We come down for breakfast at 7:15 to find Victoria already cleaning in the bar. She also manages to provide a good cooked breakfast, and we check out and are ready to leave soon after 8:15. The first order of business is to catch the ferry over to Wallasea Island. The ferry is based at the marina on the island and doesn’t operate to a timetable and so, as previously arranged by John, we call the ferryman just after 8:30 to ask him to collect us. He hasn’t yet arrived at the marina but is only a few minutes drive away, and he gets over to the jetty outside the White Harte a quarter of an hour later. He turns out to be a former policeman who spent some time in the force’s boat service. He tells us that, perhaps not surprisingly, the supply chain problems regarding motor fuel are also affecting deliveries of marine fuel. However, this shouldn’t cause too many problems for the ferry, because apparently it only runs from April to September and will be closing tomorrow for the next 6 months. Seems like we’ve struck lucky with our timing.
The crossing to Wallasea takes no more than 10 minues and we arrive there just before 9 o’clock. We’re going to walk clockwise around the island – i.e. along the south side of the Crouch, then round to the north side of the River Roach and finally north west along Paglesham Pool to arrive back at the entrance to the marina. This will comprise a significant part of today’s walk, but how significant remains to be seen. First, we’re uncertain about the distance around the island because there are going to be one or two diversions due to works which are being carried out to parts of the sea wall (using, apparently, excavated material from the Crossrail project) and seasonal nesting birds in some RSPB wetlands. Secondly, although our plan is to walk to Eastend, and the Plough and Sail pub near Paglesham from which a cab is due to collect us at 3 o’clock, it’s possible – time and inclination permitting – that we’ll continue for another 3 miles towards Rochford and arrange for the cab to meet us at another pub. In the event, the Wallasea diversions are not extensive and the distance we cover is just under 8 miles. Once off the island, we turn back on ourselves to walk south east along the other side of Paglesham Pool and, three and a half miles later at 1 o’clock, we’ve rejoined the bank of the Roach and are just over half a mile away from the jetty at Eastend. The question of whether to continue beyond there is raised, and a decision in the negative is quickly reached. This is not based upon time, but rather upon inclination and, more particularly, upon the weather forecast which is for rain in the near future – something supported by ever darkening clouds overhead. Ten minutes later, the rain does start to fall – and very heavily. We’re only a couple of hundred yards away from the jetty and it’s a similar distance from there to the Plough and Sail. However, although we quickly don some wet weather gear, our appearance when we enter the pub can fairly be described as bedraggled and dripping. We order some sandwiches and, having managed to bring forward the cab pick-up time to 2:15, John, Ben and Gary have just the one pint each of a local brew called Wallasea Wench whilst David, who will be driving home from Wickford, has a pint of water and a cup of coffee.
The cab arrives a few minutes early, and it takes around 20 minutes to get to Rochford. Our driver has mentioned a bit of service station chaos nearby at Hockley, and it seems that Rochford is also suffering. We enter a narrow one way street and can see the rail station at a T Junction with a main road about 100 yards away, but the traffic isn’t moving. Apparently, there’s a service station about a quarter of a mile from the T Junction, and many of the cars trying to move in that direction are likely to be queueing for fuel. The next London bound train is due in 12 minutes, and our driver reckons that there’s a distinct risk that we’ll miss it unless we get out and walk the short distance which remains. We take his advice and, by the time we reach the T Junction, there has been little if any movement of the traffic. The train is on time, David alights 3 stops later at Wickford, and the rest of us continue to Liverpool Street.
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