Weather: Fine, warm, sunny
intervals.
Distance: 15.5km ( 9.6
miles) Total Distance:
2495miles
I was up a 6 o’clock, packed up the tent and
was walking by 7.00am. The reason for
the early start was that I wanted to make sure of catching the bus at 12
o’clock. I parked the car outside the
Bristol Arms at Shotley Gate.
The first part
of the walk was to the large and expensive looking marina. I spent much of the time looking over to the
large freighters at Felixtowe. I thought
what a nice place the marina would be if it were not for the background noise
of the large boats at Felixstowe.
The
first hour or so walking was quite tough with long grass on the sea-defences.
Just before Chelmodiston National Trust land, there was no path marked on the
map but I was pleased tot see it was marked as a permissible path and in fairly
good condition on the outskirts of some fields. This saved a walk inland.
It was then onto the beach briefly – past
some fishermen and their boats before climbing up into the National Trust
woods. Views out of the woods back down
to the beach were of a medium sized-boat graveyard. At Chelmondson I sat in the pub garden for a
while and had a drink of water and some biscuits – everywhere was still closed
up. A few boaters were up making the
most of the bank holiday. I used the
public toilet and then headed along the well-walked path to Wolverstone which
is another boating area full of private yacht clubs. Here the path ended so it was time to head
inland. I called into the chandlers shop
neat the caravan park. I opened the
fridge to get a drink and was surprised to see a tie in there in the top
shelf. I asked the shop assistant why it
was in there but she did not know. She had worked there for a couple off
months and had been meaning to ask but never had!
After a
mile or so across fields it was back onto the road again near Freaton
Park. At the Orwell Bridge I was pleased
to see that it was relatively easy to clamber up onto the bridge and I did not
have to walk up to the interchange. I
had a headache and did not particularly enjoy the walk over the bridge but was
impressed but its height. Signs for the Samaritans demonstrated it was a pace
to attract suicide bidders. On the other
side I could see people walking underneath on the banks of the Orwell even
though there was no path on the map. I
also found steps down off the bridge that was nice.
I
walked back over the bridge and started to hitch. It was not long before I got a lift from a
woman who was on her way to meet a friend who had sailed his boat back from
Holland and was moored at Shotley Gate.
She said she never usually stopped for hitchhikers but I looked like a
walker. She dropped me off at the
turn-off for Woolvestone marina but she picked me up a couple of minutes later saying she had made a mistake and got the wrong marina and meant to go to
Shotley. So I ended up getting two lifts
back – both off the same person! She was telling me how she was walking the
Thames footpath.
I
picked up two hitchhikers on my drive home to Coventry and dropped them off at Corley services before going
to see a neighbor who was in hospital recovering from pneumonia.
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