Wymnor two

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

I walked this route in June 2023, starting in Wymondham.
Starting in the town centre, there are footpaths out of the town, with traffic lights to enable easy crossing of the main road on the edge of Wymondham.
You go under a railway bridge and then turn into a marshy area with a footpath to follow. There were steps here to go down and up, and at points the path felt quite overgrown. Once nearly alongside the A11, you turned left, and here (as of June 2023) there were actually some red barriers up and before reaching the end of the path there was a very boggy/muddy section which would be difficult to navigate. This part of the path was also very overgrown with nettles.
Once past this, you then had to take the bridge over the A11 (with 2 roundabouts), which currently was fairly easy however most of the sliproads were closed due to the resurfacing work going on on the A11 itself.
Soon after this, the walk then spent a long period of time on country roads, there was generally space if cars were coming, and the road was fairly quiet, so fairly easy to walk along.
Once you reached Ketteringham Hall, there was an obvious sign to turn left which briefly went through woods and then a field. The path through the middle of the field didn't seem that clear initially but there was one which went round the side of the field anyway.
After reaching the road near Ketteringham Village Hall, this then travelled straight until a crossroads with a traffic island featuring a monument linked to Queen Victoria.
After going straight across this, you are then back on a footpath, which again at points seemed fairly overgrown.
After this, you arrived at Intwood Road, and a bit of extra care needs to be taken here as the road is a bit narrower and there is no footpath.
This eventually leads over the A47 bypass and into Cringleford, including going over a level crossing.
Cringleford is also the first location on the route where there was a convenience store, at least 8 miles into the journey.
Shortly after that you come to a Waitrose supermarket and a pub, before following Newmarket Road into Norwich - where it meets the ring road there is a pedestrian crossing a short distance away to enable easy crossing of this busy road.
Once at this point, it's an easy paved route all the way to St Stephen's street and down Rouen Road and over a footbridge to the railway station.

I've given this review 3* for the following reasons:
- although a generally easy route to follow, there were overgrown footpaths at a number of points which wouldn't be easily accessible, and currently actual barriers across part of the footpath just outside Wymondham, suggesting that the path itself maybe shouldn't be used, and this was a slight challenge to navigate (and definitely not accessible for wheelchairs or pushchairs)
- After leaving Wymondham, there were no facilities to speak of until Cringleford, which was a good 8 mile walk so would take a few hours without access to shops/food & drink.

Aside from that, the route is generally fine to walk, although when the A11 fully reopens, caution would be needed at the roundabouts where crossing slip roads.

I walked this route from Wymondham back to Norwich on a hot, sunny afternoon 23-07-2022.

The route is straightforward to follow. The only obstacles are sets of steps at the Wymondham end. These head from The Lizard down into the marshy nature reserve, then up onto a path along an old railway embankment, then down again into an overgrown field. The path through the Lizard nature reserve is a boardwalk across marshy ground. There were signs requesting walkers not to use the path as the boardwalk is in poor condition in places and needs to be repaired. It looks like it may be some time before this work gets done.

Large sections of the walk are along country roads. These are mainly long and straight with wide enough verges for pedestrians to avoid passing cars, and providing plenty of notice to see them coming. However, I'm not keen on Slow Ways which walk along roads, for me it doesn't make great walking. The cars were not particularly frequent on Saturday afternoon, but there were enough to make the walk less enjoyable than it otherwise could be, hence a 3* review from me. Saying that, the route is not unsafe. I also acknowledge that there are not many footpaths in this part of Norfolk so the route options are limited.

The best section of the walk is the bridle path between the five-ways monument and Intwood Lane.

Newmarket Road into Norwich is a wide, shady path and cycle path beside the A11 past the biggest houses in Norwich.

There are no facilities en-route until you reach Cringleford and Eaton, the outer suburbs of Norwich. The route passes a couple of nice churches; St. Peter's Ketteringham and All Saints Intwood, but neither of them were open.

Would be more direct to leave Wymondham via Browick Road. Mainly country lanes until Ketteringham, then some footpaths before outskirts of Norwich. A pleasant walk.

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