3 Churches Walk

It was Friday morning and I looked to see what Suffolk Walking Festival walks were still available for the weekend. This one was in a part of Suffolk we had never been walking in before, close to Newmarket.

This was our route...

We met at Moulton Community Centre and Joyce Crawford was our leader.



We set off along the River Kennet past St. Peter's Church (which would be our 3rd to visit later) towards Dalham. It was a bit drizzly at first but the weather soon cleared up. We walked past some pretty cottages in Dalham..




...and passed an old kiln, about which there was some debate : was it a lime kiln or malt kiln?

Well the house next door is called Malt Kiln House, so I vote for that!

From here we followed a footpath up to the Grade II Listed Dalham Hall. Joyce asked us to guess what the Hall and its 3,300-acre estate sold for in 2009. Have a guess before clicking the link above to find out!

Next door to the Hall was our first Church, St. Mary's, Dalham..



Unfortunately it was locked so we couldn't visit inside.

From here we made our way across fields with magnificent trees and hedgerows towards Gazeley. Part of our route had some interesting signposts.



Joyce saw me looking and asked if I had heard of the Great Barrow Challenge. I coinfessed I hadn't, so she told me about it. 10 marathons in 10 days? This is serious endurance sport! Joyce herself is quite an endurance walker and is a member of the Centurions. To qualify for this you have to complete a 100-mile course in 24 hours! I think I'll stick to less extreme sorts of walking, but Joyce did persuade me to sign up for the Orwell Walk on 17th June. Come back here some time after then to find out how I got on.

Meanwhile, our 3 Churches walk approached Gazeley, so called, because from the heights on a clear day you can see all the way to Ely and spot the cathedral. No such luck today.



In the village we visited our All Saints, our second church...



...which we could go inside and even have a cup of tea. By now the sum was shining and it was getting quite warm.

And so it was on to our last leg back to Moulton, and our third Church, St. Peter's.




Then, on our way back to the community centre, we came across our final point of interest, the old packhorse bridge, dating from the 14th or 15th century.



...followed by a drink at the eponymous pub.

A great walk. You can find more details of the route in my Map My Walk log and more of my photos of it on Flickr