THIS STRETCH OF COAST starts at the River Colne with its historical Cinque Port of Brightlingsea, where small creeks reach further inland through glorious countryside to waterside communities such as St Osyth, a village once reliant on the daily tides bringing supplies by barges that would pole their way around its tricky bends to reach its quayside or water mill. Further up the Colne small creeks take you far inland to places once made home by colonies of Romans, who built great cobble stone roads and walls to march triumphantly along. But even today, many, many centuries after those sword wielding Romans with their shrilling trumpeters disappeared; the small Fingringhoe Creek is called the Roman River. At the head of this creek today an 18th century tidemill, built using recycled barge masts, is found in a setting that would be the envy of any artist. Across the Colne the classic tidemill at Tenpenny Brook, the very top of Arlesford Creek can be found, another idyllic country waterway where All Saints church sits high above the fertile valley.
Today boats rarely venture to the top of Fingringhoe Creek, better known as the Roman River. The two refurbished buildings are an immaculate example of days gone by
Shoal Waters was built to travel along all the old trade routes of the Thames Estuary, the Essex Sunshine Coast being one of them, and I am only to happy in keeping up this tradition, here reaching Tenpenny Brook and Thorrington mill, the very top of Arlesford Creek. This scene is typical of the beauty that can be found and enjoyed by venturing deep into rural sea-country
Leaving the River Colne and Point Clear, the small isolated community of Lee-Over-Sands can be seen just over the rising sand of Colne Point. Here is perhaps one of the remotest communities in all Essex; it has a small waterway called Ray Creek that takes you right into the heart of its 30 or so dwellings along Wall Street. Part of this area is a nature reserve where rare plant species as well as migratory birds can be found.
After passing nature lovers hiding among sea blythe and dunes on the unspoilt golden sands of Colne Point and St Osyth Beach, the tide continues to take you seaward, up a fabled waterway known as the Wallet. For millennia its brown sandy waters have ebbed and flowed between the shore and Gunfleet Sands, and only in recent times have men from other places came and built a vast modern wind farm, changing the once unobstructed and evocative seascape for generations to come. Now traditional seaside towns such as Seawick, Jaywick and Clacton-On-Sea come into view. These towns once had the regular calling of a sailing barge quietly landing on the beaches, lowering sails to deliver the raw material for the building of their foundations. Now there are caravans, bungalows, beach huts and art deco buildings, broad promenades with colourful flower beds set in manicured gardens that are a picture in full bloom, all protected from the onslaught of south easterly gales that once smashed these shores with up to twenty foot high waves, by the building of groynes which also protect the beautiful sandy beaches that can be found here, as well as the lollies, ice creams and candy floss.
Martello Towers abound this stretch of coast. They were built to repel Napoleon armies, but today the circular brick built structures are wondered at by armies of holiday makers, who come to these accessible shores from big cities and towns such as London, a mere 50 odd miles away.
Passing Clacton pier the cruising sailor comes to realise that the soothing sound of the seabird is exchanged for the joyous screams of merry fair riders echoing across the waves. Behind the screams the ring of arcades are heard followed by wafting smells of salt and vinegar soaked chips filling the cockpit, causing you to swallow anxiously to a sudden hunger.
Enjoying The sunshine coast, passing Clacton pier
A south westerly wind soon moves your little boat and the sounds become distant. Again seabirds can be heard and the skies are as wide and as high as you are likely to find anywhere in England. Like most of Essex, for every busy place there are a dozen quieter, such as Holland-on-Sea, with its little sailing club, (named Clacton-On-Sea SC) and greens of mowed grass to picnic on, now comes into view.
Take a compass bearing from Ro Mast and Frinton is found. After checking the mainsheet cleat, a look through a pair of 7x50s shows the spectacle of battling kids settling scores over who has the biggest buckets and fattest spades, while parents lay sunbathing beside wooden wave breakers that span the wide widths of the flatland beaches that were the favourite of Victorians at low tide. Above the beaches kite skateboarders fly the endless lawns. Behind them an isolated tower block, which at its planning stage must have been thought of as the next wheel, gives a handful of residents the most magnificent views across the North Sea.
Walton-On-The-Naze is soon reached. Another pier and a feeling you are in the very heart of unassuming England. Brightly coloured beach huts nestle in the cliffs and along promenades where chip paper once blew along windy kerbs. The wide beaches have ample room to lay striped deck chairs where one can sit in and drink fine teas. The Georgians liked it here so much they built a model of their London streets in the form of a row of three storey terraced housing-oh the pleasantness of it all.
When passing Frinton, Walton soon comes into view
Heading into Walton beach for a closer look at a fine example of Georgian architecture
Shoal Waters lays anchored in two feet of water while I take time out to explore Walton seafront. After a swim off the boat we weigh anchor and continue cruising up the coast
At 86 feet high the grade two listed Naze Tower has been in view for a while but now gives a fine bearing to take you into the sailor’s playground of Pennyhole Bay, but not before you head inland to scrape your keel while you take a closer look at the Jurassic Naze cliffs which are SSSI registered. These cliffs are packed with fossils, so are of interest to seasoned or budding archaeological explorers and walkers who can also stroll along the Crag Walk. The Tower was built in the eighteenth century to aid navigation, being used as a bearing marker for ships entering the busy port of Harwich. Although now a stone’s throw from the eroded cliffs, it was originally a quarter of a mile inland.
The Tower gives a bearing into another inland waterway, the Walton Backwaters where a myriad of inter tidal creeks, many made famous by writer Arthur Ransome, who used them as the base for his novel Secret Water, may be found. For some sailors spending a night at anchor in the enchanted Hamford Water or Landermere Creek-in fact any of these creeks can be akin to playing a living part in the story. The sea finds its way even deeper inland passing saltmarsh and farm fields, wild birds and swimming seals before its termination at the quiet head of a former sea farers trade route, Beaumont Quay, which is found along the abandoned Beaumont Cut, a hand dug canal in the small parish of Beaumont-Cum-Moze. The stones of the quay were taken from old London bridge when it was demolished in 1831. This monument to the coastal barge was built to serve the trading to and from London. Its condition could be described as remarkable.
Just like Huffler, Shoal Waters has never towed the luxury of a dinghy on her cruises which makes reaching these difficult places so much more rewarding. Now in The Walton Backwaters, heading into Beaumont cut, a shallow hand dug canal. Electric cables are overhead so high masts beware if you come up here in the dark
Shoal Waters in her cruising grounds, and at home again settling for the night in the comfort of the mud
The quality of the stone built quay is impeccable, to think this was once part of Old London Bridge, spanning the River Thames or the 'London River' as the ol skippers would say. This little farm wharf has a lot more to dicover such as an old lime kiln which is interesting in its design and barge hulk, as well as the ever present wildlife
Dovercourt with its high lighthouse inhabit the coast northwards to the deep water haven of Harwich and the River Stour. Further inland, maritime towns such as Maningtree and Mistley can be found fronting the River Stour.
For the cruising sailor who takes his views from the sea, The Essex Sunshine Coast can appear an unassuming coastline, one that is unpretentious in its architecture, yes there are one or two blips but this is a stretch of coastline that is an unspoilt scratch on the map of a wider area called the Tendering Peninsular and packed full of historical and interesting places, just ripe for exploring.
