We walk from the seaside town of Dovercourt along the coast into Harwich at the mouth of the River Stour and estuary beyond. The train journey from London takes 1 hour and 20 minutes and follows the Mayflower Line.

Rob will talk about lighthouses, shipyard cranes and the repair yard of Trinity House, who look after navigational aids around the UK. He’ll talk about ships built in Harwich, the most famous being the Mayflower, but Thames barges were also constructed here.

Laura will talk about seamen in the Age of Sail, whose jobs involved running up rigging during storms, manning guns during battles and enduring boredom in the doldrums. Men (and some women) volunteered for a life at sea in large numbers, and some were forced through impressment when the navy needed them. She’ll also mention Arthur Ransome’s intrepid Swallows who Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea and Harwich’s connections to colonies across the Atlantic via the Mayflower. Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton also figure.

We’ll take in views across the estuary to the container port at Felixstowe, and the town of Harwich has some fine Georgian architecture and good pubs to explore after the walk.

The walk is about two miles and finishes at Harwich Pier, a short walk from Harwich Town Station.

Below see your guides after a recce in Maldon.

The Naked Anthropologist is Laura’s longtime blog, now dedicated to historical walks that highlight issues of Gender, Sex and Class.