Witmal one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Witmal here.

I walked this route on a hot, dry Saturday in late June. I walked from Maldon to Witham.

There are some pleasant sections on this route but I can't recommend it in its current form. The Slow Ways map has poor alignment; there's a section of road walking on the B1018 with fast traffic; an unnecessary bit of navigation in Wickham Bishops; and an undesirable section into/out of Maldon that is poorly mapped and is easily avoidable by taking another route.

Heading north out of Maldon, you cross the River Chelmer by Fullbridge. I would ordinarily go west along the riverside accessing it via the footpath just after The Muddy Duck, or crossing the pub yard. The mapped Slow Ways, instead, proceeds north to the second roundabout before turning northwest onto the Maldon Bypass. The map alignment is rubbish but seems to suggest that you can access the bridleway beside the River Blackwater (just after the Bypass goes over both) from the south side of the road. It is a bit more complicated to try to do that than the mapping implies - the pavement runs out before you reach an access track into Oak Tree Meadow. A path through Oak Tree Meadow will take you to the riverside bridleway. Going this way involves walking alongside a busy road and is rather unpleasant. Taking the footpath after Fullbridge would deliver you to the bridleway faster and more gently.

The map alignment continues to be unclear. You need to go under another section Maldon Bypass - so the riverside bridleway which does so is the obvious route. Once out the other side I decided to interpret the straight line across Elms Farm Park as meaning I should take the Blackwater Rail Trail (path of a dismantled railway) around the north side of the park before taking the footpath to Langford Road.

This footpath north is poorly signposted and delivers you straight onto a busy section of Langford Road. At my time of walking (June 20024) there were some confusing notices about route diversions here. A new housing estate (Westcombe Park) was being constructed on etc north side of Langford Road. The footpaths around here remained open and the diversions were slight - but the construction work had led to poor upkeep of the paths and a lot of bushwhacking through prickly undergrowth until I was a way into the field north of the development. Things became easier after that.

Turning west after the second reservoir a track leads to the B1018 and the section of the route I think too dangerous to recommend. Between here and joining a footpath across fields further north there is no pavement. There is mostly verge - but it is uneven, sometimes 40cm or more above the road, and would have been even more difficult to use if it hadn’t recently been cut. In a couple of sections walking on the road is the only option (including one blind curve). A safer alternative to this section might be to instead take the track west after the *first* reservoir and follow the footpath around to where crossing the B1018 delivers you to another section of the Blackwater Rail Trail. Taking this northwards provides access to a bridleway east across fields back to the B1018 again - but now opposite the onward section of this Slow Way, avoiding the section of road walking.

The footpath proceeds north skirting around Likely Wood (rendered as Lucky Wood on the Slow Ways base map) before exiting onto Grange Road. The route now makes a loop east into Wickham Bishops presumably to provide access to a small array of shops and the bus route (it doesn’t pass the convenience store and tea rooms on The Street however). If you are not in need of shops or buses you can avoid this detour into Wickham Bishops by instead going west on Grange Road and taking the footpath north-west to Wickham Hall lane, onto Station Road then joining the mapped path where Church Rad meets Mope Lane.

The next section is a pleasant jaunt through the woodland of Mope Grove and Benton Hall golf course, and a short section of road walking on Blue Mills Hill before a footpath across fields delivers you to Whetmead nature reserve and a tunnel under the A12. A last bit of river walk beside the River Brain and then its pavement into the centre of Witham.

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