed glass of ice cold elderflower and soda!
On my way home I called in to see a friend – as we social distanced in her garden - she told me since Covid 19 she takes exception to being called elderly and vulnerable, she now wants to be referred to as venerable! I think she has a point!
28th June
A much cooler day to meet up and join my 'bubble' family group for a planned walk at Ickworth House, Suffolk. Our chosen longer route would take us via the park and on through the woods.
Shorty after setting off we found a couple of fallen oak trees where we could all sit, an ideal place to stop to eat our picnic - once finished, we continued on to complete the walk. Because of Covid 19, only the grounds at Ickworth House were open to the public.
If you’d like to donate, this is the link to my Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rosemary-peddars-walk
For cash and cheques:
Lings have kindly offered to accept the cash and cheque donations. Cheques can be made payable to Rosemary Jewers.
Lings Country Goods, Lynn Lane, Gt Massingham, King’s Lynn PE32 2HJ
My walking companion, Rina and I welcome all who would like to join us walking sections of this route. The image below gives contact details, dates and times of where we will be and when we start each day. Click on the image below to enlarge it.
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