The Bewilderness

Have walked the Essex Way

Having commenced the Essex Way at the beginning of the year, I managed to complete it by the end of the calendar on one of the shortest days of 2013. The path meanders through the prettier parts of Central and northern Essex avoiding the conurbations of the Estuary, Chelmsford and Colchester.

The final section of the Essex Way is one of the prettiest parts of the walk and follows the coast of the River Stour's estuary. Starting out at dawn on a winter's day gives wonderful rose-tinted views of the river looking towards the northern shore. Only later on in the walk does the horizon become marred by the ports at Felixstowe and Harwich.

The best villages are the earliest: Manningtree (home of the Witchfinder General: Matthew Hopkins) and Mistley. The winding streets of Manningtree transport you back to the seventeenth century but before you get there, you have to walk through twentieth century housing estates, a railway line and older Victorian rows. It is an exercise in time travel across a mile and a half.

The land rises steeply from the banks of the Stour and you leave Mistley via the Mill, under the railway line and onto a series of muddy fields before entering the next village: Bradfield. And that becomes the walk: villages as milestones. All with their collection of churches and waymarkers: Bradfield, Wrabness, Ramsey and Little Oakley (the last is little more than an estate masking a suburb of Harwich). With such ascents come some good views over the peninsula: Janus with the Stour to the north and Clacton to the south.

What makes the walk is the final variation on the themes of Essex. Once you walk down the hill from Little Oakley you enter a world of marsh and drainage ditches. The path turns north along a dyke towards Harwich. The view south is palette of light and beige in the winter, but the downside is that the view is behind you. I got to see the port and a caravan park, not so wonderful. When you leave the dyke behind, the final stretch is the Promenade alongside Dovercourt. With some bathing huts, one cafe and a (very small) amusement arcade, Harwich manages to claw back a relic of its resort days. But the redoubt is even worse and scores a tad more negatively than Newhaven. Nevertheless, at least the path ends at a tower with a sign rather than at a vandalised derelict railway station (like the Vanguard Way).

Essex is a pretty county to walk around and is recommended for adventures on the flat. This will not be my last long distance walk in that county.

  

An Essex Way

The Essex Way is a long distance path that traverses the county in a north-east direction from Epping to Harwich. The landscape is agricultural; field upon field upon field. The path follows old trackways or small verges alongside yellowing swathes of wheat that are yearning for their harvest one month hence. 

Essex is not completely flat. There may not be the elevation of the downs or hills further west but the landscape undulates: gentle ups and downs that provide views. The other joy of these walks is the traverse from one village to the next: small self-contained, neat and old. The hiker will emerge from the hedge and enter a colourful world of flowers and old cottages: perhaps a welcoming pub and as centrepiece: the mediaeval church: much modernised. Next door: the war memorial, a simple cross or other device and a few names; often not enough to fill the space left for memorialisation.

At the end of the journey from Ongar to White Notley: a path that runs round Chelmsford and arcs towards Colchester, one realises that large swathes of the county are pretty and empty; the station at White Notley is a permission to travel machine and a shelter. Miss the train and wait fifty minutes for the next. 

This is the only way to see Essex.

The Essex Way, not the only way is in Essex

The Essex Way is an 81 mile long distance path that winds its way from Epping up to the North Sea Coast. It is a well signposted trail and our group had no difficulty in following the map or the signs. 

Recent rains have left most fields waterlogged and filthy. Yesterday's walk was not for the fainthearted lovers of cleanliness. Where the mud was too thick, we were forced onto the fields themselves: an introduction to Essex's 'London clay'. After trudging in the ruts for 30 seconds, you acquire moonboots; an extra layer of clay on your soles that increases your height and weighs down your feet. There was an element of trudgery about these parts.

The walk took three hours and followed the first part of the Essex Path from Epping to Ongar. Whilst cloudy, it did not begin raining until we finished. The landscape is a mixture of farmland and woodland across flat terrain. Not a walk for views: especially as those that one could detour to (such as the log church at Greensted) tend to be located away from the trail itself.  Still, for an accessible path at the end of the Central Line and a reminder of Essex's greenery, the first section of the Essex Way is a timely reminder. 

The place names include a number of eccentric charms: the odd Fiddlers Hamlet and the amusing Toot Hill. I wonder if cars do.

8.35 miles, 3hours, 241 feet ascent, 390 feet descent.