The March of Time

Charlie ConnellyHello there, historical walking person. Most likely you've arrived here for two reasons. One, you're a church organist looking for the chords to Jerusalem, or two, you've been persuaded and cajoled by my book And Did Those Feet: Walking Through 2000 Years of British and Irish History to find out more about the routes I took.

Alas I can't help much with the former, unless you want the ukulele chords, but if it's the latter then, goshdarn and dagnabbit, you're in the right place.

You'll find details of all the routes I took and most of the places I stayed (the ones I can remember), as well as the OS maps you'll need to make the same journeys. If they're not here by the time you read this, then fear not, they're imminent.

If you're not here because of the book and you're not a church organist, you might well be interested in buying it to see what the fuss is all about. You can do that here. It's a great read, you're all in it, and I suffered selflessly so you don't have to. But you can, and it's something this site hopes to facilitate.

Pip pip for now.

Charlie

Wednesday 28 January 2009

Boudica rises up against the Romans, AD 60/1



Norwich - Ipswich - Colchester - London - St Albans

OS Landranger maps in order of use: 134, 144, 155, 169, 168, 167, 177,176, 166.

This is a pretty good introduction to long distance walking as the landscape is lovely and flat.

I started in Norwich, staying at the Norwich City Travelodge. From there I headed south to Caistor St Edmund, but eventually having grievously overestimated my physical capabilities I ended up taking a bus some of the way to Diss, where I stayed at the frankly lovely Cobwebs Bed and Breakfast. Next stop was the village of Debenham, and the very comfortable Angel Inn. If you are in Debenham, pop in to the Cherry Tree too and say hi to Zoe for me.

In Ipswich I struggled to find accommodation on a busy weekend, but landed on my feet with the wonderful Cranmoor House. This is without doubt one of the best guesthouses I have ever stayed in and is one I will actively recommend. From there it was on to Colchester. I stayed with relatives there, so while I can recommend their hospitality highly, alas you can't really stay there. Not least because they've since moved to Bexhill-on-Sea.

I can't remember where I stayed in Chelmsford, but in Brentwood it was the evocatively named Holiday Inn Brentwood M25 Jcn28. In London I stayed at what was then home, before a day's walk to St Alban's where I stayed in a place which I won't name as I wasn't very nice about it in the book. There was nothing wrong with it, mind, it just wasn't my sort of place. Suffice to say there are lots of highly agreeable pubs and guesthouses in what is a lovely town.

So, all in all it was a journey of around ten days and about 160 miles I think, including a rest day in Ipswich. The weather was unusually agreeable and this was a great start to the book.
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