On Saturday, 20 June, 33 of us – friends, colleagues, strangers, from as far afield as Vienna and Sydney, and as near as two doors down from Jan’s former house – gathered to venture into Thunder and Lightnings territory to follow the Jan Mark Walk, lovingly curated by Stalham Library Friends.

‘It was all sky,’ Jan wrote in her debut novel but it was much else besides. We enjoyed imagining Jan discovering Norfolk back in 1971, when the family relocated from Kent; we could ‘see’ her making discoveries, just as Andrew does in the book, just as we did.

We might have seen where Elsie’s garage in Handles was located – there’s some debate amongst the locals.

And it felt right to follow pathways as so much of Jan’s writing was about physical journeys – from Taking the Cat’s Way Home to Trouble Half-Way to Voyager to the short story ‘Crocodile Time’ and her travelogue Great Frog and Mighty Moose.

Throughout the day we were reminded just how respected and liked Jan remains in the village she lived in for 14 years, though she left it long ago.

After a hot, happy walk, we returned to the Poppy Centre in Stalham for tea, cake and conversation. We swapped books. We watched the final minutes of the 1987 TV adaptation of Trouble Half-Way, which so closely followed the novel and which distills much of Jan’s philosophy of childhood. (And how to live life by railway timetables, which Jan did a lot of the time.) Then we watched the supplementary film in which Jan recreates the journey in the book and TV with her lorry-driving brother, Martyn, and the actor, Jenni Barrand.

Several of us took photos and here’s a selection. First up, from my gallery …

Clockwise from top: legendary librarian/bookseller Marilyn Brocklehurst with a copy of The Dead Letter Box – the librarian in the story is based on her; Phil Hanton, the mastermind behind the walk, with his own Lightning model; a group of pilgrims outside Stalham library; Nadia Wheatley and I, friends for 40 years, friends of Jan; the two possible locations for Elsie’s garage in Handles. You be the judge …

These next images were taken by writer and bookseller, and firm Jan Mark fan, Nick Campbell …

Clockwise from top: the skies! the pathways – through fields and along roads. The fifth image shows one of our readers, Carol, who moved into Jan’s street around the same time as the Mark family. Here you can see her outside 10 Sydney Street, which has a blue plaque on the front. The current tenants never knew Jan, of course, but they’re friendly and don’t mind people stopping to have a look at the house. The final image shows the pilgrims, fed and watered (thanks to the Friends of Stalham Library) watching Jan talk about writing, specifically Trouble Half-way, in 1987.

More to follow …