Felren two

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I walked this Slow way in several bites going in the Rendlesham to Felixstowe direction while I was on a family holiday in the area (and very proud I managed it all to be honest!) and although it has the obvious constraint that it is only fully usable when the ferry across the River Deben is operating (every day 10 til 5 in summer, weekends only in winter at the time of writing), it is a varied route and a good way to explore this interesting corner of Suffolk.

Walk summary

The route starts by skirting round the edge of a disused wartime airfield, then makes its way for some miles through the extensive plantations of Rendlesham forest before crossing open heathland to Hollesley. From here it winds out on local lanes and paths along the marshland sea defences to the atmospheric shingle-banked coastline and uses the Suffolk coast path, punctuated regularly by Napoleonic-era Martello towers, to get into Old Felixstowe, crossing the river on a delightful tiny ferry boat from Bawdsey Quay to Felixstowe Ferry on the way.

The heathland, coastal and River Deben sections are wonderful but you would have to be a big fan of forest walking to get the most enjoyment out of this route as a third of it is on tracks through plantations. There are also a few miles of unexciting (but agreeable enough, safe and mostly quiet) road walking. Otherwise it is great.

The plot itself has a few minor inaccuracies, mostly in following lines of public rights of way that don't seem to match the actual routes used now, and part of the path across Lower Hollesley Common, although perfectly walkable, was pretty confusing and a GPS was helpful there. Overall though, it was good enough for me and, as I’m not local, I will leave it to someone who knows the area and might have ideas on other useful adjustments to this Slow Way to make any beneficial changes in future. In the route description below, I have made a couple of suggestions on potential alternative routings. And I apologise about the extreme length of it, but this is a very long Slow Way!

Access-wise, the walking is mostly flat and there weren't a lot of obstacles (a few gates and kissing gates, and I don't remember climbing over anything) but there were some narrow paths, short steep slopes, sets of steep steps near Felixstowe and a scramble on and off the ferry (think giant rowing boat size) which had a perilously slippery jetty at low tide in the rain on the Felixstowe side on the day I passed through.

Detailed route description

The route heads out of Rendlesham on a suburban road leading to a safe crossing point on the A1152, and sets out across an arable field on a well-walked path straight through the crop. It then follows a fenced bridleway around the airfield for a while before plunging into Rendlesham forest.

The forest is famed for some supposed UFO sightings back in the day but is, more prosaically, a typical area of commercial forestry with the usual foresty recreational activities added in (including an alien landing walking circuit complete with a monument - not on the Slow Way). Big blocks of conifers are interspersed with remnants of broadleaved woodland and a few cleared stretches, all set in a grid of rides and paths of various sizes and types. The walking is easy, variably using gravelly tracks or more alluring soft woodland paths, sometimes narrow and flanked with tall bracken, and at one point, a metalled access road.

As you go into the forest near Friday Street, the Slow Way plot follows the line of a short stretch of public footpath which heads slightly southeast along the course of the airfield fence (roughly w3w pushed.joystick.wins to balancing.clip.strutting) but I couldn't find that and followed the more obvious route down the nearby more south-westerly orientated forest ride to meet the next bridleway a tad further west (w3w waltz.utter.taxpayers). This is one of places where the route might benefit a re-plot, but it was high summer and I might just have missed it in the tall bracken (though I couldn’t see anything obvious at the other end either).

The route then follows a gravelly track for a kilometre or so before turning right at the bottom of a dip through a footway around a black metal triangular forestry track gate. This was almost buried in the vegetation and easy to miss at this time of year. I have put up an image of it among the accompanying photos. Anyway, if you start heading uphill you've overshot it.

Once through the gate, a short stretch of wibbly bracken-fringed path leads to sort of a fork. Take the path going away to the left. This is the only junction in the woods where I got disorientated and needed the GPS to help me out.

The Slow Way then tracks on southwards for a mile or so along a path mainly bordering the forest edge, eventually arriving at a carpark under the trees. I’m not sure that the plot of the route is exactly right going into it but the path is so very obvious that it is not a problem. The carpark exit leads to the B1084, which has episodic fastish traffic but clear sight-lines. The ongoing path on the other side is one of the narrower ones and not immediately visible but head a little left and you will see it.

There then follows a succession of straight lines and right-angled turns on the forest grid system. It is not the most exciting walking but I found the navigation OK, plus it was cool and green, and you can eat up the miles on the easy ground.

At the southern end of the forest, the Slow Way meets a minor road and beyond it you are released onto the open heathy landscape of Lower Hollesley Common - a welcome change from the ranks of trees for me. However, it was a navigational headache to start with because the first few hundred metres, although unobstructed, is plotted along the line of a public right if way which often isn't clear on the ground. I used my GPS here but basically, once you have crossed the road on the way onto the common, there is an obvious path leading away leftish through the trees and a slightly less obvious path ahead leading shortly to a kissing gate onto the heath. Take this one, and on the other side of the gate you soon need to make a left turn across the heath along a wide, indistinct, more open ride-like area which did look as if it might have cleared or mown not so long ago. This goes roughly in the same direction as the Slow Way plot (and the line of the path on the OS map) and it does arrive fairly soon at a fence line with a pair of double gates (w3w narrowest.slave.tuck). Go through both gates and the ongoing route is then very obvious and pleasing. On the day I walked it, deer were bouncing about and the heath was colourful with flowering bell heather.

(A possible and easier alternative at the start of the common might be just to follow the more obvious path left. This winds about a bit, tracking roughly parallel to the road through the woodland, and meets another clear path following the line of a fence down to the double gates. It is a bit longer and not as pretty, but there is less chance of getting lost)

At the Hollesley end of the heath the path narrows and turns in right through scrubby, brackeny woodland and arrives at the lane into the village. The Slow Way kinks into the village and out again which is a sensible diversion to allow access to a useful small Morrisons shop and a pub (there is no more chance of re-provisioning until you reach the River Deben as far as I could see) but you can also carry straight on along the road to cut off the corner if you just want to keep going. There follows a stretch of rather boring road walking out to the Oxley Marshes area, where the landscape opens out again by some salt-marsh and the Slow Way goes off-road once more.

The next few miles to Bawdsey is along a grassy path on the top of the old marshland flood defence ramparts, which leads ever closer to the coast, first by winding around fields and then by marching straight on past reedy ditches and lagoons. Skylarks were singing and there was regular bursts of the corkscrewing song of reed warblers hidden in the vegetation. I saw lapwings, oystercatchers, avocets and (I think) a hobby. The path appears to be kept open with a strimmer in places but there was the odd bramble snaking in from the sides along some of the more scrubby-edged parts of it.

(It is worth noting here that the Slow Way bypasses Shingle Street with its row of white coastguard cottages and distinctively weird flowery meadows among the stones, and you could equally well leave the road on the coast path (at w3w chromatic.again.strictest) and head east to the towards the sea to reach the shingle bank somewhat earlier, and make your way through this atmospheric hamlet instead, meeting up with the Slow Way again near the Martello tower at the far end. There really isn't a lot in it distance-wise, so it is a very viable option that I would recommend. I’ve uploaded a couple of photos showing the coastguard cottages and the funny meadows with towers of yellow verbascum in the area just for info).

Towards Bawdsey village, you finally arrive right at the sea’s edge along a thin line of coastal defences by a car park. Here the Slow Way (and the Suffolk coast path) turn in and use the road for the next couple of miles to Bawdsey quay. It is a tad boring after the previous few miles and there is some light traffic along it, including the odd coach, but the road is wide and has verges, and the reward is arriving down at the quay by the mouth if the River Deben at the end of it.

From here the little ferry boat takes you across to the Felixstowe side. The ride is very short and will cost you £3 (about a quid a minute) but is fabulous. It is definitely one of my favourite ferries ever and if you arrive at a quiet time you might have to summon the boat by waving a little paddle towards the dock on the other side, as I did.

It all gets much more domestic from here on into Old Felixstowe and there are various eating opportunities by the river. A yacht club was offering food and drinks on the Bawdsey side, and there were various eateries among the scruffy jumble of boatyards, seafood shacks and holiday chalets (plus the obligatory Martello tower) that make up Felixstowe Ferry.

On the run in to the end of the route the coast path edges between the sculpted shingle and a golf course (with the last of the Martello towers marooned within it) and traverses an extended village of beach huts along terraces cut into the low cliff above the swimming beaches. I got a little confused about which level of concrete path through this beach-hut world that the coast path was using sometimes but it doesn't really matter: all go in the same direction.

Finally the Slow Way climbs one of the many sets of wooden steps up through the huts (there are lots of options, take your pick) and makes its way into town along the pavement of a suburban road. I’m not sure if the plotted route into the station forecourt at the end is quite right. It looks as if you have to go through the shopping centre rather than round the side but I confess that I didn’t investigate the last couple of hundred metres properly as I needed to leg it back to the ferry to get home. I’m going to forgive myself this small reviewer failing (and at the end of the heftiest review I have written by a country mile too!). It is an easy enough walk round to the station anyway if that doesn’t work.

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