Some places are heavy with history and are weighed down by its significance. Often these places are infamous for a single violent act, or otherwise have an historical mono-culture. Other places seem to wear history so lightly it just exists in the now. These places are steeped in history, endless layers of the stuff, you can breathe it.
This walk is the latter category. Many clues are on the map and a few in the landscape, but it makes you work for it.
Imagine a place that has been occupied since pre-history. That has the gothic script of pre-Roman to denote farms which are still farms today. A Roman road runs to the old capital of England. In the 15th century a dragon emerged from the river and ate a shepherd and some of his flock. Ancient churches dot the landscape. Moats are almost commonplace.
Imagine that same area had links to some internationally important artists and just for good measure it has claims on the creation of The Times crossword.
Just to add to the fun, you walk a border between two counties on two named footpaths in open countryside, which will surprise you.
All this exists without fuss, there is no heritage industry to administer it and no tourist tat to sell it down the river.
This landscape has footpaths snaking all over it. There is a lot of walking and thinking to be done.
A year ago I just missed this walk because I was doing a section of the Essex Way. All the while I had my eyes cast a mile or so further north and The Stour Valley path cut close to a favourite river.
There was a neat circular path to be made between Nayland and Bures, travelling out on the Stour Valley Path and back via the St Edmunds way. The walk also encompasses a King who becomes a saint and the greatest of England's Queens, just in case interest was flagging.
Some walks just leap out of the maps as having to be done. This is such a walk, the only problem is how many times do you have to walk such a place?
The best that can be hoped is to scratch the surface.
While all this can sound like so much guff, there is an importance to landscape history and what you know of it. It is why I am going to Nayland on the Essex Suffolk border and not doing a few laps of the allotment.
Well plan A was to spring from my bed, leap into the car arrive at destination and glide over the chosen landscape effortlessly in a state of oneness with 3000 years of known past.
Ho-hum.
Plan A did not survive the springing from bed stage.
Having not got the early start imagined everything else fell out of place. The GPS software told me i was a mere 5,300 miles away from were I wanted to be. Odd as I knew it was in England. By the time that techno glitch got sorted and the problem of the local petrol having run out of petrol it was 11.30 before I arrived and orientated.
Oh well.
By nature I am a plodder and contemplator. Route marches are for armies and those that follow orders. Add two small dogs into the mix and things go along at a fair crawl.
I thought briefly of the chap walking 25 miles a day for 8 days along the Suffolk coastline, at this moment. He is raising money for charity and had just learnt the handy tip of wearing a thin pair of socks under a thick pair to avoid blisters. I did not rate his chances of enjoyment very high under the circumstances. Typical local radio stunt. Good luck to him, I am not swapping places.
Since I bragged about heat enough to boil your brains like an egg the weather has been unstable. Warm and humid it remains but rain and high wind has been added to the mix. Not unpleasant as it would be in any other season, it just adds variety..
To counteract such vagaries I packed a windshirt,a favourite bit of ageing kit.
The drive is worth a mention as I travel along Roman roads that serviced nearby Colchester, ancient capital of Britain. More recently the nearby village of Boxted was used to setup a "labour colony". 400 acres of land was divided up into 5 acre plots by the Salvation Army around 1906.
Priory Hall was part Citadel and part packing house for the produce. After two years the small holders were to have become self-sufficient and profitable.
Most failed and more often than not were poorer than when they started. Such was the discontent that small holders felt the Sally Army were not doing their best to get maximum price. Wilder rumours circulated that the administrators were German spies.
Evictions followed and statements were made in the House of Commons. The charities commission looked into it. declared the Salvation Army were not at fault. Evictions continued with no small amount of publicity.
In 1916 the experiment was wound-up. The county council bought much of the land to assist returning servicemen. Other parts were bought by the tenants on 999 year leases.
All this, and a heck of a lot more waits for another day. I continue to drive along a road the Roman legion marched on up to Nayland, where my walk begins.
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