Trip to Essex

Last week I took the sleeper train to London for a conference. It was a hectic few days . Leaving my parent's house at 5.30 to run the 7 miles to the station to catch the train to Liverpool Street. Lectures all day then the train home.
However we spent the weekend relaxing, going to pubs and running .
On Sunday we went to the Chequers in Goldhanger a 15th century pub close to the Blackwater Estaury. The food is excellent and there is a good range of real ales to drink. One of my favourite runs is from the pub along the sea wall back to Maldon.
Despite the reputation of Essex being built up and full of night clubs. the coastal marshes are truly wild with big open ever changing skies, there is the distinctive tang of mud and salt and the air is filled with the lonely cries of  sea birds. Although in the South of England it always seems cold with a wind 'like a whetted knife'

The  marshes from the seawall near Goldhanger

 The Bell in Purleigh is also one of my favourite pubs - a historic old building in the centre of a picturesque village.The rector of the village church from 1632 to1643 was Laurence Washington great grandfather to George Washington the first President of the U.S.A.
Importantly there is a good running route from my parents house.

In my parent's kitchen

Canal near Beeleigh