Reinterred: G is for Gromford Walk

Today we did the next letter of our alphabet of walks - G is for Gromford.

Actually, we only got to Gromford just before the end of our walk which started and finished at St. John the Baptist Church, Snape.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Thursday March 13th G is for Gromford. We have permission to park at Snape Church. The church is open from 9am if you wish to take a view inside. We will meet at 10am. We are then walking over to Snape VH to take part in their monthly warm space. Refreshments are available (£1 entry) and also raffle tickets. After a drink and chat we will continue on our walk which will take in Iken, Tunstall Forest, Blaxhall and the small hamlet of Gromford. The circular walk will be 10-11 miles. Lifts from Mildenhall "

A total of 14 of us met at the church to start the walk at 10am.This was our route.

Here are a few of my photos.

Snape church was open so we were able to visit before the walk.

We liked the stained glass window.

All assembled and ready to go. Joyce is giving us our briefing.

The brick bus shelter just across the road was assembled from bricks from the old bridge, built in 1802 and replaced in 1959.

I liked the water droplets on these irises.

Our first stop was the village hall.

They put up an extra table for us.

Off we go again.

This was the view down the road. We would be going in a loop before reaching Snape Maltings.

More early spring flowers. Here are some grape hyacinths (aka muscari)...

...and periwinkles.

We skirted the edge of Snape Warren. The trees here are still bare.

Yes. That's where we are heading - the other side of the fen. We were on the Sailor's Path now. It uses some of the Sandlings Walk and Suffolk Coastal Path.

Shortly after, we had the group photo shown at the top of the post. Then it was along the path beside the tidal mudflats of the River Alde.

It is a haven for wading birds.

Crossing the 'new' Snape bridge.

In the grounds of Snape Maltings.

We paused to admire the sculptures. This is Chthonic Head l by Lawrence Edwards.

Reclining Figure: Bunched by Henry Moore. I was reminded when I visited his home, Hoglands, in 2023 (see here)

The Family of Man by Barbara Hepworth.

We had typical spring weather today of sunshine and showers with some pretty cloud formations.

The Suffolk Coast Path continues along a boardwalk towards Iken Cliff.

St. Botolph's Church, Iken is on a promontory known as The Anchorage. We weren't going that far today.

We stopped for a drinks break here and some of us removed a layer of clothing...

...only for a cloud to come over and drop hailstones on us. From under the cloud the view across to Iken church was quite dramatic.

After climbing Iken cliff we headed southwards passing this interestingly furrowed field.

At the edge of a turf field it looked like there was a string of Tibetan prayer flags flying. I see I thought the same the last time we were here.

Passing a pig farm we could see a heavy shower in the distance. We were very lucky not to get caught in one like that today as we saw plenty of puddles later.

I looked at this pig farm to see if I could spy any piglets. Yes. Here they are, right at the far side of the field.

We are in Sandlings country and here was a typical treeline....

...and typical walking line.

Heading north-westwards now, we had a long stretch through Tunstall Forest.

This helicopter flew over rather close.

Our lunch stop.

We came to Blaxhall Common aka Blaxhall Heath.

Sarah, David and I stopped to admire this buzzard flying nearby.

Crossing the River Alde again via Langham Bridge. This was all flooded the last time we came here in February 2024.

We cross the line of pylons marching towards Sizewell power station.

Under the railway here...

..and then back over a few minutes later.

Coming towards Gromford we found some daffodils.

And then these lovely little narcissi in the verge outside a house. We saw them last year too and I looked them up after seeing them then... I think they are Narcissus cyclamineus.