Great Saxham Walk

I found this walk, a West Suffolk Wander by Chris Barker, online on the East Anglian Daily Times site and, as I transcribed it to get a route overlayed on the OS map, I adjusted it to remove some of the road walking and make it a bit longer. After rain from yesterday afternoon until late morning meant my planned walk today was postponed, I gave it a go this afternoon once the sun came out. Maybe it is one I could offer to the group?.

This was my version of the route.

I parked at Great Saxham Church Car Park. St. Andrew's Church is quite small. I wish now I had tried to get in and see the 17th century stained glass windows.

Here are a few of my photos.

The Car Park is hidden away off the road among the trees.

I started by walking along the road and round the corner to the other side St. Andrew's Church. I could have just walked through the churchyard.

The first part of the path was a bit sticky after all the rain but I wasn't long before I was on grassier paths. Emerging from the trees I got a lovely view.

For the next mile or so I could hear the stream next to the path burbling cheerfully.

The path goes through a ford.

Fortunately there is a footbridge or I might have ended with rather wet feet.

I came across plenty of signs for the Great Barrow Challenge routes. Here I was on 3 of them.

My wildflower of the moment is the mallow. I saw plenty of lovely specimens today.

Fluffy clouds in the sky and lovely views of the countryside were a feature of the walk.

About 1/2 way round I came to Burthorpe Green. These cottages by the green have nice gardens.

I added to the original route to follow this path towards Barrow.

I liked these fuchsias in one of the gardens I passed.

I got a view of Barrow Church shortly before turning right to head back towards Burthorpe.

I could see quite a distance looking north.

Avoiding the road I followed this funny little path through the wood beside the hatchery ponds.

The overhanging branches were really low in places.

Looping back to Burthorpe I followed the path towards Little Papely Wood. I found some bindweed.

Emerging from the trees I got another great vista.

In among the grass was this little orchid.

The last part of the walk took me through Great Saxham village.

I was pleased to see the stone head was properly attired to avoid infecting passers-by.

And here I am back at the Car Park.

Well that was a lovely rural walk of about 7 1/4 miles. Lots of wide paths that would be good for walking side-by-side without breaking social distancing rules. Maybe the group will like it? And I was home in good time to cook the evening meal.

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