I walked it all the way to the other end of the Trail and onwards towards the Hythe on Monday. I was in desperate need for a swim and a stretch. The ice and snow was still heavy along the Muddy Banks. I wouldn’t have fancied riding along there.
And so I crunched along at a pace, wearing my walking boots. You get to see a whole different perspective walking the Trail, rather than riding it. No shit.
I approached Windy Corner opposite Rowhedge. Slowly, slowly on the horizon I could see a bloody great big barge being tugged along the river. This is quite a rarity. It reminded me of my early 90’s student days up in the Towers, watching Russian shipping boats heading up and down the Colne.
Those days are long gone, with a silted up river, no shipping industry to speak of around these parts, and, erm, Russian ships not exactly being welcome right now. At the time I was probably reading a first year politics textbook about how the end of the Cold War would lead to a brave, safe new world.
But anyway - the barge thingy being towed up the Muddy Banks on Monday. It looked a little perilous. The tugging thing pulling it along looked like a contestant for World’s Strongest Man that had arrived a little underprepared. It was swaying from side to side, still trying to keep the big old bastard of a barge moving.
I pressed on with the walking. I reached the Hythe, and made my way along King Edward Quay. Ahh - so that explains it. The community of house boats now has a few gaps. The barge was being moved from the Hythe to Gawd knows where. Brightlingsea? There’s certainly no room for it in Weird Wiv.
The City Council had a particularly spiteful policy just before Christmas of hiking the morning fees for the close knit community of house boats down by the Hythe. It looks like the gathering has now been split up, with gaps appearing along the quayside.
A decent walk. I should take in these ramblings and observations more often.
