Friday 11th April
Jenny and I were able to go walking today, we did the 9 mile walk again, knowing that over the next two days we were going to join the rest of the group for two long walks. The weather was kind to us, with bright sunshine and a light wind. Bramble loved the opportunity to romp around off the lead. About an hour after we got home we had a rain/hail storm and it turned so cold.

Saturday 12th April – approximately 20 miles
We all met at Timberwolf offices in Stowmarket where we were given permission to leave our cars, and then we all walked down to the station and caught the train to Ipswich. There was a cacophony noise in our part of the carriage, and I’m sure that the rest of the passengers were glad that we were only on there for one stop.
We all set off for Stoke Bridge, the start of the planned 21 mile walk back along the River Gipping to Stowmarket. We got slightly (ever so) in the middle of Ipswich.
Considering we were supposed to be conserving our energy and stamina, we didn’t stop yakking all along the river bank, mostly we were commenting about the amount of litter in the river and along the bank.
We stopped for a snack near Sproughton and sat on a grassy bank in lovely warm spring sunshine.
Feeling refreshed we started off on our quest to reach Stowmarket during the hours of daylight!
Lunch was taken just before the rare breeds farm at Baylam, we were all suddenly starving – could have had something to do with the amount of talking we were doing, or even the walking!
After lunch we passed through a field of cows, who showed no interest in us. A short while later we had to walk single file alongside the railway line, not a very pleasant part of the walk.
Arriving at Needham Market, an ice cream was the order of the day – thank you Val.
By this time we were all very tired and looking forward to reaching our destination which we did at exactly 5pm.
Other than a couple of sore feet and general tiredness, we had no problems and were thankful of that.

Sunday 13th April – 17 miles
Jenny and I had done this walk a while back and enjoyed it so much that we talked the rest of the group into doing it.
We met at 9am at Daisy’s Walk in Rendlesham Forest, kitted out, we eagerly began our walk. Bright sunshine and a light breeze motivated us to stride out, and considering our 20 miles the previous day, we had no aches or pains.
At Caple St. Andrew we met a man with two dogs who had been out for a long walk with them. They (the dogs) were lovely, the man appeared sad and it transpires that his wife had terminal cancer and together they used to walk in this area, however, he continued to do this to give them both some space.
A short while later we stopped for our morning break, checked our feet and commenced with renewed energy.
After passing a farm we climbed Burrow Hill to overlook the Butley River, it was beautiful up there. Storm clouds were gathering, waterproofs were located, two or three drops of rain and that was it.
We passed through Chillesford and turned off just opposite the pub, and headed towards Tunstall forest. As soon as we got there we found a lovely spot to have lunch, boots off and feet examined, everything was fine so we set off again. It was a beautiful walk, great weather and wonderful company. We talked and laughed lots.
We arrived back at our car feeling tired and elated, we had achieved what we had set out to do.