Sunday, 11 November 2001

Coastwalk

Maylandsea → Maldon

[Maldon]

Distance: 9.1 miles
Ascent: unknown
Duration: unknown

Salt and mud
« St Lawrence Bay | Tollesbury Marsh »

Finally.

I've reached the first bridge across the Blackwater and the next walk will take me out towards the sea again.

Maldon's where Dad got his first deputy-headship (at a school where coincidentally he taught maths to someone I now work with, twenty years later). Maldon's the reason our family spent five years living in Chelmsford.

The path from Maylandsea snakes round creeks, farms and an old battlefield before crossing the causeway to Northey Island. It's only a short distance then to Promenade Park which marks the start of the town.

Each New Year, the park plays host to the Mad Maldon Mud Race, an endurance test that involves running (or wading) across the estuary at low tide to the opposite bank and back. If I'm still living in East Anglia when the next race is held I'll try to get down there; it looks like a typically eccentric British sport.

The majority of Maldon is built on the land rising away from the river to the south, but a small dock, marina and saltworks keep the path company until it finally reaches the bridge.

Posted by pab at 22:23