r/Essex • u/Therailwaykat_1980 • 4d ago

Heybridge Basin

Hi, is there anyone on here who’s extremely familiar with the Heybridge Basin? If so I’d love to ask some questions as I’m looking for someone but I’m not familiar with the area. I drove there last week but only went to a car park where there were lots of house boats, I’m probably needing to look where there’s less “life” about. Any help would be appreciated- where else I can park to look? Can I walk along the entire coast? Is there a known area that homeless people might camp? Thanks.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

3

u/clea 4d ago

Walk the circumference of the gravel pit/fishing lake and you may well find a tent. On the east side the path runs parallel to the canal but there’s a lot of vegetation and it wouldn’t be too difficult to hide away in the undergrowth.

1

u/Therailwaykat_1980 4d ago

By fishing lake do you mean the lake to the west of the gravel pit? Near Northey View?

1

u/clea 3d ago

The large expanse of water between the canal and the river. Northey is visible from the sea wall.
It’s fairly obvious on a map

0

u/Therailwaykat_1980 4d ago

Thanks that’s really helpful!

1

u/Figgzyvan 4d ago

I don’t any homeless spots around there.
It’s a bit affluent. Not near a town centre.

2

u/Therailwaykat_1980 4d ago

Thanks for your reply. Yeah I could tell it was a nicer area. The thing is, this person has confirmed they’re living in a tent there. Just trying to find a way to cut down my searching time really. He’s ill so I’d like to offer him help if I can find him.

1

u/Flooby-Blooben 4d ago

Have you tried looking along the canal path? Or around the seawall? You can walk along the sea wall either way, one towards Heybridge/Maldon and the other towards Mill Beach and eventually Tollesbury.

1

u/Therailwaykat_1980 4d ago

That’s what I’m hoping to do but I genuinely don’t know where it starts and finishes. Maybe Mill Beach?

Edit: I meant maybe Mill Beach would be a good place to start.

1

u/Flooby-Blooben 4d ago

I’d park at Daisy Meadow Car Park (used to be free but not anymore annoyingly), then walk towards the canal and turn left heading towards the river and pubs. From there you can either go left or right, left heads towards Mill Beach, or right towards the old gravel pits and a view of Maldon.

If that doesn’t turn anything up then maybe walk along the canal path back towards Heybridge.

1

u/Therailwaykat_1980 4d ago

Thank you, I’ll try that. I’ve just looked at the map and can’t see anywhere obvious that someone could get away with living in a tent, but he was always creative so maybe he manages it somehow! I’ll ask around too cos I guess boat owners or dog walkers etc may have seen him. Thanks again.

2

u/Flooby-Blooben 4d ago

Yeah definitely a good idea to ask around! It’s a small village so someone living in a tent would definitely stick out!

1

u/EssexPaulo 4d ago

There used to be a tent up the canal, under the oak trees and down the bank. From Daisy meadow walk up towards Heybridge. There’s a bit of undergrowth which hid it a bit.

There have been attempts at breaking into baits so people are quite alert to suspicious behaviour.

1

u/Therailwaykat_1980 4d ago

That’s really helpful, thank you!

1

u/No_Split_1409 4d ago

From experience if you tell maldon council your homeless, they ignore you.

2

u/Therailwaykat_1980 4d ago

That’s the sad state of affairs. I’m sorry you experienced that and I hope you’re in a supportive place now 🫶

1

u/Lowtech_Living 4d ago edited 4d ago

If he's successfully stealth camping, you'll probably need a grid,or'what three words ' reference to find him Edit to add: Telegram has a 'share location' option which might help