Lying to the east (in front of me as I start off), are the four islands of Potton, Rushley, Havengore and Foulness, all bounded by either river, creek or North Sea. Most of the land on the islands is owned by the Ministry of Defence and there are some restrictions on access. There is another area to the bottom of the creek on the mainland that is a restricted area. To avoid any hassle I will take an inland route, walking parallel to the coast, that keeps me on the road from Little Wakering to Great Wakering where I will skirt the danger area just before Shoebury Ness and come in to the conurbation of Shoeburyness / Southend-on Sea / Leigh-on-Sea from the east.
I was sitting just below where the waters of the Barlinghall and Potton Creeks come together before discharging in to the River Roach. The stretch of water to the right of where I was sitting facing out on to the river is called 'The Violet'. On the other side of the Violet I could see over to Potton Island, now primarily pasture land for cows and sheep. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence but there is evidence on the island that it has been used since Neolithic times.
During the period 1831-1836, Charles Darwin made his journeys of discovery in the South Seas on the good ship 'Beagle'. As a result of his discoveries during this voyage he formed his theory of the origin of the species which fundamentally changed our views on the history of the world. Originally a ten-gun brig, after its adventures with Darwin the ship was refitted as a survey vessel which it worked at for a few years before finishing its working life as a coastguard ship, working primarily against the smugglers of Essex. After its working life came to an end, it is thought that the ship was sold to two Essex men for breaking up. However, archaeological survey work in 2004 by Dr Robert Presott (ST Andrews Uni) and Dr Clin Pillinger (Open Uni) using a new technique called Atomic Dielectric Resonance, believed they had found the remains of the Beagle lying eighteen-feet underneath the mud close to Potton Island. Further work was planned to confirm the findings but artefacts found in the area supported the conclusion.
Continuing on the seawall, I passed the location of Barling Hall and walked up to the junction of Barling and Fleetwood Creeks where I continued to follow the Barling Creek. Along this stretch there are arable fields to the right and, with a number of different creeks, extensive marshes to the left. On the opposite bank I can look in to Little Wakering Creek. One would expect to find extensive wildlife here but there was little to be seen or heard, only the drone of machinery on the wind.
I visited Shoeburyness at the end of the 1970's for my younger brother's wedding. He was based here with the Royal Artillery, the regiment having a long association with the town. The barracks are long gone from here to be replaced with housing developments and Gunnery Park. Further traces of the military presence can be seen walking along the promenade where there is a military history trail with information boards at most of the sites. You pass among other things, a searchlight placement, with behind it the magazine store and a little further down the promenade the remains of a a WWII Quick Fire Battery.
Just to the back of the point of Shoebury Ness lies the Gunnery Park and Shoebury Range Nature Reserve. Consisting of twenty-five hectares, the reserve contains twelve different habitats from coastal grasslands, sand dunes, ornamental pond and beach front. Lying on the Thames estuary, the site is a popular location for waders and migrant birds. A number of scarce or rare birds, plants, mammals and insects can be found on the reserve, their importance reflected in the fact that it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
There are nice beach huts along the very clean beach, which is divided by wooden groynes which become a pain in the butt if you are walking along the beach for any distance. At the back of the beach the Shoebury Common provides a large grassed area for activities and it was well used the day I was there. The beach was busy with a number of people kite surfing and as I walked along the beach I stopped to watch a group taking lessons on kite surfing. On the common there were a number of coffee wagons and buying a coffee I stopped at one of the picnic tables by a pond and enjoyed an 'al fresco' late lunch from supplies I was carrying with me.
Moving from Shoebury to Southend I passed the famous Southend Pier which at one point three miles is the longest pleasure pier in the world. The first pier was built in 1830, with the current iron pier completed in 1899. Further extensions were added in 1898, 1908 (an upper deck added, with a further extension in 1908) and, a final extension to the length of the pier added in 1929. The pier has its own railway with two diesel-hydraulic trains running on a single track with a passing loop.
Before Southend was developed the area would have consisted of vegetated slopes, subject to the constant vagaries of wind and sea, resulting in mud flows and landslips toward the sea. These problems continue today to test the ingenuity of the local authority engineers as, despite the developments that have taken place in land and sea management and flood prevention, land movement continues to be a problem. The last major landslip in December 2002, approximately one hundred and eighty metres (six hundred feet) wide, resulted in a landslip of over twenty three feet.
I passed a number of yachting clubs, with one having a competition day and a number of small sailing dingies were racing on the water. At the end of this stretch lies Leigh-on-Sea old town the history of which was dominated by the fishing industry. The area had a nice old world feel to it with a number of places where you could eat. I passed the nice heritage centre which is housed in the old smithy and where I would like to have stopped but it was getting late and I needed to reach my accommodation which lay at the top of the hills at the back of the town. While there was a lot more here that I would liked to have investigated, time was against me and I was put off by the crowds that thronged the streets.