Halcol one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Halcol here.

I would walk this route again. Very pleasant route with just with a couple of suggestions where I feel there is better paths. I completed this route in two halves, with Chappel as the mid point. Nice places to eat or drink on route are the Queens Head West Bergholt, The Shoulder of Mutton cafe Ford Street and The Swan Chappel.

I walked from Colchester to Halstead on May 24th 2023 and followed much of the Slow Way depicted here. I walked a little further south after Wakes Colne to go through the woods, and a bit further north at Earls Colne to walk by the river next to the golf course.

Overall, this is a great walking route until you reach the edge of Halstead (which I'll deal with below). The paths are generally of good quality and easily found - though watch out for nettles on narrow paths! - and it takes you through some lovely countryside with excellent views. You're generally far away from the main roads once you cross the A12 and head towards West Bergholt, but there are plenty of small villages with shops and pubs on the way if you need to stop. (There's a bus that runs between Halstead and Colchester every half hour on weekdays, stopping at each of the villages, if you can't manage the whole route)

The main problem comes, however, when you reach Halstead. The route as shown through the industrial estate can't be taken, as the estate is surrounded by a fence so you can't access it from the pathway, and the old railway line becomes impassable at this point. I didn't have the time to fully check the routes round here - I hope to head back and explore more fully sometime later this summer - but I ended up going around the industrial estate until the fence ended in the northwest corner, and then heading through it to get into Halstead itself. I'm sure there must be a better way around it, but I didn't find it - it was at the end of my walk, and I was tired!

If that can be sorted, then I'd definitely recommend this Slow Way as a link route to all the villages along the way as well as the town and city at either end of it.

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