Wherryman's Way Walk - Stage Two - Quite A Lot Of Cows
So stage one worked its magic and we turned up for stage two on a lovely late summer morning.
We knew that this stage might be quite varied and we had this confirmed in the first couple of miles. We were dropped off by the taxi driver at Rockland St. Mary Staithe, a beautiful quiet location across the road from a closed down pub (sadly a regular thing on this and later stages) and we started the day walking along the edge of Rockland Broad. The peaceful landscape lead us around to the River Yare where things started to change. We moved from a firm surface to a rough, grass track along the river defences and the going became tougher. Ferns, reeds and nettles began encroaching onto the path and at times it was very slow going.
Bundu bashing at its British finest.
The track moved away from the river at yet another derelict pub and we headed back into some delightful country lanes. We passed through some fascinating little places where rather rough working farms sat alongside some very expensive looking homes. A very impressive building, apparently used as a wedding venue, sat along side the remains of Langley Abbey, dating back to 1195. Sadly we couldn't see much from the road as it is a private property but photographs in the guidebook looked beautiful.
A frustrating way to see something historic from the other side of a hedgerow. Best not get me started again on private landowners and historic and beautiful locations.
We headed back to the river after a while and passed a number of moorings with a variety of boats and plenty of fishermen. The path took us back onto a grass track on top of the river flood defences and then came the fun, We found that the path went through a field full of cows.
Quite a lot of cows in fact. Having been chased by cows in the past (which ended up with me running for safety with a young child under each arm) we took the decision to turn back and find a find an alternative route.
Which was not as easy as we thought.
As a result we found ourselves back on more country lanes rather than the prescribed river path. These lanes were very quiet and enjoyable to walk along in the pleasant sunshine. We grabbed a couple of pears from a box in front of a cottage, left out for travelers, and ended up scrumping from an apple tree hanging over the road. We spent an hour or two in a mood evocative of days gone by and lost ourselves in little in a slow, leisurely pace.
We decided to stop for lunch in Hardley, a sleepy little hamlet, and sat on a grass bank outside a few houses. Part way through our sandwiches we were told by a friendly and rather amused resident that there was a bench no more than about 10 paces along the road from where we were sitting. We laughed, thanked her and moved to the way more comfortable location to finish our lunch.
We rejoined the official path just outside Chedgrave where we walked along the entrance drive to Chedgrave Common Farm to meet the river Chet. Whilst we missed some of the path through our own cow-based decision making it turned out that a significant part of this section had been closed for a number of years due to damaged and broken bridges.
The river was beautiful and very peaceful here and we paused to take it all in before the final stretch through Chedgrave and into Loddon. Passing the timber clad Loddon watermill and Loddon Staithe, we ended up at Church Plain, outside the Holy Trinity Church, where the taxi driver had picked us up a few hours earlier.
So a bit of a mixed stage for us. It was really enjoyable, we were blessed with beautiful weather and, even though we ended up a little off course, we covered a very similar distance on what were probably easier surfaces. There were fewer places of interest on this stage than we had experienced previously, although thankfully no sewage works, however the experience of walking along almost deserted country lanes more than made up for this.
Stage 2 – Rockland St. Mary to Loddon
Date of walk - 5th September 2025
Distance walked - 9.9 miles / 15.84 km
Floors climbed (using Apple Health app.) - 0 floors
Ongoing Totals – 23.7 miles / 37.92 km / 6 floors
