Angles Way - Part 7

Today we did the 7th and final stage of our mission to walk the entirety of the 93 mile Angles Way. 

This was the invite from Joyce... 

"Friday March 24th - it's going ahead!  The Pre-School are using Somerleyton Village Hall so please park on the wider part of the road near the cycle hire shop that we visited last Friday.  Apparently there are 4 spaces at the railway station too that might work. We will start at 9.30am. I haven't found a toilet at the start but just slightly over 4 miles into our walk, we will have a stop at Fritton Garden Centre

I was hoping for a further stop at The Queens Head pub in Burgh or another establishment but we might have to see how we are doing for time. Once again, I have pre-booked Mick from the Community Minibus to collect us at 4pm from Great Yarmouth railway station. There is an Asda nearby for toilets etc. We will see the community minibus again when we complete the Bungay to North Cove section which I have pencilled in for Friday 26th May {Update this has been changed to Friday 2nd June].

Please check the weather forecast – you may wish to pack dry socks, waterproofs etc. We should be back at our cars by 4.25pm. Thank you for investing your time and energy into the walk – I know it’s harder as we drive further away from home. Please note that the end is not going to be all singing and dancing! From memory there is a board called the 3 meeting points as 3 Long Distance Paths start/end at this point....but not much else.....except your own achievements! " 

This was our route today.

Here are a few of my photos.

We started where we finished last week, outside the cycle shop where we sheltered from the rain. No rain this morning, though, but showers were forecast for the afternoon. It was nice to get some sunshine after the cloud, rain and snow of the three previous stages.

Before leaving the village we came across this monument to Sir Christopher Cockerell, the inventor of the hovercraft. The column was dedicated in June 2010, 100 years after his birth as described here. He lived in Somerleyton in the 1950s when he designed and built his invention.

We soon came to the isolated Ashby Church, St Mary’s, with its impressive round tower and thatched roof.

At the church gate is a memorial to seven airmen killed in two separate incidents. Five of them died when a B17 Flying Fortress from the 100th Bomb Group crashed into the nearby marshes in May 1944. The others were killed in a collision between two P47 Thunderbolts from the American 5th Emergency Squadron a year later.

We crossed from Suffolk into Norfolk on a bridge over a stream in the wood at Fritton. This

stream is Blocka Run and it flows into Fritton Decoy, a large lake half of which is in Norfolk, half

in Suffolk. The lake has long history of different uses. It was originally a medieval peat working, later used as a bird decoy after it had flooded.

We passed  St. Edmund's Church, Fritton. Simon Knott tells us it was originally in Suffolk and is remarkable as it is "... a Norman church with an apse. They are thin on the ground in the region, and the three best are now all within a few miles on the same side of the border. Hales and Heckingham are on the far bank of the Waveney; St Edmund is similarly round-towered and thatched."

Our coffee stop was at the large Fritton Plant Centre.

The Glasshouse Tea Garden was very welcoming and included some landscaping.

Outside the Owl Sanctuary one of the tawny  owls was being shown to a small group.

Our route took us past Redwings Horse Sanctuary, the largest in the country. Here we saw a field with no less than 21 donkeys.

Soon after, we saw a red kite.

After skirting the village of Belton we finally reached the River Waveney again.

We could see plenty of windmills across the marshes. This is Red Mill or Langley Detached Mill, The 19th century brick drainage mill has a boat-shaped weatherboarded cap. The mill has been extended and converted to use as a holiday home. In the distance we could see St. Andrews, Wickhampton Church on the other side of the Halvergate marshes.

This is Berney Arms Mill, one of Norfolk's best and largest extant marsh mills, built to grind a constituent of cement and in use until 1948, and subsequently for pumping water to drain the surrounding marshland. It is on the River Yare which shortly after is joined by the River Waveney at the south-western end of Breydon Water.

We stopped for lunch, sheltering from the wind by the wall of the Roman fort at Burgh Castle. It is a survivor of a network of similar forts known as the Saxon Shore Forts built in the late 3rd century to protect the coast against Saxon invasion. Two Roman forts stood either side of the great estuary open to the sea, the other fort being at Caister-on-Sea.

We kept our jackets on as we continued as the wind was quite stiff and rather cold.

We now had a long stretch along the edge of Breydon Water towards the north-western outskirts of Great Yarmouth. Miranda was soon well in front of the rest of us.

The tide was going out, and the mudflats started to appear.

This flock of birds was flitting to and fro.

That is Breydon Bridge ahead.

The sky was looking a bit ominous behind now, but somehow we managed to avoid getting wet.

Into Great Yarmouth now, crossing the River Yare by Haven Bridge...

...before turning north again to get to our finish, just outside the railway station.

And here is everyone at the finish (except me behind the lens).

Yey! We've got to the end!

While the others went to Asda to celebrate with a cup of tea, I headed for the sea front. I couldn't walk all that way from Thetford without getting to the sea at the end! Here is the pier.

But everything was closed and I didn't get the fish & chips I craved.

Mick and the minibus picked up the others from Asda first before collecting Paul and me from the station.

Back in Somerleyton we had a group photo with Mick and the bus.

It was lovely to see some sunshine today even though the wind was chilly. We were lucky to dodge all the showers and finish completely dry.

Thank-you Joyce of organising everything and leading us along the way... and to my fellow walkers for the company. Of course we are not quite done yet - Stage 5, the second attempt, is to come on Friday 2nd June

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

You can read more about today's stage here:

Angles Way S3

Angles Way S2

Angles Way S1

You can read more about the Angles Way as a whole using these resources:

Discover Suffolk Ramblers Guide

Norfolk County Council Angles Way site.

Norfolk County Council Angles Way Points of Interest.