9. Kirtling, Newmarket.

Details:- Lynne & I just did this circular competition walk organised by the Long Distance Walkers Association, Norfolk and Suffolk Branch. We started at at the village hall in Kirtling, south east of Newmarket, and we meandered around West Suffolk, between Newmarket and the Stour Valley. We had our entry cards marked at three checkpoints along the way. Distance:- 19 miles. Going:- almost effortless, since it was a wonderful sunny spring day, and we talked most of the way round (hence so few pics), and so we barely noticed the clicks ticking over. Map:- OS Explorer 210; Progress:- Walked 107 - 393 to go.

Photographs Hyperlink.

The Daffodil Dawdle.....

.....is one of four walks organised by the LDWA Norfolk & Suffolk Branch.

The programme this year is:-

Daffodil Dawdle (Kirtling) - 25 March 2007 - 18 or 26 miles.

Poppyline Marathon (Sheringham) - 10 June 2007 - approx 17.3 or 26.8 miles.

Poppyline Fifty (Sheringham) - 4/5 August 2007 - approx 52.7 miles.

Flower of Suffolk (Dunwich) - 7 October 2007 - 16.3 or 26.0 miles.

Walking the tramlines....

....you can't see them here, but there were about a hundred and twenty walkers and runners doing this event. Along the way and at checkpoints we talked to a number of them; they were from as far afield as Blackheath and Hertfordshire. The man from Blackheath was sixty eight, and was running with some friends from his running club. He told us that he does three marathon runs a month, all over the country! Impressive, but we wondered what his wife, if he had one, might have to say about it - not something you can actually ask!

Kirtling Village Hall....

.....where secretary Chris is running off 'sustificates' for those who completed the course. At each checkpoint refreshments are laid on, and there is a hot food at the end. We passed up on the hot food in favour of our favourite end of walk refreshment - a cup of tea and a cheese scone!

PS - we came in tenth and eleventh out of 22 the entrants for the short walk. Lynne was well chuffed - it was her first competition walk.

3. Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

Details:- Lynne & I set out from Angel Hill, opposite the Great Gate of Bury St Edmunds Abbey, and the route mostly followed St. Edmunds Way; first around and then out of the city in a south easterly direction to the villages of Nowton and Sicklemere, before heading back again into the city centre. Distance:- 9 miles; Time Taken:- two and three quarter hours; Avge Speed;- 3.2 mph; Going:- easy peasy ; Map:- OS Explorer 211; Progress:- walked 28 - 472 to go. Photographs Hyperlink.

Bury St Edmunds Millennium Tower:-

Where was once a stump which gave the cathedral a hunchback-like appearance, is now an immaculately built stone tower; the final piece in the jigsaw that is St. Edmundsbury Cathedral. The tower cost £12 million, and was built of Barnack which is the most famous of the Lincolnshire limestones - the last remaining quarry seam was opened up for this tower. Finally then, this jumped up market town of a city has a landmark other than the brewery chimney! £7m of the above total came from lottery money, and £3.5m was raised by the people of Suffolk. Not bad when you think how little people actually go to church any more.

Greene King:- Are serious beer drinkers sulky old soaks or what?! Looking on the Greene King Brewery website; I see that in recent years they have expanded and bought out the following breweries:-

1. Ruddles (Rutland in 1997); 2. Belhaven (Dunbar, in 2005), 3. Morland (Abingdon, in 2000); and 4. Ridleys (Hartford End Essex, in 2002). Ridleys had previously bought out Tolly Cobbold of Ipswich, who are now effectively controlled by Greene King. 5. Hardy & Hansons (Nottinghamshire, in 2006).

Controversially for the real ale lobby all the acquired breweries except at Belhaven have been shut down, and the brewing moved to Suffolk. CAMRA is accusing Greene King of running a monopoly. Many beer drinkers are unhappy as the following blog exerpt demonstrates.

''A drop of disloyalty from disgruntled drinkers. Regulars at a pub in Lewes, East Sussex have been staying away in droves following the withdrawal of the local beer by the giant brewers, Greene King. Since the last pint of Lewes-brewed Harveys, the most popular beer sold in the pub, was pulled in the Lewes Arms on 10th December, there has been a boycott of the pub by its regulars who have held a vigil outside the pub at peak times during the two busiest drinking weeks of the year.''

C'mon you serious beer drinking fraternity; things move on! So you can't get Old Speckled Hen like you used to; but there's a whole bottle store of new beers out there produced by a new generation of small independent breweries. Vote with your purchase power; not your boycott of the landlord's livelihood.

Sign in Bridewell Lane for the Hyperactive:-