12 Oct 2024: Clavering Circular

This was a circular walk of 9 miles from Clavering, NW to towards Clodmore Hill, S to Berden, then NE to Clavering.

The walk was calm and serene for the most part, wonderfully quiet, deeply rural and isolated. The noisiest part of the walk was the spell of torrential rain in the mid-afternoon.

The usual stats:

Event led by Martin T.
Attendance: 4 men.
Distance: 8.75 miles (14.1 km).
Altitude per GPS: low 485ft (147.8m), high 583ft (177.7m), climb 288ft (87.8m), descent 298ft (90.8m).
Time: start 11:20, end 15:40 (sunset 20:34), lunch 21 minutes, other breaks 26 minutes.
Speed: moving arithmetic average 2.46mph (4kph).
Terrain: road, pavement, grass, field edge, field, on footpath, bridleway, byway and highway.
Weather: overcast with a few sunny intervals, some light rain, one spell of torrential rain, temperature range between 13°C and 14°C, westerly wind 12mph (19.3ph).
Number of sewage works: 1.
Number of churches: 2.
Number of golf courses: 0.

Points of interest:

quiet, oh so quiet, shh, shh, shh...
softly rolling countryside, well-maintained farm fields. Loads of greens, loads of ponds.
plush houses with well-prepared gardens. A broad mix of modern and medieval, a generous helping of gorgeous thatched cottages, and a few monstrous carbuncles.
disused windmills.
the River Stort (wiki).
the site of Clavering Castle (a Scheduled Monument).
very few other people.
Dick Ball Meadow. Seriously. No idea what the history of this is, but the name just stood out, for some reason.