Shotley Walk

Today we took a short bus ride to do a linear walk from Shotley back to the Suffolk Food Hall.

This was the invite from Joyce.

"Friday 2nd October. One of Stevie P’s favourite walk along the River Orwell. It’s also a favourite with lots of you.  We will meet at The Suffolk Foodhall and catch the 9.25am bus to Shotley. Then I’ve arranged for drinks at Shotley Vineyard as we pass. Then onto Pin Mill for our lunch stop – pls bring a packed lunch as we will only be stopping for drinks and not cooked food pls. Then it’s Woolverstone (Harwich) Marina and back to the Foodhall. The walk is 11.5 miles but there are shorter versions if you wish to take a bus back"

This was our route today.

Here are some of my photos.

We met at the Suffolk Food Hall and I bought a scotch egg to take home to Dawn, who wasn't walking today.

Waiting for the bus.

14 of us got off the bus opposite Shotley village hall, leaving just the one passenger. Graham and Tania had joined us at Chelmondiston and would be ending their walk there.

Off we go.

We headed south towards Erwarton Bay and the River Stour estuary.

Then it was along the King Charles III England Coast Path to Shotley Gate.

There will be a "shantyfest" here tomorrow. We came across one of these in Holland on holiday there in 2006 - see here.

You can now walk part way along the Shotley Pier. The pier was built in 1894 under the instruction of the Marquis of Bristol to provide a postal link and foot ferry to Halfpenny pier Harwich, where a mail ship operated to the Hook of Holland and the Great Eastern Hotel was a popular destination. : After falling into severe dereliction starting in the late 1980s, the pier was bought by the community-led Shotley Heritage Community Charitable Benefit Society in 2018 and has undergone extensive volunteer-led restoration.

We crossed the lock in the marina. Some went via the outer lock gate just as it was starting to open.  Fortunately no-one fell in.

Harwich loomed in silhouette across the water with the sunshine shimmering on the water in between.

This was the biggest ship in Felixstowe port. I counted 9 containers in the highest stack on board.

From the end of the marina we continued for a while along the bank of the River Orwell.

It is one of my favourite bits of river walking with lovely views. I've not been able to get a definitive answer as to what these wooden structures are. The most plausible explanation to my mind is "Comprehensive surveys managed by Historic England—including the Suffolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey (RCZAS)—have mapped several alignment patterns of wooden posts, laid timbers, and possible wattle fragments throughout the Orwell and surrounding estuaries. These typically functioned as historical fish traps (weirs) designed to trap fish as the tide receded, or as stable trackways across the treacherous mudflats."

Away from the river now to Shotley Vineyard.

It being a Friday, the café was open and Joyce had warned them that 14 of us were coming. They did very well to serve us all quickly and efficiently.

We walked up the hill through the vineyard. The grapes had already been harvested here.

The view back towards Felixstowe docks.

We didn't visit  St. Mary's Shotley Church today.

After some pleasant paths and quiet roads we descended to the river one more and re-joined the coast path (where we had today's group photo shown at the top of this post).

We caught site of these rotting hulks and abandoned boat graveyard....

...before coming to our lunch stop at Pin Mill where I got a pint of Adnams Special Bitter from the Butt and Oyster. 

Suitably refreshed we carried on, following the coast path back to the Food Hall.

I liked this tipsy-looking boat and its reflection.

We went passed the rather grand-looking Royal Harwich Yacht Club at Woolverstone marina.

We passed St. Michael, Woolverstone church.

The Boot pub is now sadly closed.

This stretch of path has had some barbed wire fencing erected. Joyce had queried this with the council after here recce and it appeared the fence was being moved back to avoid restricting the path.

A last stretch across the fields back to the Food Hall, with the Orwell Bridge behind.

A lovely walk in some lovely autumn sunshine. Thank-you Joyce for leading us round and to everyone else for the additional company.

You can find more details of our 11.5 mile route here on MapMyWalk or here on OS Maps (or download a GPX file here) and more of my photos here on Flickr

Other related walks you can find on my blog include

• Shotley Peninsula Walk (Oct 2018)
• Shotley Point Walk (Oct 2018)
• Shotley Peninsula Walk (Jul 2020)
• Shotley Peninsula Walk (Sep 2020)
• Shotley Point Walk (Oct 2021)
• Shotley Point Walk (Jun 2022)
• Shotley Walk (Aug 2023)
• Shotley Gate Walk (Nov 2024)