Walberswick Walk

We looked at the weather forecast. It was going to be nice today but wet tomorrow. So best we do our weekend walk today. "Can we go to the coast?", said Dawn. I had a little think and suggested we do another walk from the AA 50 Walks in Suffolk book. We were too late to do the 10 mile Dunwich one, but we could do that another time. Instead I chose walk 5 "Across the River Blyth to Walberswick" - and this was the first of a few inaccuracies in the description... we didn't cross the river at all. But never mind. I calculated that at 4 1/4 miles starting by 12:15 we would be back in plenty of time to have lunch at The Bell Inn before they stopped serving at 2:30....

This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos.

We parked by the ferry and set off in good time in lovely sunny weather, although it was somewhat breezy.

We passed through the centre of the village.

"I think it would be quite nice to live here", said Dawn. "Except it gets too busy with tourists in the summer." I replied.

We saw some early primroses.

The path was nearly all relatively mud-free. Apart from this bit going through the marshes.

The reeds were waving in the breeze.

We had views back to the village with the church prominent. The guide said we were on the Suffolk Coastal path here, but we weren't. That runs much closer to the sea.

Looking the other way we could see Sizewell power station in the distance. I was a similar distance the other side of it on our Sailors' Path  walk last week.

There were sheaves of cut reeds stacked up ready to be taken away.

We took the detour to the picturesque ruins of Westwood marshes mill. It sticks up like a sore thumb from the marsh and can be seen from miles around.

We headed inland and joined the Sandlings Way, although the instructions didn't mention that.

I think this was a shooting party.

A bird flew over and perched close enough to see. "It's a hawk", said Dawn. But is it? I don't think so.

We were heading across Walberswick common towards the river now and could see Southwold in the distance...

...as well as Walberswick church.

The gorse flowers looked very pretty in the sunshine.

We could see Quay House...

...and Blackshore Mill...

...across Reydon marshes. And, closer at hand, an egret.

We arrived at the river and the bridge across to Southwold, but we stayed this side and walked back towards the ferry.

Southwold church and lighthouse are visible here.

We returned to our car here having walked 4 3/4 miles rather than the 4 1/4 miles stated...

...but, yes, we were still in good time to have lunch at The Bell.

And very tasty it was too. Well that was lovely walk in the winter sunshine. Highly recommended!

You can more details of our route here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.