Stoke-by-Nayland to Mistley: E2 Day 98

The highlight today was a detour to Flatford lock, a place painted by Constable.

My walk this morning took me down more bluebell lined paths, as wells as over fields. I was distressed as always by the number of "Private" signs. Public rights to access and the use of footpaths needs to be protected, as landowners often do not want people walking by. That is the reason why I pay a subscription to the Ramblers, who work to defend and extend Rights of Way and access to the countryside and coast. One particular sign also stated that anti-climb paint was used. As there were only hedges nearby I was tempted to leave the public footpath and try and find the fence on which the paint was applied.

Bluebell lined path.

Crossing freshly tilled fields. 

Later I was walking in meadows, open areas of grass often grazed by cows, close to the River Stour or its backwaters. I was thinking very much of the landscape painter John Constable, who was born and brought up in the area and painted scenes along the river in the early years of the 19th century. I tried and failed with my camera to reproduce a Constable scene. Some of his most famous pictures were painted around Flatford Mill. Although the E2 leaves the Stour Valley Path to join the Essex Way at Stratford St Mary, I stayed with the Stour River to visit Flatford. The National Trust owns the site, there was a small exhibition of Constable's work and you could stand at locations where he painted famous works such as the "Hay Wain". There was the added benefit of lunch in the café. Constable loved the scenes he was painting and consequently they look beautiful in his pictures, even if the reality was not quite so nice. Although actions are taking place in his compositions they have a stillness, as if time had stopped and everyone is at peace.

People enjoying the meadows by Denham.

This is where the "Hay Wain" was painted, the house on the left was in the picture.

Flatford lock, paddle boards rather than barges ply the river today..

Leaving Flatford I followed a well signposted path to Manningtree, then walked through housing on a pedestrian route to join the Essex Way, waymarked by two red flowers. After a trip in the outskirts by a school disgorging its children, the route took me down to the shores of the large estuary of the Stour, out of proportion with the size of the river. The tide was out leaving many boats stranded on the sand or mud. My hotel room at Mistley looks out on the estuary. Before the railway arrived, Mistley was a transhipment port. Goods brought by boat from the sea were transferred to barges which travelled up the Stour all the way to Sudbury. No longer, although the lock at Dedham was restored in 1990, it is no longer in use. There is still a wharf at Mistley with building materials lined up on it and what look like large, old warehouses (which I later discovered to be a maltings).

Beach by Mistley on Stour Estuary.