Felixstowe and King's Fleet

Summary

We often visit Felixstowe, probably because it is so easy to get to, being A14 virtually all the way. Our general routine is to walk to Felixstowe Ferry for a pint at the Ferryboat Inn before returning to the Fludyer's Hotel for a bite to eat (and another pint, of course). This time we made the walk a little more substantial, leaving Felixstowe to the surrounding countryside before making our way along side King's Fleet and the River Deben to Felixstowe Ferry and then back to Felixstowe proper via the coastal route.

Statistics

Start: Fludyer's Hotel Felixstowe IP11 7LU

Map: OS Explorer OL197 Ipswich, Felixstowe & Harwich

Parking: Free parking outside the Fludyer's

Distance: 14.2km (about 8.8 miles)

Refreshments: Fludyer's Hotel, Felixstowe and The Ferryboat Inn, Felixstowe Ferry

The Walk

The walk starts (and ends) at the Fludyer's Hotel, which is situated at the northern end of Felixstowe's promenade. Turn left as you leave the Fludyer's and left again into Brook Lane. There follows a bit of walking through town as you head up Brook Lane and turn right and then left into Picketts Lane. This then becomes Rosemary Avenue and you carry on until you get to the end, turning right into Links Avenue and then left into Hyem's Lane. You are finally in some countryside! 

With the sports field on your left, walk along the lane for a couple of hundred metres and then turn left through the trees. Keep on walking through the woodland and a you'll get to a "T" junction. Make a right here and another couple of hundred metres or so through the trees brings you out into a field. Follow this round until you get to the road. This is Gulpher Road. It's not too busy but take care as you turn left and walk for around 500 metres. The road will bear left but you need the track that takes off straight on. Walk for about 100 metres and then turn right; the track straight ahead is private. Walk down the track, passing some houses on the right, and then take a left. The path goes right after 100 metres; make sure you keep the hedgerow on your left! There's a footbridge over a stream and then you're in another field. This is where we went wrong, walking diagonally across the field into a herd of curious cows with no escape! A friendly farmer helped us on our way, though. What we should have done is kept to the edge of the field after crossing the footbridge with the hedgerow on our left. The path then runs across the field to a gate and into a wooded area where it runs straight for a couple of hundred metres with water on your right.You'll reach an open track where you'll turn right into an open field.

The "official" footpath is straight ahead over the field although when we were there it was not at all clear as the field had recently been ploughed.  We therefore followed the field boundary to the left and then right, climbing gradually uphill. At the end of the field you could carry on but we elected to turn right to see if we could find the "official" footpath. Sure enough there is a sign on the left after some 50 metres and this time the path was obvious. Whichever route you take you'll end up on Back Lane, where you need to make a right. Keep on this road, which sees little traffic, and pass the farm buildings and wonderfully named Honeypot Cottage on your right. Soon the track is bordered by open fields on either side and you need to keep walking, finding a waterway on your right, known as King's Fleet. Carry on walking until the water way ends and you climb some steps up a bank. You are then treated to a view of the River Deben estuary. Turn right at the top of this bank and continue walking more or less straight on until you reach the hamlet of Felixstowe Ferry, all the while keeping the river to your left. Eventually you'll reach the sea where you'll have no choice but to turn right.

You'll pass the golf club, a number of colourful beach huts and two Martello towers as you head back to Felixstowe. The path is mostly along concrete promenades, although there is a small section where you need to walk up some steps and head along the road if the tide is too high to allow beach access. Eventually you'll be back in Felixstowe and the Fludyer's Hotel will be on your right.

Notes and musings

Felixstowe, situated on the east coast of England, has existed as a settlement since pre-Norman conquest days, albeit under the name of Walton and is listed in the Domesday Book as such. It took its modern name in the 13^th Century and may have been named after St Felix, who lived in East Anglia in the 7^th Century, although other sources suggest the name comes from Fylthestow, which means a place where trees or meadowgrass was harvested. In 1667 the town was the site of an invasion when Dutch forces landed close to where the Fludyer’s Hotel now stands and marched toward Languard Fort at the mouth of the River Orwell. The invaders were defeated by troops from the fort and hostilities ended soon after with the signing of the Treaty of Breda. Felixstowe is probably best known for its container port and its 29 gantry cranes, some over 50 metres in height, are visible from some distance away. The port handles more than 4 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and welcomes approximately 3,000 ships each year, including the largest container vessels afloat today.

A feature of the east coast of England are Martello Towers which are small defensive forts that were built throughout the British Empire in the 19th Century. The majority of the towers in England were built between 1804 and 1812 as a defence against possible attack from Napoleonic forces. Although never tested in war they did provide a useful deterrent against smugglers. Eight towers were built around Felixstowe of which five remain. Tower P forms part of the National Coastwatch Institution; Tower R was incorporated into the fabric of the former Bartlet Hospital, which has been converted into new housing; Towers Q and U have been converted into private dwellings and Tower T remains unused and exposed on Felixstowe Ferry golf course.

Despite its name, Felixstowe Ferry is quite distinct from Felixstowe itself. It is a small hamlet at the mouth of the River Deben and consists of several houses, The Ferryboat Inn and a collection of houseboats and other moored vessels. In the summer it is possible to catch a ferry across the Deben to Bawdsey Manor which played a large part in the development of radar in World War 2. The River Deben is  not a long river, flowing around 54km into the North Sea.The salt marsh and intertidal mud-flats that occupy most of the estuary have the widest range of salt marsh flora in Suffolk. The King's Fleet waterway once flowed into the Deben and played a vital role in the 100 Years War against France, being the place Edward III assembled his fleet of ships in 1338.