Sudbury to Bures Walk

Today we did again a walk we last did in August 2019 (see here).

This was the invite from Joyce:

"Tuesday September 13th Sudbury to Bures and back. Pls meet at the Kingfisher Leisure Centre, Station Rd, Sudbury CO10 2SU for a 10.30am start. There are toilets here at Waitrose. Parking is £3 at the station or park in a side street.  Please bring your packed lunch. Out via Little Cornard and Yorley Farm and then back in on the Stour Valley Path. A tough 15.5 circular walk with many different terrains and lots of undulation. You can chose to walk 8.5 miles to Bures and catch a bus or train back to Sudbury which is a good option. ".

Good practice for Marbella then - yes I am going again this year.

This was our route today.

Here are a few of my photos. There were just 4 of us today.

We set off in lovely autumn sunshine along the River Stour.

There was no wind so the river was like a mirror.

The tower of St. Andrew's Church, Great Cornard was visible above the trees.

We left the river at Cornard Mill. The art gallery wasn't open today.

We climbed up Prospect Hill towards Little Cornard Church. We got a good view looking back.

We found a peacock walking in the opposite direction. It didn't take any notice of us.

We stopped for a drink at All Saints Church,

This orchard had trees laden with apples and plenty on the ground too.

Nearby we found plenty of blackberries too.

Our landmark of the day, and rarely out of sight, was the Sudbury Big Tower masts next to Yorley |Farm.

In Bures we visited the Village Deli before lunching at the picnic table on the green.

Our return route was on the Stour Valley Path on the Essex side of the river. Was passed through the village of Lamarsh....

...stopping only to smell the honeysuckle.

We didn't stop at the unusual  Grade 1 listed Lamarsh Church. As Simon Knott's site says, "The top of the tower is surmounted by an elaborate octagonal spire with fairytale dormer windows, by Arthur Blomfield. The whole effect is of a bit broken off of a castle belonging to Mad Ludwig of Bavaria." 

Shortly afterwards we were climbing once more. We were rewarded with some lovely views.

Down and up again and we came to a neat stack of bales.

Our final church was at Great Henny. St. Mary's church is thought to have first been built in the 11th or 12th century and then later extended in the 14th century. The church is also registered as a Small Place of Pilgrimage.

I had a little sit down here underneath a huge tree.

Then it was back down to Sudbry retracing some of our path from the start of our walk last week.

A lovely walk. Thank-you Joyce for leading us and to the others for the company.

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