On this tour along the Essex coast at the mouth of the River Stour, we walk from the seaside town of Dovercourt into Harwich, long a key location for the Royal Navy. The train journey from London takes 1 hour and 20 minutes.
This is a 2-guide walk. Laura talks about what it meant to be a seaman in the Age of Sail, running up rigging during storms, manning guns during battles and dealing with boredom in the doldrums. Men volunteered for a life at sea in large numbers, and some were forced through impressment when the navy needed them. Women cross-dressed to become seamen or were smuggled on board, and boys served as powder-monkeys during battles.
Rob Smith talks about lighthouses, shipbuilding, the repair yard belonging to Trinity House, a treadwheel crane built in 1667 and the famous ship Mayflower. Thames barges were also constructed here.
Samuel Pepys, Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton figure, along with Arthur Ransome’s intrepid Swallows who Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea and Harwich’s connections to colonies across the Atlantic.
We take in views across the estuary to the container port at Felixstowe, while the town of Harwich has fine Georgian architecture and good pubs to explore after the walk.
The walk is about two miles and finishes a short walk from Harwich Town Station.
Below see your guides after a recce in Maldon.
