Salhouse

No pies this week as the Walk Master had suggested a visit to Cookie's. In the event, the Walk Master did not walk this week, so the Führer led us on a 5½ mile or so walk around Salhouse, rather than Salthouse, as poor weather was predicted. Parking at the Railway Station, we walked down the road to the footpath that leads to Salhouse, emerging by Bell Pond. We then walked through the village admiring the attractive houses, stopping to browse the bric-a-brac for sale in the garden of one. We then headed north opposite Thieves Lane. Quite a few parasol mushrooms were about, as were masses of tasty blackberries that we sampled on route. King Canape found a fine specimen of Agaricus augustus that he collected. We deviated from the original route to have our lunch at All Saints church, previously visited and found to be without a scratch dial. A further deviation from the walk was to head down Bell Lane to the Bell Public house with a good selection of beers; January 8^th from the Ole Slewfoot brewery in Hainford and Wherry from Woodforde’s a mile down the road, were the beers of choice. Here we met Bystanders Frances & Bob, about to leave, after having their post bike ride lunch – we had bumped into them in similar circumstances in Thompson back in 2008. Since we had deviated from the planned route, we had to return to the cars via the footpath we used initially. José found what he believed to be a “Charcoal Burner” Mushroom, an edible fungi – we’ll see if he turns up at next weeks walk! King Canape produced King Prawns with Marie Rose Sauce, Oaties then completed this week’s grazing.

Wm. Morrison (star shaped) hand raised pies

“Star shaped” hand raised pies from the in-store bakery of Wm. Morrison, were the pies of choice for the final munching of flaming June. As it was so hot, we headed to Overstrand for a walk near the coast. Parking by the cricket ground we walked west along the main road to the church of St. Martin, but not visiting it, before we headed up Newman’s Hill. Descending by Suffield Park to join the Paston Way, we passed Cromer lighthouse that featured prominently in the classic 1960’s film “The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter”. We headed towards and walked through Cromer, to the zigzag slope on the west of the town, that goes down to the prom. Now walking east, we made our way to the pier to consume our sandwiches above the sea. The Walk Master then led us up a steep ascent of the cliffs to the Red Lion with it's good selection of beers, of which we sampled “Stripey Jack” from Bees brewery, Woodforde’s “Sundew” & Wolf’s " Straw Dog". We made our way back to Overstrand on the firm sand, thanks to the low tide. Heading back to the town centre via The Londs, we passed the impressive clock tower at The Pleasaunce - designed by Edwin Lutyens and dating from 1897-9. We took our tea and pies to Overstrand cricket ground to utilise the seating. Only Six munchers this week, no King Canape, so straight into the pies: cutting revealed a bright pink interior with no jelly and no aroma. Munching proved the crust to be both crisp and tasty, the filling less so, tasting faintly of unsmoked ham. Mustard didn't really enhance the flavour. The pies were judged to have an acceptable score of 7.25 – marginally higher than when we last sampled these on the 31^st May, last year. The standard deviation was also slightly lower at 0.68920 and with one less muncher! While consuming the post pie Shortbreads, José noticed the cricket club's fixture list and that Overstrand were playing the Bystanders Cricket club on 12^th June and ^14th August. Wm Morrison’s star shaped pies get a normalised score of 7.5 on this outing.

Cumpstey’s large pies

The Walk Master being poorly, the Führer and other regulars unable to walk, seven of us went to South Walsham to sample a pie previously sampled this year, from Cumpstey’s of Acle. Parking at the car park by South Walsham Broad, we followed Fleet Dike north until it met the River Bure, whose south bank we followed east, passing St. Benet’s Abbey drainage mill, then the remains of St. Benet’s Abbey on the other side of the river. Fortunately we had planned to turn south, to walk to Upton over the Marshes, as the footpath that continued along the riverbank was Closed. Just before we left the river, a Norfolk Trading Wherry, the Albion, sailed by. Following the concrete track across the marshes, we were afforded good views of three windmills and saw our second Harnser fly in. Half way along this track we came to free fruit – masses of Blackberries and Bullace growing together, begging to be harvested. We obliged, eating quite a lot and taking home even more. At the end of the track, we deviated onto another footpath where we reclined to take lunch at 3.85 miles. We then headed into Upton and to the White Horse. Arriving at this establishment with horses tethered out the front, we retired to the back garden with Sundew and Nelson’s Revenge from Woodforde’s brewery, just along the river. Rejuvenated, we headed south then west a short distance, along roads before following a pleasant footpath through Upton Fen Nature Reserve. Short stretches of alternating road then footpath reunited us with the car after 6.42 miles. After some changed footwear, the tea and feast were carried to our munching location by the broad. Here we first sampled Smoked Salmon Crescents, then Cumpstey’s large pie, last sampled on the 13^th February. The pie had a good appearance and when sliced revealed a well-jellied dark interior, low on aroma. The pastry was good and the filling flavoursome, attracting criticism from some, for lack of texture, resulting in the high standard deviation of 1.06849 and a score of 7.58333, so another normalised score of 7.5 for Cumpstey’s. Hobnobs once again replaced the usual Shortbread.

J & N’s Butchers

A new pork pie for us this week, a large pork pie from J & N’s Butchers of North Walsham (part of Mundesley Butchers). To sample these pies we headed to Blickling via an interesting route devised by the walk master – rather than going into Aylsham and heading west, we took the bypass to the east and then would head west, cross-country. After a wrong turning, we headed west along Banningham Road, only to find the road was closed and there was a diversion. This was interesting, as this route was completely flooded. Both cars raised their suspension for wading and followed Josie in her wellies, through the water. We arrived at the pie tasting ground – the Fisherman’s car park by the lake at Blickling Hall. We started the pre-pie “warm-up” by walking by the frozen lake and along a part of Weaver’s way, then heading north through much mud and very scenic countryside. We eventually reached the road in front of the Saracen’s Head, which we followed southeast, to the church of Our Lady & St. Margaret in Calthorpe. Here we found two scratch dials and sat in the graveyard and had our sandwiches. Onwards to the Spread Eagle in Erpingham, to enjoy a good pint from Wolf or Woodforde’s in “Bullshit Corner”. We had to leave the two pub dogs and head back to the cars and pie, about two and a third miles away. Arriving back at the cars it was decided to start with the pie course. The large pie, obviously cooked in a foil dish, had an attractive glossy top. When cut the pie revealed a coarse pinkie-grey filling and a little jelly. This pie was rated very diversely: although it lacked an appetising aroma, to me this was a top-notch pie, with its coarse meat filling and tasting spot-on, both with and without mustard. One thought it lacked flavour and some criticised the crust, resulting in a very high standard deviation of 1.55265. It did come through with a very respectable score of 7.625. Now it was time to sample the Venison Pâté on oatcakes, donated by Don Warman. This was pleasant though not remarkable, shortcake completed the grazing experience. So a normalized score of 7.5 for J & N’s Butchers pies.