We are the Hike Essex Ramblers. We open the way for everyone in our local community to enjoy the pleasures of walking.
Join Pud (aka Rod) on a ramble from Colchester station to Chappel and Wakes Colne station, where the adjacent East Anglian Railway Museum is holding its Winter Beer Festival.
We will walk from Colchester station to West Bergholt where we pick up the Essex Way before diverting to Fordham to take a break at The Coffee Shed at the Three Horseshoes, which has many tempting goodies including the famous Dingley Dell bacon cro-buns (veggies and vegans are catered for). We return to the Essex Way at Fordstreet to follow the River Colne to Chappel, the end of the walk but the start of the beer festival.
This walk has good public transport links, starting at Colchester station and ending at Chappel on the Marks Tey to Sudbury branch (1 train an hour each way).
If you want to go to the beer festival, you must buy a ticket in advance from https://www.chappelbeerfestival.org.uk/, they do not sell tickets at the entrance. You need the 11:00 to 16:00 ticket, which despite the end time lets you stay until closing at 21:30.
Coffee Shed: https://3hs.pub/the-coffee-shed/
The meeting point is the north entrance to Colchester Station, which is on the main Liverpool Street to Ipswich line. (NB Colchester Town is a different station).
