August on the Essex Way
My next long walk, in scattered parts
Whenever I go walking somewhere, my first port of call are the Ordnance Survey maps for the area. I’ve still got stacks of paper ones on a shelf downstairs, some of them relatively pristine, others with torn and creased covers from being regularly going in and out of pockets and bags, the paper of the map swollen from the rain that’s soaked into them over the years.
Even though I now do a lot of my planning online with OS Explore and the OS Maps app, there’s still a thrill in seeing an Explorer or Landranger map fully unfolded, completely covering a table or a floor to give a bird’s eye view of the land encapsulated in all those lines. Working out which places look the most interesting and how you can link them together through those lines of footpaths into a walk is a great way to learn about a place before you’re there.
And then there are the routes others have already found, those footpaths that arent just simple dashes or crosses, but have little diamonds threaded along them, and somewhere along that line there’ll be a little bit of text telling you the name of the route. And close to me, traced along the maps that cover the northern part of the county is a line that says Essex Way.
It’s a route as old as me, so predates all the The Only Way Is Essex jokes people make when you mention it. It’s an 81-mile route, beginning in Epping where Essex begins to emerge from London and then ending in Harwich where the land finally gives way to the sea.
I’ve walked parts of the route many times over the years I’ve lived here, using the signage as part of other routes and at some point I must have walked all of it from Coggeshall to Harwich in these eastern sections. It gives a very different image of Essex to the media shorthand for it. This is the more rural and agricultural north of the county, low hills and soft valleys cut by rivers on their way to the Thames estuary and the North Sea.
It sticks to villages and the smaller towns, avoiding the larger towns and cities (the closest it comes is skirting the edge of Colchester and providing a distant view of Jumbo), weaving through fields and the old trails and rights-of-way that are scattered across the map. It’s a weaving route, linking together all these old ways and little settlements, and Essex is a surprisingly large county, meaning it’ll take a few days to get from the city to the sea.
Five days, hopefully. But unlike my previous long walks, this isn’t one I’m going to do continuously. It’s going to be my project for August, picking a day each week to go out and tackle another section of it, traveling light, using public transport, and returning home at the end of each one. The stages I’m planning are:
Stage 1: Epping to Chalk End. This is the furthest from me, so starts with a train into London and the Tube out to the fringe. Then it’s heading out of the city and heading into the countryside, through Chipping Ongar and numerous villages. This stage will end at a main road, and a quick walk down to Chalk End to catch a bus to Chelmsford.
Stage 2: Chalk End to White Notley. Back to weaving through villages again, this time staying to the north of Chelmsford until finally reaching the railway line at White Notley.
Stage 3: White Notley to West Bergholt. This starts to get into the territory I know, passing through Coggeshall and then to the Colne Valley, seeming to head towards Colchester until the path veers away back to the north. (If my legs are feeling lively enough, I’ll push on a little towards Great Horkesley)
Stage 4: West Bergholt to Manningtree. Heading up from the Colne Valley and across to the Stour, this is a section I know well as it meanders through the various parts of Boxted then heads into Dedham before taking a route away from the river to give some views of what’s left to come before heading back down to the railway.
Stage 5: Manningtree to Harwich. Following the Stour as it goes from river to estuary to part of the North Sea, this section cuts back and forth from the coast, taking in sights like Grayson Perry’s House for Essex, before making one final curl into Harwich at the end.
I originally planned to do stage 1 today, but looking out the window at the rain that’s lashing down (and the thunderstorm warning from the Met Office) makes me glad I decided to wait until tomorrow, when it will hopefully be drier. My excuse is that this is meant to be the driest part of the country, so walking it in the rain wouldn’t give the true Essex experience…
I’ll write posts on each stage as I go and link them here, and you can also follow my progress on social media (mainly Mastodon and Instagram, I expect). Let’s go discover Essex!
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