Category Archives: Walking

Shouldham Warren

The first day of my holiday and it’s raining.

After a morning of chores Dolly and I headed out later than planned towards Shouldham Warren.

I’ve never been to Shouldham Warren before.

I’d discovered Shouldham Woods a couple of weeks earlier when driving from work to Thetford for a meeting.

As I was driving along the A road I thought “oh this looks like a nice woods” and then noticed a forestry commission sign with the name of the woods. I mentally made a note to look it up later once home.

A week later I was talking with a friend/colleague about where Dolly and I were planning to walk next. Strangely for me I remembered the name of the wood. The friend said it was a nice woods. They had often gone there with the kids.

Apple Maps took us across country as the fastest route. One or two of the roads travelled were the typical fenland back road, single lane and bumpy.

I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived. Not a main road in sight or ear shot. A fairly spacious car park.

With the light rain I decided we would not stop for a brew. We would just use the walk as a reconnaissance walk. I’d only take the Pathfinder canteen and Dolly’s collapsible water bowl.

Once ready we headed to the trail head.

We were given a choice of two signed routes round Shouldham Warren. The Range Walk was a mile, and the Warren Walk was two miles.

An executive decision was made. We were going to follow the Warren Walk.

As the photos show the woods themself are diverse in the trees growing there. A sign at the car park listed nine species planted as part a restock program. Plus I recognised oak, beech, rhododendron.

It’s strange what two or three weeks make. Our last walk at Whitehills Wood the rhododendron were not flowering. But now here at Shouldham Warren they were. I really do love the rhododendron flower.

As we followed the yellow disks marking the route there were paths going off to the sides. I had to resist going off to explore. That would be for another day.

We saw only the odd person in the distance following other paths. The rain obviously discouraging people from going out. No car sounds or talking, just bird song, the odd cuckoo. It was peaceful.

The Warren Walk does take you to the edge of the woods and a lovely man made stream. I say man made because it’s too straight and long to be natural. Sadly the banks of the stream are too steep to get down and paddle for Dolly.

However odd spots looked like wildlife had dug routes (still steep) to the water. In some mud I thought I saw what was a badger paw print. Had it been the one making the route down?

The only drawback on this walk were the two blankets/rugs left discarded by the side of the path in a couple of spots.

There were obvious signs that some of the route was a bridle path. And I’m not talking just hoof prints.

At the return to the car park I examined one or two of the signs there. The woods themself are part of the Nar Valley Way, a 34 mile route between Kings Lynn and Gressenhall.

There was also a sign post pointing towards Pentney Abbey, apparently two miles away. Plus a sign for a ten mile circular walk that had no disk. So I’m not sure if the route has any sign posts now to follow.

Once home I did a bit of google research and found an official council pdf with os maps for the circular walk (which I printed out).

It would also appear from my googling that Shouldham Warren was the site of a Second World War rifle range. Something for me and Dolly to look for traces of next time we visit.

I can see Dolly and me returning here a lot. Not to just explore the side paths. It really is a beautiful woods. Plus it’s about the same travel time as going to Roydon Common or Whitehills Wood.

Not sure where Dolly and I will go tomorrow.

A chill walk

Day one of rare back to back days off.

When Dolly and I left for our walk it was cool.

I decided to return to Roydon Common and the upper field.

I wanted something easy on my legs (I’m still trying to rest them as much as possible) whilst giving Dolly a bit longer walk wise.

I thought also the benefit of doing this route was the horse trough on the planned route as a water stop for Dolly.

However when we reached the water stop spot the horse trough was gone! All that remained was the outline in the grass of where it once was.

We walked on to find a suitable spot to chill and have lunch.

My brew kit for today was the ultra light hikers favourite BRS 3000T, which I used with a BRS-3000T Special Stainless Steel Windproof Ring (from AlieExpress), a Fire-Maple Gas Canister Stand, plus the Pathfinder Stainless Steel Nesting Cup that goes with my Pathfinder canteen.

I also used my brew kit staples of a UCO Collapsible Cup, MERMOO YILAN Collapsible Pour Over Coffee Dripper, and Fire-Maple Dandelion Buddy Camping Table.

Before making lunch I made a brew, and gave Dolly much needed water.

My lunch was inspired by Chef Corso and his “pad thai” recipe (YouTube video here). But I’d forgotten a couple of ingredients (the powdered coconut milk, garlic and ginger powder). Instead my flavouring were packets of soy sauce, English mustard, sweet chilli sauce, plus two packets of peanut butter. I call this pad thai adjacent! Plus some sliced up cured meat (forget what it was specifically) thrown in. It was pretty tasty but left a messy pot.

So yes I did wash up before packing away.

The BRS and windshield did ok in the gentle breeze. It wouldn’t hold up in a stronger breeze or wind. But with the SOTO 750ml Thermolite pot, everything (stove, 100g gas canister, pot grabber, windshield) but the canister stand fits nicely inside the pot, and the canister stand tucks on top in the included bag. It’s a nice light weight cook system.

While we were chilling the day was starting to warm up.

Once packed up (leaving no trace we had been there) we did the final bit of our walk back to the car.

Dolly is really good off the lead. Stays very close, doesn’t go off chasing wild life. And is the same when we stop for a brew. She is very much like the wolf pack were when we were out and about and stopped for a brew.

All in all this was just what Dolly and I needed.

The Search for our “El Dorado”

Or how I lead Dolly astray by trespassing!

Yesterday was going to be another scorcher. What better time to head off to Whitehills Wood to look for the hidden pond.

As we pulled into the small car park I was pleasantly surprised that there were no other cars.

I’m not saying I’m anti-social. But less people means more opportunities to spot the inhabitants of the wood.

We got ready (basically putting on my trail shoes, tarp hat, and haversack) and headed off into the beckoning shade of the woods.

It wasn’t long before we were at the point of the route to go off path looking for the pond on the map.

We passed the mysterious serial killers murder hole, or whatever you want to call it that we discovered on our last trip here.

In a what would seem a failed attempt to use “natural” navigation techniques to find the pond we continued straight along some deer paths.

My logic went if there was indeed still a pond in these woods then the local wildlife would have trails that would lead me to it.

A solid theory I thought.

As we followed one such “path” we stumbled upon a most definitely man made path.

Dolly and I headed left along it looking for another deer path heading in the direction of the pond.

I thought we had found one. But sadly it too like our previous visit ran into a wall of rhododendrons and trees.

It was at this point that I thought we had been defeated once again. So we stopped to for refreshments and to enjoy our shaded surroundings.

After packing up we retraced our steps back to the man made path. But instead of then heading back to the car I decided to follow the path to see where it came out.

But not too far along we came across an even better path that followed a stream.

Maybe this stream fed into the pond!

So we headed left following the path/stream. Five minutes later we were greeted by an amazing, beautiful pond and clearing.

It even had fish in it.

There was an even bigger surprise of a building there in the style of a mausoleum.

This was such a pretty spot. I’d love to wild camp here.

Dolly and I had been so close that if we had gone right earlier we’d have been having our lunch in this hidden gem.

After taking in the serenity and beauty of this spot we headed back.

More exploring was required where did the path come out?

We followed it and the stream to the edge of the woods heading to a river, and come across a gate that was locked!

Looking at the sign on the opposite side of the gate, it would appear we had been unintentionally trespassing!

This section of wood and the pond belonged to the Castle Rising estate and was not open to the public.

We turned round to retrace our steps to the spot we originally joined the path. Once there it was deer tracks back to the woods we were allowed in.

Why there is no signage up in the woods is a mystery to me.

After a brief water stop for Dolly we made our way back to the car.

Back at the car we were still the only vehicle there.

Had we been the only ones in the woods while we were there?

This had been a most excellent walk. Next time we will try and find a route to the other pond and the river.

Whitehills Wood – a local Blair Witch Project?

Easter Day the store is closed so I have the day off. 
I had planned to take Dolly out yesterday but I did some overtime instead. With three expensive kickstarters all finishing within a month I needed the money.

So today I was really determined to go out somewhere with Dolly. I even prepared the bags the evening before.

I didn’t have a destination in mind as I threw stuff into the bag. But as I woke up I knew I wanted to avoid bank holiday honey spots. Which meant the coast was out, as was Roydon Common. I wanted to get away from the crowds and find somewhere Dolly and I could just chill.

The plan was to go to the woods near to Roydon Common, Whitehills Wood. 
It’s actually a bigger wider wood than that at Roydon Common. On paper easier to go off path to find that quiet spot.

The parking spot for the woods isn’t sign posted at all. It comes up on you suddenly. Which means the cars behind you are getting little notice you are about to slow down very quickly. It doesn’t help that the entrance to the car park is very pothole ridden. Making for a very bumpy stop! 
The woods themselves is a mixture of coniferous trees (the majority) and deciduous trees. There are also a lot of rhododendrons amongst the trees. Which provide some nice cover deeper into the woods to do bushcrafty stuff, or just chill.

Dolly and I followed the main path that we found out was not going to take us anywhere close to the pond shown on the os map.

We were going to have to go off path to find the pond.

It also turns out the main path also missed out a chunk of the woods. Undiscovered woods to discover at a later date.

Not long after going off path along a deer track I saw what looked like a small wooden door in an embankment.
Ignoring all the lessons learnt from watching numerous eighties slasher flicks, such as (the classic Friday the 13th, and Halloween series of movies) Dolly went to investigate.

With the moss well established this had been here a while.
As I got closer I thought maybe this was some bushcraft underground shelter.
Lifting the door open to see inside there wasn’t much space inside. 
If this was a shelter it was for a very small person. I’d say it was at most three feet deep, by what two feet? 
Things got more mysterious when I found a hole going down into the “shelter”. It didn’t go straight into it but curved at the bottom going into the back of the “shelter”. Was this a chimney? Was this some sort of bushcraft oven?

After the brief exploration of the mysterious “shelter” we continued on following the deer path hopefully to water.

Instead of finding water we found what looked like some eco vandals aka bushcrafters had been building shelters and making fire.

I decided to use this as good as any spot to stop and have our lunch.

Todays lunch was cooked on my BushBuddy.

Yes that is a Fire-Maple Dandelion Buddy Camping Table in the picture below. You will also notice titanium chopsticks (yes I’m that guy) plus a folding chef knife from Hector Knives. I obviously used the knife to slice up the salami. Naturally Dolly and I had to taste test the salami as I was slicing it.

I started the fire using the BCB ferro rod with paper thin birch bark. None of the wood burnt was from these woods. In fact it was kindling I bought at a garage. 

The ingredients I took were the following:

  • ramen noodles
  • freeze dried garden peas
  • freeze dried sweet corn
  • freeze dried carrots
  • two dried shitaki mushrooms broken up
  • Two piccanti fine cut spicy salami sliced up
  • packet of soy sauce
  • chicken oxo cube
  • packet of Furikake seasoning
  • water

I basically put everything but the soy sauce and Furikake seasoning in the pot, bought to the boil. I’d like to say I them simmered it but that would imply I had some sort of control over the heat!
Once everything was cooked and rehydrated and I was ready to eat, I then stirred in the soy sauce and sprinkled on the Furikake seasoning.

I have to say this was pretty tasty. I did not share this with Dolly.

After having a drink of squash I packed up leaving no trace we’d been there.

We then retraced our steps back to the path and continued our circuit back to the car.

This was a very nice woodland walk. It felt like a woods where you could get lost exploring its depths. Something missing when you walk round the Roydon Common woods. It’s too thin.

Roydon Common Upper Field

It’s the second week of good weather here in the UK.

I originally planned to take Dolly to Thetford on my day off. But plans change, the lure of staying in bed that little bit longer too strong.

In the end the choice I made was to go back to Roydon Common.

We were just going to take it easy in the “heat” and just wander round what I call the upper field.

This time we walked the part of the previous walk in reverse. Which meant we did the height gain early, and make use of a water stop for Dolly.

By the time we got to the water trough Dolly was ready to climb in for her drink. I got her bowl and scooped out some water for her.

As we continued round the upper field I saw three hares doing hare stuff like chasing each other. But Dolly was oblivious to them.

We found a shaded spot to stop and chill.

I felt it was too hot for coffee. So I didn’t break out my BushBuddy stove. Instead I had my Crystal Lite squash powder.

Dolly had more water, some biltong, and I had cheese and biscuits. Naturally Dolly also wanted what I was having too.

After our chill break we continued on with our walk.

Once back at the car I gave Dolly some more water before heading off home.

Holkham Beach April 2025

Yesterday the weather was perfect for me.

Not too hot, not too cold.

A perfect spring day in fact.

Made more so with the fact it was my day off.

So after what can best be described as a relaxed start to the day, Dolly and I made off for destinations unknown.

Well I had possibilities. A return to Roydon Common? Maybe the coast? If the coast where? Heacham or Holkham?

Eventually as we drove round Kings Lynn a decision was made.

Apple Maps was instructed to guide us to Holkham beach.

The last time I was on Holkham beach it was with Strider, over a decade ago.

It was when Strider and I spent the night on the beach. The morning was magical. I took my favourite photo of Strider (see above) as the glow of the dawn sun began to start warming us up.

Since that magical time with Strider I have not been back.

But yesterday was about Dolly and introducing her to this beautiful piece of the Norfolk coast.

After leaving the car park and crossing into this national nature reserve Dolly was off the lead.

We followed the path that put the woodland between us and the beach.

Dolly was amazing off the lead. Even when there were other dogs.

We walked about a mile, which took us to the second hide, and the farthest edge of the woods, before we followed the path to the beach.

It was rather windy on the beach. A complete contrast to the sheltered path we had just come from.

We walked towards the sea. Which was out. Way way out.

We didn’t make it to the sea, maybe three quarters of the way before heading back.

But Dolly did really enjoy being on the sand.

There was no way we were going to walk along the beach into a head wind back to the car.

Instead we used the woodland to give us shelter from the wind a provide a rest spot.

While Dolly topped up on water and beef jerky. I too had water (no fires – Kelly kettle out, or camping stoves allowed to protect the nature reserve), and cheese and biscuits.

After that brief stop we followed the some of the many paths that cut through the woodland. The majority spanning the width of the woodland connecting the beach and dunes with the path on the opposite side.

Back at the car park we dropped our stuff off at the car and made our way the very short distance back to the ice cream van. Where I bought Dolly and myself an ice cream.

Dolly was unsure about her ice cream to start with. But she soon over came that uncertainty and decided she really liked it.

On our drive home on the road boarding the Holkham hall estate I saw a massive red kite. Such a beautiful buzzard.

I think Dolly enjoyed her afternoon at the beach.

Chillin’ in the woods

As I was throwing stuff together for todays walk a shower hit. This was the turn for the worse I was expecting for the week.

It was definitely feeling a bit chillier.

But the cold and rain were not going to put me (or Dolly) off going on our walk.

By the time we hit the A47 I’d decided our destination would be back to the woodlands at Roydon Common.

Dolly was off lead for the majority of this walk, and she was really well behaved.

We explored a couple of side paths.

Which gave me a better picture of the woods. I collected a little birch bark to use as tinder.

Some of which I used to start the fire in today’s stove. Oh the stove I was using was the Kelly Kettle Trekker.

Part of these brew stops is getting Dolly used to being off lead, not wandering off, and chilling out.

I enjoyed using the Kelly Kettle. Well playing with fire (responsibly) is fun.

I didn’t mess around I used my bic lighter to start the fire. The wood I was using was some kindling I bought recently from a petrol station. Plus some twigs I’d gathered over 10 years ago!

Dolly is really sure now that she likes beef jerky! As if there was any doubt. But the jerky does make a nice treat for her during our brew stop. Plus I can have a bit too.

We had been very lucky with the weather because our walk and brew stops had no sign of rain. In fact there was some hint of the sun breaking through and blue skies!

In our wandering some of the paths we followed were definitely deer paths. I even saw a Muntjac ahead of us at one point. One such path revealed what was a “pond” that was obviously a source of water for the local wildlife. Surprisingly it was close to the actual main path, but not visible from that path.

Yeah we had a fun chill walk in the woods again.

Games and woods!

Last night was once again club night.

With no Anthony to troll him this week Marcin was going to have a stress free evening.

It was good to see and play some games with Jonathan. It’s been way too long since we last sat at table and played a game.

We started off with a game of flip 7 which I won comfortably. Somehow Marcin reached the heady heights of 26 points and never managed to add any more to his total.

Our next game was Rebel Princess. Which Marcin redeemed himself by winning easily. Luckily he didn’t manage to keep a zero points score. Can’t have him matching my zero score in the last game.

Our final game was Wild Gardens. It’s an interesting action selection, resource gathering, contract fulfilment game.

This one took nearly two hour to play. It could have been quicker but when one player has ap what can you do?

Marcin won this game to.

It was a fun evening apart from the ap inflicted player dragging the game out. Plus it was really great to see Jonathan again.

Thursday evening I caught the Met Office YouTube channel warning that after the weekend the weather would once again get worse.

So I mentally made a plan to go out with Dolly on my day off.

On our way out I needed to get some petrol inside the car, otherwise we weren’t going to get very far.

At the petrol station while paying I picked up a packet of beef jerky to use as a dog treat on the walk. Which wasn’t a bad option considering there were no actual dog treats to be bought.

We then headed off towards Roydon Common. But instead of parking at the first car park we carried on to the second car park.

This was a much smaller car park that was also in the woodland that I was aiming for on our previous walk.

We were seeing wildlife almost instantly. The woods were alive with bird song. I was pleasantly surprised seeing a butterfly fluttering across the path a couple of times. It was a brimstone I think.

The woods seem to be crawling (at l ast five) with Muntjac feeding just off to the side of the path. Dolly never even noticed them as they froze hoping not to be seen. Pretending to be a statue by the Muntjac allowed me to get the phone out for a photo.

The path we were on was the one I was hoping to connect up to when we came here previously.

Instead of connecting up with our previous route we cut across to edge of the wood that bordered the common.

It was on this return leg that we stopped to have a brew.

For this brew stop I was using the Boundless Voyage Titanium Cookware Set with the Phantom – Ultralight Stove.

While I was waiting for my water to boil I gave Dolly some water and we shared the jerky. By share I mean I had a couple of pieces and Dolly had the rest.

It was this return leg that I tried Dolly off the lead. I was forced earlier to briefly take her off so we could get over a fence using a sty and dog hole in the fence too far from the sty.

Dolly was really good off the lead. Didn’t run off, stayed close.

I think she enjoyed the little bit of extra freedom.

As we got close to the car park I put Dolly back on her lead. I’m glad she was. There was an owner getting out of his car, his dog not on a lead or his control. He had no idea I was there or with a dog. A fecking idiot. Luckily nothing happened but I hate stupid dog owners like this.

But that last bit aside Dolly and I had a great walk in the woodland. Plenty of little paths for us to explore on return visits.