Book 1, Walk 46 - Wakes Colne to Bures
Length: 17.7 km (11 miles)
Toughness: 5 out of 10
Option to add on Bures to Sudbury - Book 1, Walk 8
For a long walk of 31 km (19 miles): Toughness 7 out of 10
London Liverpool Street: 10-02 hrs, Ipswich train
Arrive Marks Tey: 10-57 hrs
Leave Marks Tey: 11-01 Sudbury train
Arrive Chappel and Wakes Colne: 11-07 hrs
The tight connection at Marks Tey: in bygone, better days, the rail,company usually held the Sudbury service until the London train arrived. Alas, the service is only held for a few minutes now, and sometimes not at all. If you miss the connection, I suggest you club together to pay for a taxi to Wakes Colne (not expensive): otherwise, it's an hours wait. Senior railcard holders have the option of taking the 09-38 hrs train from Liverpool Street (the Colchester Town service) which arrives Marks Tey at 10-33 hrs, leaving you time for a coffee in the new station concourse as you wait for the departure of the Sudbury service (hopefully with colleagues from the 10-02 London train).
Return: from Bures: 15-33, 16-39, 17-39, 18-44, 19-45 hrs, again via Marks Tey.
Those Going Long, Return from Sudbury: 18-37, 19-38 and 20-32 (thereafter, a bus service from Marks Tey to Witham extends the length of the journey)
Rail ticket: Buy an off peak day return to Bures (pronounced "Bewers") or Sudbury, Suffolk if Going Long.
Today's walk takes you along the Colne Valley with the River Colne acting as your water feature for the day. Railway buffs should note the railway station Chappel and Wakes Colne houses the East Anglian Railway Museum - which is worth a quick visit before you set out on the walk proper. The route is undulating but never steep and apart from one stretch through a wood just before the approach to Bures late in the walk, which stretch is notoriously muddy, the walk should be relatively mud-free.
Villages en route are all named Colne something-or-other and you stop for lunch in Colne Engaine at its pub, the Five Bells, located just below the church - which now has six bells ! This popular pub usually serves excellent food - and it's best to 'phone ahead with numbers: your e.t.a being 1-15 pm: 01787-224166.
After lunch you continue through a number of farms and through woods until you arrive in Bures, where tea can be taken at the Eight Bells pub (head down the road from the station and turn right) or at the centrally located pub in the main part of the town and reached by crossing the town bridge which separates Essex from Suffolk.
If you haven't given this walk a try before, it comes with my recommendation.
T=1.46
Walk directions here: L=1.46
Going Long: adding on the Book 1 Sudbury walk to today's main walk makes for a delightful long walk, for those who have the stamina. The Sudbury walk follow the Stour Valley and St Edmond's Way paths all the way into Sudbury, At Great Henny Church take the direct route (the St Edmond's Way path) ahead, You should make Sudbury circa 18-45 hrs, where your suggested late tea or (deserved) supper stop is the Mill Hotel. Allow 20 mins from the hotel to the station for your journey home.
You will also need to bring along the Walk 8 walk directions here
Next Week: SWC 192b Haddenham to Stone via Waddesdon Manor
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2 comments:
will do the longer walk if the day is nice....
n=10 off the train at Wakes Colne, with nine setting out on the morning leg of the walk, and our Birthday girl taking a taxi to the lunch pub to enjoy a relaxed morning: she joined us on the afternoon leg of the walk.
w=sunny-morning-afternoon-initially-overcast-then-sunny-again-mild-to-warm-all-day. Fine walking conditions for this lovely walk. Plenty of Spring flowers and blackthorn blossom, and some new born lambs in the fields (discouraging us to order lamb shank or shepherd's pie for lunch). Said lunch stop at the Five Bells was as good as ever, with generous portions of well-cooked food, served with a friendly smile. Although one in our group returned her meal (over cooked) everyone else enjoyed their repast. The afternoon was initially overcast but the sun soon shone through again as we headed for "Bewers", arriving just after 4 pm, and in good time for the 16-39 hrs return train service to Marks Tey. The four chaps on the walk said their goodbyes to the ladies on the walk at Bures station, and set out on the Sudbury walk, still in lovely Spring sunshine. More plentiful displays of wild Spring flowers and blossom as we headed along the Stour Valley path. Visits to churches and stops to admire the scenery meant we arrived in Sudbury a little later than planned, so we (very reluctantly) by-passed tea at the Mill Hotel and headed direct to the toy-town railway station, to catch the 19-38 hrs service back to Marks Tey. A quick connection there, and we were back in London on the dot of 9 pm.
SWC days - and double headers - do not get much better than this.
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