Walking the Broomway

By ⋅ May 31, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Robert Macfarlane on The Broomway (Photo: David Quentin)

Robert Macfarlane on The Broomway (Photo: David Quentin)

For today’s Geo Quiz, we’re looking for an ancient path off the east coast of England.

The path starts at Great Wakering, on the coast of Essex, and it ends at Foulness – an island separated from the mainland by narrow creeks.

Here’s the interesting part: when the tide is in, this path is under water.

You can only walk it when the tide is out.

But if you time it right, it’s unforgettable.

The Broomway (Photo: David Quentin)

The Broomway (Photo: David Quentin)

The answer is The Broomway.

British writer Robert Macfarlane walked The Broomway, and he writes about the experience in the current issue of Granta magazine.

Macfarlane says it was “the eeriest, the unearthliest and the most memorable walk” he’s ever taken.

Macfarlane’s Granta article is excerpted from his forthcoming book, The Old Ways.

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Discussion

12 comments for “Walking the Broomway”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Salahi/1219221102 David Salahi

    “But if you time it right, it’s unforgettable.”

    I suspect it’s unforgettable if you time it wrong, too. :-)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1117756441 Kenneth Cook

    I just do not see what is so special here. I’ve walked dozens of beaches around the globe and here in Alaska that end at destinations that are only reachable during low tide. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=60000068 Josh Bablonka

      Paths that are rendered inaccessible by the tide are perhaps not completely uncommon, and certainly not unheard of (the Caines Head trail in Seward, Alaska comes to my mind immediately). However it is the history of this particular path as the only means of accessing Foulness that stirs the imagination. I found this segment to be fascinating.

  • http://www.facebook.com/rich.spencer.79 Rich Spencer

    Everyone could be Jesus for a day…

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1175517676 Claudia Del Valle Mojica

      You meant “Moses crossing the Red Sea”?

      • http://www.facebook.com/christopher.paris1 Chris Paris

        Pretty sure he meant Jesus. Jesus walked ON water, Moses had to move it out of his way first.

  • Moderately_Disgusted

    Reminds me of Mont St Michel, but I guess without the romantic medieval island at the other end…

  • kayakhans

    There is a similar hike along a broom route in the vast tidal flats of the North Sea near Cuxhaven at the mouth of the Elbe River in Northern Germany. One can hike one way for 10 km or take a horse cart to the island of Neuwerk or even further out to another island Scharnhoern. I made this magical hike during my childhood. The dangers are obvious: inappropriate timing, a rising tide, fog, stormy weather. The mud flats are carved up by deep curving “Priels”, rivers in the mudflats which can block passage during the rising tide.  Luckily the mud is fairly firm.
    Respondents from Alaska mentioned mudflats in the Anchorage and Prince William Sound area.  These can be very dangerous since the tides here are much higher and the mud is composed of very fine glacial till which threaten a hiker sink into the soft muck and drown in the rapidly rising tide.

  • kayakhans

     test

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1380542639 Beth Hewes

    When I heard the report on NPR yesterday, I was so excited to get on this site and see the pictures.  I wish there were lots more.  Thanks for report on this.

  • 1fwashburn1

     There is a St Michaels Mount on the oppisite side of England in Cornwall. With a causeway so you can walk to it at low tide.  It is not only France that has ‘ romantic medieval islands’
    http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/stmichaels-mount/

  • Catherine Murphy

    great photos! and story… ;-)