Day: 197 14/2/99 Chillesford to Snape Maltings

Weather:  Cold and cloudy.

Distance:  24km ( 14.9 miles)    Total Distance:   2570miles

It was half-term and Margaret and the boys had gone to visit the grandparents in Ireland.  Even on my own I managed to wake early and get on the road to Suffolk by six o’clock.  The A14 was very quiet needless to say and it was a simple journey.  I parked in the car park of the Froize Inn where we had had a meal at the end of the last holiday.  I was surprised to see that there were a number of cars in the car park and a couple of caravans in the camping field.  These caravaners do come out in all sorts of weather these days.

From Chillesford I took a footpath down towards Orford. Soon I came across a right hand turn in the path but it was very sensibly marked a no-through path, saving me a mile or so wasted time exploring it. I therefore carried on straight down through Sudbourne Park.  The weather was very cold and temperatures overnight had been well below freezing meaning that the paths were frozen and solid underfoot.  It was a well marked path all through the estate some of which had evidently been turned into a golf course. 

Just before Orford I came out on a farm track and took a right hand turn away from the village again past some woods.  I could see Orford castle and church in the distance but would not get any closer because I would walk around them.  I hit a minor road, took a right turn and then a left onto a path that took me down to the River Ore with Orford Ness in the distance.  There were starting to be a few more people around out for a Sunday morning walk.  Margaret had told me that when she had come here with the boys she had been to a good tea shop.  I was hoping it was open for morning coffees and indeed it was.  I think the timing was just right and I arrived between opening time and the time when they served Sunday lunches.  It was good; a filter coffee and a dense rich chocolate cake for £2.30. 

I could see from the map that the next bit was straightforward, along the sea defences, so I put my map away and headed off. The last thing I wanted to do on this long stretch was to keep looking at my map every few minutes to see what progress I was making.  I soon lost the couple of groups who were out for short leisurely strolls and was in the wilds of Sudborne Marshes.

A couple of boats came up and down the River Alde and there appeared to be still some military activity on the Ness.  I understand that the Ness was completely owned by the military before it was turned over to the National Trust.  Slowly Aldeburgh appeared in the distance.  The path was easy to walk as the grass and vegetation was short, it being winter.  I then headed west to start my trek inland up the last significant estuary for quite a while.

The sea defences ceased being a public footpath after a mile of heading inland and I had to cut inland up towards High Street.  Half way up to the road the public footpath signs disappeared and try as I might to see some there were none around.  I guessed as best as I could but ended up walking up a gravel path in an estate.  As I was exiting the estate a people-mover type car appeared and a very well spoken lady asked me if I was OK (in other words, what the hell am I doing on her land).  It transpired I was only 50 yards off the path that still appeared not to be sign-posted.  

Soon I was on a quiet minor road and heading towards Iken where I picked up the footpath along the estuary again up to Snape Maltings – another place we had visited on our previous holiday.  This was pig-farming country now and the smell that went with them was all around. 

At Snape Maltings – the old buildings now used as a concert hall and craft village, I did not have the energy to do much exploring so quickly headed off down the minor road to Sudbourne hitching as I went.  It was quite a while before I got my first lift, from a young couple who were down on a holiday renting a cottage and had been out for wood – their car was so full that the tail gate was open! At Sudbourne, I cut across the woods asking a local couple to confirm that I could get through, and then got another lift quickly in something like a Mercedes sports car from a middle aged man and his young partner, up to Chillesford.

It was still light fortunately so I drove to Leiston where I had a B&B booked and explored the town, stopping to check out the Indian restaurant and look for other likely watering holes.  It turned out I was the first real guest at the B&B – Field End, since it had been taken over the previous year and done up.  The first guest apart that is from the Inspector who had called the previous week and given it a highly commended recommendation.  It had been done up very nicely indeed and I did no begrudge paying the £20 per night. 

That night I went to the local Baptist Church up the road and received a warm welcome.  The minister’s daughter was studying medicine and was presently in a hospital in Coventry.  The lesson was from 1 Peter.  It was very much a small old-fashioned Baptist church in a building like the old church at Lawrence Saunders church in Coventry.

After that I went to the local Indian Restaurant which was not so good – partly because it was Valentines Day and being on my own I was not made to feel overly welcome,  especially when I asked to move table so that I could read my newspaper.  Added to that the curry was not the best – nothing wrong with the taste- just one of those that was barely hot enough and you wonder for the next 24 hours if you are going to come down with food poisoning.