From Beccles to Earsham and Bungay
Walked by Sally and Richard, Saturday 2nd April 2011
About 11.5 miles, around 10.5 miles on Angles Way
Click here for all our photos from this walk.
A lovely walk, on a mild spring day. The Angles Way between Beccles and Bungay meanders its way first to the north and then to the south of the busy B1062 (the road between the two towns), then takes a wide loop round Bungay, to the outside of a loop in the River Waveney, and so to Earsham. The Angles Way doesn't officially go into Bungay itself, which seems a shame, but I can understand why it follows the route that it does - the circumnavigation of the town was glorious. So I would advise other walkers to both follow the loop (the official route) and to spend some time in the ancient town of Bungay. We achieved this by parking in Bungay (we used the Scales Street car park - £3.25 for the day) catching the bus to Beccles (£2.50 each on the 380), walking along the Angles Way from Beccles to Earsham and then walking the 1 mile back to Bungay.
The bus dropped us at Beccles Old Market Square and from here we took Puddingmoor, an attractive street close to the river, beneath the church and its tower. Eventually we joined the B1062 and followed this past Roos Hall (Tudor architecture and daffodils) then off on a sandy track which meandered its way across undulating land north of Barsham (with good views of Barsham Church) and down to the edge of Barsham marshes. There were attractive views back to the marshes as we climbed back up to the busy road at Shipmeadow.
We stopped to take a look at Shipmeadow Church, not realising until we got home that the Church was declared redundant in 1980 and is now a private house - oops! Shipmeadow also has a most attractive village sign and it was the site of the Shipmeadow Workhouse, now also converted to houses.
We followed a path along a field edge, past endless oil seed rape, and with good views of the former workhouse. We eventually reached a track at the end of the field and turned right along it, past more oil seed rape! We emerged onto a minor road and followed this through the attractive Crow's Nest Wood, past Moat Cottages and the site of Mettingham Castle, then we took a permissive path down a green lane on the right hand side. There was still oil seed rape in the surrounding fields, but the lane itself was extremely pretty and we stopped for lunch here, sitting on a large log.
The lane crossed a couple of minor roads then descended steeply to rejoin the B1062 at Watch House Hill. At the bottom of the hill we turned right onto a more minor road which took us past a converted mill then an unattractive concrete building, modern maltings and over the River Waveney. Eventually we took a footpath on the left, which cut off a corner to emerge onto another road, to the left of a sports ground and close to extremely unattractive disused maltings.
We turned right, past the sports ground and maltings, then crossed the A143 and the B1332 and immediately took a path down to some fishing lakes. After passing the lakes there is a path to Bungay, but we opted to stay on the Angles Way, climbing up onto the Bath Hills. The hills take their name from a 19th Century bathing place. According to the guidebook 'the Hills face south, making a natural sun trap where spring flowers bloom earlier than anywhere else in England and nightingales sing'; it was beautiful and although we didn't hear a nightingale, we did see and hear a green woodpecker. There were excellent views to Outney Common below.
We passed various attractive cottages, including 'Coldbath House', and after passing gravel works we reached a large flooded gravel pit where someone was water-skiing. We crossed the A143 and reached Earsham. We left the Angles Way here and walked the mile back to Bungay, for a cup of tea at Jester's Cafe and a further exploration of the town.
It's quite difficult to chose a single photograph to encapsulate Bungay. It has the remains of a medieval castle, owned by the Bigod Family, and the remains of a medieval nunnery, adjoining St Mary's Church. However I've chosen to include a photograph of the 17th Century Buttercross.
