Coastwalk

Tollesbury → Mersea Strood West

Distance: 13.4 miles
Ascent: 102 metres
Duration: 3 hours 42 minutes

Roads and paths
« Tollesbury Marsh | Mersea Strood East »

Today has been my longest road-walk. The first third of the day was on footpaths - round Old Hall Marsh and across a farm to Brooklyn - but the majority of the day has been spent pounding the tarmac. Ordinarily I'd moan - why isn't there a path along the coast here? - but instead it's made me realise how much footpath there is around the coast. The fact that today's ten miles of tarmac stand out shows just how fortunate walkers can be.

Old Hall Marsh was fairly uneventful, but making my way north from Salcott-cum-Virley was another matter.

The right of way marked on the map was difficult to find on the ground. It involved ignoring a "Private" sign and negotiating with ferocious (though thankfully tethered) Alsatians. I lost the path amongst the farm buildings, but finally found it again. (Turn right just before the dead pig slumped against the barn wall.) Where the path then cut into fields, a stile-less fence blocked the way and after working my way beside the crops (planted to the edge of the field), the stile at the other end was decorated with a sign that says "Foot and Mouth, Keep Out".

Now I know for a fact that there is no such exclusion zone here. I now the right of way should be maintained by the land owner. I suspect that it's not appropriate behaviour to leave dead animals (yes, it stank) on public footpaths.

The majority of landowners seem to accept rights of way and earn respect from those who use them. Just once or twice though, you come across someone whose attitude seems just that little more possessive. And sadly its those individuals who are remembered, not the thousands who've provide access willingly.

So while for the first few miles on road today I was full of resentment, by the end I'd mellowed and was thankful for the previous six hundred miles and tried to put the preceding six out of mind.