Day: 199 16/2/99 Sizewell to Southwold

Weather:  Sunny, windy and cold

Distance:  15km ( 9.3 miles)    Total Distance:   2592miles

I paid my £40 B&B bill and drove down the road to Sizewell to park in the car park.  It was a good walking day especially as the wind was blowing off the land and I could walk near the shore out of the chilling breeze.  The whole day was pretty much the same, walking along the sand and shingle.  I had hoped to see something of Minsmere bird reserve but there was not much to see from the beach.  I sometimes came up to the top of the beach because there was better footing there. The cliffs all along here were low and crumbling and the noise of mini-rockfalls could sometimes be heard.

At Dunwich I had hoped to get a cup of coffee but the café was deserted and a sign said it would not open till March. I read about the old village that had been buried in the sand. I had a drink from the rucksack before heading off across the heath-land rather than the beach itself.  When the heath got watery I went back onto the beach again. Near Walberswick there were two mechanical diggers piling up the pebbles again.  I am just glad they saw me approaching otherwise I may have been buried by a shovel-full.

Just short of Southwold, I spotted a tea kiosk ahead but as I was nearing it I realised it was on the opposite side of the river!  I still felt good so decided it would be easier next time to start at Southwold, so  I walked up the river bank, over the footbridge and down the other side.  This would have been quite pleasant in summer but in the cold wind of February it was a bit of a struggle.  I had a great cup of coffee and chocolate flapjack at the kiosk before about turning and going back up the river and over the bridge into the village of Walberswick.  It seemed as if it would be easier to get a lift from there back to Sizewell than from Southwold. 

I had to wait about 15 minutes to get a lift to Middleton from a man in a Mercedes who used to work in 'The City' but now lives in Suffolk and just goes into London occasionally.  I was lucky and soon got a second lift from a builder in a transit van who was six weeks off retirement and had just been to see his son in a pub in Middleton.  He was kind enough to take me all the way to Sizewell.

I got home at 4.30pm to hear the phone message on my answer machine from my boss to tell me that my job was safe but a number of others in my department were being made redundant.  Good news and bad news I guess.