Stour and Orwell Walk

The Stour and Orwell Walk is 70.56 km long with 622 m of total ascent, so it is usually treated as an easy multi-day route rather than a single-day hike. Many walkers split it into 3 to 4 days, depending on pace and where they choose to stop around Ipswich, the Shotley Peninsula, or Cattawade.

The Stour and Orwell Walk is a linear route in Suffolk linking the estuaries of the Rivers Orwell and Stour. It is commonly described as running between Felixstowe and Cattawade near Manningtree, passing places such as Ipswich, Woolverstone, Shotley Gate, Holbrook, and Stutton along the way.

The Stour and Orwell Walk is generally rated easy, which fits its modest 622 m of climbing spread across 70.56 km. The challenge is more about covering long mileage over several days than steep mountain terrain, so it suits walkers comfortable with sustained estuary and countryside walking.

Yes. The route is well suited to public transport because it is linear and is connected by regular rail services between Manningtree and Ipswich, plus the branch line between Ipswich and Felixstowe. That makes it practical to start at one end of the Stour and Orwell Walk and return by train from the other.

The Stour and Orwell Walk follows the Orwell and Stour estuaries through a string of well-known Suffolk places. Depending on direction, the route passes Felixstowe, Trimley Marshes, Orwell Country Park, Ipswich, Woolverstone, Chelmondiston, Shotley Gate, Erwarton Ness, Holbrook, and Stutton before reaching Cattawade near the Essex border.

Yes. The Stour and Orwell Walk is a recognized long-distance route in the Suffolk and Essex Coast and Heaths National Landscape and is waymarked with its own route discs. Navigation is still useful around estuary edges, settlements, and path junctions, but the trail is not an unmarked wilderness route.