Our July walk was in two parts. As it was held on the first Friday of the month, we started off with our ‘short walk’ group, heading out to Rush Meadow and up to Sandy Lane. Here, the short walkers left to make their own way back down Sandy Lane in to Dereham.

The rest of us made our way to the corner by Gingerbread Cottage, then out of town along the link to the Wensum Way. Crossing the Holt Road took us past a beautiful display from the wild flower ‘set aside’ that has been established there, and on along the Wensum Way proper towards the Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR). The bridge over the railway, carrying Hoe Footpath 3 is still closed, but the official diversion set up doesn’t take walkers heading south (as we were) much out of the way. (The bridge has been declared unsafe by a structural engineer working for the railway, but action to replace it has been held up as the MNR has been unable to find a suitable contractor who doesn’t have a full order book for months ahead.)

We followed the track down to Northall Green, and on along Restricted Byways 30 and 31, taking us to The Neatherd. These paths, legally, if not practically, open to horse riders and carriage drivers, are the most prone of all Dereham rights of way to vigorous growth, and this season has been no exception. We had trimmed back the vegetation a couple of weeks earlier, but a check the day before the walk revealed that they needed repeat treatment, which we provided.

Emerging at The Neatherd, it was but a short haul back to the town.

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Taking a break to admiring the scenery from the never ending task of clearing the overgrowth before the walk.

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