After two days of intermittent, but sometimes heavy, rain, Bank Holiday Monday promised much better weather - and even the forecast rain towards the end materialised only as a very light - hardly noticeable - shower. Nevertheless, checking the planned route a few days earlier had indicated that there were substantial stretches where vegetation, either on the ground or pushing in closely along the sides of the path, would have resulted in very wet legs and probably feet, while one of the participants confirmed that the always damp bits of Rushmeadow were now very muddy. The route was therefore changed to something much more open and largely free of encroaching undergrowth.

The changed route started with a walk out from town along the edge of The Neatherd, through Little Neatherd, over the A47 by Eckling Grange and on to the byways easy of the town. We followed the course of Cherry Lane to its end, where we met a group of lambs that were as curious about us as we were about them. Then it was a short walk to the track that runs between Dumpling Green and Mattishall Road, where we stopped for a break.

Now it was a westward walk, with the track living up to its reputation for holding water in the ruts, which took a little care to navigate. We crossed Yaxham Road and the Mid-Norfolk Railway (just missed the train, apparently) to reach the cycle track and public footpath that links Middlemarch to the town - and after about 6½ miles our route back to the start.

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