Thames Estuary Man guided walking tours

07/06/2026

A nice dry day today after yesterday’s total washout.
I had some lovely company again to share my favourite estuary with. Thanks everyone 😁

06/06/2026

We made the right decision not to walk on the Broomway this morning !
Im looking forward to tomorrow which should be much better 😁

30/05/2026

On our guided Broomway walks we always talk about how things had changed by 1922. By then a William Scherzer (Chicago) designed and patented ‘rolling lift bridge’ had been installed across Havengore creek, along with a road (and MOD railway) linking it to Foulness island’s villages. This replaced the Broomway as the road of choice from the mainland to the island although someone obviously forgot to tell Amazon !!

The original bridge was replaced in 1988 by a new road bridge (no railway). This new bridge was a big advance, with its much higher weight limit, aiding both the military and the islands farmers who could then load grain Lorry’s on the island rather than have to trailer the grain across the bridge in six smaller loads to be loaded into a lorry on the mainland.
We see this new bridge clearly from the Broomway.

Well today I got an even better view of the bridge when I moved my little boat from the river roach around to the Thames, and the lovely lady manning the bridge lifted it, so I could pass under 😁

25/05/2026

No better place to be on a scorching hot day, than the Maplin sands with a lovely cooling easterly breeze. The perfect weather today and another nice bunch of walkers to share it with 😁

24/05/2026

For those that have been on our Broomway guided walk you have heard me speak a little about some events that happened on or close by to Foulness island including a submarine sinking in 1950, the UKs first atomic bomb being assembled in 1952 and the major flooding that occurred in 1953.
I also point out and talk about the forts out in the estuary that were WWII defences designed by Guy Maunsell. The furthest navy fort became Known as Sealand when Roy Bates took over the tower and claimed it.

We would like to recommend some books about the Thames estuary area.

1. The Farmer and the Fury - a novel written by Foulness island farmer, Cherry Burroughs. Set in 1953, this tells the story of an Essex island farm which is almost completely submerged by the devastating storm surge. Great read.

2. Holding The Fort - by Michael of Sealand. The Principality of Sealand is the furthest Maunsell fort out in the Thames estuary. It used to be in International waters 6 miles off of Harwich before UK waters were extended from 3 miles to 12 miles in 1987. I found this an informative and fun read.

3. Essex coast from the air. Photos by Jason Hawkes. This was gifted to me and has some great photos. I learned a lot from this book.

4. The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane.
This book has a nice chapter about the authors experience of walking across the Broomway.

21/05/2026

We’ve had a few cancellations on the 7 mile Broomway walks, which I’ve put up on our booking website www.thamesestuaryman.co.uk.

Sat 6th June 8.30am 2 spaces
Sun 7th June 9.30am 2 spaces.
Sat 4th July 8am 2 spaces
Sun 12th July 3pm 2 spaces.

Kind regards
Kev & Julie

Thames Estuary Man

17/05/2026

Well that was better ! A lovely evening. It felt ten degrees warmer than yesterday evening. Another great group whose company I really enjoyed 😁

17/05/2026

Well it was certainly chilly for the time of year, but I’m hoping those that braved the cold wind yesterday evening still enjoyed seeing this amazing piece of WWII engineering. I always enjoy being out there, but I was certainly ready for a hot cup of tea after this one ! A big thanks as always to those who booked with us.

13/05/2026

If anyone fancies learning a little about about the wildlife that lives in the Thames estuary, we have put up a new Pierhead explore for Wednesday 15th July at 7pm.
A great one for photographers. Let’s hope for a lovely sunset.

As always please book through our website www.thamesestuaryman.co.uk

Accompanied U18s £5

10/05/2026

Another interesting Thames estuary weekend. Sunshine and light breeze yesterday, more cloud and a chilly north easterly wind today. Lots of interesting people keen to ask questions about the area. Good fun 😁