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Best bits: Anita‘s company, sneaking across a field, halloumi burger
Worst bits: sewage smell
Distance: 21.6 miles
The cuckoos were at it again this morning and we heard them frequently out throughout the day. The public toilets in the park were closed this morning and so I popped into the local leisure centre to use their facilities. There was nobody on reception when I went in, however as I was coming out, there was a lady on the desk who didn’t look very pleased. I explained that the public toilets were closed and told her what I was doing and eventually she came around. Phew!
While waiting for Roger and Anita to arrive, I updated the maps on the side of Priscilla including a dot for 2500 miles which I expected to break either today or tomorrow.
Roger drove Priscilla with myself and Anita to our start point back at Bradwell Waterside. On the way he had a few tricky moments with delivery vehicles parked opposite each other and at one point had to fold the wing mirror in to get through. Clearly he passed the test.
Anita was going to walk with me today and Roger kindly took Priscilla to Haybridge Asda to park up for the day.
The weather was much kinder today, there was less wind and it felt warmer as there were few clouds in the sky. Anita and I made our way along the seawall for about 3 miles at which point we came into St Lawrence. I asked a man who had just parked his car if there was a café anywhere nearby. He said just by luck there was a newly opened café. Of course I had to make a bee line there. We sat for awhile drinking tea and then as it was hot I had a Magnum to go.
We walked back on the seawall only to find that it was a dead end. We had to walk around the marina car park and so elected to walk along a very quiet road for a short way before turning off over a style into a field.
Anita and I chatted all day finding out about each other’s lives and families, places we have visited and would like to visit and generally putting the world to rights.
Back on the sea wall, we walked a winding path around lots of creeks which all looked pretty similar.
Anita was a little concerned about adders especially when the path was overgrown. Her anxiety wasn’t helped when a woman coming the other way said she had seen one recently. We took it in turns to be the adder detector, meaning one of us would walk in front and the other behind !
Eventually, we came out at where a woodland path took us into town. Unfortunately not before it took us past the water treatment plant which had a distinctly pungent odour.
Roger had sent us with directions to the Blackwater café in Maylandsea which turned out to be lovely. The halloumi burgers and chips went down a treat along with 2 cups of tea. Allen the owner was great and was busy making arrangements for the VE Day celebrations tonight and at the weekend. Allan and his staff do lots of fundraising for fantastic causes.
We calculated that we were about halfway on our walk for today. There was quite a lot of birdlife around including turns, herons, geese and swans. The swan was clearly incubating her eggs on her nest. It reminded me of the swans on our Loch back home and I wondered if they were also nesting.
Adder watch resumed as the undergrowth became more dense.
We came to a section where we could take a shortcut across a farm track cutting off about a mile of our walk along the seawall. Anita and I walked towards a sign saying private land and then we set an alarm off, it was a piercing siren. It worked a treat and stopped us in our tracks. It went on for a couple of minutes and we looked around to see if there was any response. There were some cars parked in the farmhouse across the other side of the field, but no movement. We decided to risk it this time taking a wide birth around the sign and detector. Anita suggested that if we got caught, I was to limp. I said that wouldn’t be difficult as I was already limping due to my dodgy foot and ankle! We made it safely across with a giggle.
By this time the tide had gone out and only thick mud was left in the creeks, making them look even less attractive.
As we climbed a stile there was a sign on it saying it was only 3 km into town. Yippee. At this stage, we could see the church ahead of us just above the tree line. A good psychological boost.
Anita told me about the mud race that involved crossing the river at low tide. As we approached, we could see the footprint of all of the cop competitors in the event. Apparently the fire brigade is in attendance and hoses down all of the competitors at the end of the event. Apparently Anita would like to do this at some stage, run across the river I mean, but perhaps she would also like to hose down the competitors too.
We walked along the riverside where there were a number of London barges and a steam ship at the dockside. It would’ve been lovely to have seen one of the barges in full sail.
Eventually, we came to the point where we had to part company. It was at the bridge, Anita would be going left into Maldon and I was to go right into Heybridge. We had a hug and said our goodbyes. It was only later that I realised that that was probably the exact point of completing 2500 miles, if only we had known.
I hobbled the last mile or so to Asda to collect Priscilla from the car park. Charlie returned my keys from the safe gave me a cup of tea and then we had a photograph with Lou.
The traffic was really busy as it was Friday evening and so I sat in the car park drinking my cup of tea and having something to eat before getting a wash and change. Then I decided to drive into Colchester as I could get public transport back to Heybridge tomorrow morning.
A few more calories were required before I went to bed. I am so juvenile I can’t help it! It makes me laugh 🤣
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