Mersea Island Circumambulation, Essex (16 miles)

The Walk: Walk the England Coast Path all the way around the coast of Mersea Island. Tidal causeway road. Boats and quaint fishermen's cottages at West Mersea. Marsh, mud and oysters along the Strood and Pyefleet Channels. Airy views from a sandy spit jutting into the Colne Estuary. Sandy beaches with jaunty huts along the Blackwater Estuary shore. Views across to the Bradwell nuclear power station and wind farm. Watch the sunset from a waterside pub.

Sunset over the Strood

Route

NB The map shows my route, with various diversions and excursions which you may not wish to follow precisely. You can download the Google map info, as a KML/KMZ file, then convert to GPX using a site like GPS Visualiser.

I started from the High Street Car Park in West Mersea, and walked clockwise. The England Coast Path (ECP) is well signed and fairly straightforward to follow. I occasionally deviated, mainly to walk along the adjacent beach.

I walked down Coast Road and then, rather than staying on the road, I walked along Monkey Beach. Back on Coast Road, I passed boatyards and explored the weatherboarded houses at the ironically named 'Old City'. Here, I made an excursion from the official ECP by walking up The Lane to the peaceful Feldy View Woodland Cemetery: the increased height though small, opens up views to the North over to the 'mainland'. The route is then easy to follow beside the Strood Channel, reaching the Causeway, the Pyefleet Channel and rounding the Eastern end of the Island.

Descending from the towering heights

I walked out along the Mersea Stone sandy spit, then returned along the South Coast, walking along the beach where I could. I made an excursion into Cudmore Country Park hoping the kiosk would be open, but it was not. Later, the sea wall has been allowed to decay and has been breached by the sea, so the ECP has to make an inland diversion between East Mersea Church and the Mersea Boating Lakes.

Beach walking

The ECP finishes along West Mersea's Victoria Beach, lined with painted beach huts.

Why do it?

Mersea Island is joined to the mainland by a causeway road which floods only at the highest tides. It is separated from the mainland by the Strood channel to the West of the Causeway, and the Pyefleet Channel to the East. The Southern coast is along the Blackwater Estuary which merges into the North Sea at the eastern end of the Island, which is bounded by River Colne flowing down from Colchester. This walk thus affords ever changing views across water, from the numerous yachts moored off West Mersea, the muddy Strood, milky blue water of the Pyefleet, the town of Brightlingsea seen across the Colne with the sandy spit of East Mersea in the foreground, and across the Blackwater to the Denghi Wind Turbines and grey boxes of Bradwell Nuclear Power Station (now being decommissioned).

Mersea Stone sandy spit with Brightlingsea behind over the Colne

Mersea Island has a distinct identity. Archaeology has shown signs of Roman occupation (possibly 'commuter villas' for senior officers stationed at Colchester). The two main communities are the larger town of West Mersea, and the small village of East Mersea. The impressive churches in West and East Mersea speak of prosperity in Saxon and medieval times. More recently fishing and oyster harvesting were major occupations. Now the main industry must be tourism. There are several large caravan sites, West Mersea has a popular beach, lined with gaily painted beach huts, and the waterfront attracts yachties and civilian onlookers.

Victoria Beach

The Strood off West Mersea is an anchorage for many yachts, several vintage craft are permanently beached in the salt marsh. and the front is lined with boatyards.

Beached

The West Mersea waterfront ends at 'The Old City', where there are several attractive weatherboarded fishermen's cottages, including 'The Nutshell' said to be, possibly, the smallest cottage in Essex.

Nutshell Cottage

The mudfalts along the Strood and Pyefleet Channels are a haven for large flocks of waders in season. West of the Causeway, the sea wall has been abandoned, and the ECP is now separated from the channel by a large area of salt marsh.

Salt Marsh, lots of it

At the Eastern tip of the Island is the East Mersea Flats Nature reserve. This includes an inviting spit of (nearly) white sand, sometimes called the Mersea Stone beach (I don't know what happened to the stone). There are fine views across the Colne to Brightlingsea, Point Clear and the long strip of low lying land of St Osyth's Marsh. A foot ferry plies between the end of the spit and Brightlingsea and Point Clear in summer.

Mersea Stone sand spit

Cudmore Country Park, edged by low lying earthen cliffs, has extensive grassy areas for picnicking, toilets and (when open) a Kiosk. Info boards tell of WW2 pillboxes, now washed away as the cliffs have crumbled.

Wot, no kiosk

On the inland diversion, behind the holiday park, you pass the imposing church of St Edmund, King and Martyr, dating from the 12th Century.

East Mersea Church

The diversion is needed because the authorities have decided the sea wall is no longer worth maintaining (a process know as 'managed retreat'). The sea wall has been breached, creating a tidal lagoon on the landward side.

The breached sea wall at East Mersea

Mersea Waterpark has a large boating lake which was created in abandoned workings for a dock to bring in barges laden with stuff for a gasworks that was never built.

Mersea Waterpark

Several silhouette figures of soldiers, presumably left in place from the WW1 centenary, stand their ghostly guard at ordinary places around the Island.

Once, we were Soldiers

Logistics:

The Causeway to the island floods at the highest tides (over 5m). Check the tide tables on the West Mersea website. Avoid the hour either side of these high tides and don't try to cross if the causeway looks like it is, or is about to be, flooded. Salt water is not good for cars.

The Causeway Road

I parked at the High Street car park in West Mersea. I paid for a stay of 'over 4 hours' (the whole walk took me about 8 hours), there are good facilities in the town centre, and the car park stays open 24 hours, if you wish to spend the evening in the town. There are other car parks at the Coast Road (limited spaces), the Victoria Esplanade or Willoughby Avenue (check charges and closing times on local notices).

High Street Car Park, West Mersea (I got there early)

Other possibilities are:

large free layby on the B1035 after crossing the causeway
small car park at East Mersea Flats Reserve
Cudmore Country Park (charges, check closing time)

There is no reason why you shouldn't walk it in the opposite direction.

Distance:

The whole circuit was 16 miles and took me about 8 hours.

Challenges:

To judge from the dried churned mud along the embankment either side of the Causeway, I imagine this section would be very muddy in winter.

The long section next to the salt marshes might get a bit boring for all but the most ardent fan, but persevere, the path does return to the waterside as you progress down the Pyefleet.

ECP along the embankment beside the Pyefleet Channel

If you prefer to walk beside water, rather than mud, time your walk to coincide with the hours either side of high tide. You could also decide on this basis whether to walk clockwise or anticlockwise.

I imagine the roads and beaches get very crowded on fine summer weekends.

Refreshments:

Several establishments in West Mersea town centre. I had an evening meal in the White Hart, which was excellent. I saw several satisfied customers gobbling fish and chips, which they said came from the Mersea Island Fish Bar in the High Street.