The Ray Walk & Swim, Westcliff

Another FREE walk.

Has anyone heard of “The Ray”? It’s a piece of the estuary that leads into Old Leigh and Two Tree Island. It is only accessible at low tide. This is a much shorter walk that the Mulberry Harbour (takes 20 minutes to get out) and there isn’t really anything to get too, other than get in the water or walk around the sand. We walked for 40 minutes and swam for 30 minutes. So this walk will be about an hour and 15 minutes. 

This walk runs from the lifeguard station and the public toilets just opposite Crowstone Avenue in Westcliff. There is lots of parking along the sea front and we are aiming to start at 6pm, so the parking should be free. If you are earlier than 6pm, you can park on the roads around Crowstone Avenue as they are not “double yellows”. The postcode to aim for is “SS0 8JT”

There are two marked paths to “The Ray” one takes you straight to the ray, but the other one you must go through a water channel, we did it on Saturday and it was up to our waists to get through.

So, you do have the option to just come for a walk and there is also the option to wade through waist high water and come for a swim at the end. Like the Mulberry walk, there is dry sand to put bags on, and I would recommend taking clothing to change in to as we will be walking in the evening and possibly swimming. Please note that you swim at your own risk.

The water is shallow to start with and then gets deeper and on Saturday was 22 degrees C. The water holds the warmth going into September, so there shouldn’t be much change in the temperature from today.

If you would like to come, don’t forget to register below. If I haven’t given you enough information, or I haven’t provided the answer that you want to sign up, please let me know.

I promise that the next walk I organise will be on dry land!!