The day dawned bright and sunny – a bonus for the end of September – as 14 of us met at 10 am outside the Green Man. The landlord was on the ball with his menu and list at hand to order our lunch (a very different experience from when I last led a walk from Tillingham!)

The first part of the walk took us away from the water across footpaths over fields and between houses. There were 2 stiles as we skirted Downhall old peoples’ home- the 1^st one had lost its bottom plank so was a challenge for those with shorter legs!  There was plenty of help at hand for those who needed it. After the 2^nd stile the path became less clear as the fields had recently been ploughed. Fortunately the ground was quite dry and our boots stayed reasonably clean. We crossed a brook by a footbridge and cut through some houses to meet the road down towards St. Peter’s chapel. We followed that for about a mile. It is a quiet road only used by farm vehicles and those wanting to walk to the chapel so we weren’t disturbed by much traffic.

The chapel looked beautiful against the bright blue sky and it was deemed an excellent place for a photocall – thanks to Jan for that.

After a little mooch and a rest inside the chapel we set off for the long walk along the waterside back to the Green Man. When we set off the tide was quite a long way out but as we made our way round it seemed to come in quickly. The obvious landmark we made for was Bradwell power station which is now shrouded in some form of cladding as part of its decommissioning. There were very few people around – the couple of men we saw looked a bit incongruous in their suits as they walked away from the power station!

The weather continued to be kind to us despite some odd menacing black clouds and we arrived back at the pub by 12.50. The landlord was prompt with our food for which I think we were all grateful!  Hopefully all enjoyed the walk which was slightly longer than usual! Sorry.

Sue Bridgeman