Day: 194 28/10/98 Woodbridge to Ramsholt

Weather:  Fine, cool and windy.

Distance:  15km ( 9.3 miles)    Total Distance:   2536miles

Half-term and the first time Margaret and the boys have joined me for a walking holiday since the New Forest.  We were to stay in the Youth Hostel at Blaxhall. The weather had been awful all week and there was bad flooding in Wales.  I thought any walking would be a bonus and was not too optimistic.  

This morning however the weather looked OK so we got going at about 11 o’clock and drove to Woodbridge, stopping to eat our sandwiches on the way.  We parked at the station where I had stopped walking last time and I tried to find somewhere to change.  I gave a lady a hand with a pushchair containing her sleeping grandchild over the bridge.  Margaret and the boys tried to walk the first bit with me but it was through the back of a small industrial estate and looked like it may be a blind ally so they turned back and went up to the town to look at the shops.  It was the correct way and soon opened up to a path through boat yard etc up to the bridge over the River Deden. 

I had estimated without measuring that the walk would take me a couple of hours but it soon became apparent that that was an underestimate.  It took me about an hour to reach the opposite side of the bank from where I had started.  I had walked south after crossing the river and then turned into the Sutton Ho estate which included an Anglo Saxon burial ground.  The notice said that it had recently been purchased by the National Trust but was not opening to the public for another couple of years.  There was however footpaths through the grounds and down to the river. 

Not long after joining the river the path cut back inland again and along the side of a wood then along past some fields.  I passed a couple of large fields with what appeared to be very short grass in.  In fact one was being mowed by a tractor. I could not make out what the crop was. Maybe they were just growing grass for turf.  Past the hamlet of Methergate the path cut down to the rivers edge again and continued all the way to Ramsholt where I was to meet Margaret and the boys.

There were some woods just below Nether Hill which were tricky to get through.  It was fortunate that area had been cleared for new planting and I was able to trace a way through but there was no clear path.  The light was failing and I was glad to get out again and onto open fields.  The last couple of miles was along sea defences and at the end there was another small piece of woodland.  I was almost an hour late and panicked a bit when I could not see the car but Margaret was parked in the pub car-park just out of sight.  They had spent most of the time in Woodbridge and picked up some things to keep themselves busy and Margaret had treated herself to a new ring.

We found the Youth Hostel that was not easy in the dark.  It was an old schoolhouse.  We had an eight-bedded dormitory all to ourselves.  There were a number of other families staying and the boys made friends with another boy but he only stayed the one night.  Margaret made us a tasty pasta dish for tea.