Although a long walk, this flat and peaceful route is easy going. It starts in North Fambridge, ending in Burnham-on-Crouch, with a train journey and short walk back to the start. Most of the walk is an easy to follow 9 miles of seawall along the River Crouch on the Salt Marsh Coast Trail. This is not as repetitive as it might sound. There is plenty of wildlife and as the river approaches the sea it becomes livelier and the surrounding scenery changes.
This is one of many walks around Dedham and Flatford, and away from the two villages themselves, this is an incredibly quiet and peaceful walk. We’ve never been to Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) before, but at 90 square km, we will definitely be returning soon. We adapted our route, which has already had a few positive ratings!, from this suggestion by Dedham Vale AONB & Stour Valley Project, who have links to numerous pdf maps on their website. John Constable and other renowned landscape painters have famously immortalised this area.
This walk had so much promise; Jack’s first outing on a beach, fish & chips, WWII defences, eroding headland, fossils, a harbour, and The Naze nature reserve. While we don’t recommend this exact route, there’s still plenty to see around the headland, just make sure you time your trip to co-incidence with low tide for maximum benefit. This particular route had a few eyesores but the main drag for us was the circa. 3 miles of endless, overgrown sea wall next to the reserve; it was just too relentless and monotonous in the summer heat.