Malsou one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Malsou here.

This is a fine rural route taking in sea walls, field paths and the lovely St Mary’s Mundon. I’ve marked it down for a perilous section of road walking (noted below), which can be avoided by using the diversion outlined in Malsou Three.

Starting by All Saints church on the High Street this route swiftly scoots us away from the heart of Maldon taking us down Chequers Lane and along a chain of back alleys and access-only roads to Promenade Park. It’s certainly a calm and quiet route but two good alternatives present themselves 1. Proceed instead down the High Street taking the route shown for Malbur One; or, 2. Head north to Fullbridge then follow the coastal path around past the saltworks, Downs Boatyard and the Hythe and into Promenade Park from there (I would keep on the coastal path as far as the causeway to Northey Island, site of the Battle of Maldon before turning inland - see my route for Malsou Two.

The route exits Promenade Park around a recycling centre and onto Park Drive. Take care not to miss the footpath southeast which follows a track just west of the football pitches. The path curves around the edge of a housing estate and then you turn into the open fields. The footpath is easy to follow and runs to the east side of the drainage ditch. You cross South House Chase where the route intersects with Malsou three. There are a couple of tempting well-worn tracks that go off-PROW but stick to the signed footpath route and you’ll cross ditches and brooks by footbridges.

As you approach Wash Wood there’s a permissive path providing an alternative way along the field edge to the PROW and Slow Ways route straight into the field ahead - this is worth taking and soon delivers you back on track. Through soon new woods, over Mundon Wash and onto New Hall Lane. It’s straight over, into fields again and onto Mundon Hall Farm where we begin to share course with the pilgrim path St Peter’s Way.

A highlight of the walk is close at hand: St Mary’s, a redundant church with some remnant wall painting. This is a fine place to rest a while. Carrying on east from here and around the moat are the sulking trunks of Mundon’s petrified oaks. Back into the fields again following St Peter’s Way to the sea wall at Mundon Creek and on to the Marina at Maylandsea. There’s an opportunity for refreshments here at the Blackwater Quay bar. The slow way part company with St Peter’s Way here and turns into the suburban streets. Imperial Avenue has a convenience store and some fast food outlets.

Carrying on eastwards Imperial Avenue becomes The Drive, the route briefly rejoins St Peter’s Way and takes an easy-to-miss turn off The Drive onto a walker’s back lane behind houses to Nipsells Chase. The route turns south here down Nipsells Chase and separates again from St Peter’s Way (my recommendation however is to carry on eastwards on St Peter’s Way a while longer - see Malsou three).

When Nipsells Chase meets Steeple Road the pavement runs out. There’s a reasonable grass verge on the south side of Steeple Road until there’s pavement again on the north side of the road. This pavement takes you to the junction with Grange Avenue. Grange Avenue has no pavement and only has a usable verge for a few small sections. I walked on the road here on a Monday afternoon and counted 50 vehicles passing in the time it took me to reach Green Lane.

Green Lane has just about usable verge on its south side to just past Mayland Hill. After that, the only legal route is on the road itself. Unfortunately, this section of road slopes upwards on Highlands Hill and makes a blind curve with woodland beside the road. I’m not convinced this is safe enough for road walking (the alternative Malsou three that I’ve added avoids this).

The route proceeds on a public footpath going south along the field edge by Sunfield Farm. At Mayland Court, the Slow Way and PROW have a confusing set of angles. The property owner informed me that the correct route was to follow the path through the trees until the metal barn, then to turn into the field taking a south-west course to the corner fence post a short distance away. Just south of this corner, there’s a stepover point in the barbed wire fence. The route is then diagonal south-east across the sward, crossing the drive to Mayland Court then taking a sharper slant to exit onto Southminster Road at the drive entrance to Hemmells.

A short road walk west is necessary to Ewenny Farm on the south side of Southminster Road. Ignore the private signs, phoney cameras and alarms to take the PROW south to Old Heath Road. It’s an eastward road walking on Old Heath Road. This Slow Ways route takes the road to the junction with Burnham Road before turning north on a footpath across the fields. To avoid some of the road walking you can instead take the next northbound footpath you find (shortly before Filey Road), this turns east around the settlement of Old Heath and joins the designated route in the field. After exiting onto Southfield Way and crossing the road it’s all pavemented streets through Southminster to the railway station.

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