Trail Running: Layer-de-la-Haye

A varied run around the village of Layer-de-la-Haye near Colchester. Starting in ancient woodland, then passing the local, oddly named, pub before running over trails to pass the huge Abberton Reservoir and finally the 12th century church.

00:00 Intro
00:25 Chest Wood
02:00 Donkey and Buskins
02:28 Footpaths
07:17 Abberton Reservoir
08:49 Footpaths
09:46 Layer Church
11:55 Layer Cross
12:41 Outro

Oh, hello. I’m out this morning in Leia Dei. It’s a place that I haven’t run around for quite a while. So, uh I may get myself lost, but nevertheless, I’ve got uh Kimoot to guide me around hopefully. Yeah, not a huge run this morning, but uh bit of variation. So, let’s say woodland to start. Then little bit of road and then tracks and uh a look at a reservoir, a large local reservoir and uh then a church and then we’ll circle back. Well, this is ancient woodland and uh there has been evidence found of Roman occupation and more recently a World War II British resistance hideout was found to be used if Britain was invaded. This is the next slide. Thank you. Yeah, this is glorious. Gosh, I haven’t ran this route for years and uh it’s a sort of vague familiarity about it, but I couldn’t really tell you. I have got a feeling that I’m getting close to coming out of the woods and on to new cuts. But now take a slight All right. So, we got a little downhill run on the road here. Well, we’re just approaching the Donkey and Buskkins pub. The pub started as a porter house in the 16th century. The current building is dated around 1840. The odd name is said to originate from a boy who wore protective leg coverings or buskins and rode a donkey to school. When I last came down here, there were lots of friendly pigs who used to come over and say hello as we ran past. Now turn left. Oh, this is wonderful at the moment. Haven’t got lost yet. Kamut’s doing a pretty good job of guiding me so far. [Music] We used to run this route in our little running group. That was uh quite a few years ago now. Vagely familiar. the person who was local uh used to be responsible of course for selecting the roots. So we never had to worry about navigation. Well, the old legs certainly look tired plotting up this hill. Now turn right onto [Music] the eyes adjust for a moment here. [Music] Good place to just stop and have a quick drink. Just saw a fox run past there. [Music] I think there’s farm fields road. Almost hidden little foot path. There is [Music] [Music] Take the next road. Looks like we’re turning right onto field road again. It says, it looks like I’ve got to follow this path for over a mile. So, I’ll put it on to time lapse and only stop if there’s something really interesting. [Music] All right, so I stopped here just because it’s my first clear view of Abbertton Reservoir. [Music] All right, a mistaken detour there down to uh Blind Knights, which is a an old house. Yes, I remember this path. [Music] Bit overgrown here. You probably won’t be able to see it, but quite a nice view of the reservoir across there. In the meantime, let’s push on the dragon flies around. Abbertton reservoir was constructed in the mid 1930s on the course of the layer brook. It originally had a capacity of 26 billion L of water, but between 2010 and 2015, the reservoir walls were raised, allowing another 15 billion L to be stored. In 1943, the reservoir was used by 617 squadron, the dam busters, to practice for the attack on the Adah dam in Germany. [Music] I still can’t see the church, but I must be heading there. [Music] [Music] [Music] I can see the church ahead of me. Oh, lads. [Music] Oh, don’t worry. Yeah, I know. [Music] and then through [Music] into the graveyard here of Leia Church. The church of St. John the Baptist Leia Deah was first recorded around about 1128 although parts are much older. The nave is 12th century and the chancel is probably also very early. The nave was rebuilt in 1350 and the west tower and north porch added about the same time. The church was restored in the 19th century when the south aisle was added because of an increase in population. The church has some very old bells. Uh the oldest is dated 1459. [Music] Well, unfortunately, I was there too early for the church to be opened, so I never got a chance to look around inside. Right, I think at this point I will make my way back. All right, letting the run back into follow this way for 0.63 miles. It’s the layer water treatment works. I think now this little bit brings back some memories. Uh, one of our running team had very bad cataracts for a while. And uh we had to stop him running off the edge there or bumping into all the lamp posts and signs and things. All right, so just arriving at layer cross. [Music] This pub, the Leia Fox Walton Green Road over there. Here’s the War Memorial. [Music] All right, lovely run and I’m now back at the car. So, uh somewhere a tad under five miles total for me, I think. But, uh really enjoyed it. But, uh it’s still before 9:00, but it’s starting to get very warm already. So, I hope you enjoyed coming along with me as always. And uh until I see you next time, look after yourselves. Take care. All the best. And uh bye for now. [Music]