{"id":628,"date":"2013-05-04T01:48:26","date_gmt":"2013-05-04T00:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=628"},"modified":"2013-05-19T08:32:28","modified_gmt":"2013-05-19T07:32:28","slug":"canvey-island-essex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=628","title":{"rendered":"Canvey Island, Essex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Before I ever set foot on Canvey Island I\u2019d thoroughly explored this dead flat offshoot of the Thames Estuary\u2019s Essex shore in my imagination &#8211; washed up there on the tides of Wilko Johnson\u2019s gritty lyrics and Lee Brilleaux\u2019s gravelly bark.<script type=\"text\/javascript\">window.onload = setupZoom; function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=580,width=1170,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/>\nFirst published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('CanveyIsland.gpx');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8111\/8571353317_545f392f8d.jpg\" title='Labworth Cafe 1'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8111\/8571353317_545f392f8d_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8528\/8571355163_8153858147.jpg\" title='Canvey emporium'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8528\/8571355163_8153858147_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8372\/8571356859_bb32e94c86.jpg\" title='Canvey craft 1'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8372\/8571356859_bb32e94c86_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8086\/8571358261_92ce2be60f.jpg\" title='on the sea wall'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8086\/8571358261_92ce2be60f_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8234\/8571360063_a36578dc02.jpg\" title='Labworth cafe 2'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8234\/8571360063_a36578dc02_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8505\/8571360971_2375c16baf.jpg\" title='sea wall'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8505\/8571360971_2375c16baf_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8239\/8571361585_bd362cd681.jpg\" title='sea wall path'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8239\/8571361585_bd362cd681_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8106\/8572456568_212fa245ae.jpg\" title='fishing boat, jetty and refinery chimneys'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8106\/8572456568_212fa245ae_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8365\/8572457450_35546e621d.jpg\" title='tanker at the jetty'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8365\/8572457450_35546e621d_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8506\/8571364097_6b4f0dfd43.jpg\" title='Lobster Smack Inn'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8506\/8571364097_6b4f0dfd43_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8098\/8571365317_e0bb31dae7.jpg\" title='east end marshes, looking to Southend-on-Sea'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8098\/8571365317_e0bb31dae7_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8532\/8571365957_03c19da659.jpg\" title='Down by the Jetty'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8532\/8571365957_03c19da659_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8375\/8571368055_d6981cbed2.jpg\" title='old and new - looking to Shell Haven oil refinery'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8375\/8571368055_d6981cbed2_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8370\/8572463180_20f6cf31a9.jpg\" title='view across West Canvey marshes to Shell Haven oil refinery'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8370\/8572463180_20f6cf31a9_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8238\/8572465070_3ceaa30529.jpg\" title='north side marshes'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8238\/8572465070_3ceaa30529_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8228\/8572465566_66eb084528.jpg\" title='Canvey craft 2'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8228\/8572465566_66eb084528_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=628\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\nIf the tough-looking, fist-punching Brilleaux was the voice and face of Dr Feelgood, Canvey Island\u2019s crunchy home-grown R&#038;B band, guitarist Johnson was its heart and soul, with a unique song-writing talent for depicting the mean streets and hard men and women of a place he called \u2018Oil City\u2019. It wasn\u2019t the real Canvey Island, but it was a real enough place to me and thousands more fans of the \u2018greatest local band in the world\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Setting out across Benfleet Creek to walk a circuit of the Canvey seawalls, I found myself immediately in acres of green marshes where piebald horses grazed and skylarks sang overhead. This western sector of the island houses one of the most diverse bird reserves in Britain \u2013 marsh harriers over the reedbeds, lapwings in the fields, curlews on the muddy foreshore \u2013 more RSPB than R&#038;B.<\/p>\n<p>Where was the Feelgoods\u2019 Oil City? I looked ahead and saw the burning flare stacks and mad scientist\u2019s geometry set of Shell Haven oil refinery across the creek. Further round the island a giant black jetty, remnant of a never-built refinery on Canvey itself, rose out of the fields and hurdled the mud flats of Hole Haven to curve into the River Thames. \u2018I\u2019ve been searching, all thru\u2019 the city,\u2019 growled Brilleaux on Dr Feelgood\u2019s debut album, \u2018see you in the morning, down by the jetty.\u2019 Here it was, as skeletal and ominous as I\u2019d always imagined.<\/p>\n<p>Now the Thames lay in full view, nearly two miles wide, the green and yellow escarpment of the North Kent shore rising on the southern skyline. A great concrete sea wall fifteen feet high keeps the tides out of Canvey these days \u2013 it was built after the East Coast flood disaster of 1953 when the island, lying below sea level, was inundated and 58 people lost their lives.<\/p>\n<p>I followed the sea wall under the jetty and on above the white weatherboarded Lobster Smack pub, a notorious haunt of smugglers back in the day, where Charles Dickens had Pip and Magwitch hiding out in Great Expectations. On along the Thames shore among sunbathing Canveyites; past the Art Deco cylinder of the Labworth Caf\u00e9; round the eastern point of the island, a maze of ramshackle wooden jetties with a glimpse of Southend Pier far ahead.<\/p>\n<p>The northern side of Canvey is all saltmarshes and creeks. I strolled the seawall path and hummed the tunes that brought the \u2018Canvey Delta\u2019 to life in my imagination, back when the Feelgoods ruled the world.<\/p>\n<p>NB Please retain all this information!<\/p>\n<p>START: Benfleet station, South Benfleet, Essex (OS ref TQ 778859).<\/p>\n<p>GETTING THERE:<br \/>\nTrain (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thetrainline.com\">www.thetrainline.com<\/a>) to Benfleet<br \/>\nRoad: M25 Jct 29; A127, A130 to Waterside Farm roundabout on Canvey Island; left on B1014 to Benfleet.<\/p>\n<p>WALK (14 miles, easy, OS Explorer 175):<br \/>\nFrom Benfleet station turn left along B1014 onto Canvey Island; turn right (west) along the sea wall and follow it, and the outer edge of the island, anti-clockwise all the way round.<\/p>\n<p>LUNCH: Lobster Smack PH, Haven Road (01268-514297; <a href=\"http:\/\/thelobstersmackcanveyisland.co.uk\">thelobstersmackcanveyisland.co.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>ACCOMMODATION: Oysterfleet Hotel, Knightswick Road, Canvey Island (01268-510111; <a href=\"http:\/\/oysterfleethotel.com\">oysterfleethotel.com<\/a>) \u2013 friendly, welcoming and very helpful.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Feelgood Exhibition: 10-29 May; Canvey Club, 162 High Street; free entry. Free guided walks: 10, 17, 24 May; 10.30, Lobster Smack Inn, Haven Road<\/p>\n<p>Visitor Information: Southend-on-Sea TIC (01702-215620); <a href=\"http:\/\/www.visitessex.com\">www.visitessex.com<\/a>.<br \/>\n<A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\/\">www.ramblers.org.uk<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.satmap.com\/\">www.satmap.com<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.LogMyTrip.co.uk\/\">www.LogMyTrip.co.uk<\/A><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before I ever set foot on Canvey Island I\u2019d thoroughly explored this dead flat offshoot of the Thames Estuary\u2019s Essex shore in my imagination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}