U3A Walk - Knettishall Heath

I don't usually blog my walks with the U3A Bury St. Edmunds Walking Group, as they prefer not to have photos published, although I record the routes. But today is an exception, as I was leading... and didn't take any photographs. I had thought about varying the route, but after my recce last week I decided to keep the same route is I had done with Ramblers in November, which you can read about here.

This was the it...

Starting and finishing at the main car park, we walked along the Little Ouse River to the Peddars Way, then along the last part of that and the first part of the Icknield Way. We then turned left onto a broad bridleway, past the southernmost extent of the Nature Reserve until we got to the back road to the Heath. We navigated that bit of road-walking with only 1 vehicle passing us before re-entering the Nature Reserve, through the woods and then across the heath and back along the river to the start.

Unlike the Ramblers walk, which had 42 people, we had less than 20 so I was able to make myself heard and stopped a few points along the way to discuss our environment. Rather than plagiarise them here, my sources of information, if you are interested, can largely be found via the links below:

Knettishall Heath
The River Little Ouse
Peddars Way 1
Peddars Way 2
Icknield Way 1
Icknield Way 2
Knettishall Airfield

The weather was a bit drizzly at times, but it wasn't cold and there was no wind. A bit more than mizzle, but close to what the Irish call a 'soft day', I think. I thought it added a gentle softness to to the atmosphere, quality of the light and  soundscape and made the landscape wonderfully verdant.

We didn't see the otters that had been reported as being in the river, but we did see the recently introduced Bagot goats. We got to hear lots of lovely birdsong, including, I think, Wren, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler and Blackcap among others. We also had a muntjac deer run across our path, and, fortuitously, in the last mile or so of our walk, the Exmoor ponies up close all around us.

I enjoyed that a lot and, from what people said, so did everyone else, despite the dampness. And, guess what, the sun came out on my drive home! Thanks to Geoff for the organisation of the walk programme and to everyone who came along.