I have decided to intersperse my longer hikes with daily Essex walks, as I’m not sure I fancy continuous days of estuary and marsh walking. It means my coastal walk may finish somewhere up North; back to my roots.
It’s a beautiful morning, despite the forecast of heavy rain. On the train to Southend, I pass platforms full of commuters, heading into the city. That was me two years ago; I don’t miss it. Sadly, the famous pier is not open yet, so I grab a bacon roll and take in the dawn view, keeping a wary eye on the greedy seagulls.
I can just make out a row of Maunsell Forts on the horizon, striding across the water like martian invaders from War of the Worlds. They are too far to capture on my iPhone. I must take a boat trip to see them. The shining mud flats seem to go on forever.
The MOD Shoeburyness firing range dominates this walk. The wonderfully named Foulness Island is run by QinetiQ, on behalf of the MOD, with limited access for non-residents. Their website indicated no firing today, so I was hopeful of crossing to the island. A red flag flying is not a good sign, so I may have some free time. I explore the beach.
The area is also famous for the Broomway, “the deadliest” path in Britain, a six mile walk along mud flats to Foulness Island. It was named for the “brooms”, bundles of twigs attached to short poles, with which the route was once marked. The incoming tide floods across at high speed, with sinking mud to snare those who lose their bearings.
This is a good article by my current favourite author, Robert Macfarlane (The Wild Places, The Old Ways):
Why the Broomway is the most dangerous path in Britain
I’m not quite as brave as the author, but plan to explore the start of the path from Wakering Stairs. Unfortunately, I choose the wrong route, and am turned back by the guards at the firing range perimeter.
Thwarted by the MOD, I head inland, and approach several large houseboats moored at Mill Head. I can’t resist lingering near converted houseboats. I would love to know who lives in them, and what their lives are like. Unfortunately, there is no-one around to strike up a conversation with; only dogs barking at the windows, which is never inviting.
The sea wall winds for miles round various creeks, before reaching the River Roach. It’s easy walking, with panoramic views across the marshes.
Sadly, I can’t walk all the way into Rochford along the sea wall. Tracks across farmland are blocked with with vicious brambles, snagging my favourite Arc’teryx Atom LT Hoody. I still don’t learn; I should switch to my hard shell waterproof. The final section is an unpleasant roadside walk, with heavy traffic streaming past. Oh for the wild places.
Walk distance: 21 miles.
Total distance: 1,427 miles.
Hi Tony, its good idea to have ‘two-fronts’ especially when the distance from home gets further away. A few years before the end of my walk, while I was walking in the NW of Scotland, I started a ‘second-front’ from Berwick on tweed walking south along the east coast. It meant I could do ‘opportunity walks’ of one or two days, especially when the weather was poor in Scotland.
After reading Jon Combe’s TR of Foulness I decided to give it a miss!
That sounds very sensible. My plans evolve all the time. Jon has a link to a chap that takes guided tours of the Broomway, which I fancy doing, but it is fully booked all year.
I think you are properly addicted now, making shorter trips when you can’t spare the time to get to Wales and back 🙂
I did make it over to Foulness but as you’ve seen on a guided tour. I still have it planned to go back sometime on my own but in the summer in calm conditions, when the tide is particularly low and the days are long. I want to spend some time exploring the paths on the island so hope to cross at low tide in the morning and back at low tide 12 hours(ish) later. Hence it needs to be in summer when there is enough daylight. Whether I actually do do that or not, time will tell.
As you’ve probably seen I did a guided walk with Brian Dawson, who organised a coach to get us back. It was excellent but he has stopped doing them now but I found someone else who does (but at higher cost). There is also the heritage centre there which is open once a month and I think you can get permission to drive over to visit that, so I guess you could probably drive over then to see some of it. However someone has since left a comment on my post saying there is nothing to stop you walking over when the MOD aren’t manning the bridge … but I haven’t tried to put that into practice.
I do agree the marshes of Essex (and Suffolk) can get a bit samey after a while, so good idea to split it up a bit.
I enjoyed your blog post on the Broomway. I did a little research on the Havengore Bridge crossing, and the website said it was only manned two hours either side of high tide. I thought I might be able to cross as there was no firing per the website, but the red flags were flying so clearly the information was wrong.
Oh no! Sorry to have put you off Foulness. Hope you’re well, Alan.
I’ve never been to Essex and surprisingly hadn’t heard of the Broomway until I read Robert MacFarlane’s The Old Ways. I found it the most fascinating chapter in the book! I can just imagine those huge skies and the vast expanse of sand and water. So easy to become disorientated in such a place and I think he also talked about how the size of distant objects becomes distorted, which is something I’ve experienced on the Solway coast.
Hi Sulewath. I really enjoyed The Wild Places and have just started reading The Old Ways. He writes so beautifully. I hope to visit as many places featured in his books as possible, during my coastal walk.
Hi Tony, Great Blog & photos .We have walked the Broomway with a guide, Tom Bennett of Tom Bennett Outdoors…it was dear but a very good informative walk.
I see you are overcoming a problem that I have encountered…mixing your far away walks with local walks! Unfortunately I didn’t realize this to until it was too late…so as a consequence…I really only have the far distant walks to to do, having walked from Minehead to nearly Boston….(except for the bit between Calshott & Hayling Island) plus I’ve walked the Pembrokeshire coastal path & the Northumberland coast path.
Anyway, I do think that the Essex Coast & rivers are fantastic…all around Paglesham, The river Crouch, The Blackwater & The Stour is truly beautiful as is Mersea … Good luck and keep up the posts & photos
Hi Mike. You have completed some wonderful walks. The weather was so nice that I headed back out today, walking from Rochford to Battlesbridge. Lovely river walking under blue skies and then a bit of a nightmare at the end, dodging traffic on a busy road with no footpath. I will probably fall asleep on the sofa!
Oh Yes Tony, I remember that road walking into Battlesbridge… I just blot those days out….I seem to recall that the route was very very muddy too. Worst bit of road walking I did was from Great Wigborough to Mersea via Peldon…it was very scary.
Still with the sort of daily mileage that you do, you will finish off Essex in no time at all…. Most people are unaware that we have over 300 miles of coast. All the best.