THE WALK

1. Head down the lane opposite the pub, passing the church on your right. At a left-hand bend pass through a wooden kissing gate. Continue, keeping the fence/hedge on your right, through another kissing gate then turn right, over a stile. Turn left along a field edge onto a grassy track, then right along a gravel track. Kink left and right.

2. Turn left along a track with the garden of Little Wakering Hall beyond iron railings on the left. Pass through a gap beside a metal gate and keep straight on. Skirt around a further gate, passing fishing lakes on your right, then after 600 metres a metal kissing gate leads out onto a lane. Cross the lane onto another track signposted for Wakering Boatyard. A gap on the right accesses a path surfaced with bark chippings; follow it and fork left to access the seawall. Note the view off to the east of the bridge across to Foulness Island.

3. Turn left and follow the seawall path as it weaves past the boatyard and the various vessels moored there. Negotiate a floodgate and continue atop the seawall to approach the Potton Island swing-bridge. Cross the bridge road and continue on the seawall path, through a wooden gate.

Low tide at Wakering Boatyard Low tide at Wakering Boatyard 4. From here the path continues for over 3½ miles along the crest of the seawall, always with the tidal creek to the right. Pass another floodgate, marking the access of the old causeway to Potton Island, then the confluence of Potton Creek and Barlinghall Creek, all the while looking out for Marsh Harriers, Lapwings, Herons and Egrets, no doubt accompanied by the guttural squawking of Black-headed Gulls, so characteristic of the Essex coast. A long loop swings almost 180°, through a number of metal kissing gates, before the path turns sharp right and begins to head inland, still with the creek on the right.

5. The path narrows to pass a large heap of rubble as it bends to cross a sluice, then through another metal kissing gate. As the creek sweeps left it narrows to a head, where the path is bounded by a concrete wall and then a fence. A narrow gate and some steps lead to the top of Kimberley Road; walk down the road and then left onto Little Wakering Road, to return to the pub and the option of a well-earned drink.

COMPASS POINTS

Distance: 6.4 miles (10.3km).

Starting point: The Castle Inn, 181 Little Wakering Road: grid reference TQ933883; postcode SS3 0JW.

Access: On-street parking is available. The pub has a car park, but ask permission if you want to use it. There are also bus stops outside the pub, on the 14 Southend to Shoeburyness route.

Map: OS Explorer 163 Blackwater Estuary: Maldon, Burnham-on-Crouch & Southend-on-Sea.

Refreshment: The walk begins and ends at The Castle Inn. There is a convenience store just south along Little Wakering Road.

PLACES OF INTEREST

Potton Island lies tantalisingly out of reach across the swing-bridge. It fell under Ministry of Defence control in 1955 and although it is actively farmed there is unfortunately no public access. Considering its perimeter is similar to the length of this walk, that is quite a chunk of Essex out of bounds. At one point in the late 20th century it was being considered as a repository for nuclear waste! Little Wakering was a Saxon settlement and now forms a ‘linear’ village either side of the road between Great Wakering to the south and Barling to the north. The church of St. Mary the Virgin, opposite The Castle Inn, has some surviving Norman features though the tower was built in the early 1400s under the instruction of John Wakering, Bishop of Norwich, and has his preening pelican crest carved into it. Sadly the church is no longer in regular use. Great Wakering Common, just south of the walk route (access grid reference TQ952878) welcomes visitors to enjoy a variety of wild habitats. It was a POW camp during WW2, furnished with Nissen huts which were subsequently used to house local residents. The area was inundated during the devastating storm-surge flood of 31st January 1953 and five lives were lost. Great Wakering itself, while larger than Little Wakering is still a relatively quiet but pleasant village, centred on its High Street which runs east-west, ending at the pretty little St. Nicholas’ Church at its eastern end. There are several small shops and businesses along its length as well as a charming diversity of old and new houses.