Day 15 – Saturday 22 April 2000 - Manningtree to Harwich

11.5 miles walked today

202 miles walked in total (average 13.46)

I didn’t start walking today until midday, as I had to get the train from Wood Green, where I stayed with Mary and Jim last night.

We’d had our annual family Good Friday Treasure Hunt – where tradition has it that the winners have the dubious honour of organising the next year’s bonanza.  This could prove difficult as I’m not sure where I’ll be living.  Mary and Jim have suggested the Easter weekend in Norwich next year – I must remember to check if that’s OK with my co-winners, Sam and Paul.

I had a minor stomach upset last night, but I’m putting that down to nerves – I’ve been alternating between getting excited at a week’s walking and dreading carrying the pack.  I’ve got my baggage down to the barest minimum, but it’s still heavy.

It started off as a very grey day, but, as the train pulled into Manningtree, the sun came out and stayed all day.  Someone’s looking down at me and looking after me!  I didn’t wear the fleece all day as it’s been so warm.

Almost immediately, there’s been loads to see.  In Mistley, there’s a colony of over four hundred mute swans, some of which were strutting up and down demanding ice cream from the numerous children out today.  Also in Mistley, the Towers consists of two identical church towers in the middle of a graveyard – all that’s left of a Robert Adam church built in the 1770s.  And overlying everything else, there’s a wonderful smell of Horlicks – courtesy of a Victorian malthouse still in operation.

After New Mistley, I finally got onto public footpaths, which started off as a dodgy looking path under a bridge and then out onto the shore.  It was incredibly muddy and a couple of middle aged hippies, wearing wellies, directed me onto slightly drier paths.  However, this seemed to be very overgrown and I spent a fairly traumatic couple of minutes leaping up and down trying to dislodge the spiders from my clothes.

I saw a few dog walkers in Wrabness Nature Reserve.  It was so peaceful and there was a strategically placed bench with stunning views over the Stour to the Royal Hospital School.

From the nature reserve, I was back on roads again to All Saints Church at Wrabness.  My guide book had mentioned a detached belfry by the church gate, where the single bell is housed in a wooden cage overgrown with ivy.  However, there was no ivy to be seen when I got there.  The Church Warden, who was weeding the flower beds, told me that the ivy had made the structure dangerous by dislodging the tiles and pulling the cage over.  The church had been quoted £7,000 to do the work required, but it had eventually cost them £14,000.  The builders have used the old timbers if they could, but, where they were too badly damaged, they’ve used new wood.  The Church Warden informed me that there’s an old boy in the village who used to be sent onto the roof of the cage as a lad to remove the ivy.

As a parting shot, the Warden told me that, apparently, Essex has the second longest coastline in England after Cornwall.  Thanks!

I was back on footpaths to Ramsey, which has a postmill built in 1842.  The body of a postmill revolved on a central post, according to my guide book, and could be turned so the sails faced the wind.  Ramsey’s postmill is the only one in Essex.

The pub, rather selfishly, was closed so I had to have a drink in the local garden centre!   To be honest, I’d seriously had enough by then and just wanted to stop.  I had so many sit downs in the last hour, it wasn’t true.

Harwich seemed to be quite a sad place – however, this may have had more to do with my overwhelming need for accommodation and the fact I wasn’t prepared to look properly at anything.  I’m not sure I give any of my destinations the time and attention they deserve, but I don’t want the walk to require thirty years!

After finding a B&B, I popped back into town, but it still seemed quite sad!  I sat on the front with a nutritious walker’s meal of sandwiches and chocolate and watched the yachts tacking back and forth in front of some huge ferries.  Mad fools!

I also watched a bulldog attack a wheelie bin on the prom until he knocked it over.  He then grabbed the handle on the top and started dragging it along the front.  Very bizarre!  His owner seemed quite unperturbed by this odd behaviour.

Unfortunately, due to my going out to find sustenance in such a hurry, I forgot to take the camera out.  I’ll have to capture a bit of Harwich on film in the morning.

On top of everything, I’ve rubbed a huge blister and my shoulders hurt.  Why am I doing this?