Walking from Magazine Wood

Norfolk can boast coast, country, fen and forest walking, so with the exception of mountains, it offers pretty much everything! Incidentally until a few years ago there was a collection of young men who gave up much of their free time as part of the Fenland Mountain Rescue service. When they weren’t busy saving people they were well known for enjoying an occasional pint.

If you’re up to some long distance walking in Norfolk, then Magazine Wood is the perfect base for a bed and breakfast as it is located directly on the ancient Peddars Way National Trail. Peddars Way and the Norfolk coastal path runs for 93 miles along a distinctive Roman road from Knettishall Heath Country Park to just beyond Magazine at Holme-next-Sea and then the path crosses wide sandy beaches to Cromer pier. 

The Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path National Trail combines two contrasting paths, each of which is a superb walk in its own right. The trail follows the line of a Roman road, built during Rome's battle against the rebellious Iceni tribe led by the legendary Queen Boadicea. It is an enjoyable mix of country lanes, footpaths and tracks through a varied landscape of open heath and meres, woodland, rich farmland divided by flower-filled hedgerows and pretty flint and carrstone villages.

The Norfolk Coast Path runs from the Victorian resort of Hunstanton to the busy port of Cromer, the hub of Norfolk's crab fishing industry, along a coastline that is famous for its remoteness and wild beauty. It is a wonderfully diverse landscape of sweeping sandy beaches, grass tufted dunes, saltings, reed beds,  creeks, tidal inlets and unspoilt villages that claim a maritime tradition that saw them send warships to repel the Spanish Armada.

Magnificent stately homes, monasteries, medieval castles, traditional windmills that once ground flour or pumped water to keep the fertile fens from disappearing beneath the sea, the spectacular seal colonies at Blakeney Point and the prolific birdlife along the coast add to the charm of this scenic National Trail.

Peddars Way links directly to the much lesser  known walk, the Icknield Way Path which is part of four long distance footpaths which, when combined, run from Lyme Regis, Dorset to Hunstanton, Norfolk and are often referred to as the Greater Ridgeway. The Icknield Way path is supported by the Ramblers Association as part of a campaign to achieve National Trail status for the whole length of the ancient trackways linking the South Coast and the Wash. The path was opened as a promoted route recognised by local authorities in 1992.  

The more modern route roughly follows the route of the original Icknield Way from the Ivinghoe Beacon to Knettishall Heath in Norfolk. This is one of the oldest roads in Great Britain and one of the few long-distance trackways to have existed before the Romans occupied the country. It may also have strong links with the the Iceni tribe whose influence within Sedgeford is well documented within the SHARP archealogical project. It is thought that the Iceni tribe may have established this road as part of their main trade routes. 

Experts have also suggested that the road has older prehistoric origins. Believing that it predates the Roman invasion and the construction of Peddars Way with its roots being much earlier in the Iron Age period. During Anglo-Saxon times it stretched from Berkshire and Oxfordshire and crossed the River Thames.