EBW1-Thurrock

Thurrock, where this walk starts, is best known for the Lakeside Shopping Centre, the QEII Bridge and Tilbury Docks. It had a brief moment of fame as the 'funeral' in the film 4 Weddings etc, otherwise it's mainly an extention of urban, industrial London. Not a very attractive place for either walking or visiting, you might think. Well think again! Tilbury Fort (pictured) was the place where Queen Elizabeth I made her famous speech stirring up the troops before the Spanish Armada in 1558. There are several attractive villages just a few minutes from Lakeside like Horndon-on-the-Hill and Orsett and according to Thurrock Council , there are over 100 miles of footpaths and bridleways and they have a very nice map to prove it.

To start with, there is about 20 miles of fine riverside walking along the Thames Estuary. Belhus Woods was once a deer park landscaped by Capability Brown. The country house has long since been demolished and the Long Pond was cut in half by the M25 in 1979. The country park is owned by Thurrock, run by Essex CC but most of the park is actually in Havering. Belhus is just one of several wooded areas in the west of the Borough that are part of the Thames Chase forest project.

The Mar Dyke, a tiny tributary of the Thames, flows through Thurrock, joining the big river at Purfleet. The Mardyke way is bridleway which runs for about seven miles through farmland, with excellent views of Langdon Hill to the east. At 377ft it the highest point of Thurrock, but most of the good views are from the bit that's in Basildon. So I had plenty of footpaths and countryside to work with in devising a walk from Essex border by the Thames to West Horndon in neighbouring Brentwood.

I split the distance into two walks; walk 1 from Rainham Station to Ockendon Station and walk 2 from Ockendon Station to West Horndon Station. I was blessed with some very good weather on both days. The first view of Essex was brilliant, the Queen Elizabeth II bridge bathed in sunshine with a fleet of little yachts racing up the Thames. The highlight of walk 1 was a guided tour around St Michael's Church in Aveley.There was a beautiful Flemish style painting and very old brass of Sir Ralph of Knevyynton, hidden away under a carpet and a piece of cardboard.

Walk 1 took me along the Thames from Rainham, with a brief stop for refreshments at Rainham RSPB. I aimed to link Purfleet and Aveley using footpath 145, which once was a nice country stroll but is now bisected by two railway lines, the old A13 and the new A13. Having failed to find a safe crossing over a six lane highway, I had to make my way to Aveley by road, discovering on the way that Aveley is on top of hill. From Aveley, I crossed Belhus park, getting slightly lost on the golf course, around the country park (another refreshment stop) and over the M25 to a little bit more woodland. Hidden away in Oak Wood is an icehouse and the overgrown remains of the Long Pond. Knocking down country houses and turning the estates into country parks for the masses is something of a recurring theme in Essex. Walk 1 finished at Ockendon Station and covered 13 miles.

Walk 2 should have started at Ockendon station but unfortunately I got on the wrong train and ended up at West Horndon instead. The highlight of this walk was probably me falling down the steps and landing on my backside. The route to Ockendon was almost all footpaths or bridleways. Some of it involved walking across ploughed fields, rather unpleasant after all the recent rain. One footpath seemed to end in a horse paddock forcing me to trespass through a farmyard. I actually met another walker along the Mardyke way. I had to inform him that the Harrow pub where he planned to stop for lunch had recently burned down. At the Ockendon end the footpath went along a driveway which once had avenue of limetrees. Only the stumps remained but you can see what it looked like in 2005 by clicking here.. 8 miles

So there you have it, first section completed, 21 miles walked. Take a look at the photos and you'll probably be surprised how green and pleasant Thurrock is.

Click on the picture to open the album.

Walking around Essex

Where to next?

Having got a taste for long distance walking but unwilling to put too much effort into it, I decided to walk around the land borders of Essex, from Purfleet to Manningtree, like before, but in a clockwise direction. The aim will be to do linear walks using footpaths, byways and towpaths wherever possible, travelling on public transport. I'm going to try to keep within a mile off the border, on the Essex side of course.

Essex has quite a few long distance footpaths that I hope to use; London Loop, Three Forests Way, Lee Valley Walk, Stort Valley Way, Harcamlow Way, Stour Valley Path, St Edmunds Way, and the Essex Way.

Essex has land borders with Greater London, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex and the walk will go through eight districts, Thurrock, Brentwood, Epping Forest, Harlow, Uttlesford, Braintree, Colchester and Tendring. The border is about 150 miles and for ease of planning, I've split up the route into 18 sections. I hope to reach the sluice on the Stour sometime next summer.

Sections
1. Thurrock (bordering Havering, Greater London) 12.7 mls
2. Brentwood (bordering Havering, Greater London) 8.75 mls
3. Epping Forest A (bordering Havering, Greater London) 2.9 mls
4. Epping Forest B (bordering Redbridge, Greater London) 7.75 mls
5. Epping Forest C (bordering Waltham Forest Gtr London) 2.7 mls
6. Epping Forest D (bordering Enfield, Greater London) 2.45 mls
7. Epping Forest E (bordering Broxbourne, Hertfordshire) 7 mls
8. Epping Forest F1 (bordering East Herts, Hertfordshire) 2.4 mls
9. Harlow (bordering East Herts, Hertfordshire) 4.6 mls
10. Epping Forest F2 (bordering East Herts, Hertfordshire) 3 mls
11. Uttlesford A (bordering East Herts, Hertfordshire) 19.6 mls
12. Uttlesford B (bordering North Herts, Hertfordshire) 1.65mls
13. Uttlesford C (bordering South Cambs, Cambridgeshire) 24 mls
14. Braintree A (bordering South Cambs, Cambridgeshire) 2.76 mls
15. Braintree B (bordering St Edmundsbury, Suffolk) 16.9 mls
16. Braintree C (bordering Babergh, Suffolk) 16.5 mls
17. Colchester (bordering Babergh, Suffolk) 14.3 mls
18. Tendring (bordering Babergh Suffolk) 1.92 mls

Walked the Essex Coast!

Well I did it!

455 miles, 52 days (26 in Archie), averaging 8.9 miles a day.
Six estuaries (Thames, Roach, Crouch, Blackwater, Colne and Stour), four islands (Canvey, Wallasea, Mersea and Two Tree) and one Sea (North).

I started on gloomy, mild January day at Purfleet and finished on gloomy, mild September day in Manningtree and I couldn't have done it without the help and support of Archie, C2C trains, the Essex bus timetable and my feet. I celebrated by having a superb tea at the Quay tea rooms in Mistley.

I passed through nine of the fourteen district of Essex, (Basildon, Castle Point, Chelmsford, Colchester, Maldon, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea, Tendring, Thurrock), points going to Basildon with coastline on the Thames and Crouch estuaries. Amazingly most of the 350 miles of coastline is easily accessible by footpath, the exceptions being Foulness, (owned by the MOD), a large area south of Colchester between the Blackwater and the Colne (also owned by the MOD) and the western edge of Hamford Water (chemical and explosive factory). Several parts of the Thames Estuary coastline used for landfill will be transformed into nature reserves in the near future. Particularly exciting is the news that the Essex Wildlife Trust has purchased Mucking flats.

With all that walking I had plenty of time to think. Here are some of my thoughts; there are 1.7 million people in Essex and there is a boat and static caravan for each of us; Essex is a very beautiful county; Jaywick is one of the ugliest places I ever visited; birdwatching is interesting if you take a friend with to you to identify the birds. knots put on a great flying display; National Express East Anglian timetables are not be trusted and you can go off sea wall after a while.

However this trip was not without it problems. I've lost a GPS, broke a camera, blew up the hob cover in the van and wore out a pair of boots.

The best bit about this walk was the solitude and the peacefulness of the coast, mostly the only sounds were the wind, bird calls and water lapping on the shore. Meeting the couple who were walking around Britain warns me that coast walking can become addictive and if I had a spare year and half I would definitely continue.

Was it worth? Absolutely!

Photo albums
Thames Estuary
Roach and South Crouch
North Crouch
The Dengie
Blackwater Estuary
Mersea Island
Colne Estuary
Sunshine Coach and The Stour

The Sunshine Coast

The last part of the walk was along the Sunshine coast of Essex, from Sandy Point (which was stony) north to Stone Point (which was sandy). The high point of the walk was the Naze Tower and its views, particularly of the Suffolk coast, acting like a siren, tempting me to continue. The very last part of the walk was along the Stour estuary, past some very grand buildings on the other shore, ending at a sluice and the Suffolk border.



Click on the picture to open the album.

Strolling along the Colne

The Colne is one of the shorter estuaries and certainly the narrowest, which gives good views of the opposite bank. Most of the western bank is inaccessable to anyone not in the military, so this walk started in Fingrinhoe, then north through Rowhedge to Hythe in Colchester where the tidal range ends. The walk along the eastern bank from Hythe to Brightlingsea is one of the best in Essex, taking you past the University of Essex campus, the delightful village of Wivenhoe and along a disused railway line to Alresford Creek. Wivenhoe was once an active port when very large ships towered over the nearby houses.

At the end of the Colne is Brightlingsea, a historic Cinque port, infamous in the 1990's for the live export of animals, prompting protests by local people and over-zealous policing/police brutality. Today, it has a huge marina and some posh development on the quayside. It is a rather quaint holiday destination, with colourful beach huts and an outdoor swimming pool. I had a very nice tea there with my friends.

Not really on the coast is St Osyth, a little town full of listed buildings. The cream of the crop is the Priory Gatehouse. The Priory itself is owned by developers and is up for sale, much to the dismay of the local residents. It's well worth a visit and has a couple of fine tea shops.

Click on the picture to open the album.

A bit more coast

Here are some views of a sunny Sunday and a less sunny Monday yomping around the coast. Not far to go now




Just click on the picture to open the album

London Loopy

Hamsey Green to Coulsdon Station

Section five of the London Loop takes you on a rollercoaster route over four Commons in Croydon with exceptional views of the North Downs. The finest bit of the Loop so far.

Why is the horse wearing a coast on a warm sunny day?

To find out more (about the walk not the horse) click here.