Weather: Fine, warm, sunny
intervals.
Distance: 19km ( 11.8
miles) Total Distance:
2474miles
The forecast was for fine and dry
weather all weekend so I headed off with the tent in the boot of the car. We had just had a very pleasant two and a
half weeks holiday in Ireland and done some walking in both Kerry and Wicklow. I
therefore felt relatively fit.
Nevertheless I aimed to have a relaxing weekend and only do short walks
and hopefully not get blisters.
I parked on the front in Harwich by 9.30am,
used the public toilets and headed off at a leisurely pace. I read that Harwich was the place the
Mayflower set off from. The container
port of Felixstowe was busy as ever. Passing a storage area for buoys I was
then on busy dual carriageways for the next half-hour. Passing over a tall bridge I stopped to look
at a fox exploring a railway line. It was being followed by four magpies one
of which sat on its back! The road down
to the International ferry terminal was busy as one of the new HSS ferries
unloaded.
I found the path through Parkeston
which took me through and past the Carless Oil terminal and a golf course. The next couple of miles was along a dirt
track and then briefly onto a B-road before eventually turning off down through
a nature reserve and towards the sea. I
stopped once I got to the coast and had a very pleasant sit down under an oak
tree whose roots were exposed by the effect of the tide.
Through some fields and it was then onto the beach
at Wrabness. Here was a mile of chalets
much larger than normal more a Californian tree house style. Towards the end of this line of chalets I was
worried about the lack of path on the map and tried to cut up through the huts
but a lady stopped me and said I should go on and rejoin the path further
on. This I did and it was good
advice. Much poorer advice was received
from a couple of cyclists near Nether Hall who advised me to carry on even
though there was no path on the map but there were styles. The path ran out however and I was in a mud
bank quite soon. I turned back and got
up onto the road to Mistley.
Coming into Mistley I passed a signpost
to a secret bunker which seemed a bit strange because if there was a signpost to
it how could it be secret. I went to
investigate it and it was the place that Essex would house its nuclear war
command post. I decided it was not my
sort of thing so did not pay my money to go in.
Coming into Mistley that was a wonderful smell around which I at first
thought was food but it turned out to be coming from a malting operation. Mistley was full of redundant malt housed
plus Edme’s current operation housed in a fairly run down building. I had thought Edme only made home brew kits
but I guess it must supply malt extract to other breweries. I spotted a second hand book shop and bought
a Margaret Attwood novel then went over the road to a tea shop and had a
wonderful pot of fresh coffee and a piece of fruit cake. I am very taken by
this relaxing walking pace.
It was then onto Manningtree skirting most of the
town, onto a riverside walk and then over the River Stour into Suffolk. The end of Essex at last! I explored briefly where I would start the
next day and made sure there was somewhere to park. I re-crossed the river and went to the
station to see if that was easier than getting a bus back to Harwich. The station was full of Sunderland fans that
I found a little confusing but later realised that they were playing Ipswich in
an evening kick-off.
Once I collected the car I went to the
campsite I had booked in the village of Bradfield. It was in a field behind the Stranger’s Home
pub and only cost £3.50 per person and was very acceptable indeed. An aviary next to the toilet block added a
touch of the unusual. I ate early in the pub – chilli con cani and went to bed
early after a very enjoyable bay!
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