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Verified Slow Way

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Initially a suburban route from the centre of Grange Farm estate which eventually leads to open countryside and river walks. This route has a number of obstacles which would present a challenge to all users, some of which may prevent its use by wheeled users. All significant road crossings on this route have subways or pelican crossings but there are busy-ish minor roads to be negotiated.

We walked from Kesgrave on a cold, dry day.

Apart from amenities at either end of this route, there are food, water and toilet facilities at The Farmhouse (TM 229 454) and Tesco (TM 247 460)

The first mile from Kesgrave is along a well maintained shared walkway / cycleway through Grange Farm estate. After crossing Dobbs Lane (TM 236 456) you pick up a concrete road that was once part of the WWII airbase that occupied this area and whose presence is still seen in control towers, fuel tanks and barrack buildings as you make your way round the Police Station to the A12 underpass.

On the opposite side of the road the route skirts the edge of a large car park before heading across heathland to the old Felixstowe Road (TM 249 463). At one time, decades ago, this was the main road from Woodbridge to Felixstowe and although this traffic now uses the A12 there are still a significant amount of vehicles using it and care should be taken crossing here. At this point the route heads easterly along a rough roadway following the edge of the woodlands before turning north onto Waldringfield Road (TM 256 465). This road is quite narrow and has no pavement, so the 1/4 mile walk along here needs care. An alternative would be to follow the Felixstowe Road north from the crossing as this has a pavement. At the the junction with Main Road (TM 250 467) turn right onto a rough track called Three Stiles Lane which heads east to meet up with the Waldringfield Road (TM 256 468).

Church Lane, which heads east towards the entry to Sluice Wood, is a designated "quiet lane" and has little traffic.

At the entry to Sluice Wood (TM 259 469) there are many steps down to take you to the level of the riverside path. These steps are also quite wet and muddy; caution is required. The steps can be avoided by staying on the Waldringfield Road (TM 256 468) for a short while, this time with pavements, until reaching a footpath at TM 254 471. This footpath will take you through Sluice Wood avoiding the steps, but not avoiding the mud.

Once onto the riverside path the going is pretty straightforward; the footway is well maintained and clearly visible. At Kyson point there is a risk of flooding at high tide, and it does remain muddy at all states of tide near the bench (TM 271 474).

Finally, the official route appears to cross the railway via the bridge at the station. This, and the associated steps, can be avoided by using one of the level crossings at First Avenue (TM 272 485) or at The Quay (TM 275 488).

This is a very pleasant route between Kesgrave and Woodbridge. It's true, as a previous reviewer noted, the first part is largely through a suburban area, but it is along a leafy cycleway/footpath so is perfectly agreeable. Once you've passed the A12, the route takes you through fields, woods, and along the banks of the Deben with lovely views of Woodbridge for the last kilometre. Be warned: the path around Kyson Point is a stretch of beach and, if the tide is high, you will get wet feet (as I did).

We joined this walk about 1/2 mile in from the start (the first 1/2 mile being a shared footpath/cycleway from ‘little’ Tesco) but followed the route precisely from there.
Once you get past the Grange Farm housing estate, you soon enter Portal Woods (which looked lovely in the sunlight) before heading under the A12 and out on to the heathland by the back of ‘big’ Tesco. Watch out for dog poo along this next stretch of path, as there seems to be rather a lot of it :-(
Crossing Felixstowe Road over the the lane by the RSPCA took a little while, as it is a well-used rat-run and there are often cars coming along. Going from Kesgrave to Woodbridge is relatively easy, as the visibility of the road is OK, but it’s not as easy on the return route as the junction is a bit blind.
Once at the end of Mill Lane, you turn left to go down Waldringfield Road for about 300m. Sadly, this is also a well-used rat-run, and in that 300m we encountered eight cars, which we had to try our best to get out of the way, which is hard as there is no verge for much of it.
Even on Church Lane, which is a ‘quiet Lane’, we had to tuck-in to allow three more cars to pass.
Turning left, there are many steps down to Martlesham Creek; fine on foot but certainly no good for wheeling.
The walk round Martlesham Creek is quite exposed, which was a shame as the heavens opened and we got a bit wet! Watch your footing on the final stretch round by the River Deben which does indeed get quite wet (we were fine on the way, but on the way back the tide was up and it was much wetter as you can see in the photo!)
All in all, it was a very nice walk. We did the return journey slightly differently, following Cumberland Street back from Woodbridge town centre, and stopping at The Cherry Tree for a pint!
We also avoided the road section of Waldringfield Road, instead using Three Stiles Lane and an unofficial, but clearly very well used, footpath from Three Stiles Lane due south to Mill Lane.

The section between Kesgrave and Martlesham is well-surfaced and suitable for all. However, it is quite dull, being mostly through a housing estate. If you are walking from Ipswich to Woodbridge I would recommend staying on the Sandlings path instead which skirts the South edge of Kesgrave.

The section between Martlesham and Woodbridge is a very pleasant walk featuring woodland, heathland, river estuaries and farmland with an abundance of wildlife (on a good day!) and river views. I use it regularly. There are a few issues to be aware of:
- on an extremely high tide, the section of path where Martlesham Creek enters the River Deben can be flooded, but this is unusual,
- there is s small section of road with no footpath so take care (Waldringfield Road)
- the path through Sluice Wood to the South of Martlesham Creek includes a long flight of steps, but these can be avoided by (coming from Kesgrave) continuing along the road where it changes from Waldringfield Road into School Lane, then at the bottom of the hill turning right onto the Fynn Valley walk, which brings you back to Martlesham Creek at the bottom of the steps. The Fynn Valley detour can be very muddy when wet.

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