Winter Wonderland Walk

 

This was the invite from Joyce...

"We will meet at Dobbies, Bury St Edmunds on Monday at 10am to walk about 12 miles. Expect mud and dress warmly. Bring a sarnie and drink with you as we will have a Pit stop See you Monday for a natter unless the weather looks as bad as yesterday/today " 

Well the day dawned foggy and frosty, but not too foggy for people to drive. So we met Dobbies as planned and I decided to walk to the start rather than drive and take in the frosty scenery on the way.

"It's just a walk for walking's sake with nothing particularly exciting to see", said Joyce. But no it wasn't. We got some lovely delicate hoar-frosting from the freezing fog and a mysteriously bleached landscape as the fog never really lifted all the way round. This was our route.

Plenty of tarmac and pavement walking meant we didn't get much mud and we got a chance to, as Joyce said, have a good natter along the way, catching up after the isolation of lockdown 2. It was good to see everyone again.

Here are a few of my photos.

On my way to Dobbies I marvelled at the hoar frost on the trees.

We were all wrapped up for the cold and it stayed cold all the way. Here we are at the start with Joyce explaining the route.

We started off along the River Lark, which was flowing freely after all the rain we had had.

 

The meadows by the river were flooded more than I can remember seeing.

We liked these iced rose hips.

Heading out along Hollow Road we passed the house built on the former hospital of St. Nicholas. As I said before here...

This house was built on the site of the former Medieval Hospital of St Nicholas and still incorporates fragments of it. The building was constructed mainly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The architecture has a blend of Classical, Gothic and Jacobean styles. At the bottom of the garden is some stonework. Founded by an unknown abbot of Bury St Edmunds, the hospital of St. Nicholas was situated just outside the east gate. It consisted of a master, a chaplain, and several brethren. The earliest known dated reference to it is of the year 1224, when Henry III granted a fair to the master of the hospital of St. Nicholas, to be held on the feast and vigil of the Translation of St. Nicholas.

We had a stretch parallel to the A143 before turning north past Great Barton Stud. Here we were truly, as Ann said, in a Winter Wonderland.

We had a drink stop at the Folk Cafe.

Before heading on via Fornham St. Martin...

...to Fornham All Saints, where we took a new route to me. We had our sandwiches on the go as there wasn't really anywhere to stop and sit.

We hadn't been through this plantation.

Returning through the outskirts of the town we passed this generous offering of doggy treats.

A trendy place.... this house apparently has a hot tub in the garden!

We passed the new Abbeygate Sixth Form building. William would have gone there if it had been built on time.

I never knew this green space between the King Edwards School grounds and the railway line existed.

We passed The Dove pub, sadly closed since the first lockdown.

We passed the Greene King Brewery. Plenty of beer here!

Going through the water meadows our path was just clear of the water.

Just after the St. Edmunds wolf at Southgate Green we parted company the other side of the road from Dobbies, with Jane heading in the same direction as me.

As I got home, the fog was getting thicker again.

We never did see the sun, but it was a lovely leg stretch and chance to meet up again. Thanks Joyce for leading us round and the others for the company.

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