Colchester - Clapboarding, creek-crossing and catcalls

We'd been in Essex once before, when we did the Great Chesterford walk back in August 2013, but Colchester is very much at the heart of Essex, a historical town that was one of the main Celtic population centres and the first real capital of Britain.

So it was with no small amount of excitement that we boarded our train at Liverpool Street station and set off with the Friday evening commuters into the wilds of a county which, despite being so close to London, manages to feel distant and even a little bit exotic for London-dwellers like ourselves.

Lodgings and victuals

Arriving in Colchester station on a cold and dark Friday evening in February is quite bewildering, but we eventually negotiated our way around the concrete pedestrian overpasses and, in no time at all, found ourselves in the welcoming warmth of the North Hill hotel.  The North Hill hotel was a lovely place to stay and they gave us a nice little cottage at the back of the main building. We had dinner, bed and breakfast, so it was a very welcome start to our Colchester trip.

Colchester Town Hall

Lion mosaic

Colchester to Brightlingsea (87 bus)

Having checked out the map, we decided to start our walk at Brightlingsea, on the coast, walking back towards Colchester and our connections home.  There are surprisingly few public rights of way in this part of Essex and hardly any way-marked trails, so the path along the River Colne was our only real option.

Beach huts at Brightlingsea

Brightlingsea to Alresford Creek (3.2 miles/5.1 kilometres)

Brightlingsea is a pleasant seaside resort with beach huts and an attractive camping site. We started our walk at Victoria Place, following Station Road past the outdoor swimming pool and onto the seafront.  Being February, it was pretty cold, but we were lucky enough to start with cloudy but dry weather and fantastic views across to Point Clear and Mersea Island.

View of Point Clear on the Essex coast

There's a really impressive folly at Brightlingsea, called Bateman's Tower, built by a local landowner for his sick daughter. The path from Bateman's Tower, follows the estuary of the River Colne (which gave Colchester its name) through a nature reserve which was teeming with bird life. The landscape along this path was fantastic, a combination of salt marshes, mud flats and shingle.

Bateman's Tower at Brightlingsea

Path through the Colne Estuary nature reserve

It was fairly easy walking along this 3-mile stretch to Alresford Creek and, despite the cold weather, there were quite a few families and dog walkers out and about, enjoying the bracing sea air!

BAM (Best Aussie Mate) at the Colne Estuary

Alresford Creek via Mill Dam (2.5 miles/4 kilometres)

According to the map, we could cross Alresford Creek on a public bridleway, but that's obviously in low tide and, by the time we arrived at the Creek it was very much high tide and the only way of crossing the creek would have been by boat!  We don't generally have to think about tidal times, so it came as a bit of s surprise to see our path disappearing under, what was effectively, a river.

Alresford Creek at high tide

Our only option was to go upstream around the creek to the crossing point at Mill Dam. Unfortunately, the path along the south side of the creek went through private land, which made us feel a bit uncomfortable, but we felt we had no other choice but to follow this path.  It's quite a peaceful part of the world and, as we made our way along the creek to Mill Dam, the sombre facade of Brightlingsea Allsaints Church, kept a close watch on our every move.

Private path to Thorrington Tide Mill

Getting off the private path involved a lot of climbing over ditches and scrambling through trees, until we emerged into a private garden leading to the Mill Dam.  Thorrington Tide Mill is an impressive, weatherboard building and one of Britain's few remaining tide mill structures.  There's something about the landscape of Essex and East Anglia that's reminiscent of neighbouring lands, such as Holland and Zeeland, on the other side of the North Sea.

Thorrington Tide Mill

As we sat on a log beside the mill pond, munching chocolate and watching the ducks feeding on pond plants, we contemplated the very Dutch-like architecture of Thorrington Tide Mill and the historic links between East Anglia and the Netherlands.

Alresford Creek at Thorrington Tidal Mill

We were able to follow a public path along a beautiful stretch of land on the north side of the creek, until we reached the landing stage on the opposite shore of the creek from where we'd stood about an hour before.

Public footpath on the north side of Alresford Creek

A rare Essex waymarker

Parking at high tide

Ever since our trip to Rochester, Kent in January 2011, we've been a bit obsessed by weatherboarding (also known as clapboarding).  It seems to be pretty prevalent in the east and south east of England, although I noticed an unusual form of weatherboarding in this part of Essex, where one half of the building is painted white and the other half is painted black.

Black and white weatherboarding at Alresford

Alresford Creek to Wivenhoe (2 miles/3.25 kilometres)

It was quite muddy as we made our way through the thicket of trees at Alresford Grange and along the Colne river to the pretty riverside port of Wivenhoe.  We were very enamoured by Wivenhoe and the riverside developments in the village reminded us a lot of places in London like Limehouse basin. Wivenhoe seems to be the place where anyone from Colchester with a bit of money moves to.  There was certainly a lovely feeling in the village and it left us wanting to know more and perhaps revisit Wivenhoe at a future date.

Wivenhoe

Wivenhoe to Hythe (2.7 miles/4.3 kilometres)

On the opposite side of the river from Wivenhoe, we could see another pretty-looking village called Rowhedge and an attractive riverside pub called The Anchor.  Rowhedge and Wivenhoe used to be linked by ferry, but I'm not sure if that's still the case.

Rowhedge

From Wivenhoe we followed an amenable cycle path between the river and the railway track.  The landscape north of Wivenhoe is dominated by the student residences and other buildings belonging to the University of Essex.  The university, which was founded in the 1960's had quite a reputation as a hotbed of radical politics, but these days it's better known for its social sciences and high intake of overseas students.

Student residence buildings at the University of Essex

Hythe to Colchester Castle (1.4 miles/2.2 kilometres)

After our lovely day in the country, it was quite a shock to be back in the 'big city' again and Hythe, an outlying suburb of Colchester, looked a bit run-down compared to the prettier villages we'd seen earlier in the day.  We don't often get jeered at on our Chester walks, but something about our walking gear, sticks and ruddy faces excited the people of Colchester, so we had a few catcalls on our way into the town and one group of teenage boys even offered to point us in the direction of the nearest mountain (for non-UK readers, there are no mountains in Essex!).

Derelict building in Hythe

My abiding memories of Colchester were a police appeal on a poster for a young man who'd been murdered and a thicket of trees where a group of homeless people seemed to have set up camp.  As we reached Colchester town centre, the rain came on and Colchester castle looked squat and sullen at our arrival.

Colchester castle

Luckily we found a nice brasserie on North Hill, where we changed into clean clothes and celebrated our walk with a well-earned steak and glass of red wine.

Access for Wheelchair users

Path into Wivenhoe

The path from Brightlingsea through the Colne Estuary nature reserve was pretty accessible, although one-way only, so a good walk would be to go as far as Alresford Creek and then return to Brightlingsea.  

The footpaths around Alresford creek were completely inaccessible, however, the cycle path from Wivenhoe to Colchester was also pretty accessible for wheelchair users. 

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All photos were taken by me - please feel free to reuse them under the following Creative Commons license:

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Rochester - Roman Durobrivae

I always really look forward to my -chester walks and Rochester was no exception.  This is one of the closest -chesters to London, just a half hour on the train from St Pancras, nowhere near enough time for myself and BAM (Best Aussie Mate) to catch up on all the gossip since our last walk.  Getting off the train at Strood we managed to swap stories about our New Year trips to Hong Kong and Iceland, as we made our way to the Medway Bridge Marina for our night's accommodation aboard the Sovereign B&B. 

A Cruise Ship on the Medway



View from the Yellow Cabin

 Considering the importance of boats and shipping to Rochester's history, the Sovereign B&B/Flotel was the perfect place to start.  Originally a 1930's cruise ship on the Rhine called the Deutsches Eck, the Sovereign has been lovingly rennovated by Sue and Bob Forkner and now offers B&B accommodation for a very reasonable rate.  Sue and Bob were lovely to us, a real 'Irish' welcome and it was exciting to stay in such an original setting.  We had the Yellow Cabin, which was incredibly cosy and I would definitely recommend a night on the Sovereign for anyone who is interested in staying somewhere really special!  The breakfast was delicious and hearty, a great start to our day's walking.  You can find out more about The Sovereign B&B at their website. 

Medway Bridge Marine to Rochester (1.9 miles)



The first part of walk was along the Medway Valley trail from the Marina to Rochester Castle.  The Medway is like a little sister to the Thames, not quite as wide or as busy, it has, nevertheless, played an important role in the development of shipping in the south of England and the defense of the main estuaries against foreign invaders.  I've got somewhat of a soft spot for the Medway, having lived for a short time in Maidstone and been around during the Medway festival, I sense the importance of the river to local people - as it quietly meanders through north Kent, it hardly dares to live up to the expectations of those who live in the Medway valley.  The Medway separates east and west Kent - interestingly people in west Kent are called Kentish men (or maids), whereas people in east Kent are known as men (or maids) of Kent. 



A view of Rochester across the mudflats



I think the Medway valley has a different feel to it, than other parts of Kent.  It's certainly a lot more urban - the combined population of the Medway towns is about a quarter of a million - I guess, collectively they are almost a city!  The difference is recognised by the fact that Medway has its own local government structures, in the guise of the Medway Unitary authority.  It's a Tory stronghold and the MP for Rochester and Strood, Mark Reckless is the grandson of an Irish politician from my home county, Donegal.  Mark was one of the few Conservative MPs who voted against the rise to tuition fees in December, so I guess he's a 'good' Tory (or a reckless one!)

I wouldn't say the landscape at this part of the Medway is beautiful, what with the M2 motorway tearing through the background - but it's certainly very interesting and has, what BAM calls, an 'intrinsic' beauty.  The photos I've taken aren't exactly beautiful either, but there is something that appeals to me about the low intensity of the light at this time of the year and they way it contrasts with the dark mudflats and the grey backdrop of Rochester Castle. 

Rochester, too cold for bananas?


Rochester Castle


Like all of the other -chesters we have visited, there has been a settlement at Rochester since Roman times.  Durobrivae means something like 'stronghold at the bridge' and this important bridge over the Medway is central to Rochester's strategic location.  The castle is spectacular - it looks like the perfect prototype for the sandcastles that are built by millions of children the world over.  In a quirk of history, Rochester lost its city status due to an administrative error - a very English story, it has to be said! 



Rochester used to be a base for the shipbuilding company, Shorts, before they decided to concentrate on their shipyards in Belfast.  There seems to have been a pattern of business moving elsewhere - interestingly the other places that have benefitted from the Medway towns' losses are Grantham in Lincolnshire with Aveling and Porter's steamrollers (see my blog about our Ancaster trip) and Bicester in Oxfordshire with the centre for bomb disposal training (see my blog about our Bicester walk).  Whilst BAM went off on a reverie about leylines, songlines and how our -chester trips are somehow going to restore the world's karma - I was busy concocting a conspiracy theory, involving crusaders, masons and shady underground business/military networks!  What's more likely is that, the more we learn about Britain, the more its history and culture starts falling into place, like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle!



Sign outside Pip's of Rochester



We stopped in a lovely coffee bar on Rochester High Street called The Deaf Cat - it's got a very chilled atmosphere and is connected to a business which sells the works of local artists.  Most businesses on Rochester High Street seem to be called after characters or scenes from the novels of Charles Dickens.  Pip's of Rochester, the greengrocers where we stocked up on fruit and nuts, was no exception.  When I do these walks, I'm always fascinated by the range of signs we see on the way - signs telling us things, signs trying to sell us things and signs that seem to make no sense at all.  The sign in my photo, Too Cold for Bananas had me scratching my head for a while, trying to figure out why some of the bananas had been left there - were they somehow hardier than the others?  If it was too cold for bananas, what would that mean for people?

Rochester to Upper Upnor (2.5 miles)




Upnor Castle



Crossing from Rochester to Strood is like entering a completely different world.  Strood has the feel of an inner-city slum, but without the advantages of being in an inner city!  I don't know how Strood came into existence, but I'm interested to see what happens to Strood in the future - no doubt it will eventually be gentrified and prettied up, in an effort to attract more affluent inhabitants, on the high-speed rail that provides an easy commute from Strood to London.  Our path took us along the riverside and past a pub called The Riverside Tavern which had a massive rainbow flag flying outside!  It never ceases to amaze me how gay bars turn up in the most unlikely places.  I felt a mixture of fear and excitement, as we slunk past, it looked like a decent enough establishment.



Weatherboard House



Once out of Strood and past the industrial estates that border the river at Frindsbury, we entered another completely different world, ie. the quaint village feel of Upper Upnor and the quiet beauty of Upnor castle.  Upnor castle was built during the Elizabethan period to protect ships that were being repaired on the Medway.  I was fascinated by the buildings which were constructed in a very traditional Kentish style (or is that style of Kent?) using weatherboards, it reminded me a lot of houses I've seen in Scandinavia. 

Upper Upnor to the Hoo Marina Park (approx 3 miles)



Boats at Lower Upnor

 By this stage we were following the Saxon Shore Way a 163-mile trail that starts in Gravesend and ends in Hastings.  The signage was quite good and this part of the trail was relatively easy to follow as it runs, more or less, along the coast.  As BAM told me about her recent foray into the world of tree-planting, we picked our way along the shore, past Lower Upnor and the colourful boats moored in the various marinas and parks along this part of the coast.  The rain came on, as we passed the last of the slipways at Hoo Marina park and the sky darkened over Kingsnorth Power station, looming in the distance. 



Kingsnorth Power Station, Hoo

 Kingsnorth Power station is coal-powered and, under EU regulations, will be shut down in 2016.  There are plans to replace it with another (regulation-compliant) coal-powered station, but this has caused a lot of protests from environmental campaigners.  Apparently the replacement power station would have annual carbon emissions that amount to ten times the total emissions of Rwanda!  Coming from rural Ireland, I find power stations extraordinary - I'd never really seen one until I first came to England and, on those long journeys by bus and train from Holyhead to London, my first sight of power stations left an impression on me that hasn't fully evaporated. 

Hoo Marina Park to Newlands Farm (approx 2.6 miles)

Not long after Hoo Marina Park we turned inland, skirting the villages of Hoo St Werburgh and High Halstow, as we crossed the Hundred of Hoo.  I must admit, I got no small amount of pleasure telling colleagues that I would spending my Saturday walking across the Hundred of Hoo.  The who of what? was the most common reaction!  For anyone who doesn't know where it is, Hoo peninsula is the little bit of land that sticks out to the southeast of London, between the Thames and the Medway. 



BAM on the Hundred of Hoo

 For a place that's so close to London, it's very sparsely populated, but I think there are historical reasons for this, a major one being that the area was rife with malaria until the late-19th century.  It's naturally boggy land and most of the peninsula is taken up with farmland or, at the extremity of the Isle of Grain, warehouses and factories.  I would love to visit the village of Grain sometime - looking at it on the map, it seems to be an incredibly remote and isolated place.  In the 1930's, the Southern Railway company tried to turn another Hoo village, Allhallows, into a major seaside resort, along the lines of Margate or Brighton.  They even renamed it Alhallows-on-the-Sea, but it didn't really take off and I imagine Allhallows also has an isolated feel to it - my curiousity has been roused by both places, that's for sure!

Newlands Farm to Cooling (3.7 miles)



BAM's muddy boots

 Just after the turn off from Newlands Farm, as we were making our way across the fields to Northward Hill, we suddenly hit a major obstacle - mud!  Mud of epic proportions.  Mud that was so sticky and heavy I thought I was going to have abandon BAM to her fate and come back with a rescue team!  I'm exaggerating slightly, of course, but I'm including a photo of BAM's muddy boots, so you can get an idea of what it was like. 

Northward Hill is home to the High Halstow National Nature Reserve and Britain's largest heronry.  It's a beautiful part of the world and, as we came to the edge of the wood, overlooking the Cliffe and Cooling marshes, the view literally took my breath away!  It's an amazingly rich, but fragile, environment and was under threat of destruction in 2003, when the (then) Labour government was considering whether or not to build a new 'Thames Estuary' airport here.  I think the 'Cooling Airport' plans have been put to bed, thankfully, although the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has revived the idea of building an airport at Shivering Sands, near Whitstable in Kent, further down the coast.  I don't see why they can't build an 'offshore' airport, like the one in Hong Kong.  There was a suggestion at one time to build an artificial island off the Isle of Sheppey, but this was rejected as a option that would be too expensive. 

Sunset over Cooling marsh

The Cooling and Cliffe marshes that you can see in my photo were also used as a substitute for the Paddy fields of Vietnam in the movie Full Metal Jacket.  I read about this before the walk and I couldn't quite picture it.  Standing on the edge of Northward Hill, looking across the water-logged expanse in front of me, I finally understood why they'd chosen this spot - it's certainly very different to anywhere else I've been in England.

Cooling to Cliffe (approx 1.9 miles)

 I recently watched a classic British horror called The Vault of Horror.  It consists of a series of nightmares that are told by the five main characters.  The first sub-plot is called Midnight Mess and tells the story of a young man who wants to kill his sister, so he can come into a substantial inheritance.  He tracks her down to an eerie country village which, it turns out, is soley inhabited by vampires.  For some reason, Cooling reminded me of that village!  My imagination was helped along by the fact that the sun had just gone down and the graveyard of Cooling church is believed to have been the inspiration for the opening scenes of Dicken's Great Expectations.  After her trauma of almost being 'stuck in the mud', poor BAM had the wits scared out of her by the idea that we were walking through a village full of vampires!



The gatehouse of Cooling Castle



Cooling castle is also pretty impressive and was the home of Sir John Oldcastle, the inspiration for Shakespeare's Falstaff and leader of the late-13th century Lollard movement, an early form of Protestantism.  The Lollards were hated by the establishment, because of their revolutionary ideas, such as pacifism and the existence of a lay priesthood.  There was a vicious campaign against them and contemporary pamphlets depicted them as cunning foxes who were using fancy words and ideas to misled the uneducated (and blameless) peasantry.  Cooling went down in history as the capital of Lollardry!  By all accounts, Jools Holland lives in the residential part of the castle.  I've included a photo of the gatehouse, which was all lit up.

The last part of our walk was done in almost complete darkness.  I don't have much experience walking across muddy fields in the dark, but it was spookily peaceful and we'd come prepared with head torches.  We ended our walk at Cliffe, celebrating with a feast at the Indian restaurant attached to the Six Bells pub.  If you ever have the pleasure of going to Cliffe, make sure you have planned an escape route.  Naively our plans of getting a bus back to civilisation proved to be a tad ambitious.  The restaurant very kindly rang around the local taxi firms until they found someone who would be willing to take us back to Strood station. Being Saturday night, it was a long wait before the taxi driver could come and get us. 

So there we have it - another Chester done and dusted - can't wait until the next one!!

Image credits:

All photos were taken by me - please feel free to reuse them, under the Creative Commons license, with Attribution/Share Alike.