25 photos in this set. Scroll down for the full-size images, with captions.

1. The departures board at London’s Liverpool Street Station says it’s 9:22am. Time to catch the fast train north to Colchester.

2. Liske and Sophie at our first stop of the day, St Botolph’s Priory in Colchester.

3. And here we are having just set off on our country walk. L to R: Sophie, Liske, and Kate, snapping a photo.

4. The flowering thistles look quite pretty at this time of year.

5. Kate, Sophie, Liske, and Laura on the march near the old Roman Temple at Gosbeck’s Archaeological Park.

6. Kate and Laura about to cross the footbridge over the Roman River at Chest Wood. Caroline, do you remember? This is where you fell in the river in June!

7. Kate’s lunch at the Donkey & Buskins pub was this spinach and ricotta bake. Mmm. Tasty.

8. Sophie and I had the chicken, pork, and leek pie. Not so sure about that one – the pastry was a bit doughy. But a good meal, all considered.

9. After lunch we walked down to the old mill near Malting Green. On the way I noticed this odd sight: a swarm of ants on a bunch of acorns. I wonder what’s attracting them!

10. Laura feeding Liske a wild plum from a tree we found by the path.

11. A work horse and his companion in a pasture near Malting Green. Photo by Kate Harper.

12. My, Liske, what big boots you have! Time for a spot of Earl Grey tea and a nap. Taken on the path near Abberton Manor.

13. Kate greets a friendly Labradoodle in a meadow near Abberton Reservoir.

14. Liske, you ought to be a model. Taken at pub 2 of 5, the Langenhoe Lion, where we stopped for lemonade.

15. Hi-jinks on the way into Fingringhoe village. Very impressive, Kate. But can you still walk now?

16. Damn, this didn’t really work as intended. Tried to get a shot of us in this roadside safety mirror. Can you make out the five of us? We’re quite tiny …

17. Pub #3, the Whalebone in Fingringhoe village. It’s all downhill from here so we’ve moved on to cider.

18. Kate tempts one of the Whalebone’s ferocious basset hound guard dogs with a sour cream and onion flavored Pringle.

19. Liske, Sophie, and Kate playing around on the ancient oak in Fingringhoe village. It’s 650 years old and really is a monster of a tree.

20. Low tide on the Roman River coming into Rowhedge. Nice evening light now.

21. Our group crossing the marshes on the way into Rowhedge village. Last pub is dead ahead.

22. But not before we stopped to pick these delicious blackberries. You can see how they’re only just starting to ripen.

23. Laura and Liske wasting no time with the blackberry picking, while Kate snaps a photo.

24. And here I am with Sophie. We couldn’t stop eating them! Next time I’ll bring a bag and take some home. Photo by Laura Broadley.

25. Walk complete! Liske, Kate, and Sophie doing silly toasts on the riverside terrace at the Anchor pub in Rowhedge.

That’s THE END of this walk. Now you can try it yourself! This page has all the details you’ll need. And if you’ve enjoyed these photos, please leave a comment. (If there’s no comment box visible, you’ll need to click the blue comment link below and scroll back to the bottom of the page.)

Sophie, Kate, Laura, and Liske – thanks a million for coming – it was a terrific day out!

– DW

1. On the fast train from London to Colchester. That’s Tim on the left and Russell on the right – it’s 9am on a Saturday morning so coffee’s at the ready. Tim’s Googling “St Botolph” (see pic 3) on his BlackBerry.

2. Creepy ceramics in a Colchester shop window. According to my friend Rupert, the squat characters on the right in hats are called “toby jugs”. Not sure about the balding guy with the lobotomy though.

3. Interior detail of the ruins of St Botolph’s Priory in Colchester. See one of my earlier posts here for more info on St Botolph.

4. Now we’re out in the countryside. This is a flowering thistle by the path near Cheshunt Field, on the outskirts of Colchester.

5. Windswept poppies in a field of wheat. This field lies adjacent to the remains of a Roman temple. (In Roman days, Colchester was a more important town than London.)

6. A hydrangea in Layer-de-la-Haye village. About to stop for a pub lunch, just around the corner.

7. Quiet light on some pond weed by the path that leads down to the Roman River from the Donkey & Buskins pub.

8. We found these plums on a tree near Malting Green. The fruits are only about cherry-sized, but very delicious. Took some home.

9. A feisty horse looking for attention. If you’ve been following this blog, you might recognize him from this pic here.

10. Dandelion, up close.

11. We stopped for a tea break and 15-minute siesta in a meadow near Abberton Reservoir.

12. This is Abberton Church. It’s not the prettiest building in the world, but it’s in a lovely setting overlooking Abberton Reservoir. Note the freshly dug grave in the foreground.

13. This African Grey parrot is the mascot of the Langenhoe Lion, pub number 2 of 4 on today’s route. Friendly, but don’t get too close!

14. Cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) on the path near Upper Hay Farm.

15. Russell and Tim checking out a huge 650-year-old oak tree on the village green in Fingringhoe. A local myth says it grew from the eye socket of a buried pirate, but I’m a little skeptical.

16. This gives you some idea of the scale of the tree.

17. Down by the Roman River marshes, on the way to Rowhedge, last town of the day. Photo by Russell Saint Cyr.

18. Russell and Tim pause for a break by the Roman River near where it empties into the larger River Colne. The tidal range is very high here, and the sign indicates that at least this section of the waterway is navigable.

19. Common Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) berries. And Russell.

20. This is the sign for The Anchor pub, which has a great waterfront terrace overlooking the River Colne.

21. And here we are at the end of the walk! Beers on the riverbank at Rowhedge village.

If you’d like to try this walk too, this page has all the details you’ll need.

As on the previous two occasions I’ve done this walk, we begin in the heart of historic Colchester …
[walk profile]

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.

I have tried saving one of the pictures from the Essex walk in different sizes so you can download the image and put it on your desktop if you so desire.

Because the camera I’m using only has around a 4-megapixel resolution, the clarity may not be that fantastic. Your comments welcome, as always.

Ed, thank you for being the unwitting model in this shot!

To try out the desktop wallpaper, you’ll need to download one of these files. First, pick the one that matches your screen resolution, and click on it to open it in your browser. Then, if you have a PC, you should be able to simply right-click on the image and choose “Set as Background” or “Set as Desktop Background”. Mac users, I’m sure it’s even easier than that.

1600×1200, 1280×1024, 1280×854 (Mac widescreen), 1024×768, 800×600

Next walk is to Benington Lordship gardens on Thursday. If you want to come, RSVP and be at London Moorgate station ticket counter at 8:30am Thursday morning!

– DW

PS: I’ve removed the logo from the image so it’s ad-free now.

Our route on Saturday followed the Roman River: Colchester Zoo – Cheshunt Field Iron Age & Roman Settlement – Chest Wood – Layer de la Haye (pub) – Abberton Manor – Abberton church – Abberton village (pub) – Haye Farm – Fingringhoe (pub) – Rowhedge (pub). This walk is much improved from the previous week, given the addition of one extra pub at Abberton which breaks up the journey nicely. [walk profile]

Here are some photos from our day out. I know, too much camera-tilt. Will make an effort to avoid excessive use of this effect in future photos, but be forewarned, the next couple of batches suffer from it.

These ruins in the center of Colchester are all that remain of the first Augustinian priory church in England, St Botolph’s. Botolph was an influential Christian missionary of the 7th Century AD whose name was given to many churches and towns throughout the East Anglia region of England. It is theorized that one such town is “Botolph’s Stone” in Lincolnshire. This name was later shortened to Boston, and replicated across the Atlantic as the capital city of the state of Massachusetts.

Red corn poppies (Papaver rhoeas) and other wildflowers on a patch of scrub land near Butcher’s Wood, just outside Colchester.

A vintage 1960s Daimler Sovereign we found parked in a driveway in Layer de la Haye village. This car is an early relative of the Jaguar XJ6.

The goldfish pond at the Donkey & Buskins pub in Layer de la Haye.

“That’s enough photos Dave – can I eat my lunch now?” Enjoying a big plate of fish and chips in the sunny beer garden outside the Donkey & Buskins pub.

A rock rose, probably either Cistus x cyprius or Cistus x aguilarii ‘Maculatus’. Shot somewhere near Layer de la Haye village.

This old mill house on the Roman River is mentioned in the famous Domesday Book of 1086.

Another shot of the same mill building from a different angle. The Roman River flows in a channel to the right of the hedge here.

Approaching Abberton church. You can’t see it in this picture, but just to the right is Abberton Reservoir, nearly three miles long.

This African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) lives in the Lion pub in Abberton, and is probably looking forward to the smoking ban which comes into force in pubs throughout England on the 1st of July.

Coming up on Fingringhoe, another place with a curious name.

This fine pair of basset hounds guard the premises at The Whalebone pub in Fingringhoe village. They’re the friendliest guard dogs you’ll ever meet – perfectly content to laze about in the sun all afternoon.

Tea in the beer garden at The Whalebone in Fingringhoe. Late afternoon.

Poppy, one of the pub mascots, under the larch tree in the beer garden at The Whalebone in Fingringhoe.

Find out how you can do this walk too! Click here for more info.

Red campion on the path near Cheshunt Field Iron Age & Roman Settlement

A makeshift swing on the Roman River in Chest Wood

Close-up of a ceanothus plant in Layer de la Haye village

A variety of spurge known as Euphorbia x martinii, growing in a front garden in Layer de la Haye village

Fish and chips at the Donkey & Buskins pub in Layer de la Haye village

Isaac leads the way down to the old mill house near Malting Green

Stopping to chat with a friendly horse

A not-so friendly sign near Abberton Reservoir, where the path crosses an Army training ground

Lambs with their mothers in a field near Abberton Manor

More of the same flock gathered beneath an old dead oak

Guy decides to take the direct route to the pub in Fingringhoe

Upper Hay Farm on the path to Fingringhoe

A phone box opposite the Whalebone pub in Fingringhoe

A line of fishermen underneath a 600-year-old oak tree in Fingringhoe

The view downstream to Wivenhoe from the old converted mill on the Roman River near Fingringhoe

Crossing the marshes alongside the Roman River between Fingringhoe and Rowhedge

A closer shot of Wivenhoe, taken around low tide

Nice light on the path into Rowhedge

A final shot of the waterfront at Wivenhoe, before we head for the Anchor pub in Rowhedge

Click here to go back to the River Towns of Essex page.

On the plus side, it looks to be a cracking day tomorrow. Sun is in the forecast and this time we have quite a crowd coming. Meeting up at London Liverpool Street station at 9am by the ticket counter, then catching the 9:30 train to Colchester. Anybody else who wants to join this trial run is welcome to come – just email me at david@englishcountrywalks.com to arrange.

Highlights of tomorrow’s walk should include the Roman remains on the outskirts of Colchester, a pub lunch in Layer de la Haye, and Abberton Reservoir (for birdwatching). Check back soon for more photos!

[walk profile]