Visit to Essex

I am just back from a trip to Essex and Norfolk to see family. I opted to get the bus down which was quite gruelling but cheap .
I arrived in Central London at 8am on Monday. After a night sitting up my first priority was coffee! Then I walked to Oxford Circus through the city . I don't know London well but of course all the names are very familiar through the news, culture and playing monopoly.
I passed Buckinham Palace ,went through Green Park ( beautiiful  plane trees)  passed the Ritz and went up Fleet Street. I like to imagine the landscape before London was a concrete jungle what would it have been like when there was a River Fleet running down towards the Thames?
From Oxford Circus I cheated  and took the Underground  My original plan was to run from Central London to my parent's house in Maldon Essex. However I realised that this would be a tall order given my current state of fitness and  the amount I was carrying , So I took the tube to Epping which conveniently is where the Essex Way starts- a well marked footpath heading initially in the right direction.. The first part of my route took me through some lovely forest containing many ancient pollarded hornbeam trees. Then some equally beautiful farmland . The wheat and  the barley was almost ripe; its pale gold complimenting the greens of the trees and  the blueness of the sky .
It soon became clear that it was going to be a long day as the paths were very overgrown with tall grassess nettles and  briars. Often navigation was a challenge too. It slows the running  down if you have to check the map and look for hidden footpath signs every 100 metres or so.
At Greensted I stopped at the church which to me is a marvel. It is the oldest wooden church in the world and  the oldest wooden building standing in Europe. That the original wooden walls have survived since Saxon times in our damp climate without rotting is incredible. To lay ones hand on a piece of oak and know that it was cut and  fashioned by unknown hands nearly one thousand years ago is humbling.

At Chipping Ongar I switched from the Essex Way to the St Peter's Way and continued thrashing through overgrown paths. Listening to my litle pocket radio I learned that Theresa May was to be elected unapposed as the leader of the Conservative party and therefore to become Prime Minister of our country in 48 hours!
At Stock I was stung by a wasp and near Bicknacre I stood on a thorn which went straight through the sole of my running shoe and deep into my foot -Ouch! Here was me used to the wilds of Scottish mountains,being stung, scratched and impaled on a low level country run in Essex.
I limped on and soon reached familiar places; paths and lanes around Hazeleigh that I have known since I was a boy .I eventually arrived at. my parents in the evening.

On the second day I set out from Purleigh to complete the St Peter's Way. The route was clearer since I was now on home turf . Still I was confused once or twice with styles and footpath signs being hidden by foilage .
 The seawall at Maylandsea was very overgrown but once that was passed I felt I was making  progress.
Despite a poor weather forecast it was very hot  and at Tillingham I gave in to temptation and  had a deliciously cool beer at the old pub by the church .
Back on the route I was soon on the sea wall again . Beautiful open country with huge skies and  views that go on forever .
My final destination was St Peter's on the Wall an ancient church built about 660AD on the ruins of a Roman Fort .

The church interior is sparsely  furnished with bare stonework walls. It is a very spiritual place and a fitting end to a long distance footpath. I sat for a while and sketched the light streaming in through the open door.