Best walks to or from Bury St Edmunds

Bury St Edmunds Station to Stowmarket Station

spectacular views. A long, direct route mixing waymarked footpaths, pavements and quiet country roads with no pavement. Narrow and uneven in places, especially crossing fields, with around ten stiles, a flight of steps and gates and several footbridges concentrated on the Drinkstone-to-Rougham stretch. Best broken at Woolpit, roughly the mid-point, which has shops and amenities. Not suitable for cyclists (use National Cycle Route 51).

Tough: 23km. Moderate ascents.

There is a fair amount of road walking on minor roads which can have more traffic on weekdays; numerous stiles and uneven field paths make it unsuitable for those with reduced mobility.

Lunch: Woolpit has a Co-op, two pubs, a fish and chip shop and a bakery; Rougham has a convenience store en route.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Bury St Edmunds Station to Thetford Station

A walk through forest and farmland that turns difficult in the final third, with a road section on the A134, field paths that are hard to find, a dismantled railway with no crossing and a dual carriageway with no central-barrier gap.

Tough: 25km. Gentle ascents.

The A134 near Ingham has no footpath for about 300m, forcing you to walk in the road. A field footpath is blocked by a dismantled railway with no way across, and you must cross a dual carriageway and clamber over its central barrier, which is not safe.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route

Newmarket Station to Bury St Edmunds Station

A route that uses mostly fairly narrow country roads, predominantly with no lighting or pavements. Footpaths between the two towns are lacking and so the line is largely on public roads.

Tough: 24km. Moderate ascents.

The vast majority of the route is on narrow country roads with no pavements or lighting; some parts have fast, heavy traffic and feel unsafe even to cyclists.

Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route