Day Six

Monday 23 August - Mildenhall to Newmarket

Mildenhall is known for two things. The first is the large RAF base, located immediately north of the town. The base, now used by the United States Air Force, was established as a Royal Air Force station in 1930. During World War II, Bomber Command used the station for operational combat missions until 1945. Placed on standby status after the war, it was reopened by the Royal Air Force and became a USAF-RAF joint operation base in 1950.

Secondly, Mildenhall is noted for the discovery in 1943 of the Mildenhall Treasure. Now at the British Museum, the treasure is a hoard of Roman silver objects buried in the 4th century. In 1946 the discovery was made public and the treasure acquired by the British Museum; Roald Dahl wrote an article about the find which was published firstly in the Saturday Evening Post, and later as "The Mildenhall Treasure" in his short story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. (Thanks to Wikipedia for facts, and the picture.)

Having said all of which, the town centre is quite small and traffic-clogged, so I left by a side door and headed back to the River Lark. Despite the torrential rain during the night, the going was firm on the field paths leading to the river – the soil round here drains well. The river was in quiet mood on this Monday morning, nobody fishing or picking blackberries, just me and some cows.

At Kings Staunch Cottage, a footbridge crossed the river by a weir, a beautiful spot. The light was dramatic, sun breaking through lowering clouds, rain threatened but never delivered. So it was to remain all day.

Another field path led to the outskirts of Worlington, a pleasant village. From here I was to take a track marked on the map with green dots. These are significant, marking “other routes with public access.” The OS map goes on to say that “the exact nature of the rights… on these routes may be checked with the local highway authority.” In other words, don’t blame us, guv, you’re on your own. These pop up all over the place; often they are part-metalled road, part-track, depending on local needs along their length. A hundred yards might be tarmacked between a road and somebody’s garage, whilst another stretch is gravelled between farm gates. So it was here, the local feature being that it was (surprise!) almost dead straight. This was to remain another day dominated by straight lines.

Near Blandings Farm (no sign of the Empress, but lots of more common pigs laying waste to the fields), I rejoined the Icknield Way Path. Having glanced at the map, I was not expecting the path designers to deliver me a grassy walk. They ran out of footpaths at this stage, and instead the route lies along lanes for two to three miles.

Beyond Chippenham, the road got busier, with (gasp!) some bends, so I had to pay attention for a few minutes. The reason for the bends is that the road respectfully skirts the grounds of Chippenham Park, a 17th Century house entirely hidden behind trees. At Snailwell, I left the road to follow a bridleway, which ran parallel with a gallop, white rails and all – I was now well inside the area of influence of Newmarket.

Even by local standards, bridleway and gallop were remarkably straight. The poor horses must get bored to death galloping for a mile without the hint of a turn. A farm-style bridge led over the very busy and noisy A14, on to what appeared to be a disused drive through trees, ending with some ornate gates. A glance at the map solved the mystery – this was the bottom end of a former two-mile driveway from Chippenham Park, where the gentry issued forth to mix with the common herd in the town of Newmarket.

This is generally considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred horse racing. It is the largest racehorse training centre in Britain, and home to most major British horseracing institutions. Racing at Newmarket has been dated as far back as 1174, making it the earliest known racing venue of post-classical times. King James I greatly increased the popularity of horse racing there, and King Charles I followed this by inaugurating the first cup race in 1634. The Jockey Club's clubhouse is in Newmarket. The town is also home to the National Horseracing Museum, the National Stud, and Tattersalls, the famous bloodstock auctioneers whose sales are attended by big names in the racing business. (Thanks Wikipedia)

Yes, it’s all about horses. Some of the traffic lights can be triggered by horse riders so that they can cross the road. And alongside some of the main roads there are passages which look like cycle tracks but are forbidden to cyclists, being there to allow horses safe passage away from the traffic. I used one of these on my way into town, for the same purpose. Newmarket’s High Street is very long and very s******* (you fill in the blanks).

After three days of often blustery weather, with no effect on my progress, my coach journey back to London was held up by a fallen tree. In Wanstead, near the tube station.