Don't Panic! Don't Panic!

Day 1: Drive to Thetford, check into B&B, find somewhere for dinner, retire and prepare to start walking on Saturday morning. Well that was the plan. 

And actually the plan was going pretty well this morning. Cat was settled into her regular holiday home, packing came together pretty quickly, greenhouse plants got a final watering and one of those 'what-have-we-got-left-in-the-fridge-that-might-vaguely-go-together' type lunches was produced with reasonable success, if I say so myself. So far, so good. 

From then on, however, some might describe the day as "doomed". The route from home to Thetford might just be the most beleaguered combination of dual carriageways undergoing roadworks in the entire country at the moment. Happily I was on catch-up phone call duty leaving HRH at the wheel emitting steam and expletives, to absolutely no effect whatsoever except to wind himself up. "Permission to speak?", says I (all the while thinking "Stupid boy!").  I did my best with the occasional "Would you mind awfully just (calming down)" but it was a pretty rubbish journey and hence we were delighted to arrive and get checked in a few hot hours later. 

I'd read a little about Thetford in the guide book before we set off. "Charming market town, once the capital of Saxon East Anglia, it is pleasant enough and a convenient place to stay prior to starting Peddars Way" Who do you think you are kidding? 

It's not a very big place (small, it has to be said), looking really very tired, strewn with litter and bizzarely populated by people with either non-English accents or  in weird attire. You think I'm joking? The largest hotel/pub in town looked like being a reasonable bet for dinner but even as we were perusing the menu, in walked Batman, the Honey Monster, Hannibal Lecter, Snow White and a string of noisy fairies! I overheard someone ask another who they were but HRH kept muttering "Don't tell 'em, Pike" and sniggering, so we left the fancy dress gang to it and found a quieter place for supper. 

And so to bed... But not before a quick photo opportunity. Oh, did I mention that Thetford was the location for the filming of Dad's Army? Right, "that's enough of that, Walker" - night night.