Walking

Our Group Leader, Diane Caulkett took a well-earned vacation, which meant that she was unable to lead the June walk. However, she set what was intended to be a relatively short and simple route for the group, to be led by the undersigned.

The Group met at Burnham railway station, to be joined by two new members to the group, and boarded the 1020 train to Althorne. From there 15 of us walked down the lane to Bridgemarsh marina, where a helpful yachtsman pointed us in the right direction along the seawall.

As everyone will recall, summer had already arrived and we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day. We all agreed that the shorter walk alongside the river Crouch, facing a cooling easterly breeze was a good choice on such a hot day.

Having not had rain during these last few weeks, the ground was dry (no muddy boots to clean). The terrain was flat and easy along the seawall, with only a gentle climb up above Creeksea Cliffs to take in the view of the Crouch and beyond.

Apart from a few swans, geese and ducks, we did not see a lot of bird life, but we did see some people cooling off in the river at Creeksea. We also passed a few other walkers coming in the opposite direction

Ten of us ended our walk back to Burnham with a very good lunch at The Oyster Smack.

Jan van der Schans

18 of us met in the car park of the Star pub at Steeple peering up at the sky wondering what the day’s weather would bring; most wore or carried waterproofs fearing the worst.  However, the day was very kind to us and as the walk progressed the sun came out and the waterproofs were put away.

This walk was one from www.essexwalks.com which is a very useful website – it was one of their short walks, 4.5 miles.  The walk took us a little way along the main road to a well-hidden footpath sign next to the Rising Sun pub (now defunct?). From there we walked through a delightful wooded path which then opened out into pasture land.  When Lesley and I first walked it the path was easily visible but within the month it had become overgrown.  Nevertheless, it was adequately signposted and we made our away along field edges accompanied by quite a variety of birdsong.  A slight turn to the right brought us to the riverbank.  We had to cross a bridge which had a sort of a stile at the end of it which was a bit of a challenge for those of shorter stature!

Unfortunately the tide was well down but as the day was clear we had excellent views across the river to Osea Island and beyond.  We continued east along the coastal path enjoying the pleasure of the Essex countryside on such a lovely spring day.  As we turned inland along Mayland Creek we passed the edge of Steeple Caravan Park – how thoughtful of them to provide us with benches to sit on!

This was usefully at the mid-point of the walk and we paused for a short break and watched the world go by!  We then continued along the creek as it wound its way back towards Steeple village. We were treated to some magnificent displays of May blossom ranging in colour from white through to pink.

Overall the signposting of the path was very good but where it was supposed to leave the river bank and cut across the fields back to Steeple along the St.Peter’s Way the fingerpost was no longer there to be seen. The walk instructions say to go over a dilapidated wooden stile but there is not one of those either.  Fortunately when we initially walked along the path we had worked out where we needed to go and found an indistinct path that leads at an angle from the river and across several fields.  This eventually led through the farmyard at Hall Farm and out onto Canney Road that joined up with the main road back to the pub.

Before reaching the pub we passed the pretty church of St Lawrence and All Saints. We were back by 12.10 and pleased to sit down to a pleasant lunch at the Star.

Sue Bridgman

Compared to last month’s the mud we encountered is hardly worth mentioning, but a few deep patches caused concern to some and slowed the pace, as did the six stiles we later had to cross.  This undulating and strenuous walk is a favourite at springtime and the bluebells, wood anemones, lesser celandines and other wildflowers did not disappoint.

Leaving the Cricketers Arms we climbed to Danbury Church, took footpaths that led to the A414, which we crossed, followed it a short way downhill and then descended to the fringes of Lingwood Common.  On its outskirts we followed a delightful path that ran beside a stream and weaved its way west. Here we caught our first glimpses of bluebells growing amongst the trees.  Although we had to walk along Riffhams Lane for 5-minutes it was no hardship as this too is attractive in the spring and the several dead, giant, gnarled oak trunks are worth seeing.  The next footpath took us across parkland belonging to Riffhams, where sheep and lambs wandered and on the ridge beyond stands the house in its landscaped gardens; in the grounds two stunning trees with pink blossoms gave a burst of colour to the dominant greenery elsewhere.

A series of paths through woods, beside fields, and across a field of horses and foals led us to Belle Vue, a house which as its name suggests stands on a high point.  From here we descended into Blakes Wood where the bluebells were stunning. Caught at the right moment, as we did, the bluebells here never fail to impress; neither words nor photographs can sufficiently portray the scene of swathes and swathes of them amongst the trees glowing in the speckled sunlight.

Tracks meander willy-nilly through this wood and I have to confess I did take one wrong turn and we had to backtrack a short way; unfortunately it was uphill and the only excuse I can think of is that the cheerful chatter of the group distracted me!! As you can imagine there were some disgruntled ‘comments’ from the group, However, it was only a slight blip and poor Tim having worked his way from the back of the group to the front found that when I turned around, he ended up at the back again.

The last bluebells of the day were in the gardens of the White House that we walked alongside for a short while.  Then we entered Lingwood Common once more, but this time higher up where the path undulates before dipping down to a stream and the final long climb back to the church.

The final descent from the church back to the pub is always a relief.  We were served our food quickly and silence fell as we tucked in but it very soon reverted to the usual noisy, bubbling chatter.

Diane Caulkett

Flanders & Swann’s song ‘The Hippopotamus’ comes to mind when thinking about this walk and although no one actually wallowed in the mud two members did have a half-hearted attempt to do so.  It is the first walk we have started in rain but in spite of this 13 enthusiastic walkers (including one new member to the group) donned the appropriate clothing and having ordered lunch at the Rettendon Bell PH, set off.

We followed a delightful narrow footpath that climbed steadily northwards.  Underfoot the ground was smothered in fallen oak leaves and acorns that gave the feeling of walking through ancient woodland.  Further on the path emerged onto open farmland and we disturbed firstly a pheasant and then almost immediately, a fox.  With the abundance of acorns squirrels were everywhere prancing along the branches and avoiding us.

The rain gradually eased and turned to drizzle, which obscured the views we would have had from the hilltops.

In one field a sculpture of a horse drew our attention and in the nearby garden a large sculptured dog sat beneath a tree looking up into it where a football had been placed – some thought it was a dog baying to the moon and others simply a dog wanting his ball to drop to the ground.  Close by stood a tree decorated with numerous blue glass bottles hanging on strings.

Then came the first of the muddy stretches; for the most part the mud could be avoided on this path but later on there were no alternatives and, as the paths were bridleways, had been well and truly churned up.  We met a group of five walkers who had met at Liverpool Street Station, had caught the train to Battlesbridge and were doing a 10-mile circuit – they all at one time worked for the London Underground and had been meeting for the past 15 years.  They warned of mud ahead, which actually wasn’t as bad as the mud they would soon be encountering.

Climbing beside Mark’s Farm we had a chance to clean our boots in the grass field but this was a short respite as the next field, planted with crops that were being enjoyed by Canada and greylag geese, was also muddy.  Fortunately the mud was not of the type that clings and becomes huge balls of mud but fell off our boots quite easily.  By now the drizzle had ceased and the clouds were lifting to give us a view in the distance of our destination.

We arrived back still laughing and chattering and, joined by 3 other people, were served promptly and enjoyed a good and ample lunch.

Diane Caulkett

Next Walk – Tuesday 24^th April meet 10.00 Cricketers Arms, Penny Royal Road, Danbury Common.  Please park in the car park on the opposite side to the pub and slightly down the hill – pub will be open for us to pre-order lunch.  Prompt start. 

Hopefully the bluebells will be out.  An undulating walk.

We woke up to snow ….

….and with bad driving conditions, cancelled the monthly walk.;  the first time in the history of the walking group.

Diane Caulkett

The first walk of the New Year started with a new venue, The Quart Pot, Runwell where 20 walkers gathered awaiting the landlord’s arrival.  The pub’s staff were busy in the kitchen at the rear and summoned the landlord for us who opened the door.  He appeared edgy because we were more in numbers than I had said previously and this put him in a ‘tizz’.  The problem was he had a wake to cater for, some 50 people, and we were all arriving for lunch at the same time and he was unsure as to where to seat us.  He mellowed, took our orders, and indicated the tables we would have and all was well.

Four new members joined us today and once introduced to the rest we set off west across the adjacent large playing field.  A short stretch of pavement led us to an unmade road and then onto footpaths across the fields.  We were lucky to have kindly farmers who kept a wide stretch of grass between the edge of the field and the cultivated parts, as after the recent days of rain the fields were muddy.  On two occasions we should have followed the paths directly across these fields but we took the cleaner route around the edges [If you study the OS map towards the end of this report you can see this quite clearly. DG], but even so we all became slightly mud spattered.

The land around Runwell is not flat and we climbed gently reaching the dizzy height of almost 79m (as marked by a concrete cone on the ground and a trigonometric point on the map).  These small climbs afforded us views east and south and later ahead of us to the west, and a glimpse of Hanningfield Reservoir.

The halfway point of the walk came at West Hanningfield where it was intended we walk down to the banks of the reservoir but the road to it was closed for works.  Instead we paused on a grassed area for a photo opportunity.

Once again footpaths and fields took us up and down and we arrived back into Runwell passing along a lane bordered with bungalows and caravans that I would have avoided if I could; but there wasn’t another route.  We were very pleased to find that the guard dogs of various shapes and sizes were securely fenced in and that we didn’t encounter any of the occupants of the bungalows or caravans.

We all returned muddy and happy but at least crossing the playing field once more we had an opportunity to clean our boots in the wet grass.

The pub did well; our drinks were laid out and waiting for us and we had hardly had a sip when the food arrived.  The wake filled two-thirds of the pub and we the remaining third so it was noisy and lively.

8 kms/5 miles

Next Walk – Tuesday 27^th February 10.00 – at the Bell, Rettendon Common CM3 8DY (about 5 miles).  Park in the large car park at the rear and pre-order food.

Diane Caulkett