ska invita
back on the other side
Thanks.... What's that about driving? Is it possible to drive to the start of the walk? I see on the website is an hours walk from the station each way
The Broomway: allegedly “the deadliest” path in Britain
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skyscraper101
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I enjoyed the Tom Scott video. I'd love to walk it (with a guide!) one day.
polly
Well-Known Member
Yeah, it's really easy by car. It's MOD land so you have to go through a barrier with a man but a lot of it is public land so they pretty much have to let you. You park up right by the start of the walk. There was a couple there who had taken the train and got a cab to and from Shoeburyness station, though, which I can't imagine would cost much.
polly
Well-Known Member
Oh, I remembered what happens now if you get stuck in the black mud: the Lifeboat people will come out in a hovercraft, stick a giant pipe into the mud around you and blow a load of compressed air into it, creating a big bubble around you, then scoop you out 
Thought that was pretty cool, would not like to have been the one to test it.
Thought that was pretty cool, would not like to have been the one to test it.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Walking in wellies for three hours sounds like torture but lovely pics
polly
Well-Known Member
It wasn't as bad as I thought but yeah, a woman I was chatting to had hiking boots and waterproof socks, which seemed a much better idea.
ska invita
back on the other side
In mud too....I think it's too hard for me to bh, two hours is about my max before I start moaning (flat feet)
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Yeah flat feet as well and I can manage a short burst in them but get on for an hour and I want to just throw them away
JimW
支那暗杀团
He does in that article on the BBC site iirc
polly
Well-Known Member
It is not advisable because of all the shrapnel in the sand. I think Macfarlane did it because he wore unsuitable shoes and they got fucked immediately.
There are shorter walks ska invita , which I reckon would be just as good. I'm planning to do the photography one he offers, not really for the photos but because it's a different route that takes in a shipwreck that I want to see. I think that one is about two hours.
There are shorter walks ska invita , which I reckon would be just as good. I'm planning to do the photography one he offers, not really for the photos but because it's a different route that takes in a shipwreck that I want to see. I think that one is about two hours.
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
That looks amazing.
Pickman's model
sunset spires and twilight woods
Oct I think
polly
Well-Known Member
Oh shame! I am happy to do station pick ups for anyone whose trip coincides with mine
Puddy_Tat
🐈⬛
for anyone who wants to visit foulness a slightly easier way, you can't travel there by bus without special permission, but they do have open days once a month
busandtrainuser.com
This bus route’s restricted to residents and monitored at a security checkpoint
Saturday 9th July 2022 I took a ride with my friend Ray on Stephensons’ bus route 14 between Southend-on-Sea and Foulness recently. But we needed special permission to travel on it. That’s because …
busandtrainuser.com
petee
no gods, no managers
It was glorious, a really special experience. If anyone is thinking about it, I recommend the guide - he seemed really knowledgeable (safe and interesting!) and had lots of good stories. I think walking it in worse weather would be much more atmospheric so I'm going back in winter.
I'm a terrible photographer but here are some of my pictures and I'll try to remember the interesting stuff that goes with them.
View attachment 331659
This is what you see at Wakering Stairs - it's the start of the ancient pathway which the MOD has dumped a load of concrete etc onto so that they can get their vehicles out there in the week, but further along the original wooden slats show through, which have been carbon dated back 600 years (iirc). It quickly turns into featureless mud/sand though, pretty much where the triangle sign is. Then you are walking blind, but there are a few markers. (The MOD involvement adds an extra bit of danger to the whole thing, as the sands are full of unexploded ordnance, so you have to keep scanning the ground in case you blow your leg off and how will you outrun the tide then. Their explosions over the years have created giant holes underneath the mud too.)
The first one of these is a clump of grassAt which point you have to change direction completely. The grass is always there, I'm told, but it seems a bit of a shaky foundation to build your survival on. Hundreds of years ago, there were the brooms, spaced out every 30 yards. According to the guide, the local people, whether on the mainland or island, would keep a rock tied to 30 yards of rope by their front doors. If someone had to walk the Broomway in bad visibility, they would take this and, when they got to a broom marker, lay the rock next to it. Then they would walk holding the rope until it ran out. If they hadn't found the next marker, they would hold the rope and walk in a 30 yard circumference of the previous marker. When they found it, they could just reel in their rock and start again from the next broom.
As you walk, you are alongside Foulness Island and it looks like you could easily get onto dry land. But the reason you have to take this dangerous path out into nothing is a belt of incredibly soft black sand all around the island and mainland, which swallows people up. It has sink holes too. There's a bit the guide pointed out called Shagsby's Hole, where a man is said to have fallen in on his way back from the pub and disappeared forever.
View attachment 331660
This is just to give you an idea of how vast it is. Even in perfect visibility, it really messes with your perspective, so that some things I thought would be much closer were really far away and vice versa. You can only see the next marker when you reach the one before it, and when you look back, any distinguishing features have disappeared. Loads of mirages - you can see floating ships ahead and boats that look like they've gone to ground, though they haven't. The sea is in front of you but when the tide comes in, it hits the coastline at a weird angle and comes in from either side instead, in a surprise pincer movement that cuts you off. eta oh yes! He said that you might think you can just let the tide come in and let it sweep you to land, but instead it sweeps in like a demon and whisks you out to sea. Although it looks flat, the ground also undulates, and this creates weird whirlpools and unexpected currents. All very unsettling!
View attachment 331662
This is an important marker, called the Havengore Maypole (because it used to be tethered by 3 ropes). This marks the edge of a creek and there's a little river across the sand. If the river here is more than six inches deep, it's a sign that you've misjudged the tide or the tide is doing something weird, and you need to gtfo.
View attachment 331664
This is where we stopped and turned back. It's a wall that I'm told was built to give doctors a few extra minutes of safety if they were rushing to the island. Sounds a bit unlikely to me but whatever
I know there's other stuff I wanted to say but I can't remember it right now. If I do and it's interesting, I will add it!
that's brilliant, if i were ever in blighty i would head straight for it.
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