We while away long journeys by listening to audio books. It’s a great way to revisit old friends, like The Lord of the Rings, and meet new friends, The Final Empire. A favourite author we both agree on is Elly Griffiths, and the Ruth Galloway books in particular. With two stories running concurrently, a modern crime and a historical puzzle, along with a will they, won’t they romance, these books have everything. We started van life by listening to them all, in order, revisiting some, and catching the final book in the series as we journeyed. I gifted the first book to my sister-in-law, who passed it to my brother, and we decided we needed to visit the places used for inspiration.
The books are set on the north Norfolk coast and in Kings Lynn. The places in the books are familiar as I grew up in Suffolk, and know how lovely this coastline is. After a family weekend, we set off on the Sunday on our Ruth Galloway tour. We started at the RSPB reserve in Minsmere, closest landscape to the fictional saltmarsh where Ruth lives in the books.
It is utterly desolate and Ruth has absolutely no idea why she loves it so much.
Elly Griffiths, The Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway, #1)
It was beautiful, green and brown marshland, the beach, a sliver of sea and huge skies: very desolate as Ruth found it. There is also a field of wind turbines in the sea. Controversial maybe, but I find them majestic, and our power must come from somewhere. The books really capture the atmosphere of the saltmarshes, and as we walked through them, I could imagine being out there in the dark, not being able to see the safe paths from the marsh and water, the tide coming in. The reeds were taller than us and constantly moving in the wind, rustling as the wind blew through the dry stems. The sky was blue, but with dark clouds threatening rain. It was better than a sunny day for creating the atmosphere of murder and intrigue.
After a lovely cake in the visitor centre, we moved on to Blakeney (The Night Hawks – Elly Griffiths #13) where the marshes were greener, with yellow wildflowers and, as the tide was out, the boats looked like stranded whales in the harbour. There were seabirds everywhere, and one stunningly white egret out fishing.
We walked out to the Watchhouse and, all of us having read Black Shuck, our imaginations were taken to the story of the black dog of Bungay, a portent of death.
The Watch House is a remote house on the beach, which has no electricity or running water and is described as a “hard tent” when booking. (Booking is not the right word – you apply and are entered into a ballot, and it’s as likely as getting a place in the London Marathon!) It must be an incredible place to stay, especially when you are completely cut off from the mainland twice a day, by the tides. You have to park in Blakeney and carry everything you need. We love the idea of a family trip there, with the sea birds, and seals, playing games by candle light and sitting out in the evening in complete darkness. We did not get a place this year but will keep trying.
From Blakeney we made our way to Walsingham to follow in the footsteps of Ruth in The Woman in Blue, #8.
“When Ruth’s friend Cathbad sees a vision of the Virgin Mary, in a white gown and blue cloak, in the graveyard next to the cottage he is house-sitting, he takes it in his stride. Walsingham has strong connections to Mary, and Cathbad is a druid after all …”
Walsingham is a beautiful village, full of churches and the Abbey grounds to explore. We found the house built into the wall, where Cathbad was staying when he saw his vision, and visited the slipper chapel. Having left it a bit late in the day, we set off towards Kings Lynn, but will definitely be going back to Walsingham to spend more time exploring.
The plan was to move on to kings Lynn and the museum, so we could see the Sea Henge, from the first book in the series, The Crossing Places.
“Dr Ruth Galloway is called in when a child’s bones are discovered near the site of a prehistoric henge on the north Norfolk salt marshes. Are they the remains of a local girl who disappeared ten years earlier – or are the bones much older? DCI Harry N …”
Sadly, my brother’s car had other ideas and we got a puncture. Being a modern car, with no spare wheel we had to wait for the AA, and had an interesting journey back to the house, in the back of the low loader.
Fast forward almost a year, and the four of us made our trip to Kings Lynn. My brother treated me and Neil to a tour and tasting at the What a Hoot gin distillery, which is highly recommended. We then made our way to the museum. The Sea Henge is incredible. It was rescued from the sea when coastal erosion exposed it in 1988. It is over 4000 years old. Left there it would have quickly disintegrated, so it has been carefully removed, treated, and is stored in cases, so it can be displayed safely. There was controversy at the time about whether it should have been left, as intended, or removed. This is covered in the book and, while I can see both sides of the argument, I was glad to get to see it.
The wooden plinths are far bigger than I imagined, and you can see the age etched into them. As well as the original oak posts, the museum has a scale model of the sea henge, which was 21 feet in diameter. Each post would have been 10 feet high when it was first built. In the centre was a great upturned tree stump and it is speculated that a body may have been laid on it, so birds and animals could pick it clean, before it was removed for burial elsewhere. All the mystery surrounding the henge, lends itself beautifully to the story of The Crossing Place, and the two mysteries explored in the book.
It certainly made me want to write a book based on the history of the North Norfolk coast, but for now, I am still writing books for my grandchildren and can only dream of being an author.