Chewit one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 85.71% of reviewers

Coming out of Witham is slightly residential but this soon opens up to fields and great views. The paths here are all clear.
Boreham is a pretty village and lovely church to pass through.
The walk into Chelmsford is all clear but built up and residential as expected outside a major town.
A great route to connect the two towns.
Chelmsford is a large built up town full of restaurants, shops etc.

Nice walk into Chelmsford today through some fields and the paths were so easy to follow lots of farmland and we met lots of friendly dog walkers very much enjoyed it!.

Enjoyable walk into Chelmsford from Witham nice views into the town from the distance and easy to follow paths a lovely walk would recommend.

I walked this route from Witham to Chelmsford on a warm day in early August. It was a fairly good route, with the route south of Hatfield Peverel particularly delightful. Forewarned by the previous reviewer I packed secateurs in case of encountering overgrown foliage. There is indeed a section of footpath about 120 metres long running parallel to the property Latney's (just south of the A12 to the west of Witham) where brambles have overcome the path. Secateurs were insufficient to clear a way and I took the practical option of the nearby field edge to bypass the obstruction, following a trail made by others before me. I've elected to recommend this route despite this obstacle as I have reported it to the Highways Agency (see below). UPDATE 21 August 2024 I've been informed by the Highways Agency that they have now completed works at this location

I stopped for lunch in the Tearooms at Paper Mill Lock, which is just off the route at the road called World's End. I would be minded to join the towpath here and to avoid the part of the route which goes through Boreham before turning to the navigation. This passes a bus stop but no shops or eateries. (In winter the towpath can get mudlogged however).


This morning, I reported the blockage mentioned above to Essex Highways (reference #2935214). On their TrackIt website (https://www.essexhighways.org/track-it) I can see that the same section was previously reported [no date] for a 'furniture defect' (ref# 3480743) with the status statement 'Repair will be undertaken with a non-specified timescale. '. UPDATE 21 August 2024 I've been informed by the Highways Agency that they have now completed works at this location.

The route progressively worsened as it went on. About halfway (between paper mill lock and Hatfield Peverell) the paths narrowed to a foot wide at some bits, going between fields also became overgrown. Around the Wickham bishops area the path worsened, stretches were very overgrown with nettles and Brambles and finally approaching witham the path completely disappeared as the farmer hadn't maintained it. Using GPS I followed the route through the field but eventually ran into a wall of Brambles and had to backtrack and find an alternative route.

A good route, walkable and enjoyable throughout.

A pleasant route - mostly easy to follow. The bit through the housing estate in Witham is a bit tricky but fine if you just remember to head south. Muddy and wet underfoot near the canal as you would expect at this time of year.

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