Stroll beside the mudflats and marshes of rural Essex to visit a Saxon church on a lonely seawall at the mouth of the bird-haunted Blackwater estuary.

Start and finish: Green Man pub, Bradwell Waterside.

Route Briefing (OS Explorer 176, Landranger 168)

Just beyond Green Man pub, Bradwell Waterside (OS ref. 994078), turn right (east) along sea wall (footpath fingerpost) for 3½ miles to St Peter’s Chapel (031081). Return west along road for 1½ miles. 300 yards past Cricketers pub (011073), turn right (footpath fingerpost) on concrete field track for 500 yards to junction with farm road (006076). Left for 400 yards to road by war memorial (002076); left for 100 yards to junction with Trusses Road. Bear right along path that bisects angle of roads (footpath fingerpost), keeping ahead beside garden fences; keep same direction across 2 fields (yellow arrows, ‘Wildside Walk’ waymarks) to reach road (997079) just above Green Man pub.

Travel: Bus (Traveline 0870-608-2608) – Service 210 from Basildon arrives mid-afternoon; returns to Basildon following morning. Car - A12 to Chelmsford bypass, A414 towards Maldon, B1010 and B1018 to Latchingdon; ahead by Latchingdon church on minor road through Mayland and Steeple for 8 miles; left on B1021 to Bradwell Waterside.

Length: 6 miles

Eat, drink, loo stop: Green Man, Bradwell Waterside; Cricketers and King’s Head, Bradwell-on-Sea; teashops at Eastlands caravan park, Bradwell-on-Sea, and Waterside Tea Garden, Bradwell Waterside

Conditions: Seawall path and roadway; short section of field path. Level underfoot.

Don’t forget binoculars and bird book!

Accommodation: Bellropes B&B (John and Carole Rawle), Maldon Road, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex CM0 7HY (01621-776445 or 07703-833541; bellropes@btinternet.com;

http://www.bedandbreakfast-bradwellonsea.co.uk/index.htm):

Othona Community, East Hall Farm, East End Road, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex CM0 7PN (01621-776564; bradwell@othona.org; www.bos.othona.org;

full board, hostel-style accommodation (expect to help with the chores!)

Guidebooks: Guidebooks to Othona Community, the Roman fort of Othona and St Peter’s-on-the-Wall chapel available onsite

Local Tourist Information: Maldon TIC, Coach Lane, Maldon, Essex CM9 4UH (01621-856503; tic@maldon.gov.uk; www.realessex.co.uk)