Maylandsea to Bradwell along the Blackwater (14.5 miles)

In this previous post, I walked the England Coast Path (ECP) from Bradwell Marina round to the chapel of St Peter's on the Wall. Now I describe the next section from Maylandsea to Bradwell Marina, along the Southern shore of the Blackwater Estuary.

I parked in the village of Bradwell on Sea on the roads around the church (check local signage and park considerately) and got the 09:00 D1 bus to Maylandsea Post Office from where it was a short walk down to the Marina. Here's a map of my walk.

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.

The walk had the now-familiar mix of creeks, salt marsh, mud, blue water, nature reserves, holiday parks, caravan sites, sailing clubs, marinas and boatyards. There was a long indentation to get around the Mayland Creek (3.5 miles total), to end up about 0.3 miles from where I started. That's just a feature of walking the Essex Estuaries.

The 'Coastguard Kitchen', now at the Marconi Sailing Club, was a refuge for Coastguards stationed along the Blackwater to prevent smuggling.

Places for refreshment were conveniently located. I started with coffee at the friendly Blackwater Quay cafe in Maylandsea. I stopped for a lunchtime snack at the Stone pub in St Lawrence: actually, they don't do conventional pub grub, rather there is a seafood kiosk in the garden: I had dressed crab. I got a much needed pot of tea at the Bradwell sailing club clubhouse at around 16:00, before making the short walk back inland to return to my car, where I could have had an evening meal in the Kings Head Pub. (You can visit the unusual RAF memorial to those who served at the nearby Bradwell Bay Airfield - see here.)

The only place I had to think about the ECP route was just after the Stone pub: the path makes a dog leg inland, presumably to avoid the narrow stretch of shingly beach which might disappear at high tide. It was low tide, so I did walk along that beach.

I also note that although the bus stop for the D1 bus in Bradwell on Sea is shown on the official timetable (see bustimes.org) as outside the King's Head pub, I couldn't find it anywhere nearby. I waved down the bus, and the driver let me on, but moaned at me saying 'you can't get on the bus just anywhere'. All very well, but what do you do if the bus stop has disappeared.

Here are some photos. It was a hot sunny day (max 25 degrees C), which was actually something of a lull in the punishing heatwave we are experiencing at present (August 2026).

D1 bus dropped me in Maylandsea

Bradwell Quay cafe, restaurant, bar, Maylandsea

Beer garden

Boatyard at Maylandsea Marina

The path down the Western side of Mayland Creek

The bottom of Mayland Creek

The path back out of Mayland Creek

The Steeple Bay Holiday Park

View across to Osea Island

Lake on Steeple Creek

ECP heading out to Stansgate

The land beyond the gate around Stansgate Abbey Farm is marked on the OS map as access land, but the notice says 'keep out, private'. I've never understood the concept of Access land that you can't access