Elmswell Walk

Today a joined a bit of a walk from Elmswell with Joyce and others.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Tuesday November 11th. An extra walk. We will meet at Blackbourne Community Centre Car Park, Elmswell IP30 9UH at 9.45am and walk the 0.75 mile to Wesley Coffee Shop, School Road for drinks and toilets. If you would prefer to skip this then meet us there ‘about’ 10.30am. I have then devised a 10.25-mile circular route that takes us to Norton and Hunston Villages. We can have a lunch stop at Hunston Church (not sure if it will be open but thanks to John’s blog I can see a porch with seating. Please bring packed lunch and check forecast. Aiming to finish 3pm-ish ." 

I thought I would come along and just do the bit up to the Wesley Coffee Shop and then come back while the others did the rest of the walk.

This was my route.

Here are a few photos.

The Blackbourne Community Centre is quite impressive and there was plenty of room to park.

Off we go. There were 8 of us today.

It was a bit early to visit The Fox.

We crossed the railway at the level crossing. It is the only way across the railway track in Elmswell.

Some work was in progress around the village sign. Perhaps they were creating a flower bed around it?

We arrived at the coffee shop. It is a super facility. Read about the Wesley Chapel community refurbishment project here. 

See the photo at the top of the blog post. Besides us, there were several groups playing different card and board games. I guessed it might be the Blackbourne U3A and their web site says they use the Wesley Coffee shop for some activities, but I can't see any interest groups that meet on a Tuesday morning on their timetable of interest groups.

I thought this map on wall was interesting. There's not much trace of the tramway now. This local history site tells us more.

Outside, by the bike racks we found this interesting facility. It is a bicycle repair station with a pump and various tools for repairs to bikes, prams and wheelchairs.

In the grounds of the Wesley Chapel was a display of poppies. It being remembrance day today Joyce set alarms on her phone so the walkers could stop and observe the 2 minute silence at 11am.

Time to get going again.

At School Road everyone else turned left, but I turned right to return to the Balckbourne Comunity Centre.

We had come along a bit of a muddy path going the other way so I elected to stay on pavements on the way back.

I had to wait at the level crossing for this train.

But not for long and I was soon back at my car.

Thank-you Joyce for the mini-walk and for bringing Dawn home afterwards.