Marking the end of the Essex Way’s 50th anniversary year, stretch your legs on a 10-mile hike starting at its end point
Words and photos: Simon Taylor, Public Rights of Way team at Essex County Council
Distance: 10 miles (16.1km).
Starting point: The Essex Way plaque on the High Lighthouse, St Helen's Green, Harwich, CO12 3NH, grid reference TM261324.
Access: Ample on-street parking nearby. Harwich bus station (essexbus.info) and Harwich Town railway station are just opposite the starting point, on Station Approach. The walk also passes Dovercourt railway station.
Map: OS Explorer 184 Colchester, Harwich & Clacton-on-Sea.
Places of interest: For centuries, Harwich was an important port and naval dockyard. Look out for the two pairs of old lighthouses, which were used to aid navigation into the harbour. Harwich Museum is passed at the start of the walk, and there is also the Maritime Museum, the Lifeboat Museum and the Redoubt Fort – please check opening times in advance. The Ha’Penny Pier at the Quay provides splendid views of Harwich Haven and the huge Felixstowe container port opposite.
There are lots of local references to The Mayflower, the ship which in 1620 took the so-called Pilgrim Fathers to America. It is suggested that the vessel was built in and commenced its voyage from Harwich; its Captain, Christopher Jones, was a Harwich citizen.
On the quayside is a memorial commemorating Harwich’s role as the main point of entry for most of the 10,000 refugee children who arrived on the Kindertransport in 1938/9; they were initially housed in the old holiday camp passed on the walk.
Interactive map: essexhighways.org/getting-around/public-rights-of-way/prow-interactive-map
The walk
1. From the Essex Way plaque on the High Lighthouse, turn left along West Street passing the public toilets. After just under a kilometre, turn right at the Station Café. At Dovercourt Station, turn left along Station Lane, with hedgerow on your right and houses on your left. When the lane bends left, take the path on the right, signposted as a cycle route. This scenic path, known as The Hangings, soon joins the route of an old railway line before eventually emerging, via a right and left kink, onto Parkeston Road.
2. Turn right, and at the roundabout head for the road opposite, called Station Road. Be sure to cross all the roads carefully. At the end of Station Road, cross the green to West Dock Road and turn left (there is a green footpath sign by the railings). After 100 metres fork left on Refinery Road (be wary of traffic as there is no pavement) and in another 400 metres, at the crossing gates, keep left on the track, Ray Lane, which eventually becomes a dirt path with the oil refinery behind the metal fence on the right. Continue past the refinery and the sewage works, then, just before the property East Newhall on the left, turn down the footpath beside the pond.
3. Behind East Newhall the path crosses a field, following overhead power lines, then continues straight, beside a hedge, to emerge on the roadside in the village of Ramsey. Turn left, and at the junction with The Street (thirsty walkers may wish to visit The Castle pub here) bear left to head towards the roundabout. You are now on the Essex Way and will remain so for the rest of the route. Follow the road over the river (take care on the narrow bridge) then cross the main road at the roundabout and head onto Church Hill, signposted for Clacton and Dovercourt. Take the footpath on the right-hand side of the road, beside the entrance to Windmill View. Head up the hill, between the paddocks, and after 900 metres, at the footpath T-junction, turn left. Soon you emerge onto Harwich Road.
4. Turn left then almost immediately cross the road to continue on the Essex Way, which follows a bridleway opposite Bay View Crescent. The path soon turns right, following a field edge. At the bottom of the field turn left, then right at the rail leading onto another long field-edge path beside a ditch. Follow this path straight for over a kilometre, all the way to the sea wall. Once there, turn left and follow the path atop the sea wall, with saltmarsh to the right. Soon you will see Dovercourt Holiday Park on the landward side (part of the old Warner’s Holiday Park where Hi-De-Hi was filmed). Here the path kinks right and left before leading to Earlham’s Beach, where it meets West End Lane (there are public toilets here).
5. Follow the prom with the beach huts on your left. From here, the walk remains on the seafront until just before the end. Pass the paired lighthouses on the beach, then Cliff Park on the left before rounding the headland with its pill box, overlooking the long, straight breakwater. Look for the Banksy artwork on the pill box. Eventually, the path passes the old Low Lighthouse; just past it, cross the green and pass an old treadmill crane. You will see the end-point, the High Lighthouse, around the corner.
