Day 139 – Tollesbury to Heybridge Basin: 14.3m: 5.1h

We’re up at 7 o’clock for breakfast which is being prepared by the hotel manager. She’s particularly happy to see us at such an early hour because she’s working on her own and says that she has to cater for a table of 16 in about an hour’s time. This comes as something of a surprise because we didn’t notice too many other people yesterday evening, and we’ve finished our full English, checked out and are back in a cab before anyone else appears.

We’ve filled our water bottles before leaving, but it’s likely to be another warm day so we call in at a supermarket on the outskirts of Maldon to acquire extras. Suitably provisioned (and attired) we are returned to Tollesbury and we set off from the Sailing Club just after 8:30 in conditions which are far more favourable than those encountered yesterday – both overhead and underfoot. The weather is again dry, but it’s also brighter and less muggy, and the coast path around Tollesbury Wick turns out to be pretty well maintained. We’re therefore able to maintain a comfortable pace and to take in our surroundings as we reach the easterly end of the Wick, turn, and continue back westward along the north bank of the River Blackwater. The route then sticks pretty much to the river bank with views along the water towards Maldon, and across it to Bradwell and St Lawrence.

After an uneventful and enjoyable couple of hours, the path turns inland on a few occasions so that we can get round or over some river inlets. One of these takes us past the Goldhanger Sailing Club which is the first occupied building we’ve seen since leaving Tollesbury, but it’s not long before we encounter many others in the Osea Leisure Park. Immediately outside the eastern end of the Park near Decoy Point is a path leading into the river, and beneath the surface of the water, it’s possible to make out the line of a causeway which, at low tide, is the route out towards Osea Island. Beyond the Leisure Park, we pass a Marine Club, a caravan park and several sailing clubs as we approach Heybridge Basin where the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation Canal enters the river via a couple of lock gates. It’s here, shortly after 1:30, that we end today’s walk and start the process of obtaining drinks at the Old Ship. This involves finding an outside table, with somebody joining a queue at the pub door and, when at the front, placing an order, waiting for that to be taken to the bar and for a card machine to be brought out for payment to be made, and finally having the order brought to the table. It’s the palaver at the door which takes up most of the time. Once the order has been placed, it isn’t too long before the drinks arrive, swiftly followed by bacon and brie baked potatoes (baguettes not being available) for the Harkness contingent. Our table is alongside the lock, and watching the gates open and close to allow four boats to enter from the canal and exit into the Blackwater is strangely addictive. We also have the time to get a second round of drinks before our pre-ordered cab arrives on schedule to take us to Witham station. David waits there for a northbound train to reunite him with his car at Colchester, whilst the rest of us take a service to Liverpool Street from where Mike and John travel to King’s Cross and Paddington for their trains back to Newark and Kingham.