Following on from the fun we had last year doing the Angles Way (see here), today we continued this year's expedition - to walk the 79 mile St Edmund Way.
Today's fifth stage took us from Lavenham to Sudbury. This was the invite from Joyce.
"Wednesday March 20th Section 5 of the St Edmund Way - Lavenham to Sudbury 11 miles . We will meet/park at Lavenham free carpark (toilets here) next to The Cock Inn CO10 9SA opposite Lavenham Church. Start time is 10am. Or take the 9.15am Sudbury bus to Lavenham to arrive 9.46am.
I have walked a few parts today and they were ‘gummy’ but ok. The muddiest was at Brundon Mill and the mud did go to the top of my ankle ….BUT I am going to bring a plastic bag to cover each trainer at that point tomorrow. We may also divert around the railway line towards Balsdon Hall but we will try and stick to the route as much as possible. It is a shame to miss a drier day. Of course , we will stop at The Cherry Tree garden centre in Long Melford for ‘liquid’ refreshments after 5ish miles if you wish. Or you can visit the church. There are public toilets on the Green at Long Melford. Bring packed lunch/coffee too. There will be an opportunity for a later lunch stop too. (Long Melford Country Park),
Transport back to Lavenham on 753 Bus at 15.00 or 15.37 bus and it’s a 30 minute ride ."
This was our route today.
Here are a few of my photos.
Ready to go at the car park opposite Lavenham church. There were 14 of us today.
We walked through the churchyard and onto the road behind. We paused to admire the
Lavenham Hall Kate Denton Sculpture Gallery garden as we passed.
Looking back at the
Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. It was built in a single, lengthy campaign from
the 1480s to the 1520s, and was bankrolled by the wealthy cloth merchant
families, particularly the Springs and the De Veres.
We soon encountered some puddliness, but it wasn't to be much of a problem.
This path gave us some lovely views as we descended...
...including our first sight of Long Melford church and its spiky turrets at each corner of the tower.
We saw plenty of lovely blackthorn blossom today.
After the bridge crossing featured in the photo at the top of this post, we had one of the gummy bits Joyce had warned us about.
We came to our first display of mistletoe.
Some had fallen and attached itself to the hedgerow below.
The driveway entrance to it has a spectacular amount of mistletoe.
Approaching Long Melford Church.
The borders by the east wall of the
Hospital of the Holy and Blessed Trinity almshouses established by Sir Willaim Cordell in 1573 was full of spring flowers.
Holy Trinity Church is very impressive. According to
this article, "
The
nave, at 152.6 feet (46.5 m), is believed to be the longest of any
parish church in England. There are nine bays, of which the first five
at the western end are believed to date from an earlier structure." .
While others went to the Cherry Tree garden centre, some of us stayed near the church with our flasks of coffee.
When Karen arrived back I took her to see what was behind the church, The old churchyard area to the rear of the Church is conserved to
provide a quiet, respectful setting in a natural environment that
promotes wildlife. Here can be found many wrought iron crosses which
were made by workers at the local Ward & Silver foundry, who were
allowed to create them in their own time to mark the graves of their
deceased loved ones. There are more iron markers in the Long Melford
rear old churchyard than anywhere else in Europe.
The others arrived and we continued down into the centre of Long Melford....
We turned off the High Street by the library passing this crinkle-crankle wall. Crinkle crankle walls are a feature of Suffolk, as described
here.
We were soon back out in the countryside passing some more lovely blossom.
We reached the River Stour.
Looking back we could still see Long Melford church.
We should have come across here but Joyce had taken us a less boggy route.
We came to the Liston Mill weirs.
This is Liston Mill. As the webpage
The Watermills of the River Stour says, "
There was a watermill here in 1086 DB. A lease dated 1813 of ‘a
watermill called Liston Mill’ with house and lands (13 acres), contains a
detailed list of fixtures in the mill. The mill was demolished in 1887
after falling into disuse. The mill house remains." Oo. I think I recognise a lot of those watermills!
We got a view of Liston Church, but didn't get any closer.
Joyce hadn't recced this bit.
Some of us took a more adventurous route that involved a bit of leap of faith,
Another church we passed close to without visiting...
Borley church, as the linked article by Simon Knott says... "
...became,
in the 1930s, the focus of notoriety thanks to the activities of a
conman and self-proclaimed 'ghost hunter' called Harry Price. Price
elaborated on the hoaxing and spoofing of the successive Rectors and
their families of the time. As a result of his books, Borley Rectory
became known as 'the most haunted house in England'. The hokum and
fakery still attract a lunatic fringe of sensation-seekers with nothing
better to do, and hence the church is ordinarily kept locked, unusually
for north Essex. An unlikely knock-on effect of the events at Borley was
what happened at nearby Middleton - one might even imagine there was
something in the water around here which led to such shameless
self-delusion." .
After a bust=y stretch of road we came to Rodbridge bridge....
...and crossed the river one last time...
...to Long Melford Country Park, where we stopped for our packed lunches.
On now towards Sudbury on the Valley Trail.
Here we could see the Mill Hotel, but we wouldn't be passing it today.
This was the bit Joyce warned us about. Some took an alternative route by going the other side of the fence....
...but Joyce showed us how to keep our shoes mud-free.
We continued across the water meadow without mishap...
...and following the St Edmund Way crossed the river here into the town.
...and then on through Sudbury to the bus station for our 3pm bus back to Lavenham.
Well that wasn't as muddy as I expected and my feet stayed dry. Thank-you Joyce for organising and leading us and to the others for the additional company..
You can see more of my photos
here on Flickr and more details of our 10.5 mile route
here on MapMyWalk (or download a GPX file
here).
Other related walks you can find on my blog include :
Great record of our day again John, thank you! Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge too x
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