The Long March...Prologue

Because of my work, in the summer of 2008 I moved from Berwick upon Tweed to Cambridge. Now, East Anglia is a region of England I had visited little and knew less.

So it was by chance in the early Spring of  2009 I read about a seventy five mile long distance footpath which follows the River Stour from its birth as a tiny spring in the hills south west of Newmarket to its  broad confluent, North Sea estuary with the River Orwell between the bustling container port of Felixtowe and the ferry/cruise terminal at Harwich.

The Stour Valley Path runs near by and along one of eastern England's best-loved rivers, the Suuffolk Stour. This river Stour has been made famous by the great landscape artist John Constable through his paintings of Flatford Mill and the Haywain. Much of the local countryside is still recognisable from his time, and is now classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

So, after a little research and armed with my new OS Landranger Map, I parked up in the Gog Magog Park and Ride on the outskirts of Cambridge one April Saturday morning, ignored the waiting shoppers' bus and trudged off rather stiffly along the Roman road to its meeting with the Icknield Way above the village of Linton. Then it was onwards up the Icknield Way to Newmarket, England's horse racing capital where I arrived at the start of the Stour Valley Path close by the Race Course and the splendid flying horse statue.

Thus, started the long walk downstream through the lovely rolling countryside on the borders of Suffolk and Essex to the port of Harwich some 75 miles distant .

Initially. the path climbs up away from Newmarket  through richly tended stud farms and pretty villages like Stetchworth, Great Thurlow and Kedington before swinging east down the river valley past the historic small towns of Clare, Cavendish and Long Melford.

Then skirting Sudbury the path runs across magnificent soft rolling country and the delightful village trio of  Bures, Wormingford and Nayland,  After that,  it's back along the river to Stanford St Mary and Dedham  before finally fetching up at Constable's Flatford Mill.

Leaving Flatford Mill the last section of the Stour Valley Path runs across a rather dull plain to its disappointing terminus at Cattawade near Manningtree. However, carrying on to Manningtree, I linked up with the Essex Way which meanders along the southern shore of the broadening, lovely and now tidal Stour  opposite the Shotley penninsula, before finally arriving in Harwich. A delightful final walk with great scenic views north across the river.

 Each weekend I'd followed a standard formula, parking up my car and then walking fifteen miles or so down the trail before catching a bus back to the car. If no buses were available then I'd walk a circular route down the Stour Valley Path ending up back at my car.

Completing the walk at Harwich harbour on a baking hot June Saturday afternoon I decided to relax by taking the magical little yellow foot ferry across the river to Shotley Gate and back before catching the train to Manningtree station where I had left my car earlier  that morning. The ferryman is a real character who has been criss-crossing the estuary for many years in his bright little boat and had a store of pleasantly improbable yarns to spin.


This provided some comfort zig-zagging between huge container ships and an absolutely enormous cruise liner. As the ferryman and I chatted about the river, he told me that occasionally he carried a passenger who had walked round the entire coast of East Anglia. Later, on the train back to my car, I conceived the rather whimsical notion it would be a very good idea for me to get to know the region by walking round the whole of East Anglia, roughly 300 miles, during the coming year.

So, with stout heart and optimism, the following weekend I drove to Harwich on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning and began the walk back along the Stour Valley Path towards Cambridge. A first step in the long march around East Anglia, it was July 4th, Independence Day for some.