30 Miles Across Suffolk

For the Dickinson Humanities 210 class, there was an optional trip to hike across Suffolk for 3 days and for some reason, unknown to me, I decided to sign up. In the end, it was an incredible experience! We had wonderful weather, walked through beautiful landscapes, and saw classic “English” towns. The first day, we were dropped off at what seemed to be an “undisclosed location” and were told to start walking! At first as we were walking though field, after field, after field, I was a little concerned that this trip was going to get really old really quickly. But in a way, it was quite relaxing just walking through the English countryside. I also had some great company and got to know people on the program a lot more. That day, we stopped at the cutest pub in a random town (I don’t even remember seeing a sign for the town’s name) and had some lunch. Todd and Jimmy played some darts and then we were off again towards Clare. The first day was also a little rough as we did 8 miles in the morning and then 14 after lunch but we finally made it to the small town of Clare.

The group on top of probably the highest "hill" we climbed. Suffolk is pretty flat. 

Todd and Jimmy playing darts at a Pub.

Again, we were excited to have finally reached our destination.

The next day, we continued our journey to Long Melford. This was personally my favorite town. For a small English town, there was quite a bit to see. First, we stumbled upon Kentwell Hall, which was stunning! We stopped here for a bit to feed some ducks (and greedy fish) and walk around the grounds. We then continued to walk into town and while most of the group went to look at a church, a friend and I decided to tour Long Melford Hall, which was a beautiful estate! That night, we stayed at another cute Pub/Inn and sat in the Pub all night talking!

Kentwell Hall

 On Sunday, we were to finish our trip with a shorter day, with about 8 miles but things started getting iffy. We got lost a couple of times, figured out that we were walking on private land, and almost got shot. But in was worth it because we ended up in THE CUTEST ENGLISH TOWN EVER for lunch. Lavenham is a small town in Suffolk that has the most original Tudor structures of any town in England. The Guildhall was the most famous but just walking around, they were everywhere! We ate at a cute tea shop and then finished up our journey. We got really lucky with the weather and just as we reached the bus, it started raining! I can speak for the whole group that we were glad to get on that bus after an enriching but EXHAUSTING weekend.

The "Crooked House Gallery" that was indeed, very crooked. 

The Guildhall

We encountered a lot of wildlife on our journey.

It always made our day when we ran into some friendly faces!

 Cheers!

Weekend in Bath

Living in Europe for a year gives you the opportunity to travel all over on weekend trips and such! In attempts to travel not only Europe, but also England, a friend and I decided to travel to Bath for a weekend. We looked into what there was to do in Bath and made a pretty long list that we ended up We had researched things to do in Bath and came back with a plethora of places to go!

We left Saturday morning from Norwich and unfortunately, they were working on the railroads so getting to London was a little more difficult than usual. We finally got to London Liverpool station but then they were working on the Tube as well so we were a little worried we were going to miss our train from London to Bath. Luckily, we got to London Paddington just in time and got on the train to Bath, which is only about an hour and a half. When we rolled up to Bath, both Marissa and I got so excited because it looked so beautiful even from the train station! We walked to our Hostel, dropped our bags off, and then hit the town to explore!

We ran into a Wedding Reception! 

Our first stop was the Roman Baths, which is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Bath, but we were there to be tourists! The Baths were amazing and I couldn’t believe how warm the water was and how beautiful all the architecture was. It was also amazing how close Bath Abbey was placed to the Baths and how elaborate the structures were. It took about 3 hours to do the Baths so after we found a cute Italian restaurant with amazing food!

Standing on the Terrace of the Bath with Bath Abbey in the background!

The main bath.

On Sunday we woke up super early and made our first stop the Jane Austen Center. We did some shopping and had tea at the Regency Tea Rooms! The tea was amazing and we felt that Mr. Darcy was going to walk in at any moment! We then walked to Bath Abbey and attended their choral service, which was beautiful! For lunch, we went to Sally Lunn’s Bakery and tried her famous buns, which lived up to their expectations! We then made our way over to the Holburne Museum and Sydney Gardens and crossed the Pulteney Bridge, which is a “twin sister” of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

On Monday, our last day in Bath, we did some shopping and went to the Fashion Museum. The museum was quite interesting and their collection was impressive. We then caught our train home and didn’t have any travel problems on the way back!

An Alexander McQueen Wedding Dress

Trying on a corset at the Fashion Museum!

Cheers!