In August, after a very long time off walking due to Covid 19, we were at last able to restart our coast walk. Fortunately my sister Rosemary and her husband Robert who live in Maldon kindly offered to host us for this section of the walk. This meant that we would have no concerns about finding Covid-safe accommodation or places to eat.
One advantage of having been delayed, is that we are now in the summer season which means that we can make use of the ferries which are all seasonal. This will save some the slightly repetitive walks up the Stour, Orwell, Colne and Crouch river estuaries. Our plan is to walk the coast of the UK but not including all the rivers if there is a suitable crossing point close the the sea. We had already walked up the Deben to Melton but we will go back a day to restart our walk at Bawdsey. This is where we left the coast to walk up the R.Deben as there were no ferries sailing back in March.
Having waited for Covid restrictions to be lifted and then had a long-awaited visit from our daughter and her husband for a couple of weeks, the second week of August was the soonest we could start. This coincided with a major heatwave in the South East which was not good news for a couple who moved to the North Pennines for their retirement to escape hot weather.
For those who know or live in Essex you should now jump to Day 40 and miss out my introduction to Essex which will be of no interest to you (and may be damaging to your health).
Essex is the final East Coast county we have to walk round and apparently has the longest coast-line of any county if you follow up all the river estuaries and creeks that are a major feature of Essex. Essex has many small islands and several of these are tidal or connected to the mainland by bridges or causeways. There are few coastal towns and villages in the county because the coast was originally an extensive marsh. Towns and villages were built on islands of higher ground away from the sea and now much of that marsh land has been reclaimed and is farmed by Barley Barons and Wide Boy Wheat farmers. The coast is continuously guarded by a sea wall. All these things come together to ensure that the coast of Essex is unremittingly dull. It might be better earlier in the year when there would be more marshland birds or spring flowers on the sea wall but in the summer the landward side is mainly fields of stubble; the seawalls are overgrown; the seaward side is mudflats and salt marsh when the tide is out – and water and salt marsh when the tide is in. There are of course the holiday resorts of Walton-on-the-Naze, Frinton, Clacton, Shoebury and Southend. All are dull stretches of concrete promenade punctuated with lines of beach huts and occasional tacky promenade and pier attractions. Least attractive of all are the beach-goers, almost universally overweight, bulging unpleasantly out of their bikinis or shorts mostly with slate grey faded tattoos.
The best feature of the Essex coastline is the ferry from Tilbury to Gravesend.
I feel better for getting that out of my system.
Just Coasting 