Knettishall Heath to Hopton Walk

This was the invitation from Joyce.

"Weds Aug 19th we will be heading to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust at Knettishall Heath  to look at the heather there. The post code is IP22 2TQ. John has led this walk a couple of times but I've not walked it yet and when I visited the area recently, I was very impressive and felt drawn to walking there a bit more. The circular walk is 9 miles and uses some of the Angles Way. The morning walk will start at 9.30am from the main car park (free parking and toilets here). If there are enough for an afternoon walk then I'll lead a second group after lunch at 1.30pm. Please contact me to book a space asap."

In the end there were only 5 of us so a second group wasn't needed.

This was our route today...

You can read more about the sights along the way from my write-up of my Not-The-Suffolk-Walking-Festival version of the walk in May here

Here are a few pictures from today.

We met in the main Car Park

At a house by the Angles Way we saw some guinea fowl.

Just after passing Riddlesworth Hall School, which Princess Diana attended between 1970 and 1974....

...there was a sign that told us the footpath went through the woods, not along the farm path, but was overgrown. A bit further along, though we were directed into the wood to join it.

We took a little detour off the path to have a look at the ruins of St. Nicholas Church, Gasthorpe

Crossing back into Suffolk.

Eventually we came across a way-marker for the route that matched what Steve's leaflet for the Angles Way with an otter in the middle of the arrow.

We stopped for our break at All Saints, Hopton Church. It's a shame The Well is still closed.

We admired the ceiling.

Shortly after leaving Hopton, we could also see another church close by. It is St. Mary, Market Weston
.

The rain arrived before we got back to Knettishall Heath, but we stuck to the planned route. Here is the heath with the bracken and heather.

We were glad we did the full route as we came across two groups of the Exmoor ponies.

We finished by walking along the Little Ouse again. Some children were enjoying the water.

So thanks to all for coming along. And that is the best view of the ponies I've had!

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