3 on the walk in overcast with a cold easterly breeze weather.

Just the 1 luncher, who had to beg to get served at the fully booked Three Horseshoes and didn't see the other 2 again after lunch. 16.10 train for the luncher.

A select group set off on a simple but very enjoyable route. As long as the river was on the right not too much could go wrong. Nothing wrong with the weather. A gentle wind, no rain, patchy cloud, sunny intervalsin the afternoon.

Lunchtime did go slightly wrong. Having not booked at the Three Horse Shoes, we were told there wasn't room for 3 walkers.

However, The Victoria Inn in Burnham provided a warm welcome. The Sunday roast was not eaten (or ordered) but looked good. Back to London on 16.10.

3 dry with patchy clouds and sunny intervals

On Friday, out of interest, there is going to be a "penumbral eclipse" of the moon from 5pm to 9pm: this means it turns a bit of a funny colour, apparently

There is also the earlier 09.13 train to Wickford, should you be nervous of the 5 minute connection there. The coffee kiosk at Wickford may (or may not) be open...

Thanks for the tip Walker - I've just been out looking at it. I'd say the darker shading is just about discernable with binoculars.

13 walkers off the train in overcast with a strong wind from the right behind type conditions. Having walked this many a times in all seasons, I found it surprisingly muddy today, even on the seawall, which is usually grassy and firm. Slithery rather than deep mud, but still...

Plenty of birds were seen fighting the fierce wind: (not being an expert) waders, geese, ducks, egrets, what looked like a (small) starling murmuration and a larger flock of larger birds doing murmuration-type things. We started at low tide with mudflats exposed and had a joyful first half of the walk before turning up to the lunch pub, the Three Horseshoes. The Walk Poster had booked a table, and the 6 lunchers enjoyed tasty portions, later joined by 5 picnickers (2 others had marched on to Burnham, w/o diverting to the pub).

Upon rejoining the riverbank, we spotted another walker just an inlet behind, who never caught us, but we later saw him in Burnham munching on Fish & Chips (he had started from Althorne station, at halfway point, and stayed on for the extension). 14

With The Georgian Tea Rooms shut (for winter?), we found a new place, the Ground Coffee House, which was nice. The rest had gone to the Star Inn, where we joined them after tea.

7 agreed to do the moonlight extension, the rest heading for the 17.00 train. The moon was conspiciously abesnt on account of being hidden behind clouds, but there was still plenty of eerie light refraction about, enabling us to avoid using headtorches apart from when studying the map or negotiating muddy stretches. The route chosen was circular, out along the river towards the North Sea, then turn inland through the salt marshes (and past plenty info panels) back towards Burnham. It was joyful, so much that I will lobby the walk author to include it as an optional extension.

3 on the 19.00 train, 4 chose one more drink in The New Welcome Sailor.

What struck me on the night walk was how dark it was out on the Essex marshes. Mostly in the south east there is a glow on the horizon from London or sone other town. But today to the east and north east was impressively black. It would be a good area for stargazing, I think.

Looks like there are no trains tomorrow between Liv Street and Stratford, and what the journey planner shows is a tube transfer, i.e. Central Line. Best to describe it as a Stratford start therefore! At 10.30...

Just 2 off the Stratford-originating train in warm and hazy with a breeze later sunny weather. Some good displays of Red Samphire in the Salt Marshes, plenty of wildflowers still on display on the seawall and in the neighbouring pastures. Lots of butterflies and insects, incl. plenty of red-bodied dragonflies. Add the mudflats (it was low tide at the start of the walk) and plenty of birdlife, the sailing and other boats, and we had an almighty fine scenery.

Walker 1 picnicked by the river in Althorne, Walker 2 found some nourishment on a damson tree pathside to keep him going, and - for once - forewent his usual pub lunch and headed straight for Burnham and a Kaffee und Kuchen extravaganza, later on washed down with a pint of locally brewed liquid bread at The Queen's Head.

Always a nice walk.

I was on the walk, possibly about two hours behind. With a friend. Lovely walk indeed. Picnic by the marina at Althorpe. Beer and food in Old White Harte BOC excellent, and the dark mild in The New Welcome Sailor near the station was beyond good. Great day, thanks for posting. Gavin

4

4 set off from North Fambridge in surprisingly sunny conditions with a steady tailwind for this winter's walk through a Turner painting...The group split almost immediately with 2 doing the more direct short start and 2 the main walk. We regrouped just before the lunch diversion (and an ominous footpath closure sign). Three had good value lunches at the pub with the picnicker joining for a hot drink. After lunch, 2 headed off on the alternate route and 2 felt it their civic SWC duty to inspect the footpath closure more closely...While there is indeed a barrier, it is passable. Inspection of the various mud-prints along the closed seawall would imply that we were not the only transgressors, unless Essex is enlisting the use of pooches in their seawall revamping project. Overall, the route is passable with work in a few spots on both sides of the wall -- though would likely be more challenging during the week when workers would more likely be present. In the afternoon, the early sunset along the river with some passing clouds was really beautiful. In Burnham, the 2 river walkers made a pass through town and planned to stop at a pub nearer the station -- but decided to catch the 17:10 (with provisions) and met the 2 alternate route walkers on the platform for a pleasant journey home.

Always a nice walk, whatever the weather, whatever the season, in my opinion, but especially so when it's sunny with a breeze from behind , and the tide is low, the mudbanks are exposed and the birdlife is busy, as it was today.

18 walkers today, 13 or 14 of which went to the lunch pub. Some were quite happy with their food, others had some grumbles, but outside in the sun, this didn't really matter all that much. 9 of us then had a very good cream tea (or just tea) in Burnham at the Georgian Tea Gardens and most of those then also had a drink on the wooden terrace of the Ye Olde White Hart pub, overhanging the river. 18.10 train for those. Purrrfect day.

18 walkers in dry weather with low clouds /mist. The seawall path was unexpectedly muddy in a few places, but mostly fine to walk along. More difficult were the few stiles and the one plank bridge: all slitherey and dangerous, resulting in one comical (injury-free) backwards fall. The route was amazingly quiet today, even by the standards of this remote walk. No other hikers and only very few dog walkers, so we had the scenery to ourselves and the birds.

Mudflats and creeks were exposed for the duration, as we had low tide all the way, making for interesting scenery unlike any other walk I am aware of on this site.

12 pub lunchers and 2 sandwichers walked up to Althorne, the rest continued directly to Burnham. The Three Horseshoes served the - by now familiar - huge portions of tasty, good-value-for-money grub. And they even had space inside for all of us.

2 then took the train from Althorne to Burnham for a mosey.The rest reached the town in time for tea, only to find the first tea shop still shut for year end.

Not to worry, the Quayside Cafe and Restaurant a little further along the promenade served decent cakes and (bagged) tea. Most of the tea-drinkers then joined 4 others for a drink at the Royal Yacht Club (the Corinthians Yacht Club was shut for the day). 17.00 train for the backmarkers.

The two who left the group after lunch enjoyed tea at Royal Burnham Yacht Club with fantastic view of peaceful sea - highly recommended.