The Walk Master could not walk this week, however he had devised a 6-mile route around
Whitlingham Country Park. All six of us managed to squeeze into the Pie Master’s car, along with
Bert & Harris and
good-looking pies from
Bob Knights, of Beccles. Parking at the far car park and finding that it was no longer free, we paid our £4 from the kitty – good job we were all in one car. We started with a clockwise loop up the south bank of the broad, passing Lime Kilns (now home to bats) and traversing the workings, spotting the first Snowdrops of the year.
We then did an anti-clockwise circuit of the large broad, passing the former Norwich Union Sailing Club on the far bank of the River Yare and dinghies searching for wind. There were also many bird watchers peering through telescopes all round the broad. On reaching the
Outdoor Education Centre, we continued hoping to walk around the small broad, only to find that this is now a private road with no right of way, despite being marked as such, on one of the public maps.
We headed back and passing between the two boards, picked our way through the birders, to Whitlingham Lane, which we followed into Trowse. Finding the church of St. Andrew locked and without a scratch dial, we occupied the nearby bus shelter to eat our sandwiches. Looking forward to getting warm and some liquid refreshment, we were disappointed to find that two pubs in Trowse, the White Horse Inn and Crown Point Tavern, would not allow dogs. So we marched up Kirby Road, and then around Whitlingham Hall, before heading back to the broad and along Whitlingham Lane a little way, back to the car. Here we started off with Moroccan style houmous and oatcakes with our hot tea. Then the large pies, obviously cooked in a foil dish, had an attractive glossy top. When cut the pie released a faint roast pork aroma and revealed a granular pale pink filling with no jelly. They looked so good that the Führer said “they look as if they contain real meat” – indeed they did,
Blythburgh free-range pork. The lightly spiced pies were let down by a slightly soft crust, despite the fact we had taken them out of their plastic bags. The pies scored a very respectable 7.66666 with the Führer making a return to the tasting panel! The standard deviation was 0.81650, so that means that Bob Knights gets a normalized score of 7.5 for his large pies.
The Walk Master could not walk this week, however he had devised a 6-mile route around Whitlingham Country Park. All six of us managed to squeeze into the Pie Master’s car, along with Bert & Harris and good-looking pies from Bob Knights, of Beccles. Parking at the far car park and finding that it was no longer free, we paid our £4 from the kitty – good job we were all in one car. We started with a clockwise loop up the south bank of the broad, passing Lime Kilns (now home to bats) and traversing the workings, spotting the first Snowdrops of the year. 
We then did an anti-clockwise circuit of the large broad, passing the former Norwich Union Sailing Club on the far bank of the River Yare and dinghies searching for wind. There were also many bird watchers peering through telescopes all round the broad. On reaching the Outdoor Education Centre, we continued hoping to walk around the small broad, only to find that this is now a private road with no right of way, despite being marked as such, on one of the public maps.
We headed back and passing between the two boards, picked our way through the birders, to Whitlingham Lane, which we followed into Trowse. Finding the church of St. Andrew locked and without a scratch dial, we occupied the nearby bus shelter to eat our sandwiches. Looking forward to getting warm and some liquid refreshment, we were disappointed to find that two pubs in Trowse, the White Horse Inn and Crown Point Tavern, would not allow dogs. So we marched up Kirby Road, and then around Whitlingham Hall, before heading back to the broad and along Whitlingham Lane a little way, back to the car. Here we started off with Moroccan style houmous and oatcakes with our hot tea. Then the large pies, obviously cooked in a foil dish, had an attractive glossy top. When cut the pie released a faint roast pork aroma and revealed a granular pale pink filling with no jelly. They looked so good that the Führer said “they look as if they contain real meat” – indeed they did, Blythburgh free-range pork. The lightly spiced pies were let down by a slightly soft crust, despite the fact we had taken them out of their plastic bags. The pies scored a very respectable 7.66666 with the Führer making a return to the tasting panel! The standard deviation was 0.81650, so that means that Bob Knights gets a normalized score of 7.5 for his large pies.
