Essex: Mucking Hall to Southend 8/7/09

 

From Mucking Hall it was a direct walk to the embankment along the south bank of the Roach.  Again we found a few gull-predated quahogs, but the walk for a long time, around a peninsula formed by the Roach and Barlinghall Creek, was basically a tour around 3 sides of a rubbish dump occupying the whole of former Barling Marsh.  This was popular with gulls and crows, not so popular with us on the windward side, although the tip was kept well back from the embankment and its containing ditch.  At Barling Hall there was a boat- and scrap-yard, and an overstocked field of horses (completely devoid of grass) that the owners had fenced halfway across the footpath on top of the embankment.  Otherwise the path was generally well-maintained.  After the boatyard was a long walk up and down the banks of Little Wakering Creek, as far as Little Wakering village itself.  On the return leg of this creek, where one farmer had not cut the grass along the embankment path, walking was difficult.  Nor had he mended the stiles, which were difficult to cross.  Along this section, however, we walked very close to a large adder sleeping at the edge of the path.  Many plants were in seed and the landscape looked increasingly bare.  The few bramble bushes scattered around, whenever we passed them, gave rise to a cloud of butterflies, especially hedge brown, but also meadow brown, whites and peacocks.  The creeks, far from the open sea, had relatively few waders, but one bay had three curlews, normally a solitary bird (though these were as far apart as they could manage).  Regularly we saw on flowers a distinctive beetle Oedemera lurida, which has swollen back thighs and shining green body.  We rounded a corner into Potton Creek, separating us from the military exercise area of Potton Island and Foulness.  We eventually reached Oxenham, a farm with just a couple of houses, and continued to Havengore swing-bridge, the military access road to Havengore Island. The gates across the footpath were locked and red flags were flying, although we never heard any exercises.  It looked as though the way is permanently blocked.  There was nothing for it but to retrace our steps to Oxenham, costing 4 wasted kilometres.  An unsigned field track (all footpath signs near the military area seem to have been removed) led to Landwick Cottages, and then we had to follow the fence around the vast army reserve for several miles all the way to Shoeburyness, where there was finally a track down to the coast and a much delayed first view of the outer mouth of the Thames.  The sandy beach here had a crowded colony of sea holly, but this did not extend very far.  On a small patch of sand above the beach there was also a dense colony of Bermuda grass, an unexpected find.  Among the black-headed gulls were a number of Mediterranean gulls.  The beach did not last long (although there was eventually a plant of yellow-horned poppy) and was soon replaced by boulder sea-defences and broken down walkways.  We walked between endless tall fences, keeping people from the coast, from demolition sites, from construction sites, and finally from the nature reserve we had been eagerly anticipating for a change.  The MoD paranoia seems to have extended to the whole community of Shoeburyness.  When we got to a coastguard look-out post, we found the path was again blocked.  We had to climb over a sea-wall and down the beach to get round the fence.  From here we were essentially walking past long series of beach-huts.  Southend has incorporated many other towns, such as Thorpe Bay and Southchurch, which we walked past on the promenade.  There was some sand-&-shingle beach close to the centre of Southend, again with a solitary yellow-horned poppy, most of the scattered vegetation being sea beet and orache.   After miles of residential streets we finally arrived near the pier (1½ miles long with a train for people who want to go to the end!), amusement palaces, and the seafront car park.  This was a convenient place to call it a day and call a taxi. River Roach embankment Potton Creek, looking across to Potton Island