Bury St Edmunds Circular Walk

I had parked at the Manor House museum car park (close to the answer to the Lantern puzzle on Flickr). The museum is closed now. I confess I never went to it in the nearly 9 years we were here before it closed in April, so I can't really say I miss it. The ticket machine still prints out refund vouchers, though. I wonder where else you can get a refund from?

Something else I'd never done in 9 years, is the Bury St Edmunds circular walk, which starts just the other side of Shire Hall on Kevelar Way (the path that runs past St James' Middle School and over the A14 to Shakers lane and Moreton Hall). I'd been past the sign so many times thinking I must do that one day. Yesterday was the day.

It starts in the rather curiously named "Crankles" (a crankle is A bend or turn; a twist; a crinkle). This is where the Abbey had its fish ponds, growing roach, bream and pike. More recently it was planted with cricket bat willows, but I couldn't see any cricket bats growing.

The path goes along the River Linnet.

This bit of the walk was cool and shady. In some parts the river is almost dried up entirely. I did think the sandbags on this bridge over the river are a bit superfluous.

The path crosses the Linnet and takes you along the drive of the Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club to Rougham Road, where you turn left, past the BP garage and over the River Lark, and then left again onto the path beside the Lark.

Pleasant enough, but it is impossible to get a decent view without power lines and pylons. Back into the Crankles, the walk returns to Kevelar Way where it crosses the Lark. I then carried along the river crossing into the Abbey Gardens to head on into town and get some fruit at the market. My diversion took about 1/2 hour.

For a bit of a longer walk that includes this, starting a the station, see this from Michael Anderton's Suffolk Country Walks site.