Day: 187 4/7/98 Brightlingsea to Walton on the Naze

Weather:  Fine, warm, mainly sunny.

Distance:  35km ( 21.7 miles)    Total Distance:   2440miles

As I was camping I was up early at 6.30am, packed away by 6.45am and walking by 7.00am.  I still had not been visited by the owner so had no key to the facilities and was therefore in a bit of a dishevelled shape at the beginning and end of the day.  I put my trainers on initially but soon returned to the car and changed into my boots.   My feet were sore after my previous evening’s stroll.  I was quickly thankful I had changed into boots as the grass on the sea defences I soon reached was long and the dew heavy. 

The first couple of hours was a detour inland up an estuary.  The westerly side was heavy going with the long grass but over the river was easier,  at least for a while.  Turning south, along a road it was still quiet as it was Sunday morning, turning off the road and down the side of a landfill site and then south through a nature reserve.  All was OK except the last 200 yards to the river (St Osyth Creek) was ploughed over and tough going. 

After a stroll through the boatyard at St Osyth it was onto sea defences again, initially heavy going but then easier.  I was pretty hungry by the time I got to Point Clear but all I found was hundreds of holiday caravans and chalets and a couple of closed cafes. Hardly surprising I suppose considering it was before 10 o’clock.  I had almost given up when just leaving the chalet area I saw a sign to a café. The cooked breakfast was fine even if the service was a little surly. Only £3.90 for an English breakfast, coffee, bread and butter, and a can of orange. 

I explored the possibility of walking around the beach to Lee-Over-Sands even though there was no path marked on the map but the tall wire fence going all the way down to the see made it clear it was private property. I was therefore forced a mile up the road and a risky walk down the road to Lee-over-Sands, well marked up as a private road but I was not stopped.  If I had continued up the road to a footpath it would have been another mile.  Lee Wick Farm also made it very clear that strangers were not welcome, but I persevered and was still not stopped.  I was glad I did because when I reached the place where the footpath should have been there was no sign of it and it was ploughed over.  There was not even a sign of the path past the sewage works down to the sea defence, so after one failed attempt to find it I decided to continue on the road to Lee-Over-Sands, just a small collection of houses and chalets on the sea front. 

There I saw the sea – my first sighting of the weekend.  Halfway between Lee and Seewick I came to a man looking concerned at his dog. It turned out he had just lost a nail, but was so good natured he was not complaining.  I tried to give him a bit of water and left them having a rest in the shade before they set off again.  At St Osyth beach it was the start of the holidaying masses. I visited the public conveniences in the holiday camp and set off on the first bit of promenade.  

There is not much to say about the remainder of the walk, just that it was mile after mile of promenade. It was quite busy with sunbathing people visiting their beach huts. Frinton-on-Sea is well known for its snobbyness in not allowing any modern developments including ice-cream salesman, but I think I was so exhausted by this stage that I did not notice much difference between it and the other bits of promenade I had walked. 

I stopped every hour for a drink of water and a five-minute rest. I reached Walton a tired and sore person after eight hours walking.  Initially I had planned to catch a bus for the first leg back to Brightlingsea but changed plans to train when I found there was one due in fairly soon.  I had to change trains at Thorpe to get to Clacton and then quite a walk to the bus stop and a wait eased by having an ice cream and a can.  The Colchester bus did not go to Brightlingsea so I hitched the last three miles.  I got a lift from a man who owned a restaurant at Point Clear who offered me a free meal if ever I was down that way again!  My feet just about stood up to the last mile back to the car.