WALK REPORT Thanks girls! Did we have fun on Saturday or what? Here’s a selection of photos from our Essex walk of last weekend. Liske, Laura, Sophie, and Kate joined me for a long, lazy stroll down the Roman River near Colchester. Our find of the day was blackberries. They’re out, and they’re DELICIOUS! Came home absolutely knackered after ten miles on the trail, with stops at five pubs. But it felt good. [walk profile]
River Towns of Essex, July 14th
Date 17 Jul 2007
WALK REPORT Here are some random photos from our walk near Colchester on Saturday. A big thank you to Russell and Tim for coming along! 21 images in this set. [walk profile]
River Towns of Essex, June 2nd
Date 13 Jun 2007
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!
Brighten up your day! Wallpaper for your desktop.
Date 29 May 2007
OK, let’s see if this will work …
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.
River Towns of Essex, May 19th
Date 24 May 2007
WALK REPORT I was joined on this test walk by my friends Matt and Richard, who are to be congratulated for getting up at the ungodly hour of 7:30 on a Saturday morning. After a smooth ride on the fast train to Colchester North, a slow branch-line connecting train took us into Colchester Town where we caught a somewhat skanky bus out to start of the walk near Colchester Zoo. For future walks, I’m considering ditching the bus portion in favor of a cab to the starting point.
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.
River Towns of Essex – Take One
Date 6 May 2007
WALK REPORT Here are some highlights of the walk we took near Colchester yesterday. Route was Cheshunt Field – Layer de la Haye – Abberton Reservoir (northeastern corner) – Fingringhoe – Rowhedge [walk profile]
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