Bradwell Beach

Located in front of the old power station (Although I hear it's to be brought back into service in a few years) is this little gem of a coastal walk. You may find a few people having a picnic on the sand at the start of the walk, but the further you walk, the less people you encounter.

Park for free at the power station. You'll need to follow the road right to its end, and you'll find the overflow car park at the end of the lane on the left hand side, after the staff car park. The overflow car park has direct access to the start of the walk. There's space for about 40 cars, if they park sensibly. It does get full up quickly though.

Once upon a time, there were toilets here, but a sign on the portacabin door informed us that the water supply had been cut off, so no toilets at the time of writing. There are bins at the entrance to the beach, but I didn't see any on the beach route. There may well have been some on the coastal path though.

Follow the path marked "Bradwell nature trail" and keep left alongside the perimeter fence of the power station. You'll come to a set of stairs down onto the beach if you want to walk on the sand, or just turn right and enjoy the elevated coastal path. You can continue along the path and do a loop of the area, including the historic St Peter's Chapel, which is supposed to be the oldest place of worship in Essex. We cheated slightly and drove on to the parking area by the chapel, and it was very busy there. The chapel site is clearly the better known one, because there were lots of people walking down it with picnic bags.

All the beaches in this area have mud flats, so you may find yourself sinking into squidgy mud. If you're not nimble, I'd recommend sticking to the path.

There are freshwater inlets on the beach, so your dog can pick up a drink there.

I've attached a link which you can follow which shows the big circular route. We only managed a few miles of it, but there was more than enough to encourage us to come back and do another chunk of it.

A word of warning - because it's not a busy beach, it is apparently popular with naturists. I did not discover this until I was relaying the tale to someone after my visit. My two went into the undergrowth and flushed out a guy who was indulging in a bit of naturist sunbathing, and I'm not sure who was more embarrassed ?