Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/09/08/footpath-through-the-sea-m.html
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I’ve been pretty close to this footpath; but given that the start-point is in a military firing range, there is no way for someone to stumble upon it by accident, at least from the south-west end. The nearest publicly-accessible part is Shoeburyness East Beach, which is popular with wind-surfers and paragliders. So the area looks pretty jolly, with no hint of the horrors beyond the Ministry of Defence Fence and warning signs.
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Foulness Island? That seems like the sort of destination one sets when one seeks a magical sword, consultation with an Oracle, or to confront a beast who’s been terrorizing the local peasants. I can only assume there’s also Rodents of Unusual Size along the path.
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Alas, the name is not so romantic. From Wikipedia: " The island’s unusual[3] name is derived from the Old English fugla næsse (“bird headland”), referring to wildfowl."
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Quintin Lake, a photographer who’s been walking the entire coastline of Great Britain, just passed through here this week. Watching him tweet about it was the first time I’d ever heard of the route, but it sure is fascinating.
He’s only 7 days from completing his trip, which has taken years. Read about it here: https://theperimeter.uk/
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That’s still impressive, considering that the British coastline is fractal.
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Should be okay as long as he keeps measuring in paces and doesn’t switch to nanometers.
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'Tis bruited about that Boris Johnson was conceived there;whether he is a “rodent of unusual size”, is a moot point!
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Well that’s just no fun!
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My friend, if I was to take anyone’s word on his origins it’d be a wizard’s.
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Interesting, when reading the article I assumed it was the standard “low tide footbridge out to an island” a la Bar Harbor Island Maine or Mont Saint-Michel, but the island is big, easily accessible, and basically separated from the mainland by a small channel. The footpath really is a footpath, a meandering sandbar just offshore and parallel to the shoreline.
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linking the mainland with Foulness Island
“World’s deadliest footpath, you say? Well, it must go someplace pretty awesome to be worth the risk!”
“Er… well…”
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You beat me to it; helluva name, that.
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“Footpath ‘through the sea’ may be Britain’s deadliest”
Hold my beer…
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We’ve got a similar, risky mudflat walk in Anchorage, Alaska to Fire Island - occasionally deadly with, I suspect, a much greater tidal variance of ~25’ / 8m.
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to cross the flats 'round these here parts, ya gotta do the “stingray shuffle”
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I first came across this route in a book by Robert Macfarlaine, called ‘The Old Ways’, a fascinating book literally about old, almost lost, routes taken by people over many many years. He’s written a number of superb books on travel and nature, and also about language, ‘The Lost Words’
He actually walked the Broomway, and this is a BBC adaptation of his piece about it. Frankly, the thought of trying to navigate it scares the crap out of me!
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