14 December 2013: Holt to Mannington Hall

Walk descriptor	Test walk		Day	00
Date	Sat 14 Dec 2013		Start to end time	06h 30m
Start point	Holt		End point	Mannington Hall (loop)
Miles today	19.18		Cu miles	0,000.00
Ft today	868		Cu ft	000,000
Route miles left	0,000		Route ft left	000,000
Today’s weather	Brilliant winter sunshine at start; clouded over about 2pm. Brisk south westerly breeze. Still quite mild (about 8C). No rain

Today’s location (the red cross in a circle shows where I am at the moment)		GPX based track of today’s walk (click here to access to access downloadable file)

Commentary

Celebrating 100 days before the start of my LE2JOG walk – and also my birthday (yesterday) with a weekend away in a small (i.e. microscopic) cottage at Holt in Norfolk.

Enjoyed a brilliant walk today, on the Holt-Mannington circuit. Started with a quick look round the village of Holt at the start, which is a bit like Knightsbridge-on-sea. In Bakers & Larners, which I guess is the local village shop, there was a large selection of red wine Nebuchadnezzars on sale (starting at £445) and the cooking section included 50 varieties of extra virgin olive oil, arranged over 5 shelves.

Suitably impoverished, we headed south through beautiful unspoilt countryside on the (largely) well-marked Holt-Mannington walk. Mild weather meant that viburnums, gorse and rapeseed were in full bloom along the way. Very un-Christmassy. Mannington Hall (about 10 miles from the start), is home of Lord and Lady Walpole and is open to the public in the summer. We had a sandwich lunch there then headed back around the return half of the circuit briskly as it was starting to get dark.

Arrived back at Holt in darkness (headtorches needed) but just in time to pick up a couple of Nebuchadnezzars in Bakers & Larners before it shut. Dinner at Byfords tonight.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Val at the start of the walk, just outside Holt	Looking North East from near Hempstead. I really must do something about that double chin..

Val enjoying the sunshine near Plumstead Heath	Above Richmond cottage

Mannington Hall	Holt by night..

Some interesting artwork in the foot tunnel under the A148 at Holt