While the tent was drying I took advantage of the showers again, made breakfast and sat out in the early morning sun. When I eventually collapsed the tent I turned it over and spread it out on the ground to give the underside of the groundsheet an opportunity to dry as well, then forced myself to continue sunbathing and drinking coffee. I always imagine it will take me about ten minutes to break camp but I have yet to do it from start to finish in under an hour!
It was a nightmare mile! It could have been longer but I was eventually able to link up a couple of local footpaths that limited my exposure to the traffic. At the top of the hill there was a series of bends that held up the traffic, particularly the long lorries that had need of room to turn the corners. This slowed the traffic on one side and, at times, virtually stopped it on the other. Still, it took me ten minutes to get across it to take my turning and only then because I took my life in my hands and ran between cars.
I could have continued on the road to the town and it would have been shorter. However, I thought I had probably used up my seven lives and decided to take the long way round on the seawall to access the town of South Woodham Ferrers. I left the B1012 at Great Hayes on a diagonal public path to access an unnamed road that took me down on to the western bank of Stow Creek; back down to the River Crouch for a walk of about a mile, before then starting up Clements Green Creek to take a footbridge over the creek and enter the town. Once in the town it was a relatively short walk to my hotel accommodation in the retail district.