Week Two: Snape to Newmarket

Day 8: Wickham Market to Westleton.

We have a real treat planned for today - Peggy and I are staying at a coaching inn that's still coaching.

Back at Valley Farm again, where I was privileged to see morning rush hour. They rope off the top of the yard and open the gates of the fields, and the whole herd just canters up and heads for their relevant stalls and boxes. Earlier I'd seen the three Suffolk Punches standing by the mounting block. From their position, I thought they were tethered, but on getting closer, I found that they were just enjoying the grass next to it while waiting to be let out into their field. I've never seen anything like this before - at Peggy's home yard, there was only old Sixpence who could be relied on to potter about the yard when he'd let himself out of his field.

The weather was much better today - pleasant sunshine, although the afternoon proved rainy, even with some hail. We made excellent time to Snape, where we stopped off to say hello to Marie-Sophie at Aldeburgh Festival Offices. Peggy looked incongruous among the shops and craft centres that surround it. Snape itself was stunning - once I'd stopped thinking of it as Harry Potter land, I looked at the estuary, which seemed so reminiscent of Benjamin Britten - Aldeburgh Festival was founded by him.

The afternoon wasn't so pleasant. To my dismay, Peggy held up traffic in horrible wind and hail. I couldn't blame her - she kept on trying to turn into the hail which was beating down on her neck.

Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped, and we rode across Westleton Common. I'd never realised that gorse bushes had a scent, but after the rain, I could smell something like cocoa butter. A Muntjack deer crossed in front of us, but Peggy didn't care.

Westleton itself was lovely. Peggy was happy in a field next to the Crown's owners' horses and I was equally happy in a comfortable room. The village is thriving - it's only when you see a village shop that you realise how many lack one, although I was told that the surrounding five villages had none. It also had a perfect village green and pond, which was filled with ducks and geese.

Tonight I heard my second John Parker story. I'm well into horse driving country and Parker is the local legend, who's done everything from the fastest change of horses ever to recreating the Norwich Post mailcoach run.

I couldn't find out if my intended stay in Beccles was still in business (the previous owners are retired), so the landlord of the Crown arranged for Peggy to stay on the land of a friend. Duncan and KerryAnne (Duncan works on the farm) offered to put me up, which was fantastic.

Day 9: Westleton to Beccles.

Today started with a wonderful ride through Dunwich Forest. Peggy perked up amazingly, trotting along happily through sandy tracks. At one point I looked down a lane, and saw a beautiful stag doing his best Landseer impersonation.

At Blythburgh, I met up with Martin Pope, the photographer from the Daily Telegraph. We did some shots in miserable weather, which summed up most of the day.

The ride alternated between pleasant and grim. Cycle routes helped a lot on the map, pointing us down quiet country lanes.

Church towers came into their own in the low countryside, giving me a pointer as to our next direction.

KerryAnn picked me up at the farm, once Peggy was settled, and took me over to her house in Southwold. When Duncan joined us, we headed into Beccles in pouring rain.

The weather drove me into the pub quickly. I might be an Arthur Ransome fan, but even the Broads couldn't tempt me to abandon drink and food.

I had a fantastic evening with KerryAnn and Duncan, who were the kindest and most welcoming of hosts and insisted on giving me a quick tour of Southwold by night. It's a place I'm going to have to return to - I want to see it by day, and see them again!

Finally, I didn't sleep alone (sorry Gideon). My bed was shared with a couple of persistent Jack Russells, who kept me company and showed me just how much a small dog can hog a double bed.

Day 10: Beccles to Norwich.

Today was pretty clear, despite the rain first thing in the morning. Getting around Beccles, although it looked straightforward, proved a bit of an adventure. The roads were easy enough, but then the map showed a byway heading up to the main Beccles/Bungay road.

Finding the byway was none too easy as there were no signposts at my end. When finally I found one, it pointed into a thorny overgrown ditch with dubious footing that proved to be a major challenge to get through. It was impossible for me to dismount to lead Peggy and once it, it looked unlikely that we could get out again.

Fortunately, Peggy battled her way to the other end and we resumed our travels by roads.

Cycle routes are perfect for horseriders who have to do roadwork, since they point you down quiet roads and offer a pre-planned route from A to B. In this case, we rode along gentle countryside with an almost medieval sense of direction. Church towers and spires became my navigation points in a sea of grass.

We reached the outskirts of Norwich by 4pm and were warmly welcomed by Susan at Pine Lodge. After a quick cleanup at my B&B, I headed into Norwich itself.

Norwich is one of those cities that surprises you. It comes across as halfway between a prosperous town and a city, with one of the nicest cathedral closes I've seen. Even with the audience arriving for a concert at the cathedral, the close was a mellow place to sit, with a mishmash of medieval and later architecture.

More difficult was finding a football-free pub - Norwich City was in the playoffs for Division One and the entire city was watching, it seemed. After a quiet meal, I headed back out to my B&B. For some reason, today seemed very long, probably because of the heat.

Day 11: Norwich to Stow Bedon.

The threatening weather today made for a change in plans. Instead of winding around Wymondham, I headed straight down a busy B road (with convenient wide verges) and around the edge of the town. It was still a long, slow day with Peggy flagging in early afternoon.

The problem with this is that I don't think she's actually tired when she's doing this, she's just fed up and taking it out on us both. Arrived at Stow Bedon and ran into my flatmate's father on the road. David was heading off to Thetford, but Julie, his girlfriend, was waiting up at the house for me. Great Hockham, just down the road, had been pressed into service to help me. Derek, who owns the local garage, came and picked me up.

Had a nice evening catching up with Julie before we both headed down to the Eagle at Great Hockham, one of my favourite pubs in England, mainly for its clientele. It's run by Paul, an Italian who is a terrible flirt, and everyone is always welcoming there.

Then back to David's house to sleep.

Day 12: Stow Bedon to Rushford.

This couldn't have been a bigger contrast with yesterday. I left my bags with David and headed off for a day of mostly off-road riding along the Peddars Way.

The army were supposed to be on manoeuvres in Thetford Forest, but I didn't hear a peep from them as we headed down a combination of quiet forest paths and small roads towards the A11.

The Peddars Way has been developed for horse riders as well as walkers, and there are some diversions in sensitive areas for the horses. One leads to the A11 and loops around to where the road is still single carriageway so that horses can cross.

At least, that's the theory. Riding on the diversion took me along some magnificent green lanes (and also some pig farms) before I reached what can only be described as road chaos.

I already knew the A11 was slow there since I could see it, but it was only when I rounded some trees that I realised that the cause of the traffic jam was right where I wanted to cross. A gang were in the process of converting the road to dual carriageway.

When it's finished, it's going to be even better for horse riders, since they're also digging an underpass which means that there's no need to get on the road at all, but in the meantime the road gang kindly pointed out the works exit where I could cross. A couple of confused-looking truck drivers stared down at the little horse calmly ignoring all the traffic to cross the road, and then we were once again back in forest.

The map and signposts weren't so good here and it was difficult to tell where I should rejoin the Peddars Way. One bit was locked off to horses for environmental reasons, and it wasn't clear if I could ride further down. I decided to risk it and Peggy and I found ourselves heading down an idyllic woodland path with the sunlight dappling on her neck.

I just sat back and enjoyed the ride as Peggy seemed to know exactly where she was going. Our only hiccup was a footbridge across a deep gully, but when I dismounted and walked onto it, it seemed safe enough. Peggy looked gingerly at it for a moment and then decided to climb the step and follow me across.

Today was the day where it suddenly clicked how much I love this horse and how much she trusts me despite everything. She was quite happy to go anywhere as long as I was with her to assure her it was okay.

The idyll ended abruptly when Peggy cast a shoe. Since we were heading for Rushford in the hope of finding a place for the night, it meant a mile and a half walk along a quiet road. On reaching there, our hoped-for contact was away, and the dairy farm that the OS marked as being beside the church seemed to have disappeared too.

Instead, we bizarrely found a beautiful set of stables that had obviously been used for a stud farm. I've never quite seen stables like these before - they were bigger than some rooms I've lived in and had stunning polished black stone mangers as well as raised tile floors. I slipped Peggy into one of them while I made enquiries at local houses.

I was directed up the road to some cottages to ask for the Chambers, but on reaching the cottages met Georgie instead. Georgie proved to be my guardian angel that day. By a strange coincidence, she had just rented a field across the road since she intended getting a horse soon, and Peggy was welcome to stay there. In the middle of our gossip session (we found we had rather a lot in common, not least in sense of humour) Ian, her neighbour appeared with a gleam in his eye. He'd just spotted Peggy and fallen in love with her.

I had no compunction about leaving Peggy with them, since it was obvious she'd fallen into the best hands possible in the area. Georgie also helped me to track down a farrier - ironically enough, he was from less than a mile away from where I'd set off from. John agreed to come and shoe her first thing in the morning, and I returned to Stow Bedon via a visit to the pub with Ian and Georgie.

Day 13: Rushford to Chippenham.

John Blake showed up at 8am and sorted out a much thicker pair of shoes for Peggy, so we had a later start than normal today.

Met Martin Pope again for another photo session. At Euston we got onto the Icknield Way, where we watched a procession of four-wheel drive vehicles go on ahead of us before Martin got into his rather sporty Tigra and calmly drove along the same way. Peggy's beginning to grasp the concept of cameras now but the photos still took sometime.

Headed down the Icknield Way most of the day, during which time we didn't leave land owned by two men - the Duke of Grafton and the Earl of Iveagh. If you ever want an idea of how big a country estate is, just try crossing it on horseback.

Our destination was Chippenham, where Linda Sadler, a bloodstock agent and racehorse healer, had kindly offered Peggy accommodation after the local stables were unable to take her in. We arrived lateish (about 6pm) but Linda soon had Peggy settled. She told me that she believes in good hay and good food and her feed shed was testimony to that - half the hard feed looked appetising enough for humans!

I'm a bit worried about Peggy's back - she's soring up slightly and I don't know if it's poor saddle fit or just from the distances we're travelling.

Day 14: Burwell (me), Chippenham. (Peggy)

Gideon came up this weekend as well and we stayed with our friend Tom in Burwell. I was completely exhausted and very crap company all day, not to mention feeling fluey, but it was nice to see a crowd of friends who were also there.

Back to the Diary.