Time Space Residency at METAL, Southend

I set aside today as a ‘reading day’ so that I can start making an in-road into some of the books I’ve brought with me. Some, I have some familiarity with and are with me for reassurance and dipping back into and others are more specific to the work I’ll be planning whilst I’m here.

In particular, I’m keen to read Estuary by Rachel Lichtenstein, who grew up in Southend on Sea and has strong connections with Chalkwell Hall, where I am staying. The book developed out of an inter-disciplinary art-project initiated by Ben Eastop and Simon Callery, who invited the writer to join them on an experimental journey by Dutch barge, along the Thames Estuary as an immersive exploration and experience of the waterway and its outer reaches. This voyage of discovery, adventure and potential risk particularly appeals to me, as does the detailed investigation of the territory.

I’m also keen to read Tom Chesshyre’s From Source to Sea: Notes from a 215 -miles walk along the River Thames, for obvious reasons. This traces a walk made by the writer from the river’s source in the Cotswolds to the North Sea, an extension of the Thames Path, not normally covered in maps and guides of the route, which generally don’t go much beyond the Thames Barrier. I was drawn the diaristic style of the book and also by the author’s quest to undertake it as a continuous journey over several days, stopping off overnight en route in various hosteleries. As an account of a walk the tone appears meandering, slow-paced and conversational, quite different to how I imagine my run of a similar route will be. I’m keen however to get a sense of a route and to also to see if at any point the author may have strayed from it.

Being here near Southend, I found myself drawn to Estuary and the strong, personal sense of place it evokes.  I had initially planned to read both books simultaneously; Source to Sea by day and Estuary as bedtime reading, but having started the latter as I was falling asleep last night I was keen to continue. I devoured the first section that describes the first attempt of the journey out to sea and I found myself reading from the back of the former book as a means of trying to connect the two. But these are two very different books and probably best read separately.

I’m not sure how I’ll continue but tomorrow (today, since it’s after midnight) I’m off for another run. This time I’ll take the road down to the seafront, turn left and outwards towards the wider reaches of the sea and see where it takes me…

I began the first day of my residency by taking a run down to the esplanade  at Chalkwell, turning right to follow the path back towards London to see where it would take me. The weather was dull and rainy, but never one to shy away from bad weather, I was up for a period of exploration. I was well protected from the elements with my super-duper light trail-running jacket, that doesn’t let anything in, though my shoes whilst being able to grip the mud, were not able to keep my feet from getting wet for very long and before long they were sodden.

I knew from the train journey here that there is a stretch running close to the railway line into Leigh on Sea, and there is also a little stretch beyond that, but otherwise I was ready to see where the route would take me. I knew that this would depend on what would be accessible on foot and that much of the Thames estuary going back inland consists of mud-flats and mini tributaries and is very marshy.

The first section towards and through Leigh on Sea was a pretty straightforward concrete path, directly following the sea/estuary on one side and the railway on the other. The view across to the other side was obscured somewhat by grey, dull, rainy mist, but you could still get a sense of the vastness of the mouth of the river here, though it is difficult to tell at what point the sea stops being the sea and becomes the river. The picturesque quaintness of Leigh on Sea was followed more rugged wild landscape, as I ventured into Two Tree Island, a nature reserve consisting of grassland, scrub, reedbed and lagoons. A myriad of footpaths made it confusing to try following a direct path along the estuary so I opted for the one that seemed furthest away. Though muddy, it seemed to take me to the edge of the river inlet that becomes Hadleigh bay. So far, so good, until I came to a crossing where it appeared to be possible to cross a very thin stretch of water, barely anything, over to the other side, where I could continue my route west.

Except that after a couple of precarious attempts, I decided I couldn’t cross over : the mud was just that bit too soft and sinking to risk it. It meant going back on myself to reach the ridge opposite, but at least from then on it was a straight run for 3 1/2 miles into Benfleet. This was quite something- spectacular views all the way and no-one else around me; a strange silence enveloped me. Although I had to compete with pools of water for much of it, at least it was soft, easy and low impact. By the time I reached Benfleet I had done over 8 miles and I felt I had had enough for a first day. Although I could have continued either to Canvey Island or Pitsea, I decided I would head back to Chalkwell by train in time for lunch.

I’ve always though of approaching the run from Source to Sea, rather than the other way round, probably mostly following the south side of the river, but being here at the north side, and venturing back inland almost at the point at which the river becomes the sea, I’m now not so sure.