The Road To Thetford - Day Fourteen - Take the Shortcut

So I set off to do 10 miles heading to Reedham, and along the Wherryman's Way to Berney Arms and then from there via Weavers Way to Halvergate before heading home - well at least that was the plan.....

Heading to Reedham I have duly noted the beer festival happening next weekend.

Get to Reedham and as soon as I was on the Wherryman's way route my shoes were soaked from the water in the long grass that is the path.

Below is the reeds in the river.

There were loads of these butterflies as well as dragonflies and some annoying horseflies.

Must be really peaceful to live here.

From Berney Arms, there are two routes back to Halvergate and last year I only ever did one of them as it was mainly hard-surfaced based with fantastic views.

On this day, I decided to explore the other route that starts at Berney Arms train station and duly noted the warning of standing water being on this route.

It was all on fields but well sign-posted with Weaver Way signs.

Lots of muds, cows, cowpats, and standing water as promised with some parts so waterlogged that there were planks to help you across.

Moo!

Now I thought this route would be quicker than my normal route but it snaked it way along the edge of a number of fields, winding back and forth, so in the end I did an extra 2.5 miles than planned but also spent an extra 90 minutes as a result because a lot of that route was not really suited to running.

The Road To Thetford - The Reverse Humpty Dumpty 10k

The long run this week is six miles, so I decided to do the reverse of 10k Humpty Dumpty route that took place last weekend.

Just outside of Freethorpe on one of the undulating parts of the back road to Reedham, there was a field getting a good dose of water.

Undulating......

Moo!

Another permissive pathway gone to fallow and unusable.

Allotments in Reedham near to the railway line - not a clear photo of what I wanted to show.

One of three bridges - this one shows where the lowestoft and yarmouth railway lines diverge.

The railway lines from Reedham station to this bridge.

I wanted to show this as when I want a very long run, the left road takes you towards the Wherryman's way route, where I can then run to Yarmouth or turn off towards Halvergate - great off-road runs that I am looking forward to being re-aquainted with.

The right road leads down to the the quay - it is this bit in the 10k Humpty Dumpty race that is the kicker as it is a short but steep uphill section.

Reedham quay

Statue of a boat-wright.

Coming up from the quay there is the war memorial but just before is a plaque to the US World War II B17 bomber crews who on 21 February 1944 collided over the Reedham Marshes with a loss of all lives having returned from their bombing mission in Germany. 

Reedham train station.

The only piece of off-road I had was heading out of Reedham, I could use the path on the Reedham Village Hall playing field that runs parallel to the road.

Square bales - they had plenty so they must last for ages given they probably harvested and baled last year.

More Moo!

Doesn't show up quite as well but the green half has lots of white flowers - always visually interesting when there are two distinctly different crops side by side - particularly like the aerial photos where farmland looks like odd-shaped different coloured pieces made into quilt.

Homemade Salted Chocolate Tart from my daughter's Tanya Burr cookbook.

Race minus 6 days - Last training run of note completed, and Planning for the Big Day

Keeping in the spirit of last week's "reverse" run, I ran along the river from Reedham to Cantley.

It is clear summer was here, as at Reedham I saw boats moored, and their occupants enjoying the 20 degree sun, plus I passed a walker along the river, and just as I got to Cantley I was passed by a runner(!) who without a rucksack and longer legs breezed past me.

I tested out some cheap curved sunglasses I had purchased for a £5 in "Pri-Mar-Che", and the fact they were not prescription was no issue, although after 2+ hours they made the skin sore - I will try and wear them in a bit this week for the final two runs.

I had decided that I would run for two hours and then walk for an hour, so I could get that experience as on the day, it is highly unlikely I can run the whole route, and walking briskly requires slightly different muscle usage.

As expected, I did the target 10 miles in the first two hours, and covered another two miles in just over 34 minutes.  I then did a quick test to see if I could get the usual running speed, and it was no problem - if anything I was going faster.....

The key thing is to avoid stoppages where possible, and keep moving irrespective of it being a brisk walk or a run - two weeks when I ran to Great Yarmouth and caught the train back showed clearly that even within 30 minutes of inactivity, it becomes impossible to get those legs running again.

With just two easy three milers left on Tuesday and Wednesday, I now need to focus on making sure I have the kit I need for the big day.
For the Rucksack, I have broken up my requirements into four groups;
1) First Aid - Sun Cream, Bite/Sting Relief Cream, Hand Gel, Plasters, Paracetamol/Ibuprofen, my medication, Wipes - the last three I need to get.
2) Clothing - Spare running socks (3 Pairs), Waterproof Top, Mid-Layer Top, Gloves, Head Torch, Hand Torch, Spare Batteries - All sorted except Hand Torch, which a friend will lending me one of his collection.
3) Food and Drink - Two full water bottles, and Back-up Food (Jelly Babies and Salted Nuts/Trail Mix) - Jelly Babies sorted as are water bottles - just need to get some Nuts.
4) Other - Fully Charged Mobile Phone, Normal Prescription Glasses, Shuttle Booking details, IPad.  Yes, I am taking my IPad with me, so I can photograph the scenery, and as such it is likely to be in my hand a lot.
I have supermarket plastic bags to triple-bag everything as the rucksack is not waterproof but I knew that when I bought it.

I have also drawn up a list of stuff for the handover luggage bag that will be transferred from Lewknor to Avebury which will have Change of Clothes, Wash Bag, Towel, Toothbrush and Toothpaste, Sleeping Bag, a Pillow, and my shuttle booking (7am on Sunday) back to Lewknor.

The next thing I need to do is decide what route to take from Norwich to Lewknor on Friday , where I have a hotel booking.  whilst M11-M25-M40 is the quickest route, it apparently has lousy service stations after the M11, so I may well do A14-M1-M25-M40, or given I have plenty of time to get there, avoid M25 altogether and go for something for scenic.

Race minus 20 days - the last day before three weeks of tapering, plus Achievement Unlocked.....

So today the schedule was 26 miles (plus 6 miles yesterday), which I changed to 32 miles in one go, but all this was thrown out of the window with the virus I had last week, so having done 8 miles yesterday, today was about achieving as much as I could.

Given this was the last opportunity prior tapering occurs, I was determined at least to achieve a personal aim of mine to run from Cantley Sugar Factory along the river all the way to Great Yarmouth - having 2.5 miles to get to Cantley, the section between Cantley and Reedham was 3.5 miles with no nettles of pain this time because they had finally cut it all down on the route!

Another mile got me through Reedham to the Wherryman's route towards Great Yarmouth.
8 miles later, and I am in Great Yarmouth, and once I had bought a bottle of water, I killed some time running around the town centre until it was time to catch the train back to Reedham.

Nearing Great Yarmouth I had a nice chat with someone who was walking out of Yarmouth along the route, and also had to contend with green plastic "flooring" that when has no grass that slippery under foot.

Having navigated the slippery flooring, I made it to "new" haven bridge and then the end of the route, you find yourself at ASDA, but the big disappointment was finding most of the train station sealed off, no electronic displays as to when the next trains would be departing, no staff - what a way to welcome people to the town.
It was finished off with a 2.5 mile run/shuffle home - more shuffle/walk as the 30 min break made running hard, not to mention I think I had hit my limit as well.