This was a walk essentially around Brightlingsea and then on to Colchester. As normal this wasn’t a straight line as I followed the coasts and creeks. The day was ideal for walking with a pleasant breeze and plenty of blackberries.
Once again I met people collecting blackberries and I was surprised they didn’t use them for wine making!
One couple are now planning blackberry gin.
The path is not overly well marked and I would have got badly lost without the help of two angry cyclists.
They were angry because they’d had to carry their bikes 200m because the blackthorn around a path had been flail cut leaving a puncture giving layer of blackthorn on the path. My boots were unaffected.
Unfortunately the tide was high and my way was blocked by a flooded path on a creek near Wivenhoe and I’d have to wait a couple of hours for it to fall again.
Luckily a local chap let be walk through his garden to rejoin the dry part of the path.
Then it was, it felt, a long walk into Colchester after a drink stop in Wivenhoe.
My hotel was right in the middle of Colchester so it was an urban walk for most of it.
There was one bit of entertainment was on Brook Street a long road with traffic lights at one end. This resulted in a long queue of stationary traffic.
One van had his music on very loudly and it was playing a song from my student days Blondie’s Atomic. By sheer coincidence as I reached the van Debbie Harry launched into the chorus with a culminating shout of “Atomic” , as it did so I used my walking poles as a microphone and did a small jump and dance not helped by my rucksack.
Quite pleased with this I plodded on . However the timing of the traffic lights and the song synchronised beautifully and I was approaching the van as the chorus came up. I took the opportunity of a repeat performance.
Out the corner of my eye I saw some movement, a young lad in his twenties was joining in with my impromptu street dance.
At the end of the chorus we laughed and chatted as we carried on up the road.
Inevitably the chorus came again as we approached the van. This time my colleaguee went a little far by taking a more active dance out in the road in front of the van as we both mouthed “Atomic”.
The van driver switched his music off.
Sadly we bumped fists and carried on to Colchester. Linked by an 80’s pop song and a traffic jam in Colchester.