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 …
[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!