A walk by the river.

On the weekend of November 20th/21st we went to Suffolk. I've already shared our walk on day 1 so today I'll share day 2. This was the longer walk and we really enjoyed getting out and really stretching our legs. We left our car in the car park at the hotel as we were going to walk back into Ipswich from the starting point of the walk. We took a taxi to Pin Mill, which is a hamlet on the River Orwell not far from Chelmondiston. This is on the Shotley peninsula and part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths area of outstanding natural beauty and conservation. The little hamlet was very pretty with boats bobbing on the water and filling the boat yard. You can read more about Pin Mill Here

My first picture from Pin Mill is quite dark as the weather was a little overcast. This one is looking across the estuary.

Fairly quickly the sky lightened as the wind got up and blew the clouds away. Looking towards the boat yard.

Looking back at the water, the three swans who had headed towards us at speed, had turned away as they realised we weren't going to be giving them food.

John took a photo of the pub, The Oyster and Butt.

Having checked our route and with the sky clearing we set out on the walk. The path took us along by the river. To our left were fields and the leaves still on the trees were very pretty autumn colours.

Looking at the river there were some yachts in the distance.

I enjoyed the colours of the leaves on the ground, particularly the white ones.

On the hill to our left we could see a girls secondary school. We had passed this from the front on our taxi ride and a big sign at the gate stated how well the girls had achieved in their examinations in the summer. Later in our walk the path took us across the playing fields of the school.

In the woods we found fungi. O love the patterns created as they grow.

As we neared the Royal Harwich Yacht Club there were a lot more boats. I don't know if this was a race or just people out sailing, either way it looked a bit like organised chaos.

There were more yachts on the club's moorings.

We turned and walked a little way along the club's driveway and in the car park we found a fallen tree trunk for us to sit and enjoy some coffee. Refreshed we searched for our path that turned away from the river and entered woodland where we found more fungi.

When out walking you also have to remember to look up at times.

Once out of the woods we passed several fields where sheep were enjoying a tasty meal, the crop had been harvested.

When we reached Freston we took time out to investigate the church. The service had not long finished and the church warden was still inside. He let us wander around the little church and shared it's history with us. You can find out more HERE

There were quite a number of kneelers in the church that local ladies had stitched. Here are some of my favourites.

Inside the church was this sculpture of Peace standing in front of the Devil's door. The sculpture used to be outside but has been repaired and conserved and so was bought indoors.

Outside a replica made from wood now adorns the war memorial.

The time spent at the church provided a nice rest period and was very interesting. Below is the church from the back and the view we had as we continued on our walk.

We headed into more woodland on our way back towards the river. Once there we discovered some boggy bits of ground to negotiate. This wasn't a problem as we all had our walking boots on.

We stopped under the bridge to have lunch. We sheltered behind the big concrete pillars that hold it up, as the wind was getting quite strong and was very cold. Refreshed for the final stretch we set off again. This is the view of the bridge looking back.

In front of us as we walked along the river bank was Ipswich docks.

The bridge has to be so tall to allow the ships into the port. Carrying on along the river we eventually came to Bourne bridge which is over the Bourne, a tributary leading into the River Orwell, the river we had been walking along. One final picture of more boats moored by the bridge.

From here we walked along the roads back into the centre of Ipswich where we picked up the car and started our return journey to London. Our walk on the Sunday was a little over 9 miles. We had enjoyed a good walking weekend and we spent a little time discussing what we had seen and planning another walk in Suffolk, hopefully before Christmas.

Take care

Lyndsey