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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2888 |
2nd September 2017 Hiking - Walking: Chelmer Navigation & Bradwell beach Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods and warm :) Max Speed: Distance Covered: Saturday 2nd September – Walks ***** Chelmer Navigation & Bradwell beach – sunny periods and warm :) Top night by what we later discovered is Tri-farm lake and surprisingly quiet, we slept like logs missing the sunrise this morning, must have been the 25-mile bike ride! Relaxing start, I finished my book which turned out disappointing:( Then at 8 o clock sharp the Triathlon lake opened with a bit of a rush and there was a steady stream turning up to swim and run circuits of the lake watched over by a couple of lifeguards making for a very entertaining breakfast! Then just before eleven an old boy started to pump up his SUP so we decided to go for a walk to the next lock upstream. We stood on the bridge watching the paddle boarder set off a little gingerly but we later learned he had only had it a week! We soon caught up with him as he paddled the calm canal in lovely warm sunshine and I asked him how much he had paid for his Red board. He said it was top of the range and cost him £850 which I didn’t think too bad/ I would love to get a couple so Mag and I could go exploring together! More ways to spend that future lottery win!!! The boarder said it was great and it only cost him £32 a year to use the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation but an expensive £5 if you pay per day! We soon reached the lock but decided to carry on, there was a lot more flow in the canal today because of the heavy rain we had in the night. By a large willow plantation, we decided to turn back after walking at least a mile. Now not having to be in Surrey until late Sunday afternoon we decided to stay in Essex so headed back to the large Lidl in Maldon. After filling up with diesel at Tesco we continued to Bradwell on Sea which is a fairly remote peninsular with the Blackwater one side and the Crouch the other. The village is dominated by a huge Nuclear Power Station that was apparently decommissioned years ago which is hard to believe as it looks brand new being recently re-clad with an impressive security fence! You follow a dead-end road past the War Memorial, which looks like a Mosquito nose diving into the ground, to the Power Station visitor’s carpark which says it gates close at 6.30. I asked a couple of dog walkers if you could park and access the beach from here and they said that the carpark was open to the public and the beach was a short walk. Mag made a couple of rolls and we took our picnic blanket and books and headed off at 1.30 passing the new fence and an area planted up as a little nature reserve. We have never seen so many different wild berry bushes which form part of a circular walk around the power station! We soon came to the sea wall which I think goes for miles all the way around to Burnham and would make a great bike ride next time but today we walked along the deserted beach as the tide dropped away leaving millions of shell with sections of both mud and sand. It was another pinch yourself moment as we couldn’t believe we had it nearly all to ourselves with old sailing barges and yachts struggling in the light airs making a fantastic sight:) We were directly opposite West Mersea and having windsurfed across to this side I knew there was a line of barges on the beach so we went in search of them! We walked for ages with no sight of the barges over sand and sticky mud luckily not too deep, past a lone fisherman and the odd walker enjoying the remoteness of this beautiful place. There was a couple of war time pillar boxes and we found a secluded spot for our picnic and spent easily over an hour here enjoying our books. Our peace and quiet was disturbed by 2/3 quad bikes and dirt bikes but we discovered on the walk back that we had stopped near the place they use regularly with a well-worn area including the beach, it looked great fun all be it a bit noisy! Refreshed we continued in search of the barges and must have walked another mile before we reached them. A line of eleven, what looked like from a distance, concrete barges I thought were some sort of war time defence but when we got closer they were metal barges so not so sure now, perhaps they were just abandoned here when they became obsolete, I will have to check online? I managed to climb on the second barge to get a good vantage point for some pics but then had to jump off into the sticky mud! I then met up with Mag back at the sea wall which is the way we walked back now being able to see both sides. Farmers were busy ploughing one side and the yachts were making slightly better progress the other as the breeze had increased a little:) We were getting our six-mile legs and were glad to get back to the power station where we collected a pot of blackberries for breakfast before walking the last section through the berry bushes. we had never seen so many red berries in a hedgerow, it will keep the birds going all winter! We had been out 4hrs. 15 mins covering nearly 5 miles. It was stunning and we will be back:) All we had to do was find somewhere for the night, our original plan was the park by the war memorial but that was near the road overlooked by houses so we decided to continue towards Burnham but were sceptical of finding anywhere to park there! We made some detours in search of the right spot including the promisingly named Marsh Lane which just lead to a couple of isolated farms with the road blocked by locked gates! Then we were at Burnham and saw a sign to the marina and country park but the road looked private. We were amazed when we came a large free, nearly empty carpark overlooking the marina and River Crouch with no obvious restrictions – we couldn’t believe our luck:) We parked in the corner with great views and even though it was 7 o clock we had a cuppa and cake before I went down to the marina to watch the sun set over the boats. Then after Lidl paella for tea, the carpark started to really fill up and we couldn’t understand why but at 9 on the dot we discovered the reason when we were treated to a top firework display that marked the end of Burnham week! I even managed to get a few usable pics, hand held with the point and press! The cars soon disappeared and we have the top carpark to ourselves. There are loads of options here for walks/bike ride etc but might just walk into Burnham before heading to the horrible M25! Photo Gallery here |
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