Historic Colchester Guided Tour + optional 5 mile river walk

Explore the historic City of Colchester (Britain's oldest recorded town*) on a tour led by a top rated local expert, who promises to provide a fun and informative 1.5 hour guided tour (£11.55 inc booking fee per person - how to book below). Then, if you feel like some more exercise and a longer day out, join me after lunch for an ODL led 5 mile riverside walk to the pretty estuary village of Wivenhoe. 20 minute bus ride back to Colchester. 

Having convened at the meeting point, we'll take the easy 1 mile walk into the City Centre. This event will then be in 2 parts as follows: 

Part 1 of the day:

An interesting and fun guided tour, wandering round the city, learning about its rich historic past from the Roman Era through to current day. The tour will take in several of the historic landmarks including seeing the outer rim of Colchester Castle, the remains of the Norman-built St Botolph's Priory, parts of the original roman city together with Jumbo - Britain's oldest giant water tower. We'll also find out a couple of gems about the history of hauntings and witchcraft trials in the city!

The tour is approx 1.5 miles and takes around 1.5 hours. The cost is £11.55 per head including booking fee and your place can be booked beforehand via this link: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/private-tour-tickets-824301416727?aff=oddtdtcreator

Historic Tour complete, we will then take a short walk over to the thoroughly modern Colchester First Site arts and culture centre for coffee/cake or lunch if you wish. There will be outside space for anyone bringing a packed lunch or you can use the café in the centre. 

After this, you can chose to go home, or  see more of the city under your own steam. Colchester Castle is worth a trip inside (fee payable of £12.50) or simply do a spot of shopping or visit one/some of the many pubs in town. You will need to make your own way back to Colchester North Station for trains home or back to your car. 

Alternatively, you can join me on the optional 5 mile walk to Wivenhoe as follows: 

Part 2 :

We'll leave Colchester via the Castle Park Gardens, following the River Stour towards the small industrial area of The Hythe. From here we'll leave the built-up area and escape into the countryside along the path that follows the River Stour on its journey to Wivenhoe. We'll end up in the lower part of this small town which has a quaint historic riverside feel with a couple of narrow streets and some pretty architecture

Once there we will head towards the charming quayside pub on the river for a customary ODL beverage stop. From there we'll head over to Wivenhoe station for the 20 minute bus trip back to Colchester (£4.20 single)

Dogs - On this occasion sadly dogs will not be able to join us as the they are not allowed to enter the main Castle Park area.

New to OutdoorLads - I would like to warmly welcome any newbies looking perhaps to try this as their first Outdoor Lads event. You may find this link useful https://www.outdoorlads.com/my-first-event or if you have If you have any questions then feel free to message me. 

IMPORTANT! - Participation Statement

You MUST complete a Participation Statement, in addition to booking your event space before attending an OutdoorLads event. You only need to complete this Participation Statement once, not for each event you attend. 

Photo credits and thank you's to: 

Andy Gent & Raymond McCarthy of Colchester History Tours 

*Britain's oldest town is a much debated claim.