Book 1, walk 46
11 miles, 17.7 km
Difficulty: 5/10
Ah Essex! Lovely Essex. Thatched cottages, brooks, farms, woods, and undulating hills. Nice lunch pub.
Trains
Get the 10:08 Ipswich train from Liverpool Street, changing onto the Sudbury line at Marks Tey (arr 1106 dep 11:16) arriving Chappell & Wakes Colne 11:22
Return trains at xx:49 changing again at Marks Tey. Bures is a request station. You need to hail the train to stop it.
Get a return to Bures.
Chappell & Wakes Colne station has a Railway Museum, admission £7. Anyone so inclined could get the train an hour earlier (9:08), have a look round and meet the others at the appointed time. Just a thought.
Lunch: The 16th century 5 Bells, Colne Engaine 01787 224 166
Tea: Choose between the Three Horseshoes 01787 228 303, (follow Bridge Street over the town bridge) or the Eight Bells 01787 227 354 in Colchester Road. Both are Camra-recognised.
Walk Directions: here .
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Main walk: Book 1 Walk 46 - Wakes Colne to Bures

Length: 17.7 km (11 miles)
Toughness: 5 out of 10

Option to Go Long today by adding Book 1 Walk 8 - Bures to Sudbury
Additional length (via short cut from Great Henny) 12.6 km (7.8 miles)

London Liverpool Street: 10-02 hrs Ipswich service
Arrive Marks Tey: 10-57 hrs Change trains
Leave Marks Tey: 11-01 hrs Sudbury service
Arrive Chappel and Wakes Colne: 11-07 hrs

Senior Railcard holders may prefer a more relaxed train change at Marks Tey by taking the 09-38 hrs Colchester Town service from Liverpool Street, arriving Marks Tey 10-33 hrs, leaving time for a coffee before you take the 11-01 hrs Sudbury service.

Return: Bures to Liverpool Street via Marks Tey: 15-33, 16-39 and 17-39 hrs
Sudbury to Liverpool Street via Marks Tey: 17-32, 18-37, 19-38 and 20-32 hrs

Rail ticket: depending on your destination: either a day return to Bures, or a day return to Sudbury Suffolk

Although the Bures to Sudbury walk has already had two outings this year (on Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday) it makes a perfect "add-on" to our lovely Wakes Colne to Bures walk for those who enjoy a long walk - and today there should be buttercups in the water meadow below the Mill Hotel in Sudbury.

But the Wakes Colne to Bures walk is perfectly satisfying and enjoyable as a walk on its own, and long enough for many SWC mid-week walkers. The walk takes you along the Colne Valley through villages all called Colne something-or-other. Lunch can be taken in the village of Colne Engaine at the usually excellent Five Bells pub. After lunch you walk through varied countryside, woods and farmland all the way to the village of Bures which straddles the Essex-Suffolk border. Those ending their walk in Bures can take tea on the Essex side of the county border at the Eight Bells pub, or you can cross the county bridge into Suffolk for refreshments at the Three Horseshoes pub. When returning up the road to Bures station, please remember: Bures is now a request stop - so stick your arm out to hail the train !

For those going long today, I suggest you defer your drinks break in Bures until you reach the recently re-opened Lamarsh Lion pub in Lamarsh, before you continue along and up the Stour Valley, through Gainsborough country, all the way to Subury. If you have time before embarking on your journey home, your suggested final refreshment break today is at the wonderful Mill Hotel.

This double header seldom disappoints.
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Main Walk Directions are here: L=1.46
Bures to Sudbury add-on is here

Book 1 Walk 46 - Wakes Colne to Bures
17.7 km (11 miles), Toughness 5 out of 10

Book 1 Walk 8 - Bures to Sudbury [taking short cut omitting Bulmer Tye]
13.7 km (8.5 miles), Toughness 4 out of 10

You have a choice of 3 walks today:

1. Standard walk: of 11 miles, a lovely walk through the Colne Valley, with an excellent lunch pub stop.
2. Long walk: of 19.5 miles, a grand double header which combines both Book 1 walks. Toughness 7 out of 10
3. Late Afternoon walk (for workers sneaking off early) of 8.5 miles:.join the long walkers on a lovely walk through Gainsborough country

Travel

Standard and Long Walkers

London Liverpool Street: 10-02 hrs Ipswich service
Arrive Marks Tey: 10-57 hrs Change trains
Leave Marks Tey: 11-01 hrs Sudbury service
Arrive Chappel and Wakes Colne: 11-07 hrs

Afternoon Walkers

London Liverpool Street: 15-02 hrs Ipswich service
Arrive Marks Tey: 15-57 hrs Change trains
Leave Marks Tey: 16-01 hrs Sudbury service
Arrive Bures: 16-13 hrs

Please wait on the platform at Bures for the Long Walkers to meet up with you. (Their e.t.a is 16-15 hrs). If they do not arrive by 16-20 hrs, please head off on your afternoon walk: they will try to catch up with you.

Return

Bures to Liverpool Street via Marks Tey: 16-39, 17-39, 18-44 hrs
Sudbury to Liverpool Street via Marks Tey: 18-37, 19-38, 20-32 and 21-26 hrs

Rail ticket

Either [for standard walkers] a day return to Bures (pronounced "Bewers") or [for long walkers and afternoon walkers] a day return to Sudbury, Suffolk

As that is a long pre-amble I will leave it to you to read the notes on the two walks. Both are favourites of mine, and combined make for a rewarding long walk, with plenty of variety.

Your lunch stop (Standard and Long Walkers) is the usually excellent Five Bells in Colne Engaine. 'Phoning ahead recommended 01787-224166. Standard Walkers can take tea in Bures at the Eight Bells.
Afternoon and Long Walkers should try to stop for tea at the delightful Mill Hotel whose cream teas are recommended.
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Directions here for the Bures-Sudbury walk
Directions here for main Wakes Colne to Bures walk L=1.46

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.
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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

t=1.46 Length: 18km / 11m
Toughness: 5/10
Transport: Take the 10:02 from London Liverpool Street, change at Marks Tey to arrive at Wakes Colne at 11:07
Return from Bures is at xx:33

From the description:
Many walkers associate Essex with flat landscapes, surly pubs and badly maintained footpaths. This walk suffers only from this last failing – in summer, one 400 metre stretch near the end (just past point [8]) can be invaded by almost head-high nettles or vegetation, so wear long trousers and take a walking pole and compass if possible. Other paths on this walk can also be overgrown in high summer. For the rest, the walk is delightful. Since the last edition there have been some path diversions and a new route is now recommended between Chalkney Wood and Earls Colne. Chappel & Wakes Colne, the station where the walk starts, is a railway museum on every side, with old carriages on display. The village and church at Chappel are a foretaste of the lovely architecture to come, along the Colne Valley, such as fine thatched barns and cottages and the neo-Tudor mansion of Colne Priory. The lunch pub at Colne Engaine is just past the church, and then the route follows the side of a fishing lake (not marked on old OS maps, as it was only created in 1995). Brooks, farms, woods and undulating hills lead into tea at one of the pubs in Bures.