"Dear Walk Leader.
Apologies for the lateness of this email, but we have taken the decision to cancel tomorrow’s walk leader training event due to coronavirus. We will cover all aspects of tomorrow’s meeting in alternative ways. With regard to 1st aid training, previous 1st aid certificate will be accepted as evidence you have had training. For anyone without any training, we will ensure a 1st aider accompanies your walk, where required. Regarding the afternoon briefing, this will now be covered in a newsletter and email which will be sent later this week. Apologies for any inconvenience this decision may cause you."
It was all a bit last minute, but as we were going to be free now, Joyce hastily arranged a walk for ourselves and some of our walking festival back-markers. This was the invite...
"Our training for tomorrow has been cancelled so I propose a walk at Hartest. It will no doubt be wet underfoot in places but we’ll have time to dry out our footwear in the next few weeks! I walked today and practiced ‘social distancing’ – it went well. Lets meet at the Hartest Institute car park at 11am and walk the first circuit, then have our packed lunches/drinks on the green or in the pub beer garden (if it’s open?) or the church before we try the second Circuit. The 2 walks are about 5 miles each so do one or two as you feel."
The walk we did was one Joyce had done with the group before, but on a day I wasn't able to join in. It is based on this leaflet from the wonderful Discover Suffolk website.
This was our morning route.
Here are some pictures from our morning walk.
As we gathered at the start, Joyce was feeling a bit peckish,
A features of both walks today was the splendid verdant vistas we had when we were up in the roofs of High Suffolk.
I saw my first cowslips of this spring.
We met a couple walking their dogs, including this cute little puppy.
The wild violets have been lovely this year.
We reached Somerton and some des-reses.
We didn't pause to visit St. Margaet's Church, "one of the highest churches in Suffolk - geographically speaking, not ecclesiastically."
Today was a day for viewing lots of churches from more of a distance. Now, if only I knew what direction I was facing when I took this photo, I might be able to identify which church this is with more confidence. I think it may be St. Mary's Hawkedon. [Update. No. I now think it is All Saints, Stansfield].
[This picture, taken a couple of minutes later, is of Hawkedon Church, I think.]
And this is a nice looking country pile. Look at those chimneys! I think it might be Hawkedon House.
We liked this farm and its horses in the field.
At Somerton Hall, we came across some horses that had been let out for the first time this spring. They seemed to be enjoying themselves!
Soon we were back in Hartest, looking very colourful in the spring sunshine.
We stopped off at our cars to grab our sandwiches and (in my case) dump my coat. It was getting pleasantly warm now and I was able to walk in my t-shirt without a coat or fleece for the first time this year. We headed past these houses on the green...
...to The Crown.
I got myself a pint of Brewshed Pub Tropicana to go with my ham sandwich roll. Very fruity!
Here we are appropriately social-distancing as we had our munch in the garden. If you look carefully you might spot Carolyn and Aidan's thermos, a desirable accoutrement to a venture such as ours.
Were we all up for a second helping after lunch? Yes we were!
Here is our afternoon route.
Here are some pictures from our afternoon walk.
Leaving the pub and passing between it and the church we started alongside the river, a tributary to the River Glem.
We came across an alpaca farm.
We soon reached the village of Boxted. Unlike a previous walk I had done here, we didn't take the detour to the church to look for the golden frog earring, which you can see here.
I love the colourful old houses we come across, like this one.
This sign was on a house on Hartest Hill.
But we weren't heading back down into the village yet. Instead we carried on along the high paths with sunny vistas in all directions..
We came across an interesting structure by the path. Aidan went to investigate.
"It looks like a laptop.", said Roland. But under the lid was a shaft.
It was, we thought, an old cold war nuclear bunker. I looked it up when I got home. What we had seen was just like the one shown in this news story. Maybe we should have gone down to see if they had any spare toilet rolls.
More lovely views.
As we descended along a stretch of the Lawshall road, we saw something through the hedge...
Yes. It was a herd of deer. 37 of them, we think. See how many you can count.
How many churches could we see today? This one was quite a distance away. I think it is All Saints, Lawshall.
And this one is St. Andrews, Brockley.
But we mustn't forget to look at what is by our feet. Some more of the little violets that have been so prolific this year.
Now we were on the road back to Hartest passing some impressive farmhouses.
This one had a willow tree at its most beautiful with the first foliage showing in a delicate hue of green.
The daffodils were looking very cheery and probably at their best right now.
And here we are back at Hartest Green.
A couple of great walks. Thanks Joyce for the impromptu invite.
You can see more details of our routes here and here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.
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