Essex Waterways

Essex waterways manage the Chelmer & Blackwater navigation. They run short boat trips along the navigation. These run from Heybridge Basin and Paper Mill lock.

Spend a lot of time on the chelmer to paddle board. You will need a license, either daily or annual

Beautiful place on a nice sumer day. It is possible to walk from Heybridge Basin in Maldon to the centre of Chelmsford in a few hours which will take you through Paper Mill. We'll worth doing. Done it a couple of times a few years ago in the Farleigh Hospice Walk for Life.

I had a trip on the Albert boat. The skipper and crew were lovely. We were even allowed to have a go at steering the boat, which really made it special. Many thanks.

We booked a 3 hour surprise boat trip ‘Black Water Dawn’ for my Dad’s 67th Birthday at Heybridge, Maldon with Essex Waterways. We had such an amazing day, our Skippers Chaz and Neil were so lovely, chatty and really got involved with everyone. A massive thank you to them for taking us out voluntarily due to being short staffed that day! I want to say thank you to the lady I spoke to on the phone (I’m sorry I didn’t get your name) for making sure we had Skippers on the day.

The boat was really nice and clean. A table was set up to place our food on. The toilet was immaculate and finally the weather really topped it off as it was sunny and warm! Overall our experience was delightful, we all really enjoyed ourselves. We will be coming back and we would like Chaz and Neil to be our Skippers again, we recommend them 100% 😆

Thank you to Essex Waterways.

We chartered a boat today for a family afternoon out. We all had a good time. A clean, all weather boat with a toilet. Friendly and polite crew. Plenty of wildlife to see, a quiet relaxing trip. Plenty of free parking close by.
Recommended

Beautiful waterways through stunning Essex countryside, great wildlife and historic landmarks along the navigation.

Excellent place for a break and walking