Canary stage 2 – Elsing to Stibbard (21.4km)
The 12th October 2024 saw the Camino subsection of the Pheasants commence a new pilgrimage in the form of The Way of the Annunciation, which starts in Norwich and winds its way through the Norfolk countryside before finishing at Walsingham. Conveniently renamed for pheasant purposes as Camino de Canary Pheasant, the troupe of Mario, Adrian and Jaggard were forced to undertake the second leg of the trail first due to the general incompetence of the Greater Anglia train service. This meant starting in the tiny hamlet of Elsing and heading for the end location of Stibbard under blue skies and with a favourable wind at their backs. Little did they know that the erroneous choice of destination would lead to the Stibbard Unconformity.
In no time at all the pheasants found themselves in the village of Swanton Morley and faced with a plethora of food choices in the form of pork pies, pasties and pork scratchings, decided to buy one of each in the local delicatessen. There was also time to nip to the convenience store next door where the dour proprietor gazed on as the chaps made a meal of operating the coffee machine.
After a rather leisurely stop, the pheasants realised that their current rate implied a finish in the dark, so Jaggard issued a hurry up notice to the flock. The group shot off in vaguely the right direction, momentarily distracted by the façade of Swanton Morley church, leading to a slight detour. This would be negligible in the scheme of later errors.
Passing the wetlands near Worthing was accompanied by tuneful renditions of Maltese folk ditties via the musical talents of Mario. Swans and other wetland inhabitants joined in the melodies and then faded away as the group reached the charming and picturesque village of North Elmham.
Beautiful buildings and wide open countryside heralded the new version of the pheasant 10km “to go” dance performed, as is custom, by the balletic Jaggard. With the Walsingham Way double Ws signage showing the way, there was time for a stop by “Nostradamus” Jaggard to equip himself with additional rain gear and perform a quick check as to the direction to the finish.
It was at this juncture when consulting the way ahead that no mention of Stibbard could be discerned. With an air of increasing despair the group sought to locate where it was on the map in relation to their route, only to discover that it was a whopping 3km east of where they were meant to finish. Oh how they laughed, though mainly through gritted teeth. Being stoic in nature, the pheasants took this setback with good grace, though the navigator has been referred for retesting of his orienteering badge.
Eventually the flock shuffled into Great Ryburgh, the nominal endpoint, but now had to leave the Walsingham Way for the extra 3km trek to Stibbard in order to collect their car. Spirits remained surprisingly high despite the heavy rain that had just started and which lashed them mercilessly all the way to the church carpark.
It only remained for the bedraggled troupe to collapse into the Toyota Corolla and return to Swanton Morley and the Darbys pub for a well earned pint and nosebag while they dried off and “laughed” together about the Stibbard Unconformity incident.
