Today we took our first trip along the A14 since the roadworks had completed to do a short walk at Needham Market.
Regular readers may have noticed I've not posted about any walks for a while. That's because I've a knee injury and I'm restricted how much walking I do to give it a chance to heal. But it is slowly getting better and so I decided a short walk at Needham Market would give me enough but not too much exercise for the day.
This was our route from the Needham Lakes car park into and through the town and visiting Alder Carr Farm Shop before returning along the side of the River Gipping.
Here are a few of our photos.
We crossed the River Gipping to the lake.
We found some ducklings.
This reminded me of my old school friend Terry Thistlethwaite - his surname means, literally, a field full of thistles... like this one.
We took the Cattle Tunnel which dates from 1846.
That was the same year as the lovely red brick station was opened.
We meandered along the High St with Dawn stopping at all the antique and charity shops. We thought this house quite interesting. It looks like the wall is being re-rendered. You can see here what underlies it.
We enjoyed the profusion of hollyhocks, which are lovely this year.
I don't think I've ever been inside the 15th century
St.John the Baptist church. As Simon Knott says "
This is one of the great Suffolk church interiors. You step inside, and find yourself far beneath a roof which seems impossible. To look up into his extraordinary double hammerbeam roof is like looking down into the hull of a ship, and a feeling of vertigo would be completely understandable. Cautley thought it had no equal in all of England." The roof is indeed fantastic.
The town sign is rather modest.
I bought a sausage roll and chilli scotch egg for later. They were delicious.
Returning along the river, we were dismayed to see how much
Himalayan Balsam. there was. "
Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)
is a relative of the busy Lizzie, but reaches well over head height,
and is a major weed problem, especially on riverbanks and waste land,
but can also invade gardens. It grows rapidly and spreads quickly,
smothering other vegetation as it goes."
The picnic area next to where we parked has been done up recently to provide for barbecues.
That was a very pleasant morning walk and not too taxing for my knee.
You can see more details of our 2.3 mile walk
here on MapMyWalk (or download a GPX file
here).
Related longer walks you can find on my blog include
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