The River Walk runs beside the River Brain starting at the north end of the town and running past the oldest part of the town, under the main railway line, past the duck pond, under the old A12 and down along the water meadow towards Maldon Road. 
This amble is along just part of the walk, the north end, and I will add another sector later.
The starting point is in Powers Hall End, by the entrance to Spring Lodge car park, just five minutes from Witham train station.

Away from the bustling areas of Essex that lie close to London is the contrasting landscape of sandy beaches, country rambles along leafy lanes and bracing walks on the edge of the Blackwater estuary.

Huge skies – Bradwell St Peters on the Wall

Essex’s long coastline twists and winds through marshlands on the Blackwater estuary and at other times it glides along the sleek sandy beaches at the beach resorts of Frinton and Clacton. A county of contrasts. Today I am at Bradwell, revisiting a place I first saw when I had pigtails!

THE TERLING TRAIL TO FAIRSTEAD

The attractive village of Terling is only 10 minutes from the A12 and is a great starting point for a walk to the tiny hamlet of Fairstead, Essex. Terling, the home of the Lord Rayleigh family for many generations, must be the estate agents’ dream village: charming cottages and houses washed with cream and terracotta wash, a fine traditional church, busy village shop, popular primary school, a village hall, a pub and a bubbling river.

Each month one colour seems to dominate the garden: white snowdrops in February, pink blossom in March, golden daffodils in April and in May swathes of bluebells and free forget-me-nots. Free, because they multiply without the need for expense and human intervention, just a little care to avoid hoeing seedlings. The blue of the gardens is repeated in the woodlands where traditional English bluebells provide a blue carpet of tranquillity….

Frosty Walk at Flatford -Dedham to Flatford Essex/Suffolk Winter Walk

A crisp sunny Winter morning is just made for walking; I’m off to Dedham and Constable Country. After weeks of heavy grey skies, an overgenerous supply of rain followed by snow and hard frosts it is a joy to see the winter sunshine

Dressed in a wax jacket, thick socks and green Wellington boots, it is time to face the challenge of making a winter wet walk a pleasure rather than a task to help reduce the growing waist line. The scales tell a tale, not of excessive Christmas pudding but the fact that this can be by-passed by going straight for the brandy butter or a spoonful of ginger spread without the steamed pudding – mmm!To the walk > as heavy rain has saturated the ground and floods are forecast, walking on cross country paths is no longer a pleasure – so I head for country lanes to the west of Witham Essex. 10 minutes walk from the railway station – left at the mini roundabout signed “The Notleys” through Chipping Hill.

Once the home of Benjamin Britten, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (England’s first woman doctor), Orlando the marmalade cat and affluent second homers. 10 minutes from the A12 in Suffolk the road to Aldeburgh heads in a straight line towards the east coast through open fields, past gorse on the heath, the busy golf course and into the town. It does not turn right or left and only has a couple of slight bends to avoid being boring.

Ermones, the starting point for a very short walk to a dramatic headland, there are more beautiful beaches in Corfu.

The tiny bay is flanked by a stack of cream and faded ochre studios, “the pink palace” a hotel under refurbishment where they must have used several hundreds of nails in the week I was there as part of their remedial work – and on the far side climbing into the hillside is the Atlantique Mediterranean Hotel where a grand refurbishment took place 3 years ago.