The Thursday before Easter saw the team head out to Alysham and a 22 mile walk back to Norwich along the Marriott's Way which follows the old railway line. So carrying on with the railway analogy we hoped to depart at 1700Hrs and arrive back at our terminus at Midnight (King Street, Norwich) using our normal 3 miles + an hour pace. Thanks to Amanda for the lift to Alysham and the pre departure muffin and and to Jocky fully kited out as action man as group protection from werewolf’s. So in typical British Rail style, we departed behind schedule at 5.20pm! Yes the late start was so we had some practice walking in the dark. Yes, the principle is the same, put one foot in front of the other, but the trick this time is not to walk into anything!!! But with head torches and a full moon (hence werewolf's) we felt confident.

So off we strutted, leaving civilisation behind us with good banter, it had been a while since all the walkers had been out together at the same time. Typically for a railway the route was straight with the sides of the old track line bordered by trees as it's made its way through the fields. A short stop at the old Reepham railway station for refreshments found a plaque stating the last passenger train had departed in 1959. For a few seconds the mind wandered trying to imagine the scene.

Around 8.30pm darkness descended, saw Jocky disappear and re-appear unexpectedly and the head torches adorned which made good dalek impressions! Time ticked by the miles passed with Steve shouting out rough distance, so yes we seemed to be making good progress but being on an old railway line and being dark didn't really have any visual references. However seeing what looked like the old Lenwade Concrete works at 22:30 did start to cause alarm bells with Tristan who was suppose to be back at work at 1am. By 11.15 pm the first street light came into view and a close look at the map showed we had another 7 miles to go at least, this wasn’t a 22 mile walk, more like a 28!

So Tristan had to leave the group, quicken the pace and power walk to Drayton and hope to some how get back to Norwich quickly. Being the middle of the night, taxi's been at their busiest and probably no buses it wasn't good. However once hitting Drayton and walking down the main drag, managed to flag down an out of service bus, hitch a lift to the bus depot and walk to Sprowston getting home at 00:45, that was close! Explaining to the very nice bus driver what I was doing walking in the middle of the night before being kicked off as a weirdo was a challenge. When the boots came off, sure I saw steam!

As to the rest of the group, they eventually got back to Norwich at 2am so again in true BR style, late! I will leave then to comment but I heard story's of tantrums and medical drama, yes there is never a dull moment with Tears for Beers!