Day 23 – Sunday 9 July 2000 - Burnham-on-Crouch to South Woodham Ferrers

12.5 miles walked today

309.5 miles walked in total (average 13.45)

We left the B&B this morning at 9.30 am to start walking along the quay before getting onto the sea wall.  Burnham is a very well kept town and has lots of obviously new houses along the front, although they’re built in keeping with the older properties.

Heading towards Burnham Marina, there are three or four houseboats lined up.  The bottoms are made of concrete and they look like they’ve had weather boarded portacabins plonked on top of them.  One of these houses was called “Mulberry” and we decided that the bottoms were actually old Mulberry harbours used in the second world war.  The boathouses had all mod cons, including door bells and rotary dryers!

Past the marina, we were back on sea wall again – past some fantastic houses with little paths leading down to the shore and, in some cases, their own pontoons.  There were lots of boats out today, with spinnakers in all colours of the rainbow.

Some of the walking was tricky, not least because of cows.  Vicky, having grown up in a family of farmers, really couldn’t understand my unwillingness to walk past them.  Apparently, all you have to do is flap your arms about and mutter “psh, psh” at them and they’ll go away.  Luckily, I didn’t get to try this manoeuvre out.  We had quite a discussion actually about cows and the possible consequences if they caught you – as they’re vegetarian, there’s no way they’re going to eat you; they might knock you over if they run at you.  But they’re more likely to be scared than you.  Very reassuring, I don’t think.

We made it into North Fambridge just about lunch time – the Ferry Boat Inn is supposed to be haunted by an old ferryman.  There was no way a ghost was going to compete with all the noisy children there today though.

From North Fambridge, we were on roads to South Woodham Ferrers – it started to rain quite heavily, but we kept our spirits up by planning Vicky’s life for her and the financial killing she’s going to make by ripping off her parents.  I can’t really say any more than that, as she hasn’t actually told them yet!

South Woodham Ferrers is rather too perfect for my liking – everything’s laid out properly and the place doesn’t really have any character.  We zipped through it fairly quickly – or as quickly as our achey legs could carry us – to the Marsh Farm Country Park, down by the quay.  There was a tricky little marking on the Ordnance Survey map which made us think we could get across the Crouch to Hullbridge.  However, when we got there, it was very obvious we weren’t going to get across – bugger!  This major disappointment called for a sit down in the rain and a huge bar of chocolate for consolation.

(On getting home and checking the John Merrill Bible of Walking the British Coast, he mentions that there is a place where you can ford the river – so I haven’t given up all hope yet.)

It’s been a fantastic weekend – it’s great to have someone to share it with and it makes the day go quicker too!