Walks

Bringing the harvest home

One of the shortest of the Suffolk Walks catches a glimpse of one of the longest just a hundred metres away. In the spirit of efficiency I connected them into a fourteen-mile figure of eight.

Distance: 9.0 miles
Ascent: 88 metres
Duration: 2 hours 41 minutes

Walk 22: Stowlangtoft and Norton from Pakenham

Today's been a study in harvesting. In the village of Norton the corn was golden and ripe. Approaching Ixworth, hay had been cut and left in long strips. Further on in Stowlangtoft those strips were being bundled and turned into bales.

Twice I caught the most remarkable sight, but each time failed to capture it on film. Once in the distance, and once right alongside me while I was driving, the hay was caught up into a twenty-foot high spiralling eddy, a column of gold dancing in the sunlight. Then after a minute or two it collapsed to the ground, exhausted in the heat.

Distance: 5.3 miles
Ascent: 55 metres
Duration: 1 hour 28 minutes

Walk 2: Pakenham Mills from Ixworth

The mills in Ixworth - one water, one wind - look fine from the outside but were closed for visitors. I slowed as I passed, enjoying the shade before heading back into the furnace of the mid-day sun.