Walk The Essex Way - Stage8
STAGE EIGHT; GREAT HORKESLEY - MANNINGTREE
*It's our own stage.
This time, we started from Great Horkesley. The bus services are good from Colchester station. From the beginning, we were excited about walking the Dedham Vale Area of Natural Beauty (AONB) which Constable loved. Once before I walked the Dedham area with the big mouse. I remember it was really nice.
Recently, I don't like to pass the farm very much because of our bad experience of their dogs. Again, we could hear the dogs' barking and stood on guard. But this time, the farmer was there and showed us the way very kindly and gently. Until there, we'd already seen several huge tracks due to the harvest season. Here, they were collecting potatoes.
And we passed the vineyard. It reminded me of the British wine I bought last time.
We arrived at the first church of this course, Boxted Church.
Voila, this is the view of Stour valley. I realise that summer walking is nice, but nettles and some other plants are too much growing, and interrupt the view sometimes.
Camomile flowers in the field were so lovely. Smells were nice as well.
We crossed some fields, walk and walk.
We arrived at Langham Church which John Constable painted (and painted the view from there). The cat Gerry (from Langham Hall) welcomed us at the entrance.
After crossing over A12, Dedham was there.
There was a picturesque view of River Stour.
A huge harvesting machine was harvesting barley with stirring up dust.
Now, the town of Dedham. Some lovely shops stand in a row, but we didn't have energy to have a look inside. We browsed in the church and had rest a bit in churchyard. There was one chance and one choice to get a bus from Dedham to Colchester Station. We had a enough time to get the bus, but we decided to walk ahead to Manningtree railway station.
I liked the path from Dedham. Despite being tired, it was a very pleasant walk. Partly the path ran zigzag between the houses. The way marks were substantial, we didn't make a mistake.
Soon after we crossed the rail track, two trains passed by. Whew.
We arrived at the fourth church of the day; Lawford church. It was our terminal of the Essex Way this course. We left the Essex Way and walked another public footpath to Manningtree railway station. Ironically we felt so happy when we saw the station from the hill rather than view of Dedham.
Read other stages;
*It's our own stage.
This time, we started from Great Horkesley. The bus services are good from Colchester station. From the beginning, we were excited about walking the Dedham Vale Area of Natural Beauty (AONB) which Constable loved. Once before I walked the Dedham area with the big mouse. I remember it was really nice.
The animals we saw at first were alpacas. They were so lovely.
Despite our excitement, the first impression of the beginning was not so attractive. I felt slow progress even as we walked and walked.
Recently, I don't like to pass the farm very much because of our bad experience of their dogs. Again, we could hear the dogs' barking and stood on guard. But this time, the farmer was there and showed us the way very kindly and gently. Until there, we'd already seen several huge tracks due to the harvest season. Here, they were collecting potatoes.
And we passed the vineyard. It reminded me of the British wine I bought last time.
We arrived at the first church of this course, Boxted Church.
Voila, this is the view of Stour valley. I realise that summer walking is nice, but nettles and some other plants are too much growing, and interrupt the view sometimes.
We continued walking in a wood. The wood looked very primitive, there were giant plants of Pteridophyta. This course has some up-down hills.
Camomile flowers in the field were so lovely. Smells were nice as well.
We crossed some fields, walk and walk.
Too much chatting, miss the way. We were deep in conversation and missed the gate. Oops. A man who was walking with dog showed us the way. We climbed up another gate and corrected the way without walking back.
We arrived at Langham Church which John Constable painted (and painted the view from there). The cat Gerry (from Langham Hall) welcomed us at the entrance.
After crossing over A12, Dedham was there.
There was a picturesque view of River Stour.
A huge harvesting machine was harvesting barley with stirring up dust.
Now, the town of Dedham. Some lovely shops stand in a row, but we didn't have energy to have a look inside. We browsed in the church and had rest a bit in churchyard. There was one chance and one choice to get a bus from Dedham to Colchester Station. We had a enough time to get the bus, but we decided to walk ahead to Manningtree railway station.
I liked the path from Dedham. Despite being tired, it was a very pleasant walk. Partly the path ran zigzag between the houses. The way marks were substantial, we didn't make a mistake.
Soon after we crossed the rail track, two trains passed by. Whew.
We arrived at the fourth church of the day; Lawford church. It was our terminal of the Essex Way this course. We left the Essex Way and walked another public footpath to Manningtree railway station. Ironically we felt so happy when we saw the station from the hill rather than view of Dedham.
