WALK REPORT This is a photo set (18 pics) from a walk I did back at the beginning of the month with my flatmate Caroline and her friend Ryan. It was one of those clear, perfect spring weekends with barely a cloud in the sky. Along the way we visited four different country pubs: the Donkey & Buskins in Layer-de-la-Haye, the Lion in Abberton, the Whalebone in Fingringhoe, and the Anchor in Rowhedge, on the banks of the River Colne.

As on the previous two occasions I’ve done this walk, we begin in the heart of historic Colchester …
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These are the remains of St Botolph’s Priory, about 3 minutes’ walk from Colchester Town railway station. It dates to the 12th Century and is the first Augustinian church in England.

St Botolph’s Priory was a victim of Henry VIII’s campaign to wrest power from the Church. During the 1530s, hundreds of monasteries throughout Britain were systematically destroyed, St Botolph’s included. Some of the red bricks you see in this ruined arch likely date to the Roman era.

Ryan and Caroline on the grassy track that leads down to the Roman River from Olivers farm, on the outskirts of Colchester.

First pub of the day. This is the sign out front at the Donkey & Buskins in Layer-de-la-Haye village. Why a donkey would need buskins (the brown leather booties in the picture), I have no idea!

A red admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta), in the beer garden at the Donkey & Buskins. Anyone know the flower it’s feeding on? I think it might be a honeysuckle of some kind, but could be very wrong on that. Please help ID!

This is a honey bee on the same plant.

Caroline and Ryan at the mill house on the Roman River in Layer-de-la-Haye. The Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, is a thorough inventory of the towns, villages, and estates of England that existed at the time. The book mentions a mill on this site.

The path cuts through this wheat field near Malting Green.

A Small tortoiseshell butterfly (Nymphalis urticae) in the midst of a cluster of chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile aka Anthemis nobilis), by the edge of the same field.

A gravestone in the churchyard of a remote chapel near Abberton village. Abberton Reservoir is in the background. Note the odd spelling of “Harrisson”.

This flower is called Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena ‘Miss Jekyll’). Spotted somewhere near Abberton village.

Messing about with the camera. This is Caroline.

Pub #3 – this is the beer garden at the Whalebone in Fingringhoe village. Picture taken sometime around six in the evening.

This pub is very dog-friendly! A spaniel in the beer garden.

Expensive wheels parked outside the Whalebone. C & R posing by a Ferrari.

Ryan and an old bike down by the Roman River in Fingringhoe.

Evening light on the gates of Fingringhoe Hall. The original building dates to the 17th Century but it has been reconstructed to period specifications after a fire gutted it in the 1970s.

A bit of bramble on the path alongside the Roman River near Rowhedge.

This derelict boat has caught my eye each time I’ve done this walk, but this was the first time the light was just right.

You can do this walk too! Click here to read the walk description.