Date: 28th – 30th January 1983
Participants: Graham Beevor, Peter Cox, Alan (Curly) Durrant, Howard Hillier-Daines,
Clinton Hudgell, Malcolm Rush, John Schmitt and Geoff Wright.
A new part of the country had been chosen for the 1983 hike – East Anglia. We also had new transport – in the absence of Malcolm Duff and ‘Jennifer’, Malcolm R drove the 2nd FB minibus (a white Sherpa Van).
As usual we arrived fairly late at our starting point, on this occasion Saxmundham, and found a public car park. It was necessary though to park the van fairly close to a wall, as the door on the near side would not lock.
Once all the gear was out of the van and on our backs we set off along the B1119. After about a mile and a half we came to the small wood that we had identified on the map as our place of rest for the night. A small clearing was found and up went the tents.
In the morning, after a pretty good nights sleep, Malcolm took it upon himself to be the head chef. As well as lighting the Primus stoves he also made a real fire – another first for the Winter Hike.
With our stomachs full we set about the washing up before striking camp and getting all the gear back in our rucksacks.
Finally we were ready to go and set off along the footpath in a south easterly direction.
It was a good day for hiking - although overcast it was dry and not too cold. We continued south-east, and were able to stick to footpaths all the way, first skirting south of Coldfair Green and then Addringham. Here we turned north-east and crossed the Common before arriving at Sizewell.
Despite the constant reference to the map to ensure that we were on the right path, there was no way we could have got lost. If there had been any problems all we would have needed to do would have been to follow the numerous pylons.
Sizewell is a small idyllic village on the Suffolk coast with only a few houses and a public house. The only blot on the landscape, and the village, being the nuclear power station.
Note: At the time of our hike only Sizewell A, a gas cooled reactor existed. The building of Sizewell B, a pressurised water reactor did not commence until 1988.
Here we had lunch, before joining the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Path, heading north past the ‘blot’.
It was a pleasant stroll along the coast as we first past Minsmere, one of the RSPB’s most famous nature reserves and then crossed some of the gorse-covered heath. As we neared Dunwich we moved slightly inland and followed the path along the cliff top, before being able to get down to the sea level. Once we neared the village we found a suitable place to make camp.
After our meal we made for the village pub – The Ship Inn, where we met, as prearranged, Graham Hicks.
As usual our Saturday evening consisted of a few drinks and several games of darts. It was during one of these games that a minor accident occurred – Graham H threw a dart that bounced off the board and impaled itself in Howard’s shoulder. Fortunately there was no real damage and we continued with the game and our drinking.
We stayed until closing time and made our way back to the tents for a well deserved rest.
Graham H slept in his van overnight and was therefore able to join us for breakfast.
By now it had turned fairly cold and there were several dark clouds overhead. It was not long before the snow started to fall.
As we set off in the morning we were somewhat surprised to see a ‘No Camping’ sign, that we had obviously not seen the previous day, having approached the village from the sea. We consoled ourselves with the fact that we had left no evidence of our stay.
Our walk across the heath in the direction of Westleton was brought to an abrupt stop as we suddenly realised that Tony Soper was capturing us on film, during the making of a wildlife programme for television. This did not though please him as he would have preferred ‘the shot’ to be natural, with us being part of the background. We went back and retraced our footsteps, but both Graham and Malcolm recall that after months of waiting for the programme to be broadcast they were rather disappointed. We had obviously end up on the cutting room floor.
After Westleton we continued in a south westerly direction to Middleton, all looking forward to meeting Graham H again. He had taken a primus stove and billies with a promise that he would meet us on route and provide hot drinks. What a welcome sight he was too.
By now the snow was getting worse so we bid Graham a fond farewell and in near blizzard conditions took the footpath from Middleton to Kelsale.
However, by the time we had hiked down the B1121 from Kelsale and arrived back at the van, there was very little evidence of the snow.
An excellent hike all round.