Stour and Orwell Path Part 1

 The Stour and Orwell path runs from Cattawade, just up the road from Manningtree and Felixstowe.  Going up one side of the Stour, around the bend and then up one side of the Orwelll to Ipswich and back down the other to Felixstowe, around 40 miles.

We have done a couple of bits of it, but on Sunday set off from the start in Cattawade

Here I am at the start standing on the old Cattawade bridge with the Stour in the background, looking back towards Manningtree.

From here we walked past the pub, garage and vets surgery and then down Factory Lane.  This used to be a narrow lane with a row of factories on the right.  Margaret Thatcher worked in one of them many years ago and so did my late father-in-law, but not sure that they were there at the same time.  These factories are no longer, but the buildings have been upgraded and house other businesses.  The lane is no longer either, but has been made into a proper road and new housing is springing up on the left side.  At the end of the road, the path goes through a gap in the hedge and around The Decoy Pond.

From here along the path next to the railway line, this is the main line between Norwich and London, normally with trains going past every half hour.  Up a hill, then we looked back at the view across the river

we crossed the railway by a footbridge and then followed the footpath across a field and down to the river, spotting the first WayMark for this path

Along the side of the river, then up onto the bank with amazing views across the river, we carried on as far as the Stutton Mill and then turned back, as this is where I want to start the next walk.  

The sun was bright and warm, the views amazing, the river looked so big.  We could see the cars parked along the walls at Mistley in the distance.

Back to the footpath that leads uphill and away from the river to the main road. we left the Stour and Orwell Path at this point and headed towards our starting point. This is the road from Brantham to Ipswich.

Shame the pub is shut, we could have stopped for a drink, however we walked back towards Manningtree along the road,, spotting the first Daffodils of the year on the side of the road.

We turned down Church Lane, to the left past some houses, saw these snowdrops in the hedgerow

On to the church, were we stopped for a quick rest in the porch 

just after the church was a footpath, which we took, leading to a field and a steep hill going down and up and this bought us out on the housing estate at the top of Brantham, we walked though the estate and back to our car.  We passed more people out walking than we ever have on any of our walks, some days we haven't passed anyone, but it was a warm day.

A grand total of 9.75 miles.  A lovely walk with lots of different things to see., looking forward to the next stage.