Features of Our Walk

Layer Marney Tower, in all its Tudor glory, was the destination of this circular 12-mile walk starting at Kelvedon Station. It was late May, so there was plenty of daylight to enjoy both the spring countryside and the Tudor history which greeted the walker at the furthest reach of the walk.

On the outward part of the walk, we passed Inworth Hall and Messing Park. Coming back to Kelvedon, we passed Messing Church and Prested Hall. As can be expected in this part of the world, maximum and minimum elevations - of 73 and 24 metres respectively - were quite modest, leaving sufficient energy to explore Layer Marney Tower as well as its grounds and its interesting church of "St Mary the Virgin".

Layer Marney Tower (despite the name, actually two towers), in all its Tudor grandeur,
makes a fitting destination for our Essex walk today.

Now prepare ye for some plots and graphs. Not too overwhelming, but hopefully quite interesting! You will see here:

• An Outline Map of Our Walk
• Height Profile of Our Walk
• Some Facts and Figures
• Extra, Less Quantifiable, Considerations
• Timing & Speed
• Track File
• And Finally

How far were we from the Centre of London?

Kelvedon Station (Network Rail Code: KEL) and Layer Marney Tower are both comfortably within a 50-mile radius (about 70 Km) ENE/NE from the centre of London. The centre of London is officially taken as the intersection of The Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street. This intersection is often referred to as Charing Cross, not to be confused with the nearby Victorian Eleanor Cross itself, nor the station in front of which the cross stands. The detailed figures, for the sake of interest, are shown below.

Layer Marney Tower is about 45 miles from the centre of London.

Our "straight line" distances are actually "great circle" distances on the earth's surface. We assume the earth to be spherical, which is not far off the mark. Assuming the earth to be a sphere gives us a maximum error of about 0.1% in our distance values. Not that much really! Can't complain! Indeed, we can speak of the distances as the "hypothetical crow" (cornix hypothetica) flies.

Cornix Hypothetica, our hypothetical crow,
isn't any old bird, as we should know.
Cornix Hypothetica! Many miles for us you go,
with many a "straight line" o'er Earth to show.

Our walk is comfortably within a radius of 50 miles
from the centre of London (Charing X NOT King's X).
The Y and X axes are in Degrees Latitude and Longitude respectively.

Outline Map of Our Walk

Here you see our "circular" walk. The routes of our morning and afternoon walks were different but very roughly parallel. The map grid scales translate to 1.112 Km per 0.01° latitude and a mean of 0.687 Km per 0.01° longitude, all when using 6371.0 Km as the volumetric mean radius of the earth - as per the WGS84 standard! In Scales, in the Lake District, the longitude scale is less (as expected), with a mean of 0.644 Km per 0.01° longitude; in fact, it is 43 metres per 0.01° longitude less than in Kelvedon!

Outline Map of Our Walk
Y and X axes are in degrees latitude and longitude respectively.

Because we don't live on a flat earth - unless you are a convinced "flat-earther" - maps are inevitably a distortion of what is. In other words, it's all a matter of mapping a curvaceous surface onto a flat surface. We don't want to carry curvaceous representations of the terrain on our walks, do we? In our case, the northern length of our map grid is stretched out by an extra 0.08 %, to make it the same on the page as the length of the southern part of our map grid. Not that much for hiking purposes really! Can't complain.

Height Profile of Our Walk

The height plot shows that we were moderately close to sea level - as can be expected in Essex! The plot uses a true origin for the vertical elevation (height) axis, so as not to lose track of reality. What a worthy aim!

Height Profile
X and Y axes are in units of metres and kilometres respectively.

The highest point of the walk is actually at Messing Park at 73 metres above sea level (ASL). Surprisingly, the base of Layer Marney Tower is at only about 38 metres ASL. However, the top of the tower adds roughly 24 metres (80 feet) to this, to give a commanding view over the surrounding countryside at about 62 metres ASL.

Some Facts and Figures

Here are some "vital statistics" in metric and imperial units. The total length of the walk is measured on a conceptual "flat" plane at mean sea level, WGS84 style. The total ascent and descent should theoretically be the same. Start and end elevation should also be the same. However, the very small differences are probably caused by residual errors in my use of the on-line plotting system and should not occasion sleepless nights!

"Walk facts and figures"

Extra, Less Quantifiable, Considerations

On any walk there are considerations which are very real but tantalizingly out of ready reach of those who wish to espouse a numerical approach to many of life's activities. Here are three considerations for starters.

• Weather: It was a warm day in late May, with summer just around the corner. However, it was not unduly hot, and indeed, just right for walking.


• Ground Conditions: There was no mud.


• Signposting: The paths were generally signposted, but a map was helpful when doing the walk for the first time.

Timing and Speed

It's one thing to discuss the terrain over which we walk. It's quite another to ask how we personally respond to walking over that terrain. There are a number of considerations, of which timing and speed can be taken as starting points.

• Timing: Whilst I do not have detailed times for different parts of the walk, the walk itself and the visit of Layer Marney Tower and Church were completed in daylight.


• Speed: Again, I don't have detailed figures, but the walk speeds were assumed to be between 1½ and 2½ mph.

Track File

If you are keen to see our walk superimposed on an Ordnance Survey® (OS) map, then you can use the following file to do so. I probably used hand plotting, as opposed to a GPS (Garmin®) to obtain the route. The data are based on WGS84. Of course, for copyright reasons, I do not show the OS-based map here.

Kelvedon Circular via Layer Marney Tower.

And Finally - a Matter of Practicality

Any map is an approximate representation of what is. Practicality and scale are relevant considerations. We are not dealing with a planning application calling for detailed spatial descriptions of intricate boundaries. For us in the hiking community, the degrees of accuracy and precision should be just enough to give us useable and helpful knowledge of the terrain about us and beneath our feet. I hope my humble endeavours on this page are in this respect interesting for, and useful to, you, my reader!