Day 203: Woodbridge to Butley Mills

Best bits: Company all day, realising that we were at ‘the dig’ site, further on than anticipated this morning

Worst bits: F*estuary, getting my foot stuck in the mud

Distance: 22.6 miles

Kathy kindly dropped Vi, Frank and I in Woodbridge. As we set off it was drizzling with really dark clouds looming ahead of us.

The first part of today was following the Sandlings walk. Woodbridge seemed to have an excess of cafés and places to get refreshments. There also seemed to be a lot of small businesses.

We passed the Sutton Hoo Ship Company and saw volunteers reconstructing the world-famous 7th-century Sutton Hoo burial ship as featured in the film ‘The Dig’, using the original archaeological evidence, traditional tools, and authentic materials.

As we walked along the banks of the river Viv complained of a strange smell. It didn’t take too long to realise that once again we were walking around the sewage works. It seems that the planners of walking routes always ensure that there is a sewage works to walk past.

It wasn’t too long before we got to the end of the F*estuary and crossed over the river on a bridge. It was drizzling and the raindrops were making ripples in the river.

A lovely lady at the entry point of Sutton Hoo National Trust kindly let us in to use the toilet facilities and the cafe. Even Frank was allowed in. This was where the ship was discovered.

Feeling refreshed we set off again this time along the opposite side of the F*estuary it wasn’t long before we were back opposite where we started. Fortunately the walking was relatively easy through woodland. A man and wife met us from the opposite direction. They were doing an 8 mile walk. He was 79 and still very fit despite having had major heart surgery a couple of years ago.

We walked through a turf farm where there were huge fields of immaculate grass and a tractor was manicuring it even further. One field had already been harvested. We were wondering where the endpoint would be, domestic, commercial or sports.

There was a large gate blocking our path. The footpath was on the other side of the gate and we couldn’t understand how we should’ve got there. There was only one thing for it. We had to negotiate a little bit of barbedwire.

Then we found ourselves walking through marsh grass that was as tall as ourselves and quite dense in places. It would have helped to have a machete to get through. Somehow we managed to miss the footpath and ended up walking on the wetland below the high watermark, which were actually pretty wet which I can attest to as my foot went down into the mud just past my ankle and sucked it in. Where were my waterproof socks when I needed them? I had one colourful trainer and one black trainer.

It reminded me of the time we were walking the West Highland Way when a runner came past us through the mud and lost a shoe.

The soil here is a rich brown colour and looks quite fertile, however, the farmers are having to spray them with water to keep them moist as the ground is so dry.

A sign that said the footpath was closed due to dangerous steps, but we decided to take a chance and it was all fine apart from the nettles.

Remarkably we could still see the blue cranes of Felixstowe docks. The river is so still today and it’s dotted with little sailing yachts that look very lonely and forlorn.

The Ramsholt Arms was a welcome relief after about 10 miles, for a cup of tea and a sandwich. The staff were really generous and gave a donation.

Viv and I were playing crop identification most of the day. She was very confident that one field was full of barley. We also saw crop harvesting of what we thought might be cabbages.

As we approached the seawall it was the return of the Martello Towers with three in quick succession. One of them, had a World War II look out station stuck on top of it. What a strange blend of history.

We arrived at the seawall, quite excited to be able to see the sea. What a disappointment when we got to the top as there was still an awful lot of shingle marshland between us and the sea.

There was a castle on the horizon which apparently we will be walking past tomorrow!What followed was lots and lots of walking along the sea wall.

At least we had some things to look at as a little fox ran along the path down the side of the wall. We also saw geese with chicks on the river, grouse, hares, rabbits, a rat, and deer.

Eventually, it was time for a rest and we found some sort of concrete structure to lie on.

We actually walked up something that was described as a hill on the map, but really it was just a little incline.

Later we passed a number of pig farms pigs. Some pigs were living in what looked like military bunkers. The pigs were in various levels of activity, some were just lounging on the ground, others were standing up paying no attention, some were snuffling on the ground and then there was a lively bunch who were running around like crazy things.

There was much confusion with Kathy and our location which necessitated the forwarding of our location on maps with arrows indicating our direction and circles indicating our position. After a long 22 miles, we finally rendezvous with Kathy and Barney.