onionbagblog

This piece was first published in the brilliant Colchester 101 magazine. Copies are available for free around pubs, shops and other public places in the town.

With all this talk of potential city status for Colchester, sometimes you just need to step outside of the town centre and reflect upon the natural beauty that we are blessed to find on our doorstep - I’m not talking about the Greenstead Estate, either.

You may laugh at the idea of the Essex Riviera; the coastal landscape of the Colchester surrounds remains an undiscovered secret for many. Sure we have Clacton, Frinton and Walton to remind us of our childhood holidays. The whole of the Tendring Peninsula though is something of a Playboy’s (or girls) paradise when it comes to the great outdoors.

Now is the right time to go rambling, if indeed there ever is a right time to put on the walking boots, a bobble hat and pretend that you can read an Ordinance Survey map. Spring has finally arrived around these parts, and the landscape from the town centre out towards the coast is changing every day.

Brightlingsea would be a good starting point for any away day of discovery. The beauty is not so much in the destination itself, but the journey that takes you out to the closest stretch of coast outside of Colchester.

With the old Crab ‘n Winkle railway line long since lost to the Beeching Axe of ’63, the No. 78 bus is your friend. But not for the outward journey - the idea is for a walk along the Colne as it transcends from being a pleasant town centre river, to becoming a full on estuary on the edges of the North Sea.

Nine miles in total is the distance to walk. Follow the Colne, and on route and you will pass the historic (and now re-vitlaised) old port at the Hythe, the village charm of lower Wivenhoe, the rural and brutal landscape around Alresford Creek, the charm of Thorrington Tidal Mill, and then finally destination Brightlingsea.

A boat is then required to travel any further up the North Essex coast. For a day trip I would recommend that you get familiar with many of the fine pubs in Brightlingsea itself. With perfect town centre planning, the No. 78 bus even stops right outside the traditional Railway Tavern.

It is so easy to get caught up in an urban lifestyle as Colchester continues to expand. The edges of the town are now unrecognisable to only two decades ago. Somehow though a sense of scenic beauty manages to resist the clamour for city status, putting up natural barriers to allow rural pleasures such as the walk out to Brightlingsea.

Essex University has managed to stop Wivenhoe becoming a suburb of Colchester; Alresford Creek conveniently cuts up any attempt to put in place a direct road route all the way out towards Brightlingsea. The old port town itself is cut off from nearby Mersea, with a round trip all the way back towards the Hythe required to encounter the other side of the estuary.

And so while we rightfully continue the growth of Colchester, both commercially and culturally, sometimes it is a simple back to basics approach that reminds you of why so many of us choose to live and work in the area.

Oh - the walk out towards Brightlingsea also touches upon the edges of the Greenstead as well.