Today we had a favourite walk with a new extension from Woodbridge.
This was the invite from Joyce.
"Tues 5th May. ‘Deben West Bank’ Mike is leading a walk on the new King Charles III footpaths at Martlesham Heath. You can reach Woodbridge by train/bus/car –your choice! We are proposing a drink at the 'Whistle Stop' café from 9.30am and then starting the walk at 10.00am. Into Waldringfield and coffee at The Maybush at about approx midday. Please bring a packed lunch to eat at the beach…we will then walk back via the quiet roads or return the same way. Mileage is between 11-12 miles. The Martlesham Wilds are wonderful with some viewing platforms so bring your binoculars is the advice."
This was our route today.
Here are some of my photos.
I was on the train with several others.
We were joined at the Whistle Stop café by Joan, who had come by car and Erica, who came by bus.
We crossed the railway line and set off along the River Deben.
A view of the iconic
Tide Mill. Mike showed us a photo he had brought with him taken from the same spot in 1968. There was no marina in the background then and the mill has been painted white since, but it is unmistakeable.
You get such lovely views on this walk, particularly looking back towards Woodbridge.
This is the bit you have to check the tides for - at Kyson Point, the path is flooded at high tide.
Now we were walking along Martlesham Creek. With mudflats on one side and trees and marshes on the other, we were treated with a wonderful range of birdsong. I set
Merlin going to see what it could identify.
Roland pointed out this boat. I must send daughter Laura the photo!
I liked these dandelions ready for some wind to blow their seeds away, but there was no wind here today.
We passed along the southern edge of Martlesham Creek.
We came to the new bit of path crossing towards Waldringfield away from the water's edge where the original path had been eroded and breached making it impassable.
By now Merlin had identified a large variety of birds including, among the usual suspects (robin, wren, blackbird, blackcap, crow, wood-pigeon, great tit, blue tit, magpie, sparrow) reed warbler, garden warbler, Cetti's warbler, reed bunting and nightingale.
We crossed a short wet patch before climbing away from the river's edge.
I think this bridge may have been built for the new path.
We could see Martlesham Church here.
We had lovely views back toward Woodbridge...
...and down the River Deben.
And here we are at the end of the new bit of path and joined the path we used when we last visited Waldringfield in March and April.
Now we were back down at the river.
We walked along it into Waldringfield and
The Maybush Inn - our lunch stop.
Her we met some blokes about to go kayaking on the river. They were planning on using the last of the incoming tide to help them upriver before paddling back.
We walked through Waldringfield village to get to Woodbridge Road. Plants for sale here.
We liked this cottage in particular.
We walked back along quiet roads. Here we got a glimpse of BT's Martlesham Heath site.
A couple of donkeys came to meet us.
Now we were back at the woods by Martlesham Heath.
The tide had come in quite a lot...
...and was still coming in.
Instead of continuing back the way we came, we went uphill. Some lovely blossom here!
We still had a bit of a way to get back to Woodbridge.
We rejoined the coast path at Kyson Hill.
Looking along towards Kyson Point we could see that our path from earlier was flooding now.
Once more we had great views the rest of the way back into Woodbridge.
Back at the station we split up again with Joan heading for her car and Erica her bus.
And here is our train back to Ipswich (and thence to Bury St. Edmunds).
What a lovely walk! Thank-you Mike for leading us round and thank-you everyone else for the additional company.
You can find more details of our 11.3 mile route here on MapMyWalk or here on OS Maps (or download a GPX file here) and see more of my photos here on Flickr.
Other related walks you can find on my blog include
No comments:
Post a Comment