Norfolk Pilgrim

An advert for the  annual Norfolk Churches Trust bike ride reminded me what a joy church crawling by bike can be.  Swapping feet for wheels I set out under a summer sky. East of  Beeston, St. Laurence  I found myself meandering down  quiet lanes towards St. Michael and All  Angels,Barton Turf . When I got there I found an open door, a warm welcome to visitors ( make yourself a cup of coffee ) and a vibrant stillness. Its 15 th century rood screen has St. Michael and the nine orders of angels. Wandering in the churchyard before taking my leave I saw that the local church has a care for other feathered friends too! There’s an owl box high in an old oak tree! My next church destination would be   St. Michael, Irstead.  But on the way , I popped into the White Horse at Neatistead for refreshments and explored the edge of Barton Broad. At Heron’s Carr  there’s boardwalk that gives wheelchair access through the woody marsh and o...

The Broads are my local wilderness.  I love the landscape, the wildlife and the slow waters. Under the wide skies I can be at one with nature; re-imagine Jesus’ lakeside ministry; slow down and escape from our 24/7 lifestyle; all that’s needed to catch up with a 3 mile an hour God. Long ago, on an island where three rivers meet, hermits established a community. Following the example of Egyptian monks, the tidal marsh and reed beds was their green desert !  In time the community became a Benedictine  monastery and, until Henry VIII’s reforms, St. Benet’s Abbey was a powerful centre for the Christian faith.  Still the abbey has a powerful attraction. Wandering on foot or by boat, I find my eyes searching for the familiar outlines of its ruined gate-house and scanning higher ground to catch sight of church towers on the horizon.  Higher than most is the one they call The Cathedral of the Broads - St. Helen’s, Ranworth Visitors are invited to ...

Traffic! It felt I’d been tailgated every mile of the way - aggressive drivers in my rear view mirror and almost in my boot, pushing me to go faster! Finally, at journeys end I parked by Moreston Creek and let the tension drain out of me.  It is a sort of lands end!  The North Pole is 2222 miles away and , apart from Blakeney Point, there’s nothing in between but sea and ice! I thought I’d join holiday makers as they went out to see the seals but when I’d arrived early the ferry still sat firmly on the bottom.  Round about it long billed waders delved the rich mud and  a Little Egret stalked its prey in the shallows pools.  The liquid trill of a Curlew’s call carried on the and on high Larks sang their hearts out! Soon a  trickle,  had turned into a stream of water pushing into the creek , lifting the grounded vessels and turning their bows to the flood. With that the ferrymen quickly got their passengers aboard and we were manoeuvring betw...

(Forgot to post this in March ! Better late than never !) At Whissonsett there is a Saxon cross half as old as the Christian faith.   At Mileham a striking new east window.  I wanted to see both so I decided to walk. I'd take in the Coke family memorials at Tittleshall and the deserted village of Godwick on the way and make it a way of the cross.  In as much as the walk went to plan it was good. The memorials and Godwick village acted as momento mori – reminders of my mortality. The cross and the window (did what all good sacred art does) linked particular times and places to the eternal realities. I particularly like it that Pippa Blackall's stained glass Baptism of Jesus has, in the background , the Lamb of God pastured with Richard Butler-Stoney's Guernsey cows! For all the beauty and meaning of these works of art it was the unplanned elements of the walk that made it a way of the cross. It was such tough going! I had allowed 3 hours to walk t...

I parked opposite Pentney church and walked back towards Narborough.  At the first opportunity I turned right and followed a road and then bridle paths down to the river, where I joined the Nar Valley Way and  headed west towards Pentney Abbey.   The abbey used to sit on an island surrounded by the waters of a tidal creek, where the Nar flowed into the Fens. Today the Fens have been drained, the river embanked and the only thing that’s left of the priory is its gatehouse! But, if you were looking for Norfolk’s version of St. Michael’s Mount, or Holy Island,  Pentney Abbey could have been it! At one time the Nar was called God’s Holy River on account of all the religious houses on its banks. It’s still a holy, wild and lonely place. In a strong wind birds kept their heads down.  But several brave Skylarks and Yellow Hammers sung out their songs and Swifts, Swallows and Sand Martins swooped and dived.  From the water meadows along the valley nesting Cur...

To the west of the B1113 is the source of the Little Ouse on the east the source of the river Waveney. When it rains Norfolk is an island!  Holy Island?   Holy Land When rain falls hard on Lopham Fen Flooding marsh and filling drains Norfolk is an island then And in my mind it still remains Down the river line the Ouse Traces the bounds to fenland drains Round wash and coast to Yarmouth strand Then up the Waveney home again Walsingham a Nazareth Broadland lakes a Galilee Where fishermen are called to faith And Christ comes walking by the sea Into a boat to the other side. One lies sleeping in the stern. While sandwiches on picnic rugs Are taken, blessed and shared in turn. A green hill outside a city wall A place of punishment provides. When viewed from it’s own Olivet The city’s temple seems to thrive. Blind, halt and lame, the deaf and Dumb, addicted, prisoner, stranger, ill Christ’s presence in his little ones Challenges his followers still An...

Broads Brand? Hmmnnnn See Churches Together on the Broads

I’d come to North Elmham pursuing a mystery. Did the Bishops of Elmham from Bedwinus in the 7th century to Herfast in the 11th have their cathedral in Norfolk or  Suffolk?  North or South Elmham? I’d followed a circular walk I’d found in the  Norfolk Health Heritage and Conservations Walks  leaflet (You can get hold of one from Norfolk County Council or on-line at www.countrysideaccess.norfolk.gov.uk .)  It took me through parkland,  along quiet lanes and ended up at the parish church  (Well worth a visit in its own right!) My final destination was indicated by a brown tourist sign. Uncompromisingly it asserts “Saxon Cathedral”! But when you get to the ruins and read English Heritage’s helpful interpretation boards there’s no certainty at all.  What you see are earthworks and  ruins of a castle built by Henry Despencer,  the fighting Bishop of Norwich. He was famous for putting down the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. A man not witho...

Streams of cars speed down Kings Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Way everyday. High above the traffic a ruined church has paid witness for a thousand years and more. For decades it has been drawing me like a magnet. So on a sunny Spring day I finally found my way up the hill. Church Farm, Bawsey is managed under a Higher Level Stewardship scheme and provides parking and permissive footpaths.  You can approach the farm from the Gayton Road turning left into Church Lane just beyond the crematorium. Maps showing the paths and parking are available online on the Natural England website ( cwr.naturalengland.org.uk ). They are also displayed at strategic places around the farm .  I had intended to walk from Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Roydon Common, via the Grimston Warren reserve but that was closed as the work there continues. They are converting it from commercial forestry back to its original lowland heath. I followed a path to the edge of the warren through recently restored pasture...

Christmas shopping and the January sales will bring many into Norwich this winter. In a time of financial crisis people will be looking for value for money while trying to stay within budget. It can be quite trying! For Christian shoppers there are other considerations, not least The Reason for the Season.  How can we celebrate the Christ in Christmas with the cards and presents we give? The Norwich Christian Resources Centre, in St. Michael at Plea Church on the corner of Redwell Street and Queen Street,   is one  place where you might find that special gift.  While there take advantage of the in-house café. It’s an oasis where a shopper can relax  and re-fuel.  There are similar Christian cafes dotted around the city: at the Kings Church in King Street, the Salvation Army in St.Giles, the All Saints Centre in Westlegate (opposite John Lewis) and the ever popular Octagon at St. Peter Mancroft. Wisdom  in the Market Place is a striking picture...

Going to mid-day prayers with the Carmelite sisters at Quiddenham I encountered a mother and child. The child was grievously ill – all floppy in his mothers arms as she carried him out of the Children’s Hospice. Two nurses accompanying her gave support and carried the oxygen that was keeping the little lamb alive.  It was a heartbreaking! And yet the love and care was beautiful to behold. Such love! Such pain! I was privileged to catch a glimpse of something so precious. After prayers, contemplating the  Stations of the Cross,  I was able to put the experience in context. Such love! Such pain!  As I set out on the next stage of my journey there was plenty to turn over in my heart. By footpath, bridleway and quiet lanes, I was making my way from Eccles, via Quiddenham to Steve and Gill Eggleton’s home in Banham. The route forms part of a project that they and friends are working on.

Imagine a string of beads – precious gems - stretched out across the heart of England and Wales, from Lowestoft Ness in the east to St. David’s in the west. Each bead representing an artwork communicating the Christian Gospel, set up in a place where people can stop and ponder.  The string that joins these way stations  is a pilgrim path – part of which I had walked - by which seeker and pilgrim  can travel either the whole length ,or over shorter sections. They call it the Via Beata. (Way of Blessing) The first artwork has already been set up in a summerhouse/shelter by the front gate of  Steve and Gill’s garden. It is a carved triptych telling the story of the Return of the Prodigal Son.  You are invited to visit. The address is: Rowancroft, Kenninghall Road, Banningham. NR16 2HE . During the summer a small organising group has begun to pioneer some of the paths, talk with people about suitable artworks and places to display them and given s...

Walking around the town I thought I had glimpsed dawning light against the darkness of  warring madness.  As well as the castle, churches and old coaching inns I’d seen the Abbey, the Grammar School and the statue of Thomas Paine, Thetford’s most famous son. The monks who built the, now ruined, Abbey had pioneered the Peace of God movement. It urged barons to use force as a last resort and insisted on protection for non-combatants as a Christian duty. In post-Reformation times their concern for education found expression in the Grammar School that lists Paine among its old boys.  His words inspired the American Constitution and the emancipation of slaves.  The publication of his Rights of Man marked a huge step in the recognition of human rights.   While his creed, “The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”  still has the ability to challenge. The birds of war still flew in and out of USAF Mildenhall...

From Britain’s highest medieval castle mound the sea of green forest stretched to the horizon. I had followed the Heritage Trail around Thetford and climbed  the hill to watch and pray. The town has an image of  being an unlovely London overspill and a centre for European immigrants, but  is much more. Since early days it has been the Gateway to Norfolk . The first fortifications were built 500 years before Christ. It was from Thetford Queen Boudicca set out to avenge the rape of her daughters and when the revolt was over the Romans came and burnt it to the ground ! Saxons followed Romans and then came the Vikings, time and again, laying waste and burning. After them the Norman Conquest brought more of the same! To-day, atop the castle mound the Normans built  all is peaceful but in the west I could see planes flying in and out of the USAF Mildenhall and I knew soldiers were training on the Battle Area.  In Iraq and Afghanistan victims...

This walk has it all. Like Jesus you can walk by the seaside and on the hills above the sea. There are woods and wayside flowers, birds, heritage sites . And to top it all, there’s Noah’s Ark(!), or something that looks like it, the man in the moon (!) and a love story waiting to be discovered. . I parked the car at Brancaster Staithe and walked east along the Coastal Path, past fishermen’s huts and boats high and dry on low tide mudflats. At Noah’s Ark I turned inland going a little of my route to look into Burnham Deepdale’s round-towered church. Next to the busy coast road the cool interior is an oasis of calm. The church has some notable medieval glass – that’s where I found the man in the moon - as well as an interesting font with carved labours of the month around the edge. Across the road there’s a great café too! Passing the café on my left, I took the next left uphill, along a metalled road through rolling farm land and into a shady wood with noble beech trees. At...

I just can’t help myself! Each daisy and dandelion is a miracle , but I’ll still make the pilgrimage to New Buckenham Common to see the green-winged orchids! These flashy flowers also grow on the limestone hills of Galilee. I sometimes wonder if these were the flowers of the field Jesus spoke of who’s natural beauty far outstripped King Solomon’s designer label elegance. Conspicuous consumption on clothing and cosmetics are a near necessity for many who gauge their worth against the ever shifting orthodoxies of fashion. The orchid remains a fragile yet unchanging thing of beauty. Its scientific name is Anacampcis Morio, morio from the Greek for fool. The flower is said to resemble fools cap. Contemplating beauty and foolishness, I recall the well known phrase or saying, “if the hat fits wear it!” Green-winged orchids maybe the stars of the show, there is also a full supporting cast on New Buckenham Common: buttercups, cuckoo flowers, meadow sweet, cowslip, meadow saxifrage – even...

As spring unfolds and the birds begin to sing I look forward to summer Swallows swooping over field and fen. Today we can trace the swallows’ journey from winter roosts outside Durban, through Africa and Europe to East Anglia’s marsh and meadow. It’s an amazing story and many of us are glued to our televisions when Springwatch and other TV programmes unfold the wonders of our natural world. 18th century naturalists supposed that swallows hibernated through the winter’s cold beneath the mud at the bottom of ponds, breaking forth from their earthy tombs for Easter days! Not an entirely silly idea! The first Swallows are usually to be spotted around Easter time and over or near water as they hoover-up bugs and flies. Truer to our modern understanding of the Swallows migration is the ancient Egyptian myth in which the souls of the dead on the way to the stars are represented as swallows. Nearer to our own time is the Armenian folk tale in which swallows fly from the empty tomb with g...

It’s great to get outside on a winters day, to stretch the legs and walk off the turkey. 21 st December is the shortest day. From then on the days will begin to lengthen and the singing of the birds surpass organ music and singing in the choir! If you want a winter walk that with the sight of deer, head for Holkham. I you leave the car park in front of the Hall and head right around the lake and you will be on the Holkham Lake Path - leaflets are available at Holkham or on-line at www.holkham.co.uk/html/park_03.html . I can guarantee skeins of pink footed geese flying overhead and herds of deer sheltering beneath the trees. The deer are quite used to people, are tame and are very photogenic. Following the path round the lake and into the woods you’ll soon come to the Holkham church. Heavily restored, it’s only the dedication, the site its self and west wall that give clues to its ancient foundation. Perched on a hillock, it is dedicated to St. Withbura, the 7 th cent...

There was standing room only at Burgh Castle church on Saturday 4th October when the annual pilgrimage of the Fursey Pilgrims took place. Joining the pilgrims this year was Fr Nicolas Jouy, the Parish Priest of Peronne in the Somme area of France. St. Fursey died before returning to England from France in the year 650 AD. His shrine was established at Peronne. The service only took places after the pilgrims had refreshed themselves at the Church Farm pub. Some had earned a good lunch by walking the Breydon Water path from Great Yarmouth train station. Others had come long distances to honour St.Fursey so they could not be denied a delicious carvery meal looking out across the water to the Berney Arms windpump and the Fleggs. Pere Nicholas preached the sermon developing the idea of ecumenism as putting the pieces of a jig-saw together - it may seem impossible at first, there should be no attempt to force pieces together where they do not belong, miraculously we find there is a fit betw...

On an autumn day, where cattle grazed, I crossed marshy fields to the beach. Ragged Robin, the summer’s last flowers danced in the breeze. The first skeins of wintering geese honked in the sky. Beyond the dunes 30 seals were hauled up on the sands, lolling around like so many enormous slugs. More were out at sea impersonating inquisitive black Labradors . I sat. How therapeutic it is to sit with seals! They have the art of being and not doing ! I’d parked at the National Trust’s Horsey Mere car park. There are toilets and a café open every day to the end of October and at week ends through November. I’d used the permissive footpath that leads off from the other side of the road - if you are at all in doubt ask at the café they’ll direct you! Once on the beach, turn right and you soon come to the seals . A few are there most of the year but they turn up in numbers in September and October. My way took me back past the pub – refreshments here are recommended - and...