England coast path Peldon to Haybridge Basin Part 46

 Distance 14.72 Miles plus 2 miles at the end to bus stop

Time 4:57 minutes 

Elevation Gain 188 Feet

Total days walking 58 (Excluding The SWCP sections)

Total mileage 1373.52 (Including The SWCP sections)

After some torrential rain in the night we awake to a bright sunny but chilly morning, we have been spoilt by Ross who has a lovely warm Air B & B with our breakfast eaten all our belongings packed away we head out into the chilled air to start our days walking. The footpath situation around here is a little crazy & the first three miles are along a not too busy 'B' road the sun is warm but it's chilly in the shade. 

Finally we reach the turn off & head out across beautifully ploughed fields & round the head of the Salcott Channel, Following the path through farm yard with some very nice shiny machinery & across the fields of a Turf farm so very neatly trimmed grass, soft under foot not a weed in sight! 

Weaving our way through lanes farm tracks along drainage ditches & through the pretty village Tolleshunt D'Arcy with its moated hall (Tolleshunt D'Arcy Hall) turning off the road its now fields & Dykes all the way to Heybridge Basin past the Causeway that leads out to Osea Island.The tide is High so it's not visible to us. A cafe is a well needed stop right on the path Osea View Cafe nice health Jacket potatoes not cake for a change!

After our refuelling break its onwards to the end past beach huts on stilts in the sea.

Another day of walking complete this just leaves three days walking Snape to Walton-on-the Naize but these days will have to wait until the ferries are running in the spring. We start our journey back home a bit of a fast route march to the bus stop two miles to walk & twenty minutes until the bus. With time to spare we wait for the bus outside the Bentalls shopping centre Essex! 

Perfect transport links get us home by 17.30 until next time path, we will be back.

Route

 

England coast path Wivenhoe to Peldon Part 45

 Distance 12.67 miles

Time 4:17 minutes 

Elevation gain 304 feet

After a good hearty breakfast at the Black buoy inn in Wivenhoe with a great view from our Breakfast table. 

We are ready for another day walking starting with a 2.5 mile walk up to Hythe Essex to the nearest bridge across the river Colne followed by another 2.5 mile walk to end up opposite the Black buoy Inn but it's all part of the planned walk.

It's forcast for heavy rain & wind gusts of 40mph but is dry to start with we put our waterproofs trousers on but pack jackets inside our bags. By the time we leave Hythe we are walking head long into 40mph winds with rain in our faces. We have now put our waterproof jackets on but it is really humid totally wrong weather for October. 

Though some overgrown paths & through an ancient woodland coming out past an old converted mill house with fantastic views. 

A short hop on a minor road before turning off across newly planted fields with carrot tops just breaking ground up a hill & then down into a young tree plantation with a woodland class room.

Out of the woods onto a track we come across an articulated truck with a forty foot container on board, the driver asks if we are local as he is at the address he had been given which was supposed to be a commercial yard but was a little cottage & he was concerned about his driving time with only 3 hours left to drop & return to Ipswich. 

We passed by leaving him pondering his situation, we see him later driving further down the narrow road but as for delivery, we will never know as we turn off.

Now in military land red flags down we navigate our way through only to be challenged at the exit point by a man in a very bright orange fleece saying we should not have entered as the path had been closed & diverted, checking the latest on line maps the path is still showing & there were no diversion signs!

We leave him still ranting at us as we walk away. 

It now gets interesting, the path we need seems to have been blocked by a new building project, having walked past to check further along we head back & enter, ready to be challenged but no one came out, past huge picture windows leaving our mud on the white tile path behind the building then turned away Into what i can only describe as a fenced in building yard. 

Scaling the fence out of the yard still on what should be the path over the bridge crossing a full drainage ditch & into a field full of sheep then over a style & into hedge lined fields nearing our destination BUT one final hurdle, a very muddy field where our boots  become 3 times heavier covered in a mixture of mud & straw.

Reaching our destination we head off to the pub The plough at Peldon where we have Thai food it's amazing & totally unexpected end to our walk

Highly recommend Thai food at 

https://www.thepeldonplough.com/

Route

England coast path St Osyth to Wivenhoe Part 44

Distance  13:58 miles

Time 4.53 minutes 

Elevation gain 406 feet

After a very comfortable night on the converted coal barge we wake to the sound of rain, luckily not the torrential rain that was forecast.

Too cosy to leave 

We put on our waterproof clothing & leave the boat straight onto the path. With light rain we are glad to have our waterproofs on as the knee high grass is making us wet. Crossing fields, roads & narrow hedge lined paths we make our way towards Brightlingsea where we find a cafe for a lunch break. 

A nice mug of Yorkshire tea and a sausage roll I am ready for the next section, past the Brightlingsea museum & lido, now in private management & along the promenade.

Now back on a mixture of road forest & along estuaries with the birds wading in the mud.  The rain has stopped & we are making good progress past the last remaining mill house in Essex with a beautiful lake with ducks & swans swimming around. 

We arrive at the Black buoy inn a Swift pint before heading up to our room for a shower. 

Route

England coast path Walton-on-the-Naize to St Osyth Part 43

 Miles 16.32

Elevation 62 Feet

Time 5:30 minutes 

Leaving the mobile home at 7.54 we are heading to St Osyth where we will be staying on a house boat, a first for both of us.

With a light wind warm wind coming in off the sea blowing in our faces we stroll along the promenade nice easy Walking, past colourful beach huts and lovely sandy beaches ⛱️ looking for sharks teeth as we go but we didn't find any.

Coming into Clacton on sea the pier jutting out into the sea a lovely holiday feel with the slot machines wiring, playing their music tempting the customer in.

Leaving Clacton we continue along towards Jaywick having heard about Jaywick we are intrigued to see it for ourselves,  some of the properties are well looked after while others not & some burnt out, 

Feeling a little sad that in this day & age there can be such a split society them that have and them that don't & a government just looking to fill their own pockets putting in place vote winning plans rather than taking everyone to a better place. The people we saw were very pleasant with the walkers Conversation.

Leaving Jaywick We are diverted to pass a massive sea wall reinforcement & height adjustment project raising the height to hold back the rising sea water for another fifty years at a cost of 15 million pounds. 

We are not sure what they were doing  but some of the workers were in hasmat protective suits.

Continuing along the path past the sailor boy club house on the mobile home park we stop on a bench to eat our sandwiches. 

With renewed vigour we set off again towards lee-over-sands where we start the path through the wetlands with beautiful reeds and rushes contrasting colours making a beautiful background. 

An oddity among the houses ready for the rising sea level.

The sun is now free from clouds ⛅️ with the house boat with in reach we stop off at the local nisa to stock up on supplies for the evening & breakfast. 

Arriving at the house boat greeted by Teresa who showed us where everything was, a total contrast to yesterday's accommodation. 

The boat is beautiful everything you could need e even a lovely deep bath!

We expect the tide at around midnight so another first, going up in the world!

The route 

England coast path Day of travel Part 42

 Tuesday 10th October 2023 temperature is in the mid twenty's, yes you did read correctly it's October!

A day of travel from home to Walton-on-the Naize.

Bus, train, tube,train & train a simple journey with good links & only one little run as the train from Stratford was only made up of four coaches & the platform staff, although we had spoken to them about the train failed to mention that it would be stopping at the far end of the platform so a little jog was needed.

What a beautiful beach, golden sand & apparently a hot spot for collecting shark teeth.

Lunch time, we find a cafe with a good menu where we consume lasagne, salad falafel beers & coffee. After our fill we head off to find our accommodation for the night, campsite located on the map it's a short walk arriving mid afternoon key collection is smooth no hitch.

BUT from here it goes a little pare shaped, bearing in mind we have stayed at many places along the English coast path this is the first malfunction. 

Well the key fitted the door & first impression was good, it was a brand new unit, we were the first let the owners being new to letting out the use of the mobile home.

Lesley puts liquid soap on her hand then turns on the tap, no water!

Humm, a little investigation I find that the pipe is not connected to the van a good 600mm gap, that's not going to work. I head over to the office to report the problem  and an engineer is sent out.

Meanwhile back at the van Lesley is checking everything out & finds a few problems. 

Obviously no water.

Large amount of makeup stains onbedroom table.

Pillow cases dirty makeup of some other unpleasant substance on it.

Crisps in the bed. Humm did they  change it?

Cups dirty.

Plates dirty.

Sanitary products in bathroom bin.

Dregs of drinks in fridge.

I call up the owner of the van who is quite defensive saying he personally did all the cleaning,  I sent him pictures and he came back with snide comments it's only makeup it won't kill you!

Anyway I demand that he has someone sent to change the bed Which he reluctantly agreed to & sure enough Laura turns up with clean bedding & totally agreed with us that it was in an unsatisfactory condition to be let out, (she has two units she let's out) & has just started working for this chap but this is her first visit to this unit, she is appalled by the state of the unit & says she will have words!

She rectified all the faults & left us to enjoy the rest of our stay. Meanwhile the water had been fixed & all was good.

A comfortable night sleep 😴 & we are awake at seven & on our way by 7.45