Running the Lt Whelnethum Suffolk Line Walk

After yesterday's continous wind and rain today was a lovely dry day with clear blue skies. The 1st of March as the saying goes ‘When March comes in like a lamb, it goes out like a lion’ goes the old folklore saying‥The reverse, however, is also true, and the saying continues: ‘When March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb, so based on this we can expect some wild weather at the end of March.

Lunch time I used my time off work to do a run. The photo opposite with the fence in front of a lake is normally a field. The heavy rains have created a little lake along Cullum Road in Bury St Edmunds.

The 2nd photo on this blog post  again highlights the heavy rains and the flooding we have had. This is normally a pathway between the fence and the bush on the right.


I then ran  out along the Sicklesmere Road - A 134.Once into Sicklesmere I picked up a track to take me to the Lt Whelnethum Line Walk. This is a stretch of the old dismantled railway line which used to run between Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury. It is now a beautiful walk or run in my case!

You can still imagine the trains running down here even though none have done so for nearly 45 years. At its peak 6 trains used to make the journey between Bury St Edmunds and Long Melford. The line opened on 9 August 1865 and closed to passengers on 10 April 1961 and freight on 19 April 1965.

From the local newspaper the Bury Free Press this storey is shown on the Foxearth and District Local History Site for June 1878 ......

"There was a fatal accident on Saturday afternoon last at Gt Waldingfield, alittle boy named Gooden aged 7 years was riding with his elder brother who was returning to Lt Waldingfield with a horse and tumbril laden with coal when by some means the poor little fellow fell down between the wheels and was much crushed receiving injuries from which he died on Sunday mornin"

My ten mile run today went well. I am certainly more confident about doing this distance since doing the Runners World SMART Coach schedule.  My aim was always to build up a strong base level of mileage and the cream on the top would be a good race time at the half marathon at the end of March.

I am not running particularly quickly still. My 10 miles today were run in 1hr 28 mins and 29 seconds for an average of 8.51 miles. This is within the 9.15 mile time detailed in the schedule. My mile splits were 8.20,8.34,8.38,8.36,9.24,8.49,8.55,8.48,8.45 and 9.35.

At  the 5 mile point I started the run along the old railway line and my times slowed as the ground was heavy, muddy and it was a case of dodging the puddles. However some of the time the ground was like a rice field and my feet become wet. My last mile was the slowest and this contains two lengthy hills so this is understandably slow

 In the late Spring and Summer the walk along the Lt Whelnethum Line Walk will be totally different with tall grasses and ox eye daisies. My photos of a run along here in June 2006 show a different picture from today