Walk Report

Chappel Beer Festival Walk, Saturday 11th September 2010
15 walkers, 22 miles - leader Rob Myers
15 people including 5 from Essex/Herts gathered at Colchester for the start of the walk. The morning began with a walk along the River Colne passing through Castle Park and the now defunct port of Hythe to the pretty village of Rowhedge where we had a drinks break. We then followed the Roman River passed the village of Fingringhoe to Friday Woods where we headed back to the town centre via the military part of the town. The service and food were excellent at the pub stop at the Castle Inn and refreshed we started the afternoon with a brief tour of some of the town's highlights. 3 walkers who had opted in advance to do the morning only departed at this point. The afternoon's walk passed through Hilly Fields and Cymbeline Meadows and joined the Essex Way at West Bergholt. Finally the walk went through Aldham to finish at Chappel where we admired the Chappel Viaduct quoted as being the second biggest brick built structure in England after Battersea Power Station. At the station 3 further people decided to head for home and the remaining 9 of us went to the Chappel Beer Festival. The beer festival wasn't too crowded and we stretched out on the grass and enjoyed sampling several beers as well as tucking into some excellent food. First time visitors to the festival were surprised how good the venue was. People started to drift away throughout the evening with the last 3 of us, who lived fairly locally, staying to 10pm.

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