Walking the Essex Coast - Vange Marshes

The intention today was to walk across Vange marshes to Fobbing to link up with last week's walk. However the only way that was going to happen was by boat due to extensive flooding. It was a pleasant enough day, dry, mild with occasional bursts of sunshine. It was very hard going though; lots of standing water, one very boggy bit on a farm, a horrible hike through some trackless wastes and a rather high stile that I had difficulty getting over. Out of earshot of the A13 it was very peaceful. At this point of the walk I moved on from Thurrock into Basildon and the change was immediately obvious. In Thurrock, all footpaths were very clearly marked, even the ones in the back of beyond, this was not so in Basildon.

Vange Marsh is a small RSPB site, one of several in this part of the world made up of reed beds and lagoons, both salt and freshwater. There were plenty of birds and a couple of twitchers but I've no idea what the birds were. I followed the footpath towards Fobbing, past an industrial estate home to the fleet of WRVS van, across a boggy farmer's field to a wonky looking bridge. At this point, the footpath disappeared to be replaced with a barely discernible track through an bramble strewn field. It had been churned up by cows and then left fallow making it very bumpy indeed. I put my trust in the GPS and hacked on through.

I emerged onto the wide open spaces on Vange marshes. I spotted this rather spooky looking house, Marsh Farm, but I've no idea if anyone lives there. This part of the marsh is used for grazing but the cows were all indoors today. The views were terrific. I could see Fobbing church on its little hill, the flood barrier at Fobbing Horse and the oil refineries. Unfortunately I could also see lots and lots of standing water, some of it was rather deep.

It was impossible to continue along the footpath towards Fobbing and Fobbing Marshes. I was able to scramble up onto the sea wall and got a glimpse of the boat yard at Wat Tyler Country park. Vange creek seemed to have turned into Vange Lake. I enjoyed my picnic sitting on some old telegraph poles in the pleasant sunshine before returning from whence I came.

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

Walking the Essex Coast - Fobbing Horse

There is no more access to the coastline until you get to Canvey Island. Oil refineries stretch for several miles eastwards to the next inlet at Holehaven creek. It is possible to reach this creek by footpaths from the village of Fobbing. Fobbing is a quiet village on a small but very perciptible hill, overlooking the marshes, but views of the Thames are blocked by the oil refineries at Coryton and spoiled by the mass of electricity pylons. Fobbing has a violent and bloody past. It was one of the villages that started the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. Amazingly it was once famous for smuggling as Fobbing used to have a harbour and access to the Thames. The church has a very distinctive tower that must have been a landmark for sailors in times gone by.

In complete contrast to the previous day, the weather was extremely raw. There has been a heavy frost overnight which made it slippery under foot, it was windy, cold with rain threatening. Unsurprisingly I met no one of this walk. I set off downhill along Wharf road, onto the marshes and atop the flood defences. It was possible to see all the way to the QE2 bridge, about 10 miles.

The frost had hardened up the ground but it was exceptionally heavy going. This area is one of the few remaining areas along the Thames where grazing still takes place. Pre-industrialisation the whole Thames estuary was a prime beef raising area. The cows had churned the whole route into a Grimpen-like mire which made the walk seem much further than it was. One of the cows had escaped and was clearly in possession of the sea wall, so I made a detour to avoid it. Clearly one that stood out from the herd.

The target was the flood barrier at Fobbing Horse on Holehaven Creek. On the other side of the creek is Canvey Island but I couldn't see it as the sea wall was too high. I didn't relish a return trip across the bog so I followed a footpath along a farm track, past the lone cow's mates, Fobbing ponies and Ouzedam farm, completely overshadowed by the many oil storage units and huge flare which is clearly visible for miles. I returned to Fobbing along cycle track and muddy path and finally up the steep little hill to the church, where I sat and admired the view in watery sunshine.

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

Walking the Essex coast - Mucking Creek to Shellhaven

I had intended to do a completely different walk but was shafted by the Clintona bus company as the 11 to Basildon failed to arrive in Purfleet. I didn't want to waste a beautiful sunny day so I came up with a plan B and hopped on a train to Stanford-le-Hope. I had to do this walk naked (without a map) but all those hours of planning really paid off as I was able to remember the route.

Mucking is a fairly short walk from the station. There isn't much there apart from the church, now a private house. Apparently it was a really important Saxon transit camp and possibly the name is a mistranslation. Now most of Mucking is a huge landfill site.

There is no access to the coastline west of Mucking Creek , so I followed a footpath from the village through the Stanford Warren nature reserve, home to one of the largest reed beds in Essex. It was crossed by several little streams including the Hassenbrook, which flows in the Thames at Mucking Creek. The whole area has been used for gravel extraction in the past, the lakes are now used by angling clubs.

Once past the last lake, the area opens out in wonderful wild Essex again with two miles of riverside walking past marshes, mudflats, salt marsh and sea wall ending at a locked gate to the Shellhaven oil refinery. Thurrock Council have acquired some of the land and there are some signs of development. Stanford Marshes would make a great country park.

The Thames is quite wide at this point but the tide was low exposing the mudflats. There were a flotilla of little boats at anchor in the mouth of Mucking creek and flocks of wading birds feeding on the flats. After about a mile or so you come the Earls Hope Salt marsh, which is flooded at high tide. It looked quite sandy and attractive but alas lacked anywhere that I could sit.

At this point the footpath continued along the sea wall, but without any indication which side. I chose the side with the river side view which ended at a floodgate. The footpath on the other side of the sea wall ran alongside a railway line leading to the oil refinery and through a weird access gate, over another field and finally over some steps back to the river side. I stopped for lunch by the riverside. The sun, rather unkindly, went behind a huge cloud at that point. It was very peaceful, watching the boats go by. Wild Essex at its best.

Click here to see more photos of wonderful Essex coast

London Loopy

Jubilee Country Park to West Wickham Common

Last September I meandered across the London Borough of Bromley on a fine sunny day. It was very green and rural with lots of interesting things to see and some brilliant street names.

To read full details of my exploits click here

Tower Bridge to Mile End

Three times a year Walk London arrange a weekend of guided walks along various parts of the seven Strategic Routes in the Capital. Winter Wanders took place on the last weekend on January and I opted for a guided walk from Tower Bridge to Mile End, led by the chairman of the River Thames Society. You will see from the photos it was a brilliant sunny day, what you can't see if the wind chill factor, it was very, very cold.

We followed the northern bank of the Thames, via St Katherine's Dock, Wapping to Limehouse Basin, where we paused for a break. Then along the Regent's Canal to Mile End.

Interesting things I learned; berths in St Katherine's Dock were shaped to fit the sterns of ships; there is a church somewhere in East London with a very large red Madonna on top; the canal isn't very deep and there are ramps build along it so that horses could get out if they fell in.

Tower Bridge

St John's Wapping

View to Canary Wharf

Prospect of Whitby

Large Red Madonna

Limehouse Basin

Regent's Canal

Walking the Essex Coast - Tilbury to Mucking creek

Sometimes you know it's going to be a good day. The signs are there; the sky is bluer than you expected, the train replacement bus arrives at the bus stop at the same time you do. Alas signs can be false. At the next stop the bus picked a woman who decided to share all her toilet problems with me. I got off at Upminister expecting to be whisked away to Tilbury by a comfortable C2C train but got yet another replacement bus instead to Chafford Hundred, from then a shuttle train to Grays and finally the train to Tilbury, that I could easily have caught from Rainham, a short bus ride from home. Thus I set out from Tilbury a little later than planned and as the connecting bus to Tilbury Ferry was nowhere to be seen, I had to walk the mile and half to the Thames riverside.

The coastal footpath runs for an unbroken six miles beside the Thames from the passenger ferry at Tilbury to a large travelling crane at Mucking (one of the great Essex place names). First stop was Tilbury Fort, arguably the premier heritage site in Essex. It was where Elizabeth I rallied the troops against the Armada and was for centuries the key fort in the defence of London and the Thames. These fortifications date from the 17th century with later Victorian improvements. The Officers Mess now houses a museum and staff accomodation. The fort looks most spectacular from the air where you can really appreciated its star shape. Apparently the worst action occured in 1776 when a cricket match between Essex and Kent left two people dead.

The next point of 'interest' was Tilbury Power Station, as a large coaling vessel was discharging its cargo, so there were lots in interesting machinery on the move and a pleasant smell of coal. There was a rather less pleasant smell of river but fortunately this was a temporary companion and riverside walking improved as I left the Power Station behind. However, the cold wind was a constant companion and I was glad of the extra layers I took with me.

From Tilbury the Thames runs due east for about three miles to Coalhouse Point before making a 90 degree turn north to Mucking creek. This would not be a good walk at high tide as most of the footpath is at the base of the sea wall. It was very pleasant to hear the waves lapping the shore but it wasn't very picturesque. East Tilbury marshes have been used as landfill and have a very derelict air. Apart from a few fisherman along the foreshore, I only met a couple of joggers, a lad on a bike and a man with a shotgun, which may explain why there didn't seem to be much birdlife. The only seat was a shrine to a young boy killed at Tilbury docks a few years ago, which was in keeping with the rather mournful air.

Coalhouse Point is marked by an old radar station, a large oil drum on stilts. Just around the bend is Coalhouse Fort, a fine example of a Victorian casemate fort currently undergoing restoration. It was built with state of the art Victorian defences that replaced Tilbury but these were never used in anger. The fort wasn't open but the Information Office was, with a kind invitation to "Come in and get warm" so I did. At this point there was a break in the clouds and I ate my picnic under blue skies and glorious sunshine which lasted about as long as the picnic.

Next to the fort is St Catherine's church, East Tilbury. Dutch warships had destroyed the church tower some time in the 1680's. In 1917, garrison troops from Coalhouse Fort started to build a new tower but never finished it. A short muddy path, took me back to the riverside for the last part of the walk. This was much the most pleasant part of the walk, watching the odd cargo sheet float silently past, and birds flying over the salt marsh. Along the sea wall, there were curious inclines which were labelled Duck Ramps. Apparently Essex ducks must be able to read.

The footpath ends at Mucking Marshes, formerly used for gravel extraction and now a mjor landfill site, jealously guarded by Cory Environmental. London's rubbish arrives by river in large yellow containers and is landed using the huge travelling crane. I gave up about 500 metres from the end when the path petered out altogether. I followed a footpath from the riverside to East Tilbury, which was developed by Thomas Bata, a Czech shoe magnate, in the 1930's, with a modern factory and housing and social facilities for the workers, the houses appear to be modelled on shoe boxes.

The lovely comfortable C2C train arrived on time but sadly I had to leave it at Grays for the long tortuous ride home on various replacement buses which took nearly as long as my walk.

Essex church walk

I recently visited two small Essex villages with unusual churches. Willingale has two churches that share a churchyard; St Andrews Willingale Spain is the older, smaller church with a wooden belfrey to the south; St Christopher Willingale Doe lies to the north with a tower, battlements and buttresses. The Essex Way runs through the churchyard.


The land around Willingale is very flat and was the site of the wartime airfield known as RAF Chipping Ongar, home to the 387th Bomb Group, USAAF. Unbelievably, in 1979, Willingale was shortlisted a potential site for London third airport.


About a mile away is the village of Shellow Bowells, surely the best name in Essex. I set off along the Essex Way in pleasant watery sunshine but it turned misty and murky long before I got back. The church in Shellow is a rarity in Essex as it is Georgian, built in 1754. It now appears to be a house or office. I returned to Willingale via Shellow Hall where I received a over-enthusiastic greeting from the farmer's spaniel.

I spotted a most unusual, turbined powered scarecrow which certainly frightened me, good use of green technology!

Walking the Essex coast - Grays to Tilbury

Today had a spring like feel about it with high clouds and watery sunlight, I decided to get out and about, so packed up a picnic and hopped on a train to Grays. Unfortunately it isn't possible to walk around the coast to Tilbury as the footpath stops at the docks. It was very pleasant walking in the sunshine along Grays beach and through the riverside park.


After that it was a four miles slog through Grays and past Tilbury docks to rejoin the river at the Passenger ferry to Gravesend. The sun disappeared behind a huge cloud, thunder rumbled and it started to rain as the sun came out. Next to main cargo docks is the Cruise Terminal but services do not start until March when you take the Marco Polo to the Land of the Northern Lights, (Norway?). All the weird weather produced a very good rainbow over Tilbury power station.

The passenger ferry was a hidden delight because it turned out to have a floating car park equpped with a couple of benches where I ate picnic in lovely, bright and warm sunlight. The ferry seemed to have dropped anchor over in Gravesend and abandonned the timetable entirely. The views are very impressive; Gravesend directly opposite Tilbury is a historic town and port; to the east Hadleigh castle was clearly visible.

The river was very quiet with a few yachts and this freight ferry on its way to Purfleet. It is hard to imagine that Tilbury is still a major port with so few ships around. The pilot boat kept coming out to have a look around and then disappearing back to Gravesend. As it took me longer than expected to walk to Tilbury so I'll have visit Gravesend another day. I caught a little shuttle bus, which was free to ferry users, back to train station and home.

Walking the Essex Coast - Grays to Rainham

The plan for this year is walk around the coast of Essex, or as much of the 3oo miles that is accessible. By Essex, I mean the ceremonial county of Essex which includes Thurrock and Southend which aren't part of administrative Essex. For this reason my walk starts on the Aveley marshes. If I wanted to walk around the coastline of the traditional county of Essex I would have to start at the mouth of the river Lee about ten miles upstream. However we are still waiting for the Thames Path Northern Extension to join up Island Gardens with Rainham Marshes. This means that despite living less than a mile from the mighty river Thames I can't walk by it in my old home town.

I picked a cold grey day in January to make a start walking from Grays to Rainham, a distance of eleven miles. Most of the route is industrial taking you past oil depots, factories and freight ferry terminals. Not very pretty but very accessible.

The highlight of the day was the visit to St Clements Church, always isolated from its parishioners hidden among the marshes, is now cut off by the railway and surrounded by factories. The church is where Gareth's funeral took place in Four Weddings etc. It is now in the care of Proctor and Gamble and I was very lucky to bump into the security guard who let me have a look around. Apparently it has connections with the Knights Templar, so I'm surprised Dan Brown hasn't been around looking for buried treasure.

On the way to the QE2 bridge there is an enormous graffitti wall and I met a couple of official artists at work, otherwise I didn't see a soul for about four miles. Less official graffitti artists have been at work on the bridge itself as one of the piers is accessible at low tide. The next town after Grays is Purfleet, site of a large gunpowder magazine, now a Heritage centre. Purfleet is separated from RSPB Rainham by a strange water feature that necessitates a half mile detour inland, although it looks as if a bridge is being built.

I had a rest at the RSPB cafe where I was hoping to enjoy a nice bacon sandwich but got a sausage one instead. The route from Purfleet to Rainham is a familiar one as it forms part of the London Loop and the last part along Havering River path was one our family's favorite Sunday afternoon walks, when falling into the Thames meant almost certain death, according to my mother. Aveley Marshes were formerly Army shooting ranges and now form part of the RSPB nature reserve. The foreshore is also accessible at this point and the views are quite extensive on a clear day.

On leaving Essex, the first thing you pass in Havering is a landfill site filled up with London rubbish brought by barge. On the day I was walking it was giving off the distinct smell of camphor like a Vics vapour rub. The landfile site is being landscaped and may one day become a country park. The only other thing of note on this stretch is the old wartime barges that were used as flood defences before the Thames Path comes to an abrupt halt just past the Tilda Rice factory. Alas here we wait for the path that should take us all the way to Olympic village.

It's about a mile back to Rainham from the Thames through a very unlovely industrial estate and over a enormous footbridge that crosses the Eurostar line to the 103 bus that carried me home.