Not A Penguin In Sight!

Tuesday afternoon we called in on Adrian, Marion and Lucy for a cup of tea. Much celebration as Lucy had just passed her driving test! Talking about holiday plans, M said “You must do the Pingu Trail!”

“What? Why’s it called that?” I asked. “It’s to do with the Ice Age, it is near Thompson” she explained.

“It is a good walk in the woodlands and there’s a decent pub near the end” Adrian added helpfully. So I googled it.

It is the pingo trail not pingu I discovered. Pingos were originally low hillocks that formed 20,000 years ago during the last ice age when water beneath the surface froze to form lenses of ice pushing soil upwards. During the summer thaw, the soil on the surface would sludge off and accumulate around the periphery of the hillocks. Shallow craters were left when the ice finally melted, causing the hillocks to collapse. [see here]

We used the AA route. We took a packed lunch and ate it in the car at the end of our trek. It was good fun and there was plenty to see – on a Wednesday morning in August we met just nine people and three dogs!

What are the Lighthouse Service doing in Mid Norfolk?

And is this a spacecraft, lost en route to mars?

This stone is carved with one of the Peddar’s Way Songlines

The footprint of our ancestors
Familiar as our own faces
Remote as fossils
Written on clay
And washed away
Over & over
Over and over

We definitely followed this advice

If this gate must be closed at all times, what on earth is the point of it being there?

A beautifully crafted bird’s nest – we think it fell from the oak above.

Thompson has patriotic flowerpots and pretty cottages

In the church, Jacob hears the news of the death of his son Joseph…

This simple headstone marks the final resting place of the parents of Edward Garnier [a Leicestershire MP]Considering the length of their entries in Burke’s Peerage, I expected it to say more!

This was a lovely morning’s walk – well worth doing. Lots of wildflowers, trees and interesting things to see – but not a penguin in sight! We think we saw the pingos – not 100% sure!