Walking the Essex Coast - Pitsea to Benfleet

The walk from Pitsea to Benfleet was the last link in the route back to the Essex coast. It was a gloriously sunny afternoon with clear blue skies and a bitingly cold wind direct from Siberia, an excellent day for walking. The old tower of Pitsea church is now a mast for the Orange telephone network. Orange have tidied up the churchyard and added a seat so you can enjoy the splendid view from the Mount. To the west were the oil refineries at Coryton, Fobbing Church and flooded marshes of Vange. To east, Bowers marshes, Canvey Island and the water tower on the ridge at South Benfleet.

The footpath to Benfleet follows the railway line east. Once past the housing estate, the footpath crosses a couple fields sandwiched between the A13 and the railway. The ground underfoot ran the gamut from hard to soft to waterlogged, so it's obviously going to take some time for the ground to dry out. It didn't seem to bother the ponies living in the field, who fortunately didn't seemto be interested in me.

After a mile and a half you come to the delightful little church of St Margaret's, Bowers Gifford. Completely isolated, it is dwarfed by the electricity pylon behind. According to Pevsner it has an unusual single buttress on the tower and a broach spire, which is quite common in south Essex. It was closed but the churchyard was in good repair and the seat at the sunny west end was most welcome.

A little while after the church, the footpath crosses the railway line onto Bowers Marsh, another large area of emptiness just a few miles from Basildon. There are a couple of farms, lots of ditches and another hugh landfill site. In 2011, this will become RSPB Bowers, a wetland nature reserve, with hides, walks, lagoons and reed beds, and hopefully a car park without a height restriction. The footpath to Benfleet station was clearly marked on the map and with a helpful finger post pointing in the wrong direction. It was a lot harder to spot on the ground and may well have disappeared under water in places. It was no surprise that I had the whole place to myself, it felt more like the Steppes of Russia than Essex.

A combination of map reading, GPS and a pretty obvious target (A130 main road to Canvey) got me back on track. The road marks the boundary between Basildon and Castle Point and is also the point where you pick up the coast proper along the northern bank of East Holehaven Creek. Houseboats were tied up along the banks and one of the occupants gave me a cheery wave. I followed the rather indistinct path to Benfleet station.

At South Benfleet the river cliffs come very close to coast. The railway is on one side of the road and the river is on the other. I sat on bench opposite the station and took in the view. Across the creek, Canvey Island was basking in the golden glow of the late afternoon sunshine and the oil refineries seemed much nearer than before such is the curve of the coastline.

It all looked very, very flat.

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