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.
T=1.46
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