Walking the Essex Coast - Benfleet to Leigh

From Benfleet, you can follow the coastline uninterrupted for ten miles to Shoebury Ness. I walked the first four miles to Leigh over a weekend which explains the difference in the photos. On Saturday I walked the eastern part of the route with my mate Frankie. We did a circular walk from Hadleigh Castle Country Park on a cold day with some intermittant sunshine. I walked the whole distance on the following day in glorious late afternoon sunshine finishing in the glow of dusk. Another difference was the number of people present. HCCP was awash with walkers, twitchers, dog walkers, cyclists and joggers on Saturday, including one runner who impressively hurdled a stile! Late on Sunday afternoon I only saw a few hardy souls braving the very chilly wind.

The footpath to Leigh runs along the sea wall. Benfleet Creek separates Canvey Island from mainland Essex. It was extremely raw in the east wind with little shelter. At Benfleet there was a sizable marina with quite a few houseboats of various sizes. This was first large collection of boats I'd seen since Grays and Tilbury. Once past the moorings, you enter the country park and it's three miles to the next road. Benfleet Creek starts to widen and it's possible to see the big boats on the Thames proper to south of Canvey.

Hadleigh Castle Country Park is one of the largest in Essex and is spread out over Benfleet Downs and Benfleet Marshes and is split in two by the C2C railway. There are several waymarked walks as this map shows. The Downs are surprisingly steep for Essex but they do afford great views along the Thames Estuary. We could see as far as Tilbury power station eastwards, but on a clear day it is possible to see Canary Wharf. The views from Hadleigh Castle, just outside the park are equally good towards Southend and its famous pier and south to Kent and the Isle of Grain.

Hadleigh Castle is, according to my mate Pevsner, the most important later medieval castle in the county. I'm not sure that says a great deal as Essex is not a county overloaded with castles. It was a ruin by the sixteenth century and later used by the revenue men to spy on all that smuggling down on the marshes. Not a lot remains today apart from a bit of curtain wall and the remnants of four circular towers. The largest (south east) tower was painted by Constable in 1829.

Frankie and I set off for our circular walk from the car park (£2 all day, no height barrier and toilets) and headed downhill, over the railway line and the marshes to join the sea wall at the half way point between Benfleet and Leigh. Despite the drying wind, everywhere was very muddy or waterlogged, with large areas of standing water guarenteed whenever you needed to cross at a stile. The sea wall was much better underfoot and we made good time into Leigh. Across the creek are Canvey and Two Tree Island, which are next on the itinerary.

The eastern part of Two Tree Island is part of HCCP and it is possible to cross the narrow creek at low tide to visit the bird hides. The whole area is very good for birdwatching, and according to Frankie, we saw great spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, redshank, curlew, black-tailed godwit, avocet and lapwing. The avocets and the brent geese provided some good aerial displays and was able to snap the curlew in Leigh marshes a bit further along. (It's to the right and slighty above the gull).

We were treated to a slightly different aerial display by three model aeroplanes fans reliving the Battle of Britain. At first I wasn't sure if they were small planes or just very far away as the noise was quite realistic. It did pall after a bit as this is a very peaceful part of the coastline. C2C trains are now very quiet and barely noticable. Just before reaching Leigh, Frankie and I had a pit stop at the golf driving range cafe for a well earned cuppa.

Refreshed, we set off over Leigh marshes for the last half mile to Leigh Station. From here I got the first sighting of Southend Pier about five miles away. Once past Leigh Station we turned back westward towards Hadleigh Castle, where we heaved ourselves over an extraordinarily high stile when there was a perfectly good gate we could have used. The weather improved in the afternoon with plenty of sunshine, when we stopped for yet more refreshment.

The last part of the walk was all uphill back to the car park and pretty tiring too. Two hundred feet climbs are rare in Essex. We were relaxing in the van enjoying yet another well-earned cuppa when the glass hob cover on the cooker exploded. Apparently you aren't supposed to put it down with the gas still on! Don't try this at home as it took me two hours to clean up the glass!

To see more pictures of the beautiful Essex coast click here.