While leaving Billericay I had a call from my sales guy, and it's always important talking to my sales guy unless I want to do his job myself, which I don't right now. We had a lot to talk about and by the time I was finally done, I found myself in Ipswich. (Not in Essex).
I've never properly been to Ipswich. I've been up there a few times to see some gigs - a very varied bunch of bands including Dingus Khan, The Human League, The Brownies, Abdoujaparov, Girls Aloud and Alexei Sayle. I'd love to see a short list on the internet that comes close to that one.
I'd never really walked around the town before - but I didn't start today either. I parked up in a retail park trying to get my bearings, when I saw a small "River Path" sign out of the corner of my eye. That'll do - I'll walk the river.
I started off alongside the River Gipping, the river that gave its name to Ipswich (Gipsewic in Anglo-Saxon times). The Orwell actually starts very close to the start of my walk, but I walked alongside the Gipping for half a mile until it ended at the sluice gate in the third picture below. After that the Gipping ends and I was alongside the Orwell. To be honest, they all look like the same river to me.
Despite driving over the river many times a few miles upstream, where it's really wide, I never really thought about how big a river the Orwell might be in Ipswich. It was a really interesting walk - there was a lot of old Ipswich and new Ipswich side by side. Some of it was very ugly and some very beautiful and it made for a really good combination. Quite a few sections of the river were still frozen over too.
I made it up to Ipswich station before I turned round and headed back. I've never been much of a trainspotter so it's always satisfying to get a pointless photo of a railway station.
"I'll read those signs later", I thought. And I did.
3.42 miles in 1 hr 5 min 6 sec (ave 3.15mph)
Calories burned 561; steps taken 7,408; elevation 71 ft
5 deg C, cloudy
No comments:
Post a Comment