ONE of the great attractions of this year-long adventure is that it affords me the opportunity of touring parts of the British Isles which I have never stumbled across previously.

It's a chance to collect and bottle up a whole series of experiences and memories - it's not just about the running, you see.

This past weekend I was in Bungay, Suffolk. I know the area reasonably well since I worked as a journalist in Thetford and Norwich during the 1980s and owned a house in a soulless village called East Harling, which lies in the heart of the Breckland Forest.

On Saturday evening, Liz and I stayed at Pulham Market, which is about half an hour from East Harling, at a bed and breakfast called The Old Bakery. I'd found the B&B on the internet.

We were greeted by the owners Jean - who was just on her way out to a panto in nearby Bressingham - and husband Martin - a former master chef.

The house itself is wonderful; oak-timered and steeped in history.

The Old Bakery was established in 1580, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and used as a main bakery for the area. It was in continuous use for over 400 years. The last baker retired in 1951.

The house is a listed building, constructed of an oak timber frame with walls of wattle and daub.

Breakfast on Sunday morning before the race could have been the full works with Martin working in the kitchen. Instead, I went for porridge, which Martin said he had not made for more than 20 years. What I hadn't counted on was that he would make it the old-fashioned way with salt!

Pulham Market is a lovely old-fashioned village, and the drive to Bungay along narrow country lanes, past small pastures filled with snow drops, a windmill and beautiful Norman churches was wonderful on a pleasant Sunday morning.

The race in Bungay was the Great East Run; a 20km race starting and finishing at the town high school.

A lot of the top races, such as the Great North and Great South runs, are highly popular, well organised events, but lack any affinity with the area of warmth. Despite the name, the Great East Run, organised by the Bungay Black Dog Runners, is a lovely race, superbly organised, but with a friendly, family feeling to it.

The course takes you south of the town, onto a plateau with a circuit around these windy, country lanes, before returning back to Bungay.

I'd had a poor training session on Thursday with my club, trailing at the back of the pack and had expected to run poorly in Bungay.

But I seem to run much better when racing and had a good run. I went through 10km in 42-and-a-half minutes, 10 miles in flat seven minute miles for 1hr 10min, and finished the race which has a tough uphill climb through some residential streets, in a time of 1hr 28min 51sec.

I was very happy with that and felt full of energy. The goodie bag afterwards is one of the best - it includes a bottle of beer from the local sponsors; it's a shame I'm teetotal!