I've been out today.
A rather vigorous walk in glorious sunshine and even more glorious mud.
I parked the car on Belton Way and then walked through very wet fields, testing my boots' waterproofness, and they passed with flying colours. Up the hill to Hadleigh Castle, but I didn't go in. I could see that the path beyond the gate that I would normally use had been fenced off. It's a few years since we have gone that way with the dog because he's too old for such long walks, and I had forgotten how treacherously steep that path is, and how muddy it can get. I doubt it would have been passable in current conditions.
To my surprise there was still quite a bit of snow lying even though the temperature has been well above freezing for 4 or 5 days. After I had circumnavigated the castle I decided to ignore some "Private Road" signs (all this land belongs to the Sally Army and I can't think that such a Christian bunch would want to lay up treasures on earth) and had a lovely walk along the top of the ridge toward Tattershall Gardens, the first and last road in Southend Borough, thinking that there would probably be a way through, but I couldn't find one. There was a fence that I didn't fancy my chances of climbing and when I espied a young woman in one of the gardens (several of those gardens had completely dispensed with a barrier, allowing a wonderful view across the castle and up to the container port near Stanford-le-Hope, and beyond). I asked her if it was possible to get back to Leigh Station that way, and her neighbour came to my rescue, allowing me through his garden and garage, thereby saving me from having to retrace my steps and go the long way round.
I don't know anywhere else I have ever been that does mud quite as well as Essex. The clay-based soil, when saturated, has a wonderful way of sticking to your boots and gradually spreading, so as you walk along you have a massive thick dinner-plate sized disc of clay attached to the sole of each boot. As you continue to walk, every so often a lump of clay weighing about 3kg drops off one boot or another, making walking an interesting experience to say the least.
