Our third place that day was Northey Island, which is in the middle of the Blackwater River estuary and can only be reached for 3 hours either side of low tide via causeway The rest of the time it is cut off by the water. It is a remote place for a walk, though you are only permitted to follow a looping track and not venture into every part.
The causeway is 240 yards long and back in 911 AD, during the reign of Ethelred the Unready, the Battle of Maldon is said to have taken place upon it led by Earl Byrhtnoth against Olaf Tryggvason and his Viking forces. The Vikings won. In a poem written about the event Tryggvason says they will leave if they are paid in gold and armour. Byrhtnoth replies "we will pay you with spear tips and sword blades."
Ian