Martlesham Walk

Today we had a walk from a new start point, the Car Park of Martlesham Church. Most of the route, though, was familiar from other walks, in particular Glen's Melton Meander from October 2020.

This was the invite:

"Monday October 17th Please use the car park at Martlesham Church, Church Lane, Martlesham IP12 4PQ . We will meet there at 10am. There is a toilet hut in the grounds but it may not be open. We will then walk into Woodbridge along the creak and grab coffee at Coffee Link after 3 miles or so. Our onward journey takes us further along the estuary to Melton and a lunch stop at Foxburrow Nature Reserve. Bring packed lunch and something to sit on. We then head back into Woodbridge and a walk along the Thoroughfare to see some independent shops and buildings. We may have time for an afternoon drink/ice cream here as the forecast is warm! I estimate 11.5 miles."  

This was our route:

Here are some of my photos:

It pelted with rain on our way to the start of the walk, but eased off as we started. There were 7 of us today.

We passed Martlesham Church but didn't visit. I must go back and see the stained glass some time,

Martlesham Creek is just a trickle when the tide is out.

Soon we reached the River Deben.

As we approached Woodbridge we came across this interesting sculpture revealed by the low tide. 

It was installed in 2020 and you can read about it here. We decided the poor sisters needed a bit of a clean and commiserated with their fate of being drowned by the rising tide twice a day.

The iconic Tide Mill in Woodbridge.

We stopped at Coffeelink for some excellent coffee.

We took a brief detour to visit  The Longshed and view the longboat under construction - a full-size reconstruction of the 7th century Sutton Hoo ship.

We enjoyed the decorations at Swirly cottage including the "No Stupid People" sign and the rude policemen gnomes.

We carried on along the Deben towards Melton. These birds had congregated at the edge of the incoming tide.

Inland now. This was a nice tree-covered path, carpeted with newly-shed leaves.

We met some 4-legged friends...

...although this one was a bit grumpy.

Our lunch stop was at the picnic tables with slippery seats at Foxburrow Farm.

We returned via the backstreets and then shopping streets of Woodbridge.

The park had some exercise devices. Jane showed us how it was done.

We recrossed the railway line here...

...and were soon back on the path along the Deben we had come along earlier.

As we came back along Martlesham Creek, we could see the difference in the scenery with the tide coming in.

It was but a short climb from the creek back to our cars.

Thank-you Joyce for the excellent walk and the others for the company.

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