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3rd September 2017 Mt. Biking: Around Burnham on Crouch Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: more cloud today and breezy Max Speed: 13.35 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 14 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Sunday 3rd September – Bike ***** Around Burnham on Crouch - more cloud today and breezy. Top night in our spot overlooking Burnham marina after the excitement of the fireworks last night and it quietened down after a couple of jets came into land at the nearby Southend airport! I was up at 6, dressed and headed down to the River with the camera to capture the sunrise. With the sun coming up behind the town I had to walk a fair distance to get the sun. Burnham on Crouch is a funny place from swanky riverside sailing clubs and lovely old house but also some horrible new develops and the usual untidy houseboats piled high with junk and a large boat laying on its side making the place look a little sad:( With no one about I was able to walk down a couple of the long private jetties used to launch dinghies and get some nice shots of the rising sun with the old cranes used to get boats out of the water. The river was still fairly calm as today’s forecast southerly wind hadn’t built yet and the river was also full of fish. There are so many boats moored that it must be difficult to navigate through! A couple of sea angling boats were heading out of the marina as I made it back to the van after being out for an hour and a quarter. Shame if I knew that I was going to be away that long Mag would have come. We had a read, breakfast and it was still very quiet for a Sunday morning although the weather was not so good being cloudy but the sun did manage to show its face now and then:) Today was always going to be a bit harder as it is the only day in several that some wind was forecast, it had arrived a good 15+ knots from the South and with the tide coming in until about half eleven it would have absolutely perfect for some 8.5 longboard cruising – it was a slight beat to the open sea and then you could have sailed right up river towards South Woodham Ferrers in flat water! Will definitely come again and perhaps I can sail here from West Mersea? Our original plan was just to walk into Burnham but we had loads of time to kill and there was the intriguing sounding Creeksea just a mile inland along the seawall so I untied the bikes and switched on the GPS! We only took water but sadly no snacks and set off at 9.38 biking down to the marina just in time to see the ‘Row2recovery’ boat set off, it’s the sort of row boat that’s built to cross the Atlantic, it had one rowing but with two men in it. I don’t know if they were just training or if it was part of a bigger adventure, I will check online when we get home? Then it was out onto the seawall but we were again intrigued by a lot of activity in a field to our right, with groups of strangely dress young men in baseball caps and leggings! We then discovered we had stumbled across the ‘Bristish Championship’ of what I hear you ask? Well it was ‘2017 British Disc Golf Championship’ that’s throwing a frizzbie into a small chain metal cage. Who even knew that was a sport and there was a whole ‘links’ here at Creeksea est. in 2016:) We watched for a few holes and the competitors were taking it very seriously, some people never grow up – great isn’t it:) The seawall narrowed past some lovely cottages and we soon made it to the tiny Creeksea SC which was a hive of activity as the sailors readied their boats to catch the tide:) There was a small place to park right by the water and this would have been a great spot to launch a windsurfer as the jetties in Burnham were private although the marina has a public launch it would not have been the easiest place to sail out of! I will try and email the club when I get home and ask if they mind a visiting windsurfer launch, I should have asked as we biked past! We were now on a small lane up to the tiny Creeksea village leading to the main Burham road. Burham town centre was pleasant enough and we found the river path right by the biggest Sailing Club which is a huge building not that pleasant on the eye! The small old crane I had taken a picture of this morning was actually being used, holding a small dinghy as someone jet washed its bottom:) We had only been out an hour so continued out past the caravan site toward the sea, this sea wall goes all the way to Bradwell and beyond but that was much too far for us today although it would make a great ride one day! The path on the wall was narrow and was surrounded by long grass being quite bendy too as we headed out into the wilds, it is very remote here with open farmland and wind turbines to the left, the River Crouch and Foulness island to the right! We could see what looked like a large war time fort in the distance near the open sea so headed for that as a turning point. The path continued to snake in and out past several concrete bunkers then with the path becoming a bit bumpy Mag came off the wall onto the farm track below where she managed to scrump a couple of apples:) The war time fort we were heading for turned out to be the biggest haystack we had ever seen! But there was a smaller three storey bunker further ahead so continued eventually stopping a bit further on another concrete bunker just short of the open sea. We ate our apple and watched the boats making the most of the good breeze:) We had a tail wind back and actually managed to bike past a yacht, then got a wave from the large rowing boat as it headed out to sea, they had been rowing for over two hours mainly against the tide so hadn’t got far! We were getting tired now and were pleased to reach the nice tarmac path that continues right through Burnham to the Marina. Mag thought the same as me about Burnham a typical riverside mess, nice in places but a bit untidy around the edges! There was now some dinghy action on the river, even a couple of windsurfers out, I was tempted by fish and chips but Mag said a salad was calling her so we headed back to the van being out 4hrs. 15 mins covering 14 miles. We had a relaxing lunch and read before continuing on to Surrey to see Grandson Arlo plus of course Rob and Hannah. Even the M25 was OK and we made good time. Sadly, Hannah was under the weather so we had a quiet evening with Arlo and Rob and a Lidl lasagne. Fingers crossed Hannah is feeling better tomorrow! Photo Gallery here |
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