Ok so i made it. Ill be honest, i enjoyed the walk from Darsham to Dunwich, only took about an two hours. The walk though the heaths was very enjoyable as well, soft underfoot but not wet and the path was well trodden, so easy to follow.
I must have got to the camp site at about 430, and when i went to check it the lady on reception was amazed! She had already cancelled my plot as she assumed i was joking. Bless her. Still due to the time of year, Ic ant kinda see her point, and it not like the site was full so she didn't have to look hard to find a new plot for me. Ok so apart from Caravan no one else was using the site that I saw anyways. She found me a nice pitch on some wood bark so the ground was not frozen solid, and it was out of the wind as well.
I pitched up the tend and set up my sleeping gear, and made some food. I have to say the freeze dried meal in a bag was really nice! Adventure Foods Pasta Bolognese, just add hot water resale and wait 8 minutes. The only real problem was that my spoon was too short to get to the bottom with out making a mess! Oh any I had a load of powder left at the bottom... well its all learning hay....
Now the point of this was to see if i was warm enough. simple answer was no I was not. At about 1 am I was awake and cold. My feet were the worst and this then travelled up my legs. So i done what any self respecting camper would have done. I went to the shower building. Thankfully they had left the heating on and this room was really warm, as well as really well equipped and in very good condition. I think I stayed in here for about an hour. Long enough to fully warm up and get the feeling back in my toes.
I did manage to get a bit more sleep that night, albeit not much. Thermals Socks hat and jacket all helped this time resulted in a couple more hours.
I was up again by 5 though, this time was to try and get a photo of the sunrise over the White house on the top of Dunwich heath. That was an epic fail. Heavy cloud cover meant i didn't see the sun until about 3 that afternoon. Either way by 8 I had had breakfast and my morning brew, packed up my gear a was setting off for Southwold
This walk was I had done a dozen times as a kid. I had forgotten how hard walking on the beach was. Thankfully the first mile is over the grassy dunes, before the single hits. There must be about another mile and a half of this before you can cut in and go over the marches into Walberswick. I done some of there a few months ago so didn't think that this would be hard. I may have forgotten about the several inches of snow that had fallen in the past month. None if it was left, but the ground was very wet and muddy as a result.
After the wet marches and dykes, I finally got to Southwold, for a nice Gas powered bus from Anglian Busses to take me to Lowestoft, and then get the train to Norwich.
A few things I have learnt from this trip. Number 1: Scooby Snacks! Pack some! Flapjacks, chocolate bars any thing, just don't forget next time. Number 2: A bag that has a comfort zone of 5C will be cold a -2C, in hind sight a bit of a derrrrr moment there.
