Run Britain Day 4: From Clacton-on-Sea to Peldon

One of the more personal goals for my run around the coastline of Britain was to try and determine the nicest part for me to live in when I was finished. I’ve always said that I am confident that nowhere is going to beat Thorpeness for me and, four days in, I am sticking with that confidence.

Not that there has been huge competition so far.

I’ve been grateful for the fact that in the 108 miles run over the last four days, I have climbed a total of 750m (in Cornwall I’ll be doing that on a daily basis), but the scenery hasn’t been particularly inspiring.

Clacton looked slightly nicer with the sun shining over the water this morning, but it’s never going to be called beautiful. And Jaywick, a couple of miles to the south is quite extraordinary in its dereliction. The beaches are still nice on this patch of coast, but the towns that grace them aren’t exactly standing proud.

I didn’t spend long on the coast today because the Blackwater estuary takes up a large chunk of this section. It took me four hours to run from the mouth of the river up to the first bridge in Colchester (and that included a rather depressing 12km which I could see the other side of the river that I would be running back down). And then there was another patch of skirting around fields and clambering over fences before I called it a day in Peldon.

There will be more estuaries to navigate as I head towards Maldon tomorrow. But I need to remember to be grateful for the flatness of Essex before I hit the hills of the south coast.