River Linnet Walk

I hadn't done any walking beyond the near neighbourhood this week, but it was a lovely sunny afternoon today so I decided to go on a bit of a longer walk and see if I could get to Ickworth House estate and back. I was reminded of this walk we did in May last year, but didn't look it up... I would make my own way. Armed with my new map and my camera I set out.

This was my route.

The route was a bit random through the West of Bury St. Edmunds, as I just followed my nose in the general direction of Westley, but some roads I hadn't been on before had some nice gardens. I eventually ended up at the River Linnet and then following it all the way to the Ickworth Estate. Here I found lots of cute little lambs as I headed through the estate to the lodge - where I had to climb over the barrier at the gate. "Estate closed" and "No unauthorised persons beyond this point" it said on the other side. Oops! From here I headed east to join the Bury to Clare walking route and then on home.

I hadn't bothered to work out the length of my route but guessed at about 10 miles... I had underestimated by over 2 miles, so the latter part of my walk was a bit up tempo in the effort to get home for 7pm to feed the hungry hordes. My feet were a bit sore afterwards!

Here are a few of my photos.

The irises outside the Moreton Hall doctors' surgery are looking good....

...as is the bedding the Abbey Gardens.

I wonder when we will get our Saturday market back?

I came across some fine wisteria.

I passed the water tower, which you can see here from the air,  at the highest point of the town.

This gorse bush was full of flowers.

I recognised this path along the river once I got to it from our walk last year.

Even though it wasn't marked as a public footpath, the path continued along the side of the river. By now I was on my own and didn't see anyone else for a good 2 or 3 miles. I was rewarded by the sight of this butterfly.

This bridge is just before entering the Ickworth estate, but I stayed on the east side of the river.

A lot of the grounds are fenced off with electric fencing to protect the lambs.

These pretty flowers were by the edge of the pasture just before I got to the entrance hut. I don't know what they are. Do you? [Updated: Joyce says she thinks they are Cuckoo Flowers. I think she's right. And Miranda has recommended an app called Plant Net. I must give that a try].

I walked up the drive to the lodge. Oh-oh.

Fortunately the barrier was fairly low and I could climb over... and see the signs on the other side.

No wonder I hadn't seen anybody on the estate!

Through Horinger now and past some rather grand houses.

There was a profusion of cowslips in a meadow a little further on.

Then I came to the same oil-seed rape fields I had walked through last week. Well I know at least one of my readers like them more than I do, so this picture is for you.

Then it was brisk walk home past the wolf guarding the Southgate roundabout.

I was home at 7:02pm. Well that was a lovely sunny afternoon walk and I got plenty of lovely countryside all to myself. Meanwhile, had anybody got started on the evening meal? No chance!

You can see more details of my walk here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here on Flickr.